Before the Zags' magical elite 8 run in 1999 the WCC was an automatic-bid only conference. About as important as the Big South or Metro Atlantic in the grand scheme of college hoops. There were a few times where the WCC was notable though. San Francisco won a couple national championships in the 50s (I figure it's seeing those banners hanging in War Memorial Gymnasium that has caused the Zags' inability to win there lately) and was a decent program mid century. Loyola Marymount, led by Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble, would put up 100 points a night and played a couple spirited seasons in the late '80s including an elite 8 loss to the eventual champion Runnin' Rebels from UNLV. For the past decade plus the WCC has just been Gonzaga and everybody else. Gonzaga brought a national spotlight on the conference with their play anybody, anywhere, anytime style of scheduling and 13 straight appearances in the big dance.
Saint Mary's has clawed their way up from the bottom and a regular season championship finally seems to be within reach. The past few years the battle between the conference behemoth Zags and upstart challenger Gaels brought attention to conference play months before the "Gonzaga gets the WCC's auto bid" remarks on Selection Sunday.
This year it's different, Gonzaga and Saint Mary's are once again battling for the title but, two other teams have played themselves into the hunt.
Newcomer BYU sits tied for second with Gonzaga. Loyola Marymount has gone to both Saint Mary's and BYU and won. With two games left, four teams have the capability of winning or sharing the conference regular season title. This has to be the WCC's best season ever. Gonzaga, Saint Mary's and BYU are already above the 20 win plateau. LMU has two remaining games, both against teams far below .500. If the Lions win those two games the regular season will end with four teams with 20 wins. That has NEVER happened in the conference's 59 year existence. Only once have four teams finished the season with 20 wins, the 1988-89 season, though that took play in post season tournaments to achieve. As recently as the 2005-06 season Gonzaga was the only team to finish with at least 20 wins.
I am a Gonzaga fan, first and foremost, and so this weekend's loss at San Francisco was a tough one. Saint Mary's has to stumble either at Portland or San Francisco and Gonzaga has to win out for their 11 straight WCC regular season title streak to continue. That is possible, San Francisco just played BYU and Gonzaga with both games decided by one point and coming down to the final buzzer, beating the Zags and falling to the Cougars.
However I am also a WCC fan, and while it sucks (for Zag fans) that Gonzaga's reign may end (temporarily), this has been the most exciting year ever in the WCC. The high level of play looks to continue for years to come, at least until BYU's football team causes them to move out of the conference. Then, hopefully the rest of the league will be able to step up. I'm looking forward to 3 bids to the NCAA tournament this year, with at least two other teams playing in the NIT, CIT or CBI post season tournaments. Last season 5 teams played after the WCC tournament ended, for the first time ever. This year looks to be the same, but not just the Zags will make the big dance.
Had you shown that last paragraph to any college hoops writer, analyst or fan even just 4 years ago they would have thought you had gone mad. But it is happening now, and you haven't gone mad. The whole conference has, and it's not even March yet.
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