Gonzaga and St. Mary's opened the WCC tournament final with Matt Boldin shooting a pair of technical free throws after the Gaels' Omar Samhan dunked in warmups.
That turned out to be the highlight of St. Mary's evening.
The Gaels were looking to make a big splash against the Bulldogs on national television and they did. Just not the splash they were looking to make. This game was a worst-case scenario for a team looking to go to the Dance, like an acne outbreak on prom night. St. Mary's made it's case for the NCAA tournament. The only problem was, that case was, "Please don't take us."
Now the only question is, does St. Mary's deserve an at-large bid?
St. Mary's moved into the West Coast Conference finals with a convincing win over Portland. But was it convincing enough for the Gaels to get into the NCAA tournament barring Monday's finals outcome? Right now, St. Mary's looks deserving enough to get into the tournament. The Gaels are a much more complete team right now.
Almost as if losing Mills for a stretch made this team better. But St. Mary's looked impressive enough on Sunday night to make its case to be included in the field of 65.
The West Coast Conference tournament starts tonight in Las Vegas, but nobody is really going to be paying attention until Sunday when St. Mary's Patrick Mills makes his much anticipated return. No offense to LMU, San Diego, Pepperdine or USF, but like most opening acts in Las Vegas, nobody cares.
(Well not nobody. The WCC did sell out all of its all-tournament passes before the first tonight's tip-off. So maybe that move to a neutral court in Las Vegas wasn't a bad move afterall. Remember this when the Pac-10 and the other big schools play conference tournaments in front of empty crowds.)
One of the biggest gripes against former CBS basketball analyst Billy Packer was that he didn't respect the mid-majors. He famously complained that there were too many mid-majors in the 2006 NCAA Tournament. That was the year that George Mason upset Michigan State, North Carolina and UConn to get to the Final Four.
This will be the first Packer-less tournament in decades as he retired after last year's Final Four. It's a shame for him because he would have loved the makeup of the brackets this time around. Going against the recent trends, it looks as if the major conferences will get most of the at-large bids, leaving the mid-majors out in the cold.
St. Mary's point guard Patrick Mills and the other spectators at McKeon Pavilion are likely filled with the same 'what if' fantasies after Gonzaga defeated the home team, 72-70, on Thursday night. A crushing defeat for the Gaels who entered the season with tournament hopes.
You can never say never in college basketball. Not with conference tournaments looming a few weeks away. But any hope that St. Mary's had of getting an at-large bid floated away as the Gaels failed to rally for the second time this season against Gonzaga with their injured point guard languishing on the bench.
The West Coast Conference had a banner 2008, getting three teams into the NCAA tournament. But any hopes of the WCC being a multiple bid conference this season evaporated as quickly as Portland's halftime lead on Thursday night.
Last year's Cinderella, San Diego, lost at Santa Clara on Thursday night in a battle of the conference's most disappointing underachievers. Let this be a lesson to all of you coaches who achieve success in your first year. Take the money and run. Bill Grier probably wishes that he did.
That left Portland holding the conference's lone hope to challenge Gonzaga. And it happened ... for a half.
St. Mary's looked like the best team in the West Coast Conference on Thursday night. At least for a half. The Gaels were rocking in Spokane, and it appeared that there might have been a changing of the guard right there in front of the Kennel Club.
But then the game turned on Patrick Mills' right wrist. Literally. Mills injured his wrist and did not return for the second half. Neither did St. Mary's mojo. Gonzaga took advantage of the situation and went on to win, 69-62. The Bulldogs ended the Gaels' 15-game winning streak.
St. Mary's put in a valiant effort without Mills, but there were stretches where the team obviously missed Mills' leadership. Or his ability to take the big shot. There was a time in the second half when it looked like nobody on the court wanted to shoot the ball for St. Mary's. Shot-clock violations or desperate 3-point shots taken well beyond NBA range probably wouldn't have happened with Mills in the game.
But the truth is, you have to win with the guys on the floor. Losing Mills was an obvious setback, but guys like Diamon Simpson and Omar Samhan needed to take control on the floor. They never did, at least not before it was too late.
Mills' wrist is going to be one of the top stories to follow in the coming days.
Headlining: It's obvious, right? Duke tops both polls for the first time since the end of the 2005-06 regular season and we're all depressed ecstatic! I want to say that it's hard to like this Blue Devil team, but when is it easy to like Duke? (Answer: When you're a Duke fan. Or when the Blue Devils are playing Carolina.) That being said, the 2008-09 incarnation isn't nearly as hate-able as previous teams.
Even though Gonzaga was knocked off in the West Coast Conference tournament last season, the Bulldogs were considered the best team in the league. And even as Gonzaga has struggled at times this season, the perception has been that -- again -- the Bulldogs are the class of the WCC. Gonzaga has even climbed back into the Top 25 again.
But is that perception reality?
St. Mary's is certainly making its case following a convincing 65-42 win at San Diego on Thursday night. The Gaels have no won 15 consecutive games and will look to challenge the Bulldogs for conference supremacy. St. Mary's figured to be a Top 25 team this season. But a loss to UTEP in the Anaheim Classic took them out of the national spotlight. (And would be the last time it would lose.)
They finally didn't return until they got a chance to play at San Diego on ESPN. The same place where the team crashed and burned in the WCC tournament last season. St. Mary's buried San Diego right from the start, taking last year's tournament champion apart.
Point guard Patty Mills continues to be impressive and Omar Samhan (16 points and 11 rebounds) is really exerting himself in the low post -- and could provide some matchup problems for Gonzaga. But that's the thing. We can't get too far ahead of ourselves. St. Mary's hasn't played the grueling schedule that Gonzaga has, but it will get its chance to take on the Bulldogs next week.
Gonzaga had a rather troubling December, were it not for Tennessee. The Bulldogs lost to No. 2 Connecticut, Portland State and Utah in a near two-week stretch before beating the Volunteers for the second time this season. But any stumbling during the silly season is in the past as Gonzaga has once again retaken its throne as unmerciful ruler of the West Coast Conference.
The Bulldogs put any doubt to rest with a dominating performance over Santa Clara on Thursday, winning 95-53. The kind of exclamation to let the rest of the conference know that any momentary lapses were just that. And really, I thought Kerry Keating's club could have been a contender this season. Yeah, not so much.
This win won't do much to help Gonzaga's damaged national reputation they suffered at the end of December. But San Diego and St. Mary's no doubt took notice. Matt Bouldin was awesome, and it seems that Gonzaga is at its best when Jeremy Pargo doesn't have to score a lot and is handing out the ball like he did on Thursday night.
Now for a look at some other mid-major action of note.
NCAA Basketball 
Gonzaga and St. Mary's opened the WCC tournament final with Matt Boldin shooting a pair of technical free throws after the Gaels' Omar Samhan dunked in warmups. 
St. Mary's moved into the West Coast Conference finals with a convincing win over Portland. But was it convincing enough for the Gaels to get into the NCAA tournament barring Monday's finals outcome? Right now, St. Mary's looks deserving enough to get into the tournament. The Gaels are a much more complete team right now. 
The West Coast Conference tournament starts tonight in Las Vegas, but nobody is really going to be paying attention until Sunday when St. Mary's Patrick Mills makes his much anticipated return. No offense to LMU, San Diego, Pepperdine or USF, but like most opening acts in Las Vegas, nobody cares. 
One of the biggest gripes against former CBS basketball analyst 
St. Mary's point guard Patrick Mills and the other spectators at McKeon Pavilion are likely filled with the same 'what if' fantasies after Gonzaga defeated the home team, 
The West Coast Conference had a banner 2008, getting three teams into the NCAA tournament. But any hopes of the WCC being a multiple bid conference this season evaporated as quickly as Portland's halftime lead on Thursday night.
St. Mary's looked like the best team in the West Coast Conference on Thursday night. At least for a half. The Gaels were rocking in Spokane, and it appeared that there might have been a changing of the guard right there in front of the Kennel Club.
Ranking the rankings
Even though Gonzaga was knocked off in the West Coast Conference tournament last season, the Bulldogs were considered the best team in the league. And even as Gonzaga has struggled at times this season, the perception has been that -- again -- the Bulldogs are the class of the WCC. Gonzaga has even climbed back into the Top 25 again. 
Gonzaga had a rather troubling December, were it not for Tennessee. The Bulldogs lost to No. 2 Connecticut, Portland State and Utah in a near two-week stretch before beating the Volunteers for the second time this season. But any stumbling during the silly season is in the past as Gonzaga has once again retaken its throne as unmerciful ruler of the West Coast Conference.
