2017 Wooden Legacy Championship Notes
THE CHAMPIONSHIP GAME – Washington State of the Pac-12 Conference will meet San Diego State from the Mountain West Conference at 9 p.m. (PT) Sunday (November 26) in the championship game of the Wooden Legacy. San Diego State is bidding to become the first-ever school to win multiple Wooden Legacy titles. The Aztecs the first school to appear in two Wooden Legacy championship games as San Diego State captured the 2013 title by defeating Marquette 67-59 at the Honda Center.
TELEVISION – The game will be televised by ESPN with Eric Rothman and Dino Gaudio describing and commenting on the action, respectively. Gaudio was at the held when Wake Forest won the 2008 Anaheim Classic/Wooden Legacy at the Anaheim Convention Center.
Sunday, November 26 Schedule at Titan Gym, Cal State Fullerton
• Saint Joseph’s vs. Sacramento State, 11:30 a.m. PT (2:30 p.m. ET), ESPN3
• Saint Mary’s vs. Georgia, 2 p.m. PT (5 p.m. ET), ESPNU
• Harvard vs. Cal State Fullerton, 6:30 p.m. PT (9:30 p.m. ET), ESPN3
• Championship – Washington State vs. San Diego State, 9 p.m. PT (12 a.m. ET, next day), ESPN2
WASHINGTON STATE VS. SAN DIEGO STATE – Washington State has won all five of the previous five meetings between the two schools. Here are the results between the two schools.
• Dec. 2, 1974 – 76-67 at San Diego State
• Nov. 28, 1975 – 86-81 at Spokane
• Dec. 19, 1992 – 73-51 at the Texaco Star Classic
• Dec. 10, 2005 – 60-49 at the San Diego Slam
• Dec. 21, 2006 – 64-54 at Seattle
Washington State (5-0)
N5 Saint Martin’s (exhibition) W 85-74
N12 Texas Southern W 86-84 (OT)
N15 Seattle W 75-59
N18 Idaho State W 83-62
N23 Saint Joseph’s at Wooden Legacy W 75-71
N24 Saint Mary’s at Wooden Legacy W 84-79
N26 San Diego State at Wooden Legacy 9 p.m. PT
D2 UC Davis 12 p.m. PT
San Diego State (5-1)
N2 UC San Diego (exhibition) W 98-79
N10 San Diego Christian W 91-52
N14 at Arizona State L 68-90
N17 McNeese State W 83-52
N20 Eastern Illinois W 94-63
N23 Sacramento State at Wooden Legacy W 89-52
N24 Georgia at Wooden Legacy W 75-68
N26 Washington State at Wooden Legacy 9 p.m. PT
N30 at San Diego 8 p.m. PT
THE COAcHES – Ernie Kent is in his fourth season at Washington State with a 41-57 record. At the start of his 23rd season as a college coach, Kent has a 365-311 overall record. Brian Dutcher is starting his 19th season at San Diego State, but his first as the Aztecs’ head coach. He has compiled a 5-1 record at the start his first season as a college head coach.
WOODEN LEGACY CHAMPIONSHIP GAMES – Washington State will be seeking to be the fifth school from the Pac-12 Conference to win the Wooden Legacy/Anaheim Classic title. USC (2007), Cal (2012), Washington (2014) and UCLA (2016) captured the titles previously for the Pac-12 where the league has now compiled a 20-12 record in the event. San Diego State will be playing in its second Wooden Legacy finale as the Aztecs defeated Marquette 67-59 for the 2013 finale. UNLV (2010) also won a Wooden Legacy title for the Mountain West Conference. Washington State (6-8 with a 2010 second in Hawai’i) is playing in its fifth ESPN Events’ in-season tournament. San Diego State (10-1 with two titles and a second) is participating in its fourth. The Aztecs won the 2013 Wooden Legacy and 2016 Diamond Head Classic.
WOODEN CHIPS – A tournament title here has big implications, as all but one of the past Wooden Legacy champions went on to play in the NCAA Tournament (the only exception was Washington in 2014). Both conferences represented in Sunday’s title match are undefeated in Wooden Legacy championships.
Season, championship game result Champions final record, post-season finish
2016 – UCLA (Pac-12) 74, Texas A&M (Southeastern) 67 31-5 record, NCAA “Sweet 16”
2015 – Michigan State (Big Ten) 77, Providence (Big East) 64 29-6 record, NCAA first round
2014 – Washington (Pac-12) 68, UTEP (Conference USA) 65 16-15 Pac-12 first-round
2013 – San Diego State (Mountain West) 67, Marquette (Big East) 59 31-4, NCAA “Sweet 16”
2012 – Cal (Pac-12) 78, Pacific (Big West) 58 21-12, NCAA third round
2011 – Saint Louis (A10) 83, Oklahoma (Big 12) 63 26-8, NCAA third-round
2010 – UNLV (Mountain West) 71, Virginia Tech (ACC) 59 24-9, NCAA second-round
2009 – West Virginia (Big East) 84, Portland (WCC) 66 31-7, NCAA “final four”
2008 – Wake Forest (ACC) 87, Baylor (Big 12) 74 24-7, NCAA first-round
2007 – USC (Pac-12) 70, Southern Illinois (Missouri Valley) 45 21-12, NCAA first-round
CHAMPIONSHIP CLIPS – In past 10 Wooden Legacy championships games, the school:
• scoring 68+ points are 9-1 (exception was Baylor in 2008 with 74 points)
• leading at half are 9-1 (exception was Wake Forest in 2008)
• with the higher FG% are 9-1 (exception was San Diego State in 2013)
• with more 3pt-FGM are 6-3 as one year it was tied…each of last three winners had more 3pt-FGM
• getting to the FT line more are 6-4
• with more rebounds are 8-1 as one year it was tied (exception was Saint Louis in 2011)
• committing fewer turnovers are just 6-4
• there have been two wire-to-wire wins (Saint Louis in 2011 and California in 2012)
• the biggest deficit overcome to win was 9 by UCLA in 2016 (Texas A&M led by 9 at 15:29 in the first half)
• four games have seen leads of at least 20 points (the biggest being 25 by USC in 2007)…the 2016 contest was the only one in which no team ever held a double digit lead (both UCLA and Texas A&M had nine-point leads)
WOODEN LEGACY/ANAHEIM CLASSIC MARK – The 2017 Wooden Legacy marks the second appearance for both Washington State and San Diego State in the Thanksgiving weekend event. The Cougars dropped three games in the 2011 event to Oklahoma (74-59), New Mexico (72-62) and UC Riverside (64-63). The Aztecs have now won five-straight games in the Wooden Legacy after capturing the 2013 title by defeating Charleston (72-52), Creighton (86-80) and Marquette (67-59). Xavier Thames scored a career-high 29 points as San Diego State held off a late rally to beat Marquette. With the game tied at 53 with 3 1/2 minutes remaining, the Aztecs closed the game with a 14-4 run. Thames, who was named tournament’s MVP, made six free throws in the final 40 seconds to help secure the victory.
Next Opponent for Wooden Legacy Participants
• Cal State Fullerton (2-3) – Cal Lutheran on December 2. The Kingsmen are 1-1 and host George Fox Monday before playing the Titans.
• Georgia (4-1) – at Marquette on December 2. The Golden Eagles are 3-2 and host Eastern Illinois Monday and Chicago State Wednesday before playing the Bulldogs.
• Harvard (3-3) – at Northeastern on November 30. The Huskies are 2-3 and play Furman November 25 before hosting the Crimson
• Sacramento State (1-5) – at Saint Mary’s on December 4. The Gaels are 5-1 and play Georgia and at Cal December 2 before hosting the Hornets.
• Saint Joseph’s (2-3) – Bucknell on November 29. The Bison are 2-4 and play at Stony Brook Sunday before hosting the Hawks.
• Saint Mary’s (5-1) – at Cal on December 2. The Bears at 2-4 and host Cal State Northridge Tuesday before hosting the Gaels.
• San Diego State (5-1) – at San Diego on November 30. The Toreros are 4-0 and play at Grand Canyon Sunday before hosting the Aztecs.
• Washington State – (5-0) UC Davis on December 2. The Aggies are 3-1 at play at Washington Sunday and host Northern Colorado Wednesday before playing the Cougars.
2018 WOODEN LEGACY – Seven of the eight schools scheduled to participate in the 2018 Wooden Legacy (November 22, 23 and 25) are Fresno State (Mountain West Conference), Hawai’i (Big West), LaSalle (Atlantic 10), Miami (Atlantic Coast), Northwestern (Big Ten), Seton Hall (Big East) and Utah (Pac-12).
• Fresno State is 3-2 and plays host to Montana State Sunday.
• Hawai’ii is 3-1 and hosts Adams State of Colorado Monday. The Rainbows play at Utah this coming Saturday.
• LaSalle is 3-3 has and hosts Temple Sunday. The Explores have lost to both Northwestern (82-74) and Miami (57-46) this season.
• Miami is 4-0 and ranked No. 11. The Hurricanes play North Florida Saturday and at No. 14 Minnesota Wednesday.
• Northwestern in 4-2 and ranked No. 20. The Wildcats plays Tuesday at Georgia Tech.
• Seton Hall is 5-1 and plays Texas Tech Thursday.
• Utah is 5-1 this season and hosts Hawai’i this coming Saturday.