Posted at 11:00 AM EST. Odds subject to change.

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University Credit Union Pavilion, Moraga, CA

Gonzaga +123 over Saint Mary’s

Streaming: ESPN

8:00 PM EST. Gonzaga has long been the king of the mid-majors and the class of the West Coast Conference (WCC), but this season has not gone as it normally does. Namely, the Bulldogs have not only not wrapped up the conference’s regular-season title, but they do not even have a shot to win it on the season’s final weekend.

The big reason for that is that the Zags dropped the first meeting of the season with the Gaels, 84-82, in Spokane at the beginning of February. That was Gonzaga’s second loss in the WCC after getting “shocked” on the road at Santa Clara, 77-76, in a game the Bulldogs were favored by -8 points. With that loss already on the books, the Zags' showdown with Saint Mary’s a month ago was essentially for the WCC title, as that win for the Gaels put them in the driver's seat. Saint Mary’s had a very easy schedule down the stretch that saw them win games over Pacific as a -19½-favorite, both Portland State and Pepperdine as -19-point chalk, and San Francisco as a -7½-point favorite, before facing San Diego (-23½ points) and Pepperdine (-15½), again. The Gaels would go on to cover all but one of those significant spreads, including their 83-57 drubbing of Pepperdine on Thursday night.

This is just the second time this century that the Gaels have made a solo claim to the WCC crown, and we’re not going to take that away from them, but with that title in the bag and their #1 seeding in the WCC Tournament, which starts in Las Vegas on Thursday, locked in, what kind of effort urgency are the Gaels capable of bringing to the table today?

The Zags have known for a while that they were not likely to win the WCC, so that disappointment has already subsided, and we’ve seen the Zags rebound from that two-point defeat to Saint Mary’s with flying colors, as they’ve won seven straight, including wins over then #17 Kentucky, and on the road at San Francisco, where the Zags waffled the Dons, 86-68 as a -4-point favorite. Dare we say, the Zags may be playing with a chip on their shoulders both here and heading into the WCC Tournament? Make no mistake, this is not a “meaningless” game, it’s an opportunity for the Zags to make a statement, and they are not likely going to pass that up.

Bulldogs outright.

Sherwood

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