CougarCorner

Can't hurt to have a WCC team in the Final Four. I guess I was surprised that the Bulldogs are the first since 1957, the year I was born, to make it to the Final Four. Sad record, but this is a positive step for the conference.

Feels special too when you see their record of 36-1 and knowing it was BYU that put that only loss on their near pristine record.

Gonzaga's first ever trip to the Final Four, congratulations to them.

The WCC now has at least 7 tourney games and maybe 8. That is more money to share among the teams.

I hope Gonzaga's season ends as National Champions with a record of 38 & BYU.

Good for the Zags, and really for the league, as mentioned with the number of NCAA shares earned. I think there was a little fear among some BYU internet fans that Gonzaga being our one big win was going to go out there and flop in the tournament. Obviously that didn't happen. St. Mary's actually performed pretty well also. They gave Arizona all they wanted in the second round. Most national "experts" touted Arizona as the team to beat in the west region and decided that Gonzaga's conference SOS said all you needed to know about them, conveniently ignoring that Gonzaga beat Arizona this year. It was funny seeing how the Zags completely dismantled that Xavier team that had been playing awesome and had eliminated Arizona. Gonzaga when they turn it up to their highest level may very well be the best team in the country.

SpiffCoug wrote:I hope Gonzaga's season ends as National Champions with a record of 38 & BYU.

That is the optimum outcome for this season at this time. It will be interesting to see them play South Carolina. I'll be a big Bulldog fan for that game.

scott715 wrote:The WCC now has at least 7 tourney games and maybe 8. That is more money to share among the teams.

The WCC has earned about 3.5 NCAA credits per year from 2011 to 2016. (22 total). The 2017 projected distribution, based on earned credits, is about $5.84M to the WCC - or $584k per school.

The WCC has earned 7 NCAA credits this year, and could earn as many as 9. Go, Zags!

The extra credits this year equate to an additional $300-400K per WCC school per year for the next 6 years. That's a drop in the bucket for BYU's athletic department, but is not insignificant for most other WCC schools. Hopefully the extra resources help other WCC schools improve - recruiting, coaching, whatever.

It would be great for the WCC to get a couple more consistent top-100 RPI schools and for the cellar to be closer to 150 than 250.

BlueK wrote:Good for the Zags, and really for the league, as mentioned with the number of NCAA shares earned. I think there was a little fear among some BYU internet fans that Gonzaga being our one big win was going to go out there and flop in the tournament. Obviously that didn't happen. St. Mary's actually performed pretty well also. They gave Arizona all they wanted in the second round. Most national "experts" touted Arizona as the team to beat in the west region and decided that Gonzaga's conference SOS said all you needed to know about them, conveniently ignoring that Gonzaga beat Arizona this year. It was funny seeing how the Zags completely dismantled that Xavier team that had been playing awesome and had eliminated Arizona. Gonzaga when they turn it up to their highest level may very well be the best team in the country.

If they win the championship, that will not be in dispute.