Gonzaga costs themselves a chance to play at home

Gonzaga got spanked by St. Mary's in the WCC title game on Monday night, losing 81-62 to a Gaels team that came out fired up and dominated the second half of play.

The loss cost Gonzaga an automatic bid, but the Zags have nothing to worry about. This team has been a lock for the tournament seemingly since the season began.

But the loss did hurt Mark Few's club.

You see, The Spokane Arena is one of the sites for the NCAA's first round games, and had the Zags won tonight, there was a chance that they could have found themselves playing their first two tournament games just a stone's throw from their campus.

But this loss likely drops Gonzaga down a few seed lines, possibly as low as an eight seed. There is no chance that the committee will "reward" a team that earns one of the top four seed lines by forcing them to play what would amount to a road game the first weekend.

Don't get me wrong, this loss does not change the Zags.

This is still a team with two guys along their front line that will likely be paid to play, possibly in the NBA. This is still a team that has one of the better back courts in the country, led by Matt Bouldin and Steven Gray. This is still a team that has the talent to make a run through the first weekend of the tournament.

But playing in an arena full of Zagnuts after sleeping in their own beds is a much more ideal scenario then having to fly around the country to play.