Santa Clara is on the brink of its first NCAA Tournament berth in 30 years, but coach Herb Sendek isn’t about to rely on the opinions of March Madness pundits.
The overriding belief is that the Broncos’ drought will end, but Santa Clara can punch its ticket on its own terms Tuesday night if it can knock off top-seeded and 12th-ranked Gonzaga (29-3) in the West Coast Conference title game in Las Vegas.
The third-seeded Broncos (26-7) took a huge step toward making the 68-team NCAA field when they defeated second-seeded Saint Mary’s 76-71 in Monday night’s semifinals.
“It doesn’t really matter what I think, I’ve come to learn,” Sendek said after notching his 600th career victory. “Let’s just play (Tuesday’s) game; that’s been our message all along. We don’t try to handicap the situation, we don’t subscribe to bracketologists.”
Tuesday will mark Santa Clara’s first appearance in the conference championship game since 2007, when the team lost to Gonzaga. And the NCAA Tournament famine goes back to 1996, when the Broncos finished a run of three appearances in four seasons during the Steve Nash era.
The current players are well aware that history is within reach.
Ultra-confident Broncos guard Sash Gavalyugov already is forecasting a deep NCAA Tournament run.
“We’re not satisfied with just getting to March Madness,” Gavalyugov said. “We want to win it all. We have something special, and we can achieve that this year.”
Gavalyugov scored 23 points against Saint Mary’s and provided the biggest moment of the contest.
The Gaels were trailing by two points and chose not to foul. Then, with the shot clock winding down, Gavalyugov buried a dagger from well behind the 3-point line to give the Broncos a five-point lead with 12.1 seconds to play.
“I’m pretty confident in those moments,” Gavalyugov said. “I’m not afraid to fail.”
Gonzaga beat Santa Clara in both regular-season meetings — 89-77 at home on Jan. 8 and 94-86 on the road on Feb. 14. WCC Player of the Year Graham Ike averaged 27.5 points and 13.0 rebounds in the victories.
Sendek said he doesn’t think his club will be affected by the regular-season results against the Bulldogs.
“We’re a team that maintains a very even keel,” he said. “They don’t get carried away too much when things don’t go in our favor.”
The Bulldogs defeated Oregon State 65-56 in their semifinal on Monday. Gonzaga will seek its 22th WCC tournament title in the past 28 seasons.
It will be the last WCC championship game for the Bulldogs before they exit for the rebuilt Pac-12.
Gonzaga coach Mark Few said there is no sentimental value to the contest.
“Not really. Times are so competitive that you are just trying to keep your momentum going into the NCAA Tournament,” he said. “It would be great to win the last WCC Tournament here. We’ve had so many big wins here.”
Ike recorded 24 points and 11 rebounds in the victory over Oregon State. In his eyes, the Bulldogs have a lot to play for on Tuesday.
“It would mean a lot to our team and our senior groups,” Ike said of winning the tournament, “and then definitely the legacy of Gonzaga and the WCC, it would mean a lot.”
Speaking just before the start of the Santa Clara-Saint Mary’s game, Few said he’s very impressed with the Broncos.
“They play a really, really good style,” he said. “They are going to come at you and get after you on the defensive end.”
