It feels like the Gonzaga basketball team is a lock to win the WCC Tournament every season, but another team finally hoisted the trophy this year. St. Mary's basketball got the better of Gonzaga this season as they won the regular season title and the conference tournament. They also beat the Bulldogs two of the three times that the two teams met this season. The WCC tournament came down to those two schools, and St. Mary's won 69-60.

Gonzaga basketball made things tough on St. Mary's basketball, but they couldn't pull out a win. It was a back and forth, physical matchup, and the Gaels prevailed to pickup a milestone conference tournament win.

“If you let (Mitchell) Saxen be that physical he's tough to score on,” Gonzaga head coach Mark Few said after the game, according to an article from Sports Illustrated. “It was a sumo wrestling match down there tonight. If that's the case he's probably going to win. He's the biggest, strongest of these guys. They were more physical. They're probably a better rebounding team when they put (Mason) Forbes in there. Really, really hard fought game. Really physical game. It came down to the last three minutes and they made plays and got to the free throw line. We just came up a little dry on the offensive end.”

Gonzaga has won a lot of WCC tournament titles in recent years, and there had to be a season where they don't get at least one of the two. This year, they won neither. Mark Few has a lot of respect for the St. Mary's program and what they have accomplished.

“Tons and tons of respect for Saint Mary's,” Few added. “They're a tough, tough out. Physical and smart. Adjusted to some of the things we did to them in the last game we played. So then we had to make adjustments at halftime to kind of counter that.”

Now, the Bulldogs have nothing left to do but wait for selection Sunday and see what kind of draw they get in the NCAA Tournament. Gonzaga should end up being in the 5-7 range in terms of seeding.

“We'll be fine,” Few said in regards to the NCAA Tournament. “We still have everything in front of us. For months we probably weren't in a position to drop a game here, but they fought like crazy and did an unbelievable job. Now we get to play (in the NCAA Tournament) – the reason they came to Gonzaga, the reason we all coach at Gonzaga.”

Most conference tournaments are getting going now and will end on Saturday and Sunday. Once they wrap up, Gonzaga and the rest of the teams vying for a tournament spot will learn their fate. We are just a few days from the start of one of the best stretches in sports: March Madness.