The West Coast Conference basketball tournament tips off this Thursday with two heavy favorites leading the pack. The perennial favorite Gonzaga Bulldogs are neck and neck with the St. Mary’s Gaels on the odds board. Gonzaga is -115 to take down the WCC tournament compared to the Gaels at -105. Unfortunately for the Gaels, they are coming off a loss in their season finale on Saturday at the hands of Gonzaga. Bettors should look over these West Coast Conference Tournament odds before making their college basketball bets this week.
College Basketball Odds: West Coast Conference Tournament Odds
Per DraftKings:
Gonzaga is currently ranked #10 in the AP Top 25 while Saint Mary’s is ranked 17th. That is a two spot leap for the Bulldogs who were previously #12 and a two spot drop for the Gaels.
Despite the lower ranking, it’s St. Mary’s who has been the bigger surprise this season. They came into the year unranked, but received national recognition after a 14-2 record in West Coast Conference play. Gonzaga entered the year as the #2 team nationally and has hovered inside the top ten throughout the year.
One of the Gaels two blemishes on their conference record came this Saturday in a road loss against the Zags. They had previously beaten Gonzaga this year. They now enter the West Coast Coast tournament on a loss.
The win tied up the season series at 1-1 between Gonzaga and St. Mary’s. Gonzaga has won sixth straight games, with their loss in Moranga to the Gaels being their last defeat. The Bulldogs have one more game on their schedule before the start of the West Coast Conference Tournament as they take on Chicago State in a non-conference warmup on Wednesday.
The tournament structure is unique in that it awards byes to the top two teams until the semifinals. That means that Gonzaga and St. Mary’s will not play their first WCC tournament matchups until Monday, March 6th. If both win those games, they will meet for a third time this season in the tournament’s finale.
Las Vegas will host the tournament. It’s full structure is as follows;
2023 University Credit Union #WCChoops Men's Basketball Tournament bracket is set!
SEE YOU IN LAS VEGAS!
?: https://t.co/HlTlZagqrG
?: https://t.co/NESDpbfQJY pic.twitter.com/niOvPmmCns— West Coast Conference (@WCCsports) February 26, 2023
Outside of Gonzaga the oddsmakers have made the rest of the pack heavy underdogs to take down the WCC. Nevertheless, they will be doing so given that the winner is awarded in automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The long odds make the rest of the league serious dark horses for college basketball bettors.
Gonzaga has won the tournament three years straight. They have won 11 out of the last 14 West Coast Conference Tournaments. The other three tournament champions in that span were St. Mary’s. The last time either team was not crowned the WCC tournament winner was in 2008 when it was won by San Diego.
San Diego has the longest odds to win it this year at 1000:1. They are pulling up the rear with Pacific who is also +100000. Behind Gonazaga and St. Mary’s are Santa Clara (+5000), BYU (+5000), San Francisco (+10000), Loyola Marymount (+10000), Portland (+50000) and Pepperdine (+50000).
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