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West Coast Conference
Tournament Preview
Current Odds to Win Plus Predictions
3/4/10
There have been two consistent events throughout the last decade in college basketball. The month of March is when College Basketball really starts to show its Madness, and Gonzaga is once again the regular season West Coast Conference Champs. Gonzaga just finished off their 10th consecutive WCC regular season title, and now have their sights set on winning the Conference Tournament to build up momentum for the NCAA Tournament. However this year it seems like Gonzaga could have some real competition with Saint Mary’s and Portland who finished their seasons off with records of 24-5 and 20-9 and 11-3 and 10-4 in conference. This has been a competitive race all year between these three teams, so we don’t expect anything to change when these teams and the rest of the West Coast Conference square off for an invitation to the Big Dance.
Below you will find the current odds to win the WCC Championship. Shop around
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Gonzaga is the name that has given this conference credibility for the last
decade, and after winning their 10th straight WCC Conference Championship there
is no doubt in anyone’s mind who the favorite to win the whole thing is. Gonzaga
doesn’t really have the star power like they have in past years with players
like Ronnie Turiaf and Adam Morrison, but this is a very good Bulldog team led
by leading scorer Matt Bouldin (16.0) and Elias Harris (14.9) that have a very
solid front and back court, and as long as Mark Few is this teams Coach you know
they will be a very sound fundamental team.
If anyone is going to knock off the Undisputed Champion its most likely going to
be Saint Mary’s who does it. The Gael’s are led by 6’11 Senior Center Omar
Samhan who is averaging 21.5 points and 11.1 rebounds per game. If he is able to
use his body and get separation from his defender he can really take over a
game, but this is not a one man show. Saint Mary’s has 4 other players who
average double figures. Saint Mary’s dropped both games to Gonzaga this season,
but it is very hard to beat a team like Saint Mary’s three times in a row, so
the 3rd time may very well be the charm for this well rounded team.
Next we have the Portland Pilots who finished the year 20-9 and 10-4 in
conference. Much like the two teams ahead of Portland this basketball team is a
very well rounded group. There isn’t one guy that stands out as the star that
you have to stop if you are going to win, but their whole starting five are very
capable of taking the lead on any given night. The Pilots were able to steal one
in overtime over Saint Mary’s in one of their contests, but in the other game
against the Gaels and in the two games against Gonzaga they were unable to get
things going. This team is capable of stealing that tournament bid from the WCC
if they get hot, but we just don’t like their chances to get past both Gonzaga
and Saint Mary’s.
If there is one team we had to choose to be the dark horse selection it would
have to be Loyola Marymount. The Lions have a very solid front and back court
led by Forward Drew Viney who is averaging 16.9 points per game. They also were
able to get a win over the top 3 teams in this conference during the regular
season, so they have shown that if they get hot at the right time they are more
then capable of pulling the upset over their West Coast Conference Rivals.
Another team worth a look would be Portland. We cashed some nice tickets with Portland down the stretch and plan on giving them a close look in this tournament. Here are the odds to win the WCC Title.
Current Odds to win WCC Championship
Gonzaga -175
St Mary's +200
San Francisco +500
Portland +600
Loyola Marymount +800
Field +2000
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