Tourney will be gantlet
SANTA CLARA, Calif. – West Coast Conference men’s basketball coaches are in agreement that regular-season champion Gonzaga and runner-up Saint Mary’s are a step above the rest of the league.
But none is willing to concede the WCC’s annual postseason tournament, which opens tonight with a pair of first-round games, to either the 12th-ranked Bulldogs (22-4) or the Gaels (24-7), who have both earned byes into Sunday’s semifinals.
And they all express a firm belief that the unprecedented balance in the conference this season should make for some interesting moments as the WCC moves toward deciding which of its eight teams will earn an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.
“The league games have all been really tightly contested,” said Loyola Marymount coach Steve Aggers, whose eighth-seeded Lions (11-16), the hard-luck losers in several of those close encounters, open this year’s tournament with a 5:30 matchup against fifth-seeded Pepperdine (16-13) in Santa Clara’s Leavey Center. “I don’t see a great deal of difference between teams 3 through 8. I think they’re all pretty evenly matched.
“Then Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s are slightly a little bit better on paper than the others, but any of the eight teams is capable of winning. We’re just hoping, with a fresh start and a different mentality heading into tournament, that we’ll be ready to play and find a way to win those close games in the last two minutes.”
Tonight’s other first-round game, which tips off at approximately 8, pits No. 6 San Francisco (15-12) against No. 7 Portland (15-14). UP coach Michael Holton is hoping his Pilots can put together a run.
“I’m just proud to be associated with this league,” he said. “So many good things happened for our conference this year as far as national recognition and people knocking off ranked teams. And I think the conference tournament is probably going to hold a couple of surprises as well.”
The winner of tonight’s Pepperdine-LMU game will advance to Saturday’s second round, where it will face fourth-seeded San Diego (15-12) at 5:30. The USF-Portland winner will play host Santa Clara (14-15), the No. 3 seed, at 8.
Pepperdine has emerged as the team most likely to surprise, thanks, in part, to the recent return of senior center Jesse Pinegar, who missed a big portion of the conference season with an ankle injury.
“We’re in about as good a shape as we can be in,” said Waves coach Paul Westphal, who has been fighting injuries all year long. “And we’re going to need our depth if we’re going to advance in this tournament. Every game is going to be a war, and you have to play the next night every time you win.
“It won’t be easy, but we’ll be ready.”
One coach not hoping for any unexpected twists is GU’s Mark Few, who plans on using his team’s downtime until Sunday to work on getting better for the NCAA berth the Bulldogs have almost certainly locked up by virtue of their quality non-conference wins over Oklahoma State, Washington and Georgia Tech.
“We’re really looking forward to the (WCC) tournament, but it’s kind of unique situation,” he said of his team’s bye into the semifinals, where they will play either San Diego, Pepperdine or LMU in Sunday’s first semifinal, which starts at 6 p.m. “We’ve got two weeks to work before the NCAA Tournament, and I think it’s important that we work on things we need to get better at.
“Hopefully, that won’t take away from how we perform in the (league) tournament.”
Saint Mary’s will player either Santa Clara, USF or Portland in Sunday’s second semifinal, which starts at 9.