San Francisco vs. Gonzaga West Coast Conference Tournament Semifinal Picks for March 7 (Archive)
Idle since suffering their only West Coast Conference defeat, the Gonzaga Bulldogs take on the San Francisco Dons in the semifinals of the league tourney on Monday’s NCAA basketball betting schedule.
San Francisco Dons vs. Gonzaga Bulldogs
Monday, March 7, 2022 – 09:00 PM EST at Orleans Arena
Mark Few and Gonzaga are seeking their 25th consecutive appearance in the West Coast Conference Tournament Finals when they collide with San Francisco in the first game of the evening at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. Santa Clara and Saint Mary’s meet in the nightcap, and everyone is fully expecting the Bulldogs and Gaels to eventually meet in Tuesday’s championship game.
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If so, it would be the fifth time in the last seven years for Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s to play for the automatic bid to next week’s NCAA Men’s Tournament. The Dons would certainly like to upset those plans and end the Bulldogs’ long run in playing for the league tourney title, but Todd Golden and his USF squad will have to overcome some long betting odds to pull it off.
Zags Have Won Last 23 Meetings with USF
A San Francisco upset would actually end two streaks since it would halt Gonzaga’s WCC Championship Game run as well as end the Dons’ 23-game drought against the Bulldogs. Nobody should be surprised to see Gonzaga favored by 13 at BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review), the 8th-straight meeting for the Bulldogs to be favored by double-digits. Monday’s scoreboard mark is 154.
Just playing inside the spread would be something of an accomplishment for Golden and the Dons. The Bulldogs did pretty much what was asked of them in the two regular-season matchups, posting a 78-62 win at home in Spokane to push a 16-point line and then besting the Dons in San Francisco by 16 again as 10½-point road chalk.
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Gonzaga’s 89-73 triumph in San Francisco took place less than two weeks ago and was tied with under eight minutes to go in the first half. The Bulldogs then closed on a 21-11 run and maintained a double-digit lead through the second half. Both sides shot 50% from 3-point range to help the final just get past a 19-point total.
San Francisco and Gonzaga met in the semifinals of the 2020 WCC Tournament, sneaking their contest in a few days before the world went haywire with the pandemic. The Dons put up a good fight and had the lead with about five minutes remaining before the Bulldogs rallied to take an 81-77 decision. San Francisco was getting 12½ and the final scooted past the 152 target.
Dons 1-4 ATS on Neutral Courts
San Francisco was listed second in the West Coast Conference on preseason NCAA basketball futures. It was a distant second and the Dons shared the honors with BYU, but Golden’s gang was expected to have a decent season, which they have. San Francisco was 21st in Sunday’s KenPom rankings, and 26th on the RPI list.
The Dons earned their shot at Gonzaga by taking out BYU in the quarterfinals on Saturday. They broke a tie late in what was a defensive first half, then held the lead the rest of the way for a 75-63 final as 3½-point favorites. San Francisco won the glass battle and scored 20 points at the charity stripe, and was by 22 points from Khalil Shabazz.
Bulldogs Close Slate with 1-6 O/U Stretch
Few and the Bulldogs were not very good bets at online betting sites to close the fixture, finishing with just one cover in the last four games. The best way to play Gonzaga the last few weeks was on the ‘under’ as six of the final seven failed to reach the totals, leaving the Bulldogs 11-16 O/U on the season.
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Gonzaga was one of seven top 10 teams to lose on Black Saturday (Feb. 24), and the 67-57 setback at Saint Mary’s ended a winning run of 17 games for the Bulldogs who returned to No. 1 in the polls along the way. The loss also ended a string of 34 consecutive wins in conference play and was the only one of 27 games this season that Gonzaga didn’t have the lead at some point during the matchup.
The Bulldogs were especially off-kilter in the first half and shot just 36.7% (22-60) for the contest, well below their 52.4% clip that leads the nation. It’s not likely Gonzaga will shoot that poorly again but hitting shots well enough to win by 13 or more? No thanks, I’ll make my college basketball pick on the Dons plus the points.
NCAAB Pick: San Francisco +13 (-105) at BetOnline
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.