Tonight, Saint Mary’s visits Gonzaga where the Zags will be looking to avenge an early January loss to the Gaels in Moraga. If Gonzaga loses tonight, they fall two games behind Saint Mary’s in the WCC race. Gonzaga is a solid favorite to win, and they have been steady in the new Kennel this season. But with a loss, Gonzaga would be in serious danger of not winning the conference’s regular season title for the first time since 2000. Both of these teams are heavily imbalanced, with Gonzaga winning with offense and Saint Mary’s (winners of 13 out of 14) successful with defense. The first matchup was played under Gonzaga rules, with both teams shooting over 50%.

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The big news from yesterday was at Iowa, where Steve Alford and Pierre Pierce parted ways. Headlines today are some derivative of "Iowa’s leading scorer Pierce booted off team." Conventional wisdom says Iowa will suffer tremendously. But with a modicum of analysis, it becomes apparent that Iowa will not be hurt much, if at all. (With the thorough analysis at Hawkeye Hoops, you should be convinced.)

What if the headlines said "Iowa’s leading turnoverer Pierce booted off team." Other than the use of the made-up word "turnoverer", the first impression of that headline is that Iowa will be better off. When Pierre Pierce was on the floor, he committed a third of his team’s turnovers. So while Pierce did score a lot of points, those points came at a great cost. Pierce spent a lot of possessions averaging 18 points a game.

This reminds me of last season’s suspension of Drew Schifino by West Virginia coach John Beilein. Schifino was far and away the leading scorer on the Mountaineers, so when Schifino quit 11 games into the season, it was widely believed that 7-4 WVU would tank the rest of the season. However, the Mountaineers showed little change in their performance and went on to win two games in the NIT. Schifino was not the turnover-maven that Pierce is, but he was an unbelievable gunner. Schifino shot a lot, and he shot worse from two, three, and the free throw line than the rest of his team. So it was pretty easy for his teammates to pick up the slack after his departure. Pierce’s shooting numbers are similar (he’s slightly better from two than his teammates, but worse from three and on FTs) but with more turnovers. So don’t write Iowa off yet.