WCC Basketball: 2022 conference tournament preview and predictions
By Tuck Clarry
WCC Basketball Bracketology
Locks: Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s
Regardless of how things shake out Monday night on, both the Bulldogs and Gaels are locks to make the NCAA tournament. The Bulldogs have the resumé and analytics to be the number one overall seed in the tournament should they win out. This allows them to not just stay out west but potentially avoid former assistant coach Tommy Lloyd’s Arizona Wildcats should they fall to a two-seed from an unexpected Pac-12 loss the rest of the way.
The Gaels have been seeded anywhere from a 6 seed to an 8 seed since their upset of the number one team in the country. Should they do it again, the Gaels are looking at an even better seeding and region placement.
Playing themselves in: San Francisco and BYU
Santa Clara earning the three seed in the tournament makes the four bid hopes for the conference on life support. The quarterfinals game featuring the Dons likely decides who the third representative for the NCAA tournament will be. Neither San Francisco nor BYU has a resounding resumé that will assure them that they won’t need to sit and sweat on Selection Sunday. The Dons’ case is slightly better with noticeably stronger analytics yet one less Quadrant 1 win than the Cougars. They also dropped a Quadrant 4 game against Portland, which could haunt them.
The Cougars are firmly on the bubble needing to beat San Francisco and not lose badly against Gonzaga to be confident with the committee’s decision. Rumors started circulating last week that the Cougars were looking for an additional non-conference game after the WCC tournament to help bolster their hopes. But still, the easiest path is still the difficult one going through San Francisco and potentially the Zags.