NCAA men's basketball enters "Championship Week" as the major conferences get started with their conference tournaments. The week gets going however, with some "mid-major" conferences getting the spotlight on Monday. The West Coast Conference and Colonial Athletic Association will both send out their top two seeds in Monday night championship games on ESPN.
For WCC regular season champ Saint Mary's, a win over Gonzaga would secure the postseason conference title, and also potentially move the Gaels out of the dreaded 8/9 matchup. Although SMC is pretty close to a lock for an at-large bid, they are on the bubble when it comes to the 8/9 contest. SB Nation's Chris Dobbertean projects Saint Mary's as a seven seed, while ESPN's Joe Lunardi projects the Gaels as an eight seed.
Seeding will also depend in part on how some of the remaining tournaments play out. Bid theft remains a possibility with a few upsets. While SMC would not appear to be in danger of losing their bid, a potentially higher seed getting knocked out early this week could benefit the Gaels seeding next week.