The BYU Cougars have made their mark on the West Coast Conference quickly.
After losing the regular season title on the last day of the regular season to the Gonzaga Bulldogs, the Cougars defeated the reigning conference champion 78-66 today in the 2012 WCC Conference Tournament Final.
With the win, the Cougars not only win the conference title in their first year as a member, but also secure a trip to the 2012 NCAA Tournament with an automatic bid. And since ESPN's Charlie Creme said that BYU needed the automatic bid to get into the big dance, this might be best for the WCC conference in a way.
Creme also said that Gonzaga should be able to get in despite missing out on the automatic bid, giving the WCC a realistic shot at placing two teams in the tournament.
Dani Peterson led the team in scoring with18 points on 8-for-10 shooting in addition to a team-high 12 rebounds. But as almost always is the case for BYU, it was the play of redshirt senior point guard Haley Steed that made the huge difference when BYU made their run in the second half to essentially put the game away. Steed finished with 17 points and 8 assists.
Click here for the full schedule, brackets (.pdf), TV information, and links for audio and video streams for the WCC (men's and women's) tournament. Click here for full stats from the WCC Tournament via WBB State. For more of our WCC coverage from throughout the season, click here.