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WCC Tournament bracket 2023: Gonzaga earns No. 2 seed, Saint Mary's No. 1 seed

Saint Mary's gets the nod due to NET ranking tiebreaker

Cole Forsman

WCC Tournament bracket 2023: Gonzaga earns No. 2 seed, Saint Mary's No. 1 seed
WCC Tournament bracket 2023: Gonzaga earns No. 2 seed, Saint Mary's No. 1 seed /
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After clinching a share of the West Coast Conference regular season title, Gonzaga men's basketball was given a triple bye and the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament.

Saint Mary's was awarded the No. 1 seed in the seeding process. The tiebreaker was determined by the NCAA Evaluation Tool. The Gaels (25-6, 14-2 WCC) are No. 7 in the NET, while the Zags (25-5, 14-2 WCC) come in at No. 9 after defeating the Gaels on Saturday, 77-68, to split to the conference regular season title.

Both programs earned triple byes to start the conference tournament, which means the Zags' first game will be in the semifinal round on March 6. The first round of the WCC tournament in Las Vegas starts on March 2.

Elsewhere, Santa Clara rode a seven-game winning streak to earn the tournament's No. 3 seed. That's back-to-back third-place finishes for the Broncos (23-8, 11-5), the only team outside of Gonzaga, BYU and Saint Mary's to have multiple top-three finishes in the last 11 seasons.

Loyola Marymount, the only program to beat the Zags and Gaels, is the No. 4 seed and will take on Santa Clara for the first time this season when the two meet in the first round on March 4.

Gonzaga would not have to face the Lions (19-11, 9-7 WCC) until the championship round if both programs advance that far.

Due to tiebreakers, BYU (No. 89) was awarded the No. 5 seed and San Francisco (No. 121) was the No. 6 seed.

BYU, San Francisco and Pacific all tied for fifth in the standings after the Cougars (17-14, 7-9 WCC) defeated the Dons (18-13, 7-9 WCC) on Saturday. Due to tiebreakers, the three teams form a pod. BYU and San Francisco went 3-1 against the other two teams, while Pacific was 0-4.

Because the Cougars and Dons split the season series 1-1, the next tiebreaker was each team's record against teams in descending order of conference standings. Both lost twice to the top three teams, but the Dons beat the Lions in their only matchup this season, while the Cougars split their two meetings.

Due to an unbalanced schedule, the tiebreaker advanced to the NET rankings.

Portland, San Diego (11-19, 4-12 WCC) and Pepperdine (9-21, 2-14 WCC) rounded out the bottom of the standings.

The Pilots (13-18, 5-11 WCC) lost to the Tigers (14-17, 7-9 WCC) on Saturday, while the Broncos defeated the Toreros (11-19, 4-12 WCC). The Waves (9-21, 2-14 WCC) lost to the Lions on the final day of WCC regular season action.

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Cole Forsman
COLE FORSMAN

Cole Forsman is a reporter for Gonzaga Bulldogs On SI. Cole holds a degree in Journalism and Sports Management from Gonzaga University.

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