Gonzaga women must end four-year WCC tournament drought to return to March Madness

Something has been missing on the Gonzaga women’s basketball program’s resume lately.

Gonzaga has been the gold standard of the West Coast Conference for two decades. So there’s only one way for the Bulldogs to finish off their run in the conference – by capturing its first WCC Tournament championship in four years.

Ever since Gonzaga qualified for its first NCAA Tournament in 2006-07 – the first of 16 appearances in the Big Dance – the Zags’ ensuing teams have had ties to previous NCAA Tournament-qualifying teams.

The tiny thread on this year’s team isn’t even really a thread. The last time Gonzaga advanced to the NCAA Tournament, redshirt freshman forward Lauren Whittaker was sitting on the bench, redshirting three months after arriving in Spokane out of high school in Canterbury, New Zealand.

In coach Lisa Fortier’s first season in 2014-15, the Zags won the WCC Tournament, advancing to the NCAA Tournament. But the Bulldogs missed the NCAA Tournament the following season.

They missed last season, too. They did accept an invitation to the WBIT.

So both seasons missing the NCAA Tournament have come under Fortier.

When Gonzaga returned to the NCAA Tournament in Fortier’s third season, the Zags had plenty of connections to the first team that went dancing.

So this year’s team is in a different place. It wants to participate in March Madness.

In Fortier’s first 11 seasons, the Zags have played in a postseason tournament every year. But anything less than an NCAA Tournament berth this season is, frankly, falling short of the standard.

If Gonzaga doesn’t win the WCC Tournament, it will be the first time since the Zags started qualifying for the NCAA Tournament that the Bulldogs have gone more than a season without participating.

And if a team starts to drift the other way, especially on the brink of changing conferences, there’s no guarantee of finding the way back.

Even if Gonzaga doesn’t win the WCC Tournament championship, it will be playing somewhere in the postseason. The program doesn’t lack postseason credibility.

Second-seeded Gonzaga (22-9) begins its dream of returning to the Big Dance on Monday in the WCC Tournament semifinals against a still-to-be-determined opponent.

The Zags’ recent nemeses – Portland and Oregon State – are on the other side of the bracket. They’ll likely have to go through each other to earn a semifinal matchup with top-seeded Loyola Marymount (21-8).

Fortier was reminded this week that this is Gonzaga’s final WCC Tournament. But she has no time to wax nostalgic.

“I don’t know if anybody cares,” Fortier said. “We get asked that question a ton. They’re (her players) all so new here … maybe they said something different. I barely care and I’ve been here 22 years.”

The Gonzaga men have more attachment to the WCC than the women. While the men have had a more significant run of success, the women have more than held their own during the same time.

The men hope to get back to the Sweet 16 – a streak that was snapped last season. The women just want to get back to the NCAA Tournament.

Anything less will be a disappointment. It will take doing something it hasn’t done in four years.