Gonzaga teams wait for WCC opponents

With regular-season West Coast Conference championships in hand, the Gonzaga men’s and women’s basketball teams have a few extra days to prepare for the conference tournaments in Las Vegas.
Gonzaga’s men, expected to be voted No. 1 when the major national polls are released today, have a bye into the semifinals of the WCC tournament. The Bulldogs will play the first of Saturday’s 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. semifinals at Saturday at The Orleans Arena. Both semifinals will air on ESPN2.
The Bulldogs (29-2) will play the survivor of the the series of …

With regular-season West Coast Conference championships in hand, the Gonzaga men’s and women’s basketball teams have a few extra days to prepare for the conference tournaments in Las Vegas.

Gonzaga’s men, expected to be voted No. 1 when the major national polls are released today, have a bye into the semifinals of the WCC tournament. The Bulldogs will play the first of Saturday’s 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. semifinals at Saturday at The Orleans Arena. Both semifinals will air on ESPN2.

The Bulldogs (29-2) will play the survivor of the the series of games between No. 9 LMU, No. 8 Portland, No. 5 San Francisco and No. 4 Santa Clara. Saint Mary’s is the other seeded semifinalist and will play No. 7 Pepperdine, No. 6 San Diego or No. 3 BYU.

The championship game, with the league’s automatic berth to the NCAA tournament at stake, will be played next Monday at 6 p.m. and will air on ESPN.

Gonzaga is the first team to go 16-0 in the WCC, which expanded to 16 conference games when BYU joined the league last season.

The Bulldogs, ranked second in last week’s national polls, are likely to be named No. 1 today as last week’s No. 1 Indiana, No. 3 Duke and No. 4 Michigan all lost during the week.

In the women’s tournament, Gonzaga (25-5, 15-1 WCC) is seeded first and will play a semifinal at noon on Saturday. The four teams lined up for that matchup are No. 9 Pepperdine, No. 8 San Francisco, No. 5 LMU and No. 4 BYU.

San Diego is seeded into the other semifinal, awaiting No. 7 Portland, No. 6 Santa Clara or No. 3 Saint Mary’s.

The championship game, which carries an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament, will be next Monday at 1 p.m.

Kelly Olynyk, who plays center for the GU men, is among the 14 finalists for the 2013 Oscar Robertson National Player of the Year Trophy, it was announced Sunday. He is averaging 17.7 ppg and 7.0 rpg.