This is the fourth season in a row that the top three seeds in the WCC have been Gonzaga, BYU, and Saint Mary’s in some order. (Actually, San Francisco was the 3-seed last season. Thanks, @DonsCentral.)The only reason the streak doesn’t extend farther is that BYU joined the conference then. Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s were the top two seeds for four years running before that. So while the back end of the conference has improved to the point where the WCC is as strong as it’s ever been from top to bottom, until a team crashes the party at the top of the conference table, it’s a tough sell to the rest of the world that there is much more parity in the league than there used to be.

Not surprisingly, there’s only a slim chance – 5% by this estimate – that a team outside the Big Three shocks the world and wins the automatic bid. For future reference, I’d point to Pepperdine as a team that could make some waves (lol) next season. Barring unexpected developments, they’ll bring back the key parts from a team that went 3-3 against the top three. (But don’t expect them to hold opponents to 26% from three-point range next season.) If the Waves can survive a coin flip against San Diego, they’ll get a shot at a Gonzaga team that they played tough in both regular-season meetings.

BYU’s upset at Gonzaga allowed the Cougars to just barely pass the Bulldogs for the league’s offensive efficiency crown in conference play. This denied the Zags the honor of leading the conference in both offensive and defensive efficiency, something that was only done by seven teams this season – Arizona, Kentucky, Murray State, North Carolina A&T, South Dakota State, Villanova, and Wichita State.

West Coast Conference

All-kenpom.com: Kyle Wiltjer, Gonzaga (kPOY); Brad Waldow, Saint Mary’s; Tyler Haws, BYU; Kyle Collinsworth, BYU; Przemek Karnowski, Gonzaga.

March 6, 7, 9, 10. All games at Las Vegas.

                 Qtrs Semis Final Champ
 1 Gonzaga        100  94.7  85.4  66.6
 2 BYU            100  91.6  61.8  20.8
 3 Saint Mary's   100  74.7  31.3   7.8
 5 San Diego      100  52.9   7.0   2.1
 4 Pepperdine     100  47.1   5.7   1.6
 6 Portland       100  25.3   5.4   0.6
 8 San Francisco 68.8   4.4   1.7   0.4
 7 Santa Clara   58.9   5.6   1.1   0.08
 9 Pacific       31.2   0.9   0.2   0.02
10 Loyola Mmt    41.1   2.8   0.4   0.02