The words “Gonzaga Bulldogs” have become synonymous with the term “West Coast Conference champions” over the last 25 years. The perennial powerhouses from Spokane, Washington have been the conference’s regular season champions 22 times this century and have won the annual WCC Tournament 19 times. Head coach Mark Few has transformed this program from a footnote in the college basketball landscape to a nigh unstoppable force, regularly hitting the 30-win mark and churning out NBA-caliber talent.
The lone knock on Gonzaga’s legacy in college basketball: the West Coast Conference, traditionally, has not provided the Bulldogs with enough of a challenge. During Mark Few’s tenure, Gonzaga has never lost more than three conference games in a season and has gone undefeated in conference play six times. Few’s record in conference games is 349-36, an 88.3% win percentage. Compare that to Few’s 43-24 record in the NCAA Tournament, where the competition notably improves, and it feels like playing in a conference like the West Coast Conference leaves Gonzaga unprepared to play against top-level competition.
Things may be changing this year, at least according to Mark Few. Speaking to the media following his team’s hard-fought 88-75 win over Washington State, Few gave his praises to the WCC’s improvement this season:
“This league is going to be a lot tougher this year… The additions are very, very good. They’re big, they’re physical.”
The additions Few referred to are the Washington State Cougars and Oregon State Beavers. Following the dissolution of the Pac-12 conference after the 2023/24 season, the two programs joined the WCC as associate members in multiple sports. The two programs have each appeared in the NCAA Tournament as at-large bids over the decade, the Cougars in 2024 and the Beavers in 2016 and 2021.
Gonzaga Bulldogs’ Improved Conference Opponents
Aside from the newcomers, Gonzaga is also faced with other improved members of the WCC. As of writing, the WCC has 6 teams sitting in the top 100 of the NCAA’s NET rankings: Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s, Oregon State, Santa Clara, Washington State, and San Francisco. These six teams have gone 61-4 in games against teams in Quads 3 and 4 of the NET ranking, implying that they are routinely able to beat the teams that, mathematically, they should beat.
More noteworthy, however, is their record against quality opponents in Quads 1 and 2 of the NET rankings. They have a combined 17 wins against Quad 1 or 2 opponents, highlighted by Gonzaga’s 101-63 blowout of the Baylor Bears to open the season. The WCC is putting up more of a fight against top-level opponents, and multiple teams pose a threat to Gonzaga’s monopoly at the top.
Defensively, Saint Mary’s and Oregon State have been elite. Both teams rank in the top 20 nationwide in scoring defense, and they both force over 12 turnovers per game. Santa Clara has proven they can shoot the lights out, hitting 35.2% of their three-point attempts on a league-leading 28.3 attempts per game.
The Saint Mary’s Gaels, a constant thorn in the side of Mark Few’s Bulldogs and the only other team in the WCC to win the conference tournament since 2009, currently sit at 15-3 and have wins over Power 5 opponents Nebraska, USC, and Utah. The Gaels are currently predicted to be a 10-seed in the NCAA Tournament this season per ESPN’s Bracketology.
Gonzaga currently sits at #14 in the AP Top 25 poll and is 14-4 through their first 18 games. They are 5-0 in West Coast Conference play and are led in scoring by senior forward Graham Ike with 16.6 points per game.
The Gonzaga Bulldogs will take on the Oregon State Beavers on January 16 in Corvallis, Oregon. Television coverage will start at 11:00 P.M. eastern time on CBSSN. The Bulldogs will then return to Spokane for a home matchup with the Santa Clara Broncos on January 18.
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