Good morning. Crews were peeling the Zappos WCC men's basketball tournament sticker from the lobby floor of the Orleans Hotel when I checked out this morning. Wonder if it was the same crew that yanked the slippery sticker from center court at the Orleans Arena the day before?

Tons of reading material from last night's WCC men's championship game, won by Saint Mary's 78-74. I'm guessing the Gaels are a six seed, GU a 7 or 8. Here's my game story, John Blanchette's column and Chris Anderson's photos (of course he got Hart tying up Dellavedova, Harris' 3-pointer and the Gaels' celebration at the final buzzer). Elsewhere, there were articles by the Seattle Times, Tacoma News Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, Contra Costa Times, Las Vegas Review-Journal and A.P.The WCC Website has both tournaments covered here.

The All-Tournament team consisted of Matthew Dellavedova (Saint Mary's, MVP), Elias Harris (GU), Kevin Pangos (GU), Cody Doolin (USF) and Rob Jones (Saint Mary's).

We knew that Gonzaga was heading to the 2013 Maui Invitational. Now we know the other teams that will be in Maui.

I also covered the GU women's team, which was outplayed by BYU 78-66 in the title game. Here's my game story, and Anderson's photos. And here are articles from the Salt Lake Tribune, Deseret News, Daily Herald, Seattle Times, News Tribune,

In perhaps the most memorable game in a Gonzaga-Saint Mary's rivalry that seems to get better every year, the Gaels got the better of GU with a 78-74 overtime victory Monday night in the WCC men's basketball tournament championship at the Orleans Arena.

Tourney MVP Matthew Dellavedova scored 22 points, including four free throws in the final 39.3 seconds. The Gaels and Zags have played for the last four titles, each winning two.

Elias Harris led Gonzaga with 22 points and 13 rebounds. His 3-pointer from 23 feet sent the game into overtime.

My unedited game story is below.

Entertaining game here at the Orleans Arena today with Gonzaga overtaking Saint Mary's in the final 10 minutes en route to an 83-78 victory in WCC women's tournament semifinals.

The Gaels led 49-47 at the break. Saint Mary's made 19 of 29 shots (65.5 percent) and Gonzaga made 19 of 33 (57.6 percent). The Gaels couldn't keep up that pace, particularly in the closing 10 minutes and Gonzaga used a couple of 7-0 spurts to claim the victory.

My unedited game story is below. Chris Anderson's photos can be found here.

The BYU-USD men's game just tipped off (Noah Hartsock is suited up, went through warmups but he isn't starting).

Earlier I put together a short preview of the Gonzaga women's matchup with Saint Mary's in the semifinals and here's a look at Saint Mary's quarterfinal victory over Pepperdine.

Loyola Marymount went into McKeon Pavilion on Wednesday night and handed the Saint Mary's Gaels a rare home loss.

LMU pulled away for a 75-60 victory over Saint Mary's, which was 16-0 at home, 7-0 in WCC games. The loss leaves SMC (23-4, 12-2 WCC) and Gonzaga (20-4, 10-2) even in the loss column. GU faces Santa Clara tomorrow and San Francisco on Saturday while Saint Mary's visits Murray State in a BracketBusters game Saturday.

Loyola Marymount (17-10, 10-4) is 7-1 on the road in conference games, the lone loss a 78-59 setback against Gonzaga last Saturday.The Gaels have dropped two of their last three.

LMU's Drew Viney, Anthony Ireland and Jarred DuBois combined for 48 points. Rob Jones led the Gaels with 25 point and 15 rebounds. Find the box score here.

UPDATE: SMC coach Randy Bennett says lineup changes may be coming and the Gaels could be without guard Stephen Holt (knee) for a while. Game stories here and here.

Caught a double-feature this morning. I watched the second half of the GU-Saint Mary's game (I took in the first half at 1:30 a.m. before the eyes gave out) and then caught the last 7 minutes of GU-SMC from 2009 on ESPNU(Zags 72-70 in Moraga — pretty good five on the floor with Pargo, Bouldin, Downs, Daye and Heytvelt; an injured Patty Mills on SMC's bench).

I told several people last night that the first 30 minutes of Thursday's game was as high-level as any I've seen at the Kennel in five years. Raucous atmosphere, two top 20 teams playing well, fiercely contested, great individual efforts. And then GU played even better, continuing to get quality shots and muzzling SMC's offense en route to a 73-59 victory.

There were two prominent story angles: I went with GU's freshmen duo — Kevin Pangos scored 27, Gary Bell Jr. 12 — in the game story, John Blanchette addressed GU's toughness in his column. Photos by Dan Pelle here. More coverage by CBSSports.com's Jeff Goodman, San Jose Mercury News and A.P. Goodman had a follow-up this morning detailing why he believes Mark Few will never leave Spokane.

Elsewhere, San Diego won again (Bill Grier may be doing the best coaching job of his career), LMU shot down Portland and USF's Cody Doolin had a heated exchange with coach Rex Walters and carried the Dons past Santa Clara.

Read on for my day-after post.

The atmosphere inside the McCarthey Athletic Center was electric Thursday and the game lived up to the hype for 30 minutes. Gonzaga, behind freshmen guards Kevin Pangos (27 points) and Gary Bell Jr. (12 points), pulled away in the final 10 minutes to register a 73-59 victory over first-place Saint Mary's.

Gonzaga improved to 19-4, 9-2 in the WCC. The loss snapped Saint Mary's 12-game winning streak. The Gaels dropped to 22-3, 11-1.

Here's a link to my game story that will run in Friday's S-R. Here's Dan Pelle's photo gallery (highly recommended) and I'll post John Blanchette's column in the a.m. Check back tomorrow for my day-after post.

Less than 24 hours before the Gonzaga-Saint Mary's showdown at the MAC. The Bulldogs' 11-year rule of the WCC is in jeopardy as GU (18-4, 8-2 WCC) trails the Gaels (22-2, 11-0) as the regular season winds down. That was the topic of my article that will run in Thursday's S-R. Here's the link.

Below, you'll find a quick glance at the GU-SMC matchup and a couple of notes that will appear in tomorrow's college basketball notebook.

As expected, Gonzaga dropped out of the Top 25 in the A.P. and ESPN/USA Today rankings. GU was 21st in A.P. and 23rd in ESPN/USA Today a week ago before going 1-1 on its road trip. The Bulldogs slipped to 29th in A.P., T-30th in ESPN/USA Today. 

Saint Mary's, which clobbered GU 83-62 on Thursday, moved into both polls (No. 24 A.P., No. 23 ESPN/USA Today). BYU received one vote in the ESPN/USA poll.

Good afternoon from sunny L.A. Travel went fairly smoothly until that 40-person line at the Hertz counter, but we've had some time to put together a day-after Sant Mary's post, following the Gaels 83-62 runaway over the Bulldogs on Thursday.

First, the links: Game stories from S-R, San Francisco Chronicle, Contra Costa Times and A.P. (authored by former S-R staffer Janie McCauley).

Read on for more.

Good evening from McKeon Pavilion, which is about 15 degrees cooler than it was when the Gaels were busy crushing the visiting Bulldogs earlier Thursday evening.

Saint Mary's beat Gonzaga in every conceivable fashion. Outside, with Matthew Dellavedova's 26 points and the team's nine 3-pointers. Inside, with Brad Waldow and Mitchell Young combining for 29 points. On the drive, with Dellavedova handing out six assists and Stephen Holt maneuvering for 13 points, many on dribble penetration, and handing out six assists.

The Gaels handed GU an 83-62 setback, the largest WCC loss in Mark Few's 13 seasons as head coach at Gonzaga.

You can access my game story here and check back tomorrow for a day-after post.

Some day I'll have to add up the hours/days/weeks I've spent at Sea-Tac Airport. I've got some time on my hands in the terminal and i noticed reading the S-R this morning that the last four paragraphs of my GU-Saint Mary's preview were cut.

You can read them below.

Also, here's a link to a San Francisco Chronicle article on the emergence of Jorden Page and Stephen Holt.

I've been on hand for the last 11 Gonzaga-Saint Mary's games and every one of them has been fairly memorable.

Gonzaga has won 8 of the 11. Both teams have won via blowouts (GU 83-58 in the 2009 WCC Tournament title game and the Gaels returning the favor 81-62 in the 2010 title matchup). Both have won in overtime. Both have won in the closing seconds (Mickey McConnell connecting over Robert Sacre in the Kennel; GU's Sam Dower and Sacre hitting 6 of 6 FTs in the closing 20 seconds last year in Moraga.

Freshman Elias Harris pouring in 31 points in a road win (Steven Gray adding 14 points and 14 boards in that same game). McConnell going scoreless as GU ripped the Gaels 80-61 in Spokane two years ago; McConnell responding with 27 points and the game-winner in SMC's 73-71 win at the MAC last year. Patty Mills scoring 18 first-half points before leaving with a wrist injury and Gonzaga rallying for a 69-62 win. Omar Samhan pushing Robert Sacre and earning a technical foul in the Gaels' 19-point win in Las Vegas.

More memories are on tap Thursday night. Meanwhile, here's my preview that will run in Thursday's S-R.

Back with my game story and Chris Anderson's photos from Gonzaga's 75-63 victory over Saint Mary's on Monday night. GU earns the WCC's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Zags will be making their 13th straight trip to the NCAAs.

Top-seeded Saint Mary's knocked off No. 4 Santa Clara 73-64 in the semifinals of the WCC men's tournament Sunday.

The  Gaels will take on the winner of the Gonzaga/San Francisco game. That will tip in about 30 minutes.

SMC's Mitchell Young had 17 points, Stephen Holt added 15 and Matthew Dellavedova 13 points and six assists. Mickey McConnell made just 1 of 6 shots, but finished with 10 points (8 of 8 FTs) and five assists.

Marc Trasonlini led Santa Clara with 22 points and Kevin Foster had 18 (5 of 18 shooting).

No. 2 Saint Mary's held off No. 7 San Diego 71-68 to advance to Sunday's WCC women's title game against Gonzaga.

Danielle Mauldin's three-point play with 42.9 seconds left gave Saint Mary's the lead and Kate Gaze made four free throws as the Gaels (19-11) held off the Toreros. Louella Tomlinson led SMC with 21 points and nine boards.

Gonzaga thumped the Gaels 106-77 and 102-66 during the regular season.

“You can't let Gonzaga get into space,” Gaels coach Paul Thomas said. “We're going to have do our best to make it a grinder game. If we can keep the game in the 60s I think we have an opporutnity.”

Back with a game story from one of the better games I've seen in four years of covering Gonzaga basketball. The Bulldogs outlasted Saint Mary's 89-85 in overtime, moving into a first-place tie with the Gaels.

Here's a link to my game story.

I'll be back tomorrow with a day-after post and a preview of the San Diego game.

Gonzaga was, quite simply, senasational.

The 23rd-ranked Zags, the nation’s top-scoring women's basketball team, broke 100 for the seventh time, running their winning steak to 15 games, by routing second-place Saint Mary's 106-66.

Janelle Bekkering had 22 points, Standish had 19 points and 13 rebounds for her ninth double-double and Katelan Redmon had 15 points.

But once again All-Ameircan Courtney Vandersloot stole the show with 22 points, 13 assists, no turnovers, 6 rebounds and 6 steals.

Good evening from soggy Moraga. I left in a blizzard and landed in a puddle. Rained most of the day in the Bay Area and there's actually a chance of a snow, rare in these parts.

Rob Jones was the first Gael on the court for warmpus, roughly 90 minutes before tip. Jones's health will be one of the things to watch for tonight (he suffered a rib injury vs. San Diego and was apparently ill during the Utah State game).

Both teams are on the court warming up for the first-place showdown. Head over to Twitter.com/SRjimm for in-game updates.

Check back here for a quick recap after the buzzer (love those 8 p.m. starts) and a full game story at about 11:45.

The showdown — Gonzaga vs. Saint Mary's — is 24 hours away. A Gonzaga win leaves the two squads in a tie for first. A Saint Mary's win gives the Gaels their first outright title since 1989.

Here's a link to my game preview, which will run in Thursday's S-R. There's a bit more on the game here, here and here, and more on the Gaels here. 

Saint Mary's coach Randy Bennett didn't return a phone message left on Monday morning.