The San Francisco Dons take on the Santa Clara Broncos. Check out our college basketball odds series for our San Francisco Santa Clara prediction and pick.

The Santa Clara Broncos and San Francisco Dons have arrived at one of the biggest games of their season. Both teams are pursuing Gonzaga and Saint Mary's in the West Coast Conference and also have BYU and Portland (among others) to deal with. As WCC action begins and the conference season heats up across the country in major college basketball, it is hugely important for teams in San Francisco and Santa Clara's position to bag these early wins and gain leverage for later points in the season. San Francisco and Santa Clara could easily finish third and fourth in the WCC. It's important to finish third rather than fourth, and it's even more important to have head-to-head wins. If one of these teams can finish third in the WCC and beat Gonzaga and Saint Mary's once apiece, that would represent the kind of resume which could go to the NCAA Tournament. If these teams can't win head to head and can't beat Gonzaga, it's going to be very hard for them to find a path to March Madness. Calling this a must-win game might be a little too extreme, but it's not that severe a characterization. This game is enormous, and the loser concedes a lot of margin for error in the WCC and in the overall race for an NCAA at-large bid.

Courtesy of FanDuel, here are the San Francisco-Santa Clara College Basketball odds.

College Basketball Odds: San Francisco-Santa Clara Odds

San Francisco Dons: +2.5 (-102)

Santa Clara Broncos: -2.5 (-118)

Over: 150.5 (-110)

Under: 150.5 (-110)

Why San Francisco Could Cover the Spread

We have seen what San Francisco can do when it is playing well. We have gained a glimpse of what this team can become when everything is clicking. The Dons blasted Arizona State 97-60 earlier this month, before Christmas. Arizona State entered that game with only one loss. The Sun Devils had risen in the national NET rankings because of a very consistent defense. The Dons tore that defense to shreds in a game they dominated from start to finish. San Francisco grabbed an early 24-2 lead and led by 20 or more points nearly the entire game. That is this team's ceiling. It's frightening to contemplate how good USF looked against the Sun Devils. If even 80 percent of that performance emerges in this game, the Dons should handle Santa Clara comfortably.

The other big note about this game is that Santa Clara has stumbled a few times this season. The Broncos lost to UCF by seven and fell to San Jose State at home by 11 points. Those are weird losses for a team which has a lot of talent and potential. The Broncos aren't a relentlessly consistent team. They played a horrible Cal team earlier in December and, even though they won, had a hard time fully putting the Golden Bears away. Even some of the wins on this team's profile — such as that one against Cal — aren't convincing.

Why Santa Clara Could Cover the Spread

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San Francisco has shown how good it can be when everything is going right, but the Dons have also shown what happens when they don't get the style of game they want. This team has been blown out by Utah State, lost to Davidson (which is not as good as it normally is this season) by nine points, and has lost to Texas-Arlington (the low-ranked team in the NET) at home by five points. How bad is Texas-Arlington? Beyond the NET rankings and the other metrics, UTA lost to Cal. That's the only game Cal has won this season. If San Francisco could trip up at home against Texas-Arlington, it is capable of losing to just about anyone.

Santa Clara is playing at home and will gear up for this game in a big way. The Broncos' energy should challenge the USF offense and create a game style the Dons will not like.

Final San Francisco-Santa Clara Prediction & Pick

Stay away from this game, given that both teams have had a mixture of great and awful moments this season. It's really hard to know which way this one will lean.

Final San Francisco-Santa Clara Prediction & Pick: Santa Clara -2.5