This will be the first time since 2022 that the West Coast Conference will be a three-bid league in the NCAA Tournament with the Gonzaga Bulldogs, Saint Mary’s Gaels, and Santa Clara Broncos. The mid-major conference has proven over and over again to be one of the most underratedly-competive group of college basketball programs.
Coach Mark Few’s Zags and coach Herb Sendek’s Broncos will meet in the championship game on Tuesday, March 10, at 6:00 p.m. PT on ESPN at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. If Gonzaga were to win, it should secure a No. 3 seed in the upcoming Big Dance.
As for Saint Mary’s, they look to be either on the more reasonable No. 7 seed line or the always brutal No. 8 seed line. With Santa Clara, they are off the bubble and shouldn’t need to play in the First Four as a No. 11 seed in Dayton, Ohio. More likely, a No. 10 seed looks to be a possibility.
According to FanDuel Sportsbook, the Zags have the tenth-best odds to end up cutting the nets at the national championship at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana, on April 6. They are tied with the Big 12 Conference’s Kansas Jayhawks and the Big Ten Conference’s Michigan State Spartans.
Arden Cravalho is a Gonzaga University graduate from the Bay Area… Follow him on X @a_cravalho