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2009 WCC Men’s Basketball Tournament Predictions

Written March 5, 2009 by Jason Lowry

WCC Basketball On Friday, March 9 the West Coast Conference (WCC) Men’s Basketball Tournament is set to get started with 8 teams fighting for a shot at the automatic bid awarded to the tournament’s champion. This year the tournament is being moved to Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. Last year, for the 2nd time this decade, San Diego snapped a 4 year winning streak by Gonzaga, as these are the only two teams that have won this tournament since 1999. While Gonzaga looks primed for another deep run in this tournament, it’s not looking good for a repeat for San Diego, as they are 5th in the conference and just 14-15 on the season. Here is a look at the 3 favorites to win the tournament this weekend, and a sleeper we think that could pull off a couple upsets and possibly win this thing. Bet The WCC Basketball Tournament at Bookmaker.com.

1. Gonzaga Bulldogs (23-5, 14-0 WCC)

The Bulldogs come in No.14 in the Country, and a big reason for that is they have rolled through the MCC this season, as only 4 games were decided by 10 points or fewer. The Bulldogs have solid wins over Tennessee, Maryland, and Oklahoma St, but does have a pretty big loss to now No. 3 Memphis. The Bulldogs get scoring from a number of players, but Josh Heytvelt has been the most consistent with a solid 15.3 points and 6.8 rebounds per game.

2. St Mary’s Gaels (24-5, 10-4 WCC)

The Gaels might have a very impressive record on paper, but this team really hasn’t played anybody all season, and there biggest win is against a Providence team that is pretty good, but just 6th in the SEC. The Gaels did play Gonzaga close this season, as they lost by 7 on the Bulldogs home floor, and most recently lost by just two at home to them. The Gaels will need a huge performance from Patrick Mills in this tournament, as he leads the team with a 18.7 scoring averaging.

3. Portland Pilots (18-11, 9-5 WCC)

The Pilots finished with the 3rd best record in conference play, but were pretty weak down the stretch losing 4 of their final 7 conference games. This team does have 84-66 blowout win over the Gaels to fall back on, but this team has to play much better than it has recently or it will be out of this tournament real quick. The Pilots have 4 guys averaging double digits this season in scoring, but they really need to make sure they get Nik Raivio going if they want to win the tournament.

Sleeper: Santa Clara Broncos (7-7, 15-16 WCC)

This conference is weak, so even though the Broncos are the 4 seed going into the tournament, we still feel like they are pretty much the only team outside of the top 3 that can win this thing. This is a team that starting conference play going 1-4, and were able to bring it back to .500. For instance when they played Gonzaga early in the season they loss by 42 points, and then cut the deficit down to just a 8 point loss last week when they played for the second time this season.The Broncos will need a huge tournament from John Bryant, who comes in averaging a double-double with 18 points and 13.9 rebounds a game, not to mention 2.5 blocks a game.

Prediction: Gonzaga Bulldogs

For those of you looking to do some NCAA Basketball betting on this tournament, be sure to check out our expert college basketball picks and make sure you have the best college basketball odds for each game at Betfirms.

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