Pepperdine Men Open Against Portland

Partly because of Gonzaga’s recent success in the NCAA tournament, Pepperdine received an at-large berth last season and shocked Indiana in the first round.

But the West Coast Conference stock is down this season, meaning the conference tournament probably is a must-win situation for the Waves. First up is Portland in Saturday’s first-round game at the Jenny Craig Pavilion on the University of San Diego campus.

Pepperdine has a 20-7 overall record, a No. 74 RPI ranking and finished one game behind Gonzaga for the regular-season WCC title. Portland is 11-16.

Gonzaga (21-6) plays St. Mary’s (2-26), Loyola Marymount (9-18) takes on Santa Clara (18-11) and San Francisco (12-17) goes against San Diego (14-12) in other first-round games. The teams will be reseeded for Sunday’s semifinals.

On the women’s side, Loyola Marymount (19-8)--which has a No. 38 RPI ranking and set a school record for victories in a season--plays San Diego (10-15) in a first-round game Thursday. Pepperdine (20-9), looking to reach the NCAA tournament for the second consecutive season, will face San Francisco (12-15).

Other first-round games are Gonzaga (5-22) against conference co-champion and top-seeded St. Mary’s (22-5) and Portland (13-14) against WCC co-champ Santa Clara (20-6).