2009 West Coast Conference Tournament Preview

NCAA Basketball Betting Lines

03/05/2009 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The West Coast Conference Tournament will be held at a neutral site for the first time, as Orleans Arena in Las Vegas will serve host to the 23rd annual event.

The Gonzaga Bulldogs, the only ranked team in the league, earned the top seed once again with a perfect 14-0 ledger. The Bulldogs will begin play in the semifinals, as will the Saint Mary's-CA Gaels, who claimed the second seed with a 10-4 finish. At 9-5, the University of Portland Pilots captured the third seed and 7-7 Santa Clara earned the fourth spot. Both the Pilots and Broncos earned first round byes and will begin play in the quarterfinals. The San Diego Toreros will begin defense of their title as the fifth seed after going 6-8, and they will meet 2-12 and eighth-seeded Loyola Marymount in the first round. The other first round matchup pits the seventh-seeded San Francisco Dons against the sixth-seeded Pepperdine Waves.

The winner of this event earns an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.

The WCC Tournament kicks off on Friday, with eighth-seeded Loyola Marymount tangling with fifth-seeded San Diego. The Lions won just three of 30 total games this season, but one of those victories did come against San Diego. LMU though, went 0-17 away from home and hasn't won this event since 1990. The Toreros on the other hand, upended Gonzaga in the finals last season for their second championship, but they also had the luxury of hosting this event. San Diego was considered a challenger for the WCC title coming into the season, only to struggle for the most part and finish with a losing record within the league.

The first round will concluded with the seventh-seeded Dons hooking up with the sixth-seeded Waves. The Dons went only 3-11 in league play, but they did win two of their last three games, including a 70-62 besting of Pepperdine in their finale. USF is just 12-21 all-time in this tourney and hasn't taken home the hardware since 1998. Pepperdine has gone even longer without a title, claiming its third in 1994. Losers of four straight down the stretch, the Waves ended up with just a 5-9 conference ledger.

On Saturday, the quarterfinal round gets started with fourth-seeded SCU clashing with the winner of the LMU/San Diego matchup. The Broncos fielded a young team that came together in the second half of the season, winning eight of their last 11 bouts. SCU has won this event twice, with the last coming in 1993, and own a 23-20 mark all-time in the tourney.

The second quarterfinals tilt will feature third-seed Portland against the survivor of the USF/Pepperdine battle. The Pilots put together one of their best campaigns in recent memory at 18-11, but losses in their final two outings cost them a potential second seed. Portland could have certainly used the higher seed, as it is just 7-20 all-time in this tournament, winning its only title in 1996.

The top-seeded Bulldogs will make their much anticipated debut in the first game of the semifinals on Sunday. Gonzaga swept the WCC for the third time in history, becoming the first league member to accomplish that feat. The Bulldogs have won nine straight and 11 of the last 12 WCC regular season crowns and are looking to add to their league record nine tourney titles. Gonzaga is 33-13 all-time in this event and has been in the finals 11 straight years and 13 of the last 14. Gonzaga had its run of four straight championships stopped with a loss to San Diego last season.

The second-seeded Gaels will bring the semifinal round to a conclusion on Sunday. SMC was supposed to challenge Gonzaga for the league title, but the loss of star guard Patrick Mills in late January put an end to those hopes. Mills, averaging a team-high 18.7 ppg prior to breaking his right hand, is out for an indefinite period of time. The Gaels though, did show they could win without Mills and enter the postseason riding a five-game winning streak. SMC won its only title in 1997 and it is just 17-21 lifetime in this event.

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MySportsbook.com and Kentucky Derby Offer Bonuses
The 2008 Kentucky Derby has announced a $1-million bonus for this weekend’s 134th ‘Run for the Roses’ and MySportsbook.com is doing the same.

Well, not quite $1 million, but MySportsbook.com is offering a 75% rebate for Kentucky Derby lines. Check out the exclusive horse racing bonus for all the details.

According to MySportsbook.com, the favorites for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky are: Curlin (+250); Street Sense (+500); Scat Daddy (+700); Circular Quay (+750); and Nobiz Like Shobiz (+800).

Derby organizers announced this week that there will be a $1-million bonus at the 2007 Kentucky Derby odds if the first-place horse wins by more than 6 1/2 lengths – the margin of Barbaro's victory last year. The bonus would be divided Saturday among the winning trainer, jockey, owner and a charity, with each receiving 25 percent. The designated charity is the Barbaro Memorial Fund.

''It's certainly creative, it's certainly fun and it has something for the horsemen, which we always want to embrace,'' Churchill Downs president and chief executive Robert Evans said at a news conference. ''What's really cool is it will force us to remember Barbaro.''
    
Meanwhile, the Derby favorite – Curlin – is going against the odds this year. It's been 125 years since Apollo won after skipping his 2-year-old season, and not since Regret in 1915 has such a lightly seasoned horse worn the blanket of red roses.

Arkansas Derby winner Curlin – unbeaten in three career races – tries to overcome both those obstacles in Saturday's 133rd Derby.

''We're not running against history,'' trainer Steve Asmussen said Monday. ''We're running against who they load up.''

Six other horses have run in the Derby without benefit of 2-year-old races and with three or fewer starts. The best any of them managed was a sixth-place finish by Showing Up last year.
   
Asmussen dismissed suggestions that Curlin's lack of racing experience could keep him from the winner's circle.

”He exudes confidence and he's got a great presence about him,'' the trainer said. ''I feel great about the position we're in. He's not worried about anything, why should you be?''
   
The Kentucky Derby is at 4:04 p.m., ET Saturday.

For complete odds on the Kentucky Derby, visit MySportsbook.com. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.