West Coast Conclusion

So it’s here – Gonzaga’s true basketball farewell to the WCC, 47 seasons after joining the lodge. Forty of those have concluded with a tournament to decide the league’s automatic entry to the NCAAs. The inaugural began with first-round games at campus sites (the Zags upset by Pepperdine that year). Then there was an uncodified rotation of hosts, which too often became what former GU coach Dan Monson derided as “the Santa Clara Invitational.” At last, neutral ground was found at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas – which more often than not actually became the Gonzaga Invitational, the Zags having won 12 of 17 there, and 22 in their history. But there’s never one like the first. And, truly, there’s never been a Gonzaga season like 1995.

The rivalry germinated when the Gaels strung together six straight 25-plus win seasons from 2008-13, including two regular-season titles, two tournament crowns and four NCAA Tournament appearances. Saint Mary’s won at least one matchup vs. Gonzaga in five of those six seasons.

Gonzaga-Santa Clara doesn’t approach the annual GU-Saint Mary’s collisions that seemingly determine the West Coast Conference hierarchy. But for sheer drama, individual excellence (hello Steve Nash), inexplicable fouls 70 feet from the hoop, game-winning shots and the expiration of a pair of lengthy homecourt winning streaks, Zags-Broncos more than holds its own for must-see moments over the course of Gonzaga’s 46-year run in the WCC.

Omar. In compiling a Hall of Inflame from the annals of Gonzaga basketball, it is the first name among triggering baddies – and so identifiable that a last name isn’t really necessary. The Big O from Saint Mary’s thoroughly dwarfs any rival in this little broom closet of Zag lore – and not only because he stands 6-foot-11 and packed around some 265 pounds, proportions apt for a would-be first round pick in the WWE heel draft.

Zagmania was nearly two decades away. So what was the big deal?

With their West Coast Conference farewell tour underway, maybe it’s time to revisit Gonzaga’s welcome-to-the-WCC moment.

The Zags will say goodbye to the WCC at the end of this season, joining the newly reconfigured Pacific-12 Conference. It should be a fond farewell, as the WCC has served them well. So well, in fact, that a consensus exists among three former Zags – from periods before and after and during the move out of the Big Sky: All agree, Gonzaga could never have reached its current elite status without first making that conference shift in 1979.