Dance Card: Gonzaga, WCC champs

Who? The Bulldogs of Gonzaga. Sometimes also known as Zags.

What? Named for tenacity. Spike's been in commercials.

Where? Spokane, Washington, birthplace of Father's Day.

When? March 11th, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Why? They won the West Coast Conference tournament.

How? Haiden Palmer had 18 points and 5 rebounds, and Taelor Karr added 14 points and 6 assists, as Gonzaga pulled away in the second half to beat San Diego 62-50.

Surprise? Predicted to finish second in the conference, they ended up in first, three games ahead of San Diego.

RPI: 37

SOS: 108

Record: 27-5 (15-1 West Coast)

Good wins: USC? This Gonzaga team doesn't have the exclamation point on its resume that the Zags usually do.

Bad losses: Washington State.

Who's running this show? Kelly Graves, since 2001. He's spent most of his career in the WCC.

Extra, Extra! The Spokesman-Journal; you might also find some good stuff from Jayda Evans, though she's less well-traveled than she used to be.

Junior guard Haiden Palmer leads the Zags in scoring, putting up 12.2 points and snagging almost three steals per game. Senior guard Taelor Karr adds 10.7 points on lethal outside shooting (44.1% on 144 attempts). It's nice to see a team with a positive A/TO, primarily bolstered by junior guard Jazmine Redmon.

Gonzaga always finds a way to be in it, but we'll see if they can do it against the big teams in the Big Dance.