Busting Brackets
Fansided

WCC Basketball: 2018 conference tournament preview

By Shaun Gordon

LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 07: Members of the Gonzaga Bulldogs, including head coach Mark Few (R), celebrate with the trophy after defeating the Saint Mary's Gaels 74-56 to win the championship game of the West Coast Conference Basketball Tournament at the Orleans Arena on March 7, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 07: Members of the Gonzaga Bulldogs, including head coach Mark Few (R), celebrate with the trophy after defeating the Saint Mary's Gaels 74-56 to win the championship game of the West Coast Conference Basketball Tournament at the Orleans Arena on March 7, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /
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SPOKANE, WA – FEBRUARY 17: Fans for the Gonzaga Bulldogs cheer for their team against the Pepperdine Waves in the game at McCarthey Athletic Center on February 17, 2018 in Spokane, Washington. Gonzaga defeated Pepperdine 81-67. (Photo by William Mancebo/Getty Images)
SPOKANE, WA – FEBRUARY 17: Fans for the Gonzaga Bulldogs cheer for their team against the Pepperdine Waves in the game at McCarthey Athletic Center on February 17, 2018 in Spokane, Washington. Gonzaga defeated Pepperdine 81-67. (Photo by William Mancebo/Getty Images) /

It’s tournament time in Las Vegas and WCC basketball tips off first in Sin City. Can anyone knock off Gonzaga and punch a ticket to the Big Dance?

It’s becoming a broken record for WCC basketball. It seems that every year Gonzaga is the team to beat with St. Mary’s nipping at their heels and BYU trailing far behind. How about this year? Well, the same can be said once again. The Bulldogs sit at No. 7 in the nation and they’ve earned the No. 1 seed in Las Vegas. A WCC tournament title would help their seeding since they’re not getting much love from bracketologists right now.

Neither is No. 22 St. Mary’s. They should be a near lock for the NCAA Tournament, but despite being a top-25 team in the nation (which means for nothing for seeding), their projected seed could be seen as a slap in the face. And then there’s the rest.

BYU looked like a bubble team early in the year, but they’ve gotten worse as the season progressed. On the flip side, San Francisco and Pacific have both come on strong in WCC play and they’re just dangerous enough to make a deep run.

With San Diego’s league-leading defense, they’re always dangerous, but with the recent arrest of head coach Lamont Smith, there’s no telling how the Toreros will respond. Don’t expect much of a run from any of the four teams in the play-in games.

But hey, this is March, so anything can happen.

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