WCC Tournament Odds, Picks and Preview

Time Stamp: March 3, 2022 12:42 AM
  • The West Coast Conference Tournament will be played March 3-8 in Las Vegas, with all 10 teams in the league qualifying to participate
  • The Gonzaga Bulldogs have won eight of the past nine WCC Tournament titles
  • See the seeds, bracket, and full tournament preview, below

If a basketball player could fill the hoop with the proficiency that the Gonzaga Bulldogs fill out orders for West Coast Conference Tournament titles, even Michael Jordan would be awestruck,

The Bulldogs have won eight of the past nine, nine of the past 11, 10 of the previous 13 and 18 of the last 23 WCC tourney titles. Their dominance is such that some wags have even suggested that the event be renamed the Gonzaga Invitational.

Expectations are that the Zags will get the job done again. Gonzaga is the -300 odds-on chalk to capture the tourney for the ninth time in 10 years.

2022 WCC Tournament Odds

School Odds
Gonzaga -300
Saint Mary’s +425
Santa Clara +1500
San Francisco +2500
BYU +3000
Portland +30000
LMU +30000
San Diego +50000
Pacific +50000
Pepperdine +50000

Odds as of March 2nd at DraftKings Sportsbook.

 

The Saint Mary’s Gaels, in 2019, were the last school other than Gonzaga to be WCC champions.

Action gets underway in the WCC Tournament on Thursday, March 3 at 9pm ET. The tourney final is slated to be broadcast by ESPN On Tuesday, May 8 at 9pm ET.

Bulldogs Again The Team To Beat

National finalists a year ago, Gonzaga is 21-3 this season and ranked #1 in the nation. Gonzaga received 43 of 61 first-place votes in the most recent AP poll.

The Zags are the +350 favorites in the odds to win the NCAA Tournament.  They’re also the -120 chalk in the Final Four odds.  Gonzaga is listed as the #1 seed in the West Region in SBD’s March Madness bracket projection.

The Bulldogs are led by 7-foot freshman Chet Holmgren. He’s projected to be one of the top-3 picks in the NBA Draft, if not the first overall selection. Holmgren ranks #4 nationally with 3.6 blocks per game. He’s also shooting 43.8% from beyond the arc. Holmgren is averaging 14.4 points per game and 9.7 rebounds per game this season.

Gonzaga’s Andrew Nembhard is a Bob Cousy point guard of the year finalist. He’s averaging 11.3 points and a team-best 5.5 assists per game this season.

Will Gaels Be A Force?

Not only is Saint Marys the last team other than Gonzaga to be WCC champions, the Gaels are also the last team to beat Gonzaga. In the WCC regular-season finale, the Zags were 67-57 losers at Saint Marys.

It was the only conference loss handed the 13-1 Bulldogs. The Gaels halted Gonzaga’s 17-game win streak and 34-game unbeaten run in WCC play. It was the first victory by Saint Marys over the Bulldogs since 2019, halting a seven-game skid. That was also the last season in which the Gaels won the WCC tourney.

Saint Marys (24-6, 12-3) are ranked #19. The Gaels are rated 17th in KenPom’s adjusted efficiency metric. They’ve been the only school other than Gonzaga to win a WCC crown since 2009, earning three titles over that span.

The Gaels come into the WCC tourney as the #2 seed. They are 5-1 straight up over the past six games. Their last loss was a 74-58 setback Feb. 12 at Gonzaga.

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Any Sleepers Worth Considering?

San Francisco was 13-1 at one point this season. The Dons closed out the regular season 10-6 and will enter the tourney as the #4 seed.

At 6-0, the BYU Cougars were ranked #12 in the NCAA. They finished the season 21-9, though and were 1-3 SU against ranked teams. Gonzaga beat BYU twice by a combined 59 points.

Hard To Pick Against The Zags

Amidst all this talk about the greatness of Gonzaga, there hasn’t even been mention yet of 6-10 junior forward Drew Timme. The WCC player of the year is leading the team with 17.6 points per game.

Gonzaga simply has too much depth of talent. The WCC title is again the Bulldogs for the taking. It will launch them along another deep postseason run.

Pick: Gonzaga Bulldogs (-300)

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