The West Coast Conference gets the spotlight to itself Monday evening before the major conference tournaments begin on Tuesday. It is fitting that the WCC championship game features one of the best rivalries in college basketball as the Saint Mary's Gaels face the Gonzaga Bulldogs. This marks the twelfth meeting of the two schools over the last four years, and the fourth straight conference championship matchup between the two.
Saint Mary's ended Gonzaga's run of regular season conference championships this season, and will look to add the postseason title as well. The Gaels will likely be without Stephen Holt as he continues recovering from a knee injury. Holt was in uniform and warmed up for the semifinal game against San Francisco, but did not play. Saint Mary's is a likely entrant in the NCAA tournament even with a loss on Monday, and it makes sense to rest up Holt for another week and a half before the tournament gets going.
Records & Seeding: No. 1 seed Saint Mary's Gaels (26-5, 14-2); No. 2 seed Gonzaga Bulldogs (25-5, 13-3)
Location: Orleans Arena in Las Vegas
Time: 6 p.m. PST
TV: ESPN, with Dave Flemming and Sean Farnham on the call.
Streaming: Live on ESPN3.com
Radio: Westwood One national network
Series History: The two schools have met in the last three WCC championship games. Gonzaga claimed the title last year with a 75-63 victory, while Saint Mary's rolled the Bulldogs the year before with an 81-62 victory. The two teams have met twelve times in the last four seasons and split the last six meetings over two seasons.
Up Next: Both teams are likely NCAA tournament entrants. The winner claims the automatic berth, while the loser has to wait six days until Selection Sunday to learn their fate.