Saint Mary’s won 83-57 at Pepperdine late Thursday to improve to 24-6 overall, and 15-0 in the West Coast Conference, with just one regular-season game remaining. Everybody else in the WCC has at least two league losses.
So that’ll do it.
The Gaels are now the outright WCC champs regardless of what happens Saturday against Gonzaga. This marks just the second time in the past 24 seasons that somebody has prevented the Zags from getting at least a share of the West Coast Conference regular-season title.
“That was the goal going into this thing — [to win the outright WCC championship] — and they got it done,” said Saint Mary’s coach Randy Bennett. “[It’s] hard to do with Gonzaga in the league.”
If you’re keeping track, Bennett now has five WCC regular-season titles — two of them outright. This is the 24th straight year that either Saint Mary’s or Gonzaga has won at least a share of the WCC regular-season title. The last team besides the Gaels or Zags to win an outright WCC championship was Pepperdine in 2000.
“It’s a really good feeling,” said Saint Mary’s guard Augustus Marciulionis, “to have that title and not have to share it with anyone.”
That Saturday’s game will have no impact on the WCC standings — Saint Mary’s is winning the league no matter; Gonzaga is finishing second in the league no matter what — doesn’t mean it’s not massive.
Because it’s still massive.
Gonzaga needs a win to improve its shaky at-large resume while Saint Mary’s needs a win to complete a rare perfect run through its conference schedule. Plus, it’s Gonzaga-Saint Mary’s. And Gonzaga-Saint Mary’s tends to deliver.
“It’s a huge rivalry,” Marciulionis said. “It’s probably one of the best rivalries in college basketball.”
The Gaels are 24th in Friday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings, where Purdue remains No. 1 for the 10th consecutive morning. Gonzaga is not in the Top 25 And 1 — but the Zags are a No. 11 seed in Jerry Palm’s latest Bracketology. He has them playing Utah in the First Four as one of the “Last four in.”
Friday’s Top 25 And 1 rankings
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