The WCC has a vastly better TV deal than the MWC. Whether or not the local rag covers them isn't the point. And Gonzaga gets covered all across the State of Washington. It's the premier program, in a basketball rich state. The Seattle Times, as well as the Spokesman Review, covers everything the Bulldogs do. If you think it's "just Spokane," you're very mistaken.

You should look up Gonzaga's recruiting before you go much further. First off, you may have heard of a few of the top shelf transfers they've landed--including Kyle Wiltjer. Several starters from UW have transferred to GU since the Zags' Elite 8 Run in 1999, with one more--the first in awhile--coming this off-season. UW star Nigel Williams-Goss announced a few days ago that he's transferring to Gonzaga. Following in the footsteps of Dan Dickau and Errol Knight--2 other former UW starters who transferred to Gonzaga in the early 2000's. Williams-Goss chose Gonzaga over Ohio State, UNLV, and Providence.

Then, there are the ESPN Top 100 recruits (I'll list the last 8 years, since that's what ESPN shows on the drop down, and I don't want to look years prior to 2007 up), like Josh Perkins ( currently on the team--ESPN #56), Zach Collins (2016 recruit--#52), Steven Gray (#80), Dimitri Goodson (#79), Gary Bell (#68), and Austin Daye (#27). Internationally, they've cleaned up. Sabonis was a 5 Star by the one system that typically rates international players. Karnowski was a 4 star. Kevin Pangos was a 4 star from Canada, that Notre Dame and Xavier pursued until the end. As far as player development, well, that's where Few really shines, I think anyone who follows the game would agree. Olynyk went from a nobody to a lottery pick. Adam Morrison was the same story, and he picked up the NABC and Oscar Robertson awards along the way. I'm sure we agree on GU's player development, so I won't belabor the point.

It will be pretty tough to find a way to make one of the leftover MWC schools appear better than GU. Because they just aren't. SDSU and UNLV have been recruiting at a high level over the last 6-7 years. They just haven't been able to get it done in the postseason often enough. Since 2012, Gonzaga has 6 NCAA tournament wins--that equals SDSU's all time total. As I've already said, UNLV has had only 3 NCAA tournament wins since the 1991 Final 4. New Mexico's last and only Sweet 16 came in 1974. SMC has more NCAA tournament wins than New Mexico since the MWC was created. And with Matthew Dellavedova and Patty Mills, better success in the NBA as well.

We all have our biases. But as a basketball first fan, I can tell you that I don't miss the MWC one bit. It was never all that. I'm not saying the WCC is either, but again, at least it has one great opponent, plus ESPN, better money, stronger small sports, great locales, and stronger academics.