Is that even in years like this one where they played and beat some great teams early in the year, when the tournament comes it has been a long time since they've been battle tested. Not to knock St. Mary's or BYU, but what they need is a conference tournament where they can test themselves against another top ten team or two. Instead, I think it's a shock when they have to play another top seed under tournament conditions because the other team has already gone through that in their own league and conference tournament play.

I think this is why Gonzaga does pretty well initially, and then falls short of the prize at the end.