March Madness: No. 1 Gonzaga Heavy Favorite in West Coast Conference

March Madness: No. 1 Gonzaga Heavy Favorite in West Coast Conference

Loyola Marymount, the 9-seed in the West Coast Conference, pulled a minor upset 65-54 Wednesday over 8-seed Portland, and if they pull two more upsets they could earn the right to play the No. 1 team in the country, Gonzaga, for the title. Gonzaga center Kelly Olynyk is getting close to All-American consideration based on his rating at www.valueaddbasketball, and Elias Harris and Kevin Pangos are also among the top 62 players in the country. www.kenpom.com rates Gonzaga No. 4 as a team. To follow all results, click here.

Middle 20 teams want Gonzaga or at least St. Mary’s to win the conference. Gonzaga is obviously in the tournament, and St. Mary’s should be despite not having big wins to clinch a bid. Both schools have byes until the semifinals. St. Mary’s will most likely face BYU, which will first play the San Diego-Pepperdine winner. Gonzaga will most likely face 4-seed Santa Clara or 5-seed San Francisco, unless Loyola Marymont can pull off two more upsets.

Below are the top eight players and teams based on Value Add and KenPom.

Conf Rnk Natl Rnk Elite 8 Players/Teams WCC Ht Value Add
1 19 Olynyk, Kelly Gonzaga 7-00 7.58
2 45 Dellavedova, Matthew St. Mary’s 6-04 6.65
3 60 Harris, Elias Gonzaga 6-08 6.3
4 62 Pangos, Kevin Gonzaga 6-02 6.22
5 132 Roquemore, Evan Santa Clara 6-03 5.11
6 155 Trasolini, Marc Santa Clara 6-09 4.77
7 191 Ireland, Anthony Loyola Marymount 5-10 4.45
8 197 Haws, Tyler Brigham Young 6-05 4.39
1 4 Team Rank Gonzaga    
2 19 Team Rank St. Mary’s    
3 70 Team Rank Brigham Young    
4 87 Team Rank Santa Clara    
5 124 Team Rank San Francisco    
6 195 Team Rank San Diego    
7 223 Team Rank Pepperdine    
8 236 Team Rank Loyola Marymount  

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.