Around the WCC

Regular-season conference champion and top-seeded Gonzaga heads into the WCC tournament, which starts Friday in Portland’s Chiles Center, having won the event seven of the last eight years to capture the conference’s automatic berth in the NCAA tournament. San Diego, playing at home, beat GU 72-63 in the 2003 title game, but the Bulldogs ended up landing an at-large NCAA berth that year. … Only two host schools – San Diego in 2003 and Gonzaga last year – have won the WCC tournament. … Despite having been named to the WCC’s all-tournament team four times (2001-04) and playing on three championship teams, former GU standout Blake Stepp was never named the tournament’s most valuable player. … The last time the WCC tournament was held in Portland was in 1992, when Pepperdine edged Gonzaga 73-70 in the final.