The Gonzaga Bulldogs have slid all the way down to No. 7 in the Top 25 AP Poll after getting a taste of what it’s like to be No. 1. In conference play, however, Mark Few’s team is king, and the Bulldogs will look to show the Santa Clara Broncos this coming Saturday why they are still the top dogs in the WCC. But will the Broncos shock the college basketball world with an upset win? Going into the game Gonzaga is priced at +800 to win the NCAA championship.
Betting on the Santa Clara Broncos (8-6 Overall / 0-0 Conference)
The Broncos have heart. That may sound a bit mawkish, but that’s an apt way to describe a team that started the season 0-4 SU, and is now 8-6 SU. They have won all of last four games (pending the matchup against San Diego on Thursday) none bigger than the 79-71 road victory over a Pac-12 opponent in the Washington State Cougars. The Cougars are not having a good year, but that doesn’t deny the fact that they’re a Power Six team beaten by a Broncos team that’s only ranked 211th on KenPom. And the Broncos are doing all these minus their best player in KJ Feagin, who suffered a season-ending injury just two games into the 2018-19 campaign. The duo of Tahj Eady and Josip Vrankic has picked up the slack and carried most of the scoring responsibilities for Santa Clara. Sophomore guard Eady leads the team this season with 15.8 points and 4.1 assists per game, while sophomore forward Vrankic is right behind him with 13.8 points per contest.
Santa Clara can be dangerous from deep, as it is 43rd in the nation with a 37.8 3-point shooting percentage.
The Broncos are 6-3-1 ATS in their last 10 road games.
Betting on the Gonzaga Bulldogs (13-2 Overall / 0-0 Conference)
After back-to-back losses to the No. 7 Tennessee Volunteer and No. 12 North Carolina Tar Heels, the Bulldogs are streaking again, winning four games in a row, heading into this Saturday’s clash with Santa Clara. The game against the Broncos should be a win for Gonzaga, barring an unforeseen catastrophic circumstances. Gonzaga simply has too much talent to lose to a team like Santa Clara, which, as mentioned earlier, is missing its best player. No one from the side of the Broncos is near the level of Bulldogs star Rui Hachimura. The 6-8 forward is leading Gonzaga with 21.2 points and 6.5 rebounds. Apart from Hachimura, Gonzaga has a frontline that features Brandon Clarke, who’s going to be a big problem, literally and figuratively, for Santa Clara. Clarke is putting up 17.1 points, grabbing 8.3 rebounds, and swatting away 3.1 shots per game. Then they also have Zach Norvell, a shifty two-guard who leads the WCC in 3-pointers made per game (3.0). No wonder that the Zags are tops in the nation in scoring with 93.7 points per contest.
