The WCC held its annual tip-off event in Los Angeles on Thursday and to the surprise of no one Gonzaga was picked to win the conference title in the preseason poll. Perhaps the only surprise was the margin -- Gonzaga received eight of 10 first-place votes, BYU and Saint Mary's one apiece. I thought BYU, with a strong backcourt, would have pulled down at least another first-place vote or two.

Here's my article that ran in today's S-R. I wrote the WCC previews for Athlon roughly three months ago and my WCC picks nearly mirrored the coaches' poll (Gonzaga, BYU, Saint Mary's, San Francisco, San Diego, Loyola Marymount, Pacific, Santa Clara, Portland and Pepperdine). The only difference is I picked Santa Clara 7th and newcomer Pacific 8th.

GU entertains Simon Fraser tonight in an exhibition game. Follow along tonight on Twitter (@SRjimm). More on the visitors from Burnaby, B.C. here.