Gonzaga could see San Francisco, Saint Mary’s again at WCC tournament

Run it back?

Gonzaga wrapped up the regular season by handling San Francisco 79-63 last Thursday before falling to Saint Mary’s 67-57 on Saturday. The Zags would run into the same teams if the seeding holds up at the West Coast Conference men’s basketball tournament.

Of course, the remaining WCC programs have other ideas.

The tournament begins Thursday night at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas with No. 8 Loyola Marymount facing No. 9 Pacific and No. 7 San Diego meeting No. 10 Pepperdine.

The LMU/Pacific winner takes on No. 5 BYU on Friday with the winner meeting No. 4 San Francisco on Saturday. Gonzaga awaits Saturday’s winner at 6 p.m. Monday in the semifinals. The championship game is 6 p.m. Tuesday.

What has to happen for Gonzaga to see San Francisco and Saint Mary’s again? One win by each program – San Francisco in the quarterfinals, Gonzaga over USF in the semis and Saint Mary’s winning its semi to set up another Zags-Gaels title clash.

The Zags have played in all 13 championship games – they’re 6-3 vs Saint Mary’s and 4-0 vs. BYU – since the tournament moved to Orleans Arena in 2009. GU has advanced to 24 consecutive title games, compiling an 18-6 record.

“The series is tied 1-1 now, right,” Gonzaga senior guard Rasir Bolton said after Saturday’s loss to the Gaels. “We gotta get a tiebreaker in Vegas, so hopefully we’ll see them.”

Both teams have work to do to make that happen with the WCC enjoying one of its best seasons in decades. The conference is strong at the top, which is reflected in the NET rankings with No. 1 Gonzaga, No. 19 Saint Mary’s, No. 27 San Francisco, No. 52 BYU and No. 72 Santa Clara.

The Zags (24-3), battling for the top overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, could potentially add two Quad 1 wins (vs. NET top 50 on neutral floor) to their credentials.

Arizona, which figures to be Gonzaga’s primary challenger for top seed in the West, wrapped up the Pac-12 title with Tuesday’s convincing road win over USC. The Wildcats (26-3) could face a couple of more Quad 1 foes at the Pac-12 Tournament.

Saint Mary’s could move up on the seed line with a pair of wins in Las Vegas. The Gaels are projected as a No. 5 seed by CBS Sports’ Jerry Palm, a No. 6 by ESPN’s Joe Lunardi and a No. 8 by Fox Sports’ Mike DeCourcy.

San Francisco could cement its first NCAA berth since 1998. The Dons are a No. 10 seed, according to Palm, DeCourcy and Lunardi. The latter has USF as one of the last four teams in with a bye.

Third-seeded Santa Clara hasn’t made the NCAA Tournament since Steve Nash guided the Broncos to a first-round win in 1996, but this is sixth-year coach Herb Sendek’s best team. The Broncos, who went 1-1 against Saint Mary’s, would face the Gaels in the semifinals with a quarterfinals victory. BYU didn’t make Lunardi’s or DeCourcy’s brackets, but Palm lists the Cougars as a No. 11 seed.

Sixth-seeded Portland, led by former Eastern Washington coach Shantay Legans, has won five of its past six conference games and is guaranteed its first winning season since 2015.

The Pilots have a first-round bye before facing the winner of San Diego-Pepperdine.