Saint Mary’s has won four of the last five meetings. Randy Bennett has proven that he can slow down the Bulldogs from keeping out in transition. Saint Mary’s plays at one of the slowest paces in the country and the Bulldogs defense is also able to slow teams down in transition, which won’t be a problem against Saint Mary’s, already playing as slow as they do. Even last night against the Waves, Saint Mary’s would use most of the shot clock which can also be expected tonight in a slow, grind-it-out type game. The total has gone under in six straight meetings as well.

The Bulldogs have had a modest season by their lofty standards but they came on strong down the stretch with 10 wins in their last 12 games. The lone loss in that span came at the hands of the Gaels, who swept the regular-season series 2-0. Last year, St. Mary's won the WCC title to halt Gonzaga's four-year reign. Look for the Bulldogs to avenge that loss by starting another streak Tuesday.

The gaudy Gonzaga offensive numbers never seem to translate against the Gaels, whose gnarly defense ranks fifth nationally in scoring (60.8 ppg), holding the Zags to 62.5 ppg in the two regular season meetings. Though the recent Feb. 22 game at Spokane landed 141, the previous five games in this hot WCC rivalry all landed 129 or fewer, including a 62-58 grinder won by SMC at Moraga on February 1. What Randy Bennett did in those last two meetings was close down the perimeter, holding Mark Few's shooters to 7-31 from beyond the arc across the two wins. The Gaels-Zags games are usually grinders and no reason to think this WCC finale will be anything different. Play Gonzaga-Saint Mary's Under.