WCC Tournament pairings released

Men: Top seed and West Coast Conference regular-season champion Gonzaga will face either Pacific or Santa Clara in a 6p.m. quarterfinal Saturday in the conference tournament at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. The Bulldogs wrapped up the outright regular-season title Thursday at Pacific, and the eighth-seeded Tigers could be Gonzaga’s foe Saturday. Santa Clara is the No. 9 seed. The Tigers and Broncos meet Thursday in an opening-round game with the winner facing the Zags. Gonzaga swept both during the regular season. Gonzaga has won 15 of the last 17 WCC regular-season crowns and is the defending champion of the WCC tournament. Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s will not be meeting for the championship a sixth straight time when the finale is played March 11. With No. 4 seed Saint Mary’s facing No. 5 seed Pepperdine in a quarterfinal in the same half of the bracket as the Zags, the two teams can only meet in a semifinal a week from today. The last time the Bulldogs and the Gaels did not face off in the tourney final was 2008, when No. 3 seed San Diego defeated top seed Gonzaga 69-62 in San Diego prior to the conference tournament moving to Las Vegas in 2009. Women: With the conclusion of the West Coast Conference regular season, the final seedings and bracket have been released for the women’s conference tournament at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. Gonzaga, the top seed in the tournament, will play in the 6 p.m. quarterfinal on Friday. The Zags will play the winner between No. 8 San Francisco and No. 9 Loyola Marymount, who battle Thursday afternoon in an opening-round game. The Zags earned the No. 1 seed with a 16-2 conference mark, capturing their 10th straight WCC regular-season championship.