LAS VEGAS — Implosion aside, maybe the BYU administration should have stuck with the Western Athletic Conference when it decided to become an independent in football.

This way, the BYU basketball team could have a better chance to win a conference championship. At the rate they’re going, the Cougars don’t appear to be winning a West Coast Conference championship anytime soon.

For the third consecutive year, since leaving the Mountain West, BYU failed to pose a legitimate threat to win either the regular-season or conference tournament title. The latest failed attempt came against Gonzaga, which drilled the Cougars 75-64 in the championship game Tuesday.

Four years ago, crafting a well-thought-out plan after the Pac-10 promoted Utah into the big time, BYU decided to bolt the Mountain West. The bold move was to go independent in football and stash most of the other sports in the WAC.

The Mountain West sabotaged BYU’s plans by coaxing Fresno State and Nevada to leave the WAC. At that point, the WAC as we know it basically imploded to the point that the conference no longer sponsors football.

Under the circumstances, BYU changed its course on the fly. As we know, the administration decided to ship most of its sports to the WCC.

With the step down in competition, BYU was supposed to become a force in the WCC. Turns out, Gonzaga has barely noticed.

The fact is, the addition of BYU to the WCC has not changed the power structure. It’s still all about Gonzaga.

“One of the elite teams in the country,” is the accurate label BYU coach Dave Rose assigned to the Bulldogs.

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Gonzaga beats BYU 75-64 for WCC title

Gonzaga has been the class of the West Coast Conference, hoisting regular-season and tournament trophies for nearly two decades.

“What they’ve got is such great consistency. They have a formula that has been really successful for them in the league.”

Since Mark Few took over as coach for the 1999-2000 season, Gonzaga has compiled an incredible conference record of 184-24. Over the 15 years, his teams have either won or tied for the regular-season championship 13 times.

During the Few era, Gonzaga has won the West Coast Conference tournament championships 11 times. Rose has yet to win a conference tournament in either the Mountain West or WCC.

After finishing second in his first season, Few then won the WCC title the next 11 years. The Bulldogs, otherwise known as the Zags, have made the NCAA Tournament every season with Few as the coach, with four appearances in the Sweet 16.

Since the Cougars joined the WCC in 2011, they are 2-6 against Gonzaga. BYU has yet to win in Spokane and has lost twice to the Bulldogs in the conference tournament.

“They’re on a pretty consistent roll,” Rose said. They have “quite a few conference championship appearances in the league and quite a few consecutive NCAA appearances.”

As it is with most successful teams in college, Rose cites recruiting as the reason for Gonzaga’s greatness. Unlike most WCC teams, the Zags almost always have size and depth that can match the game’s powerhouses.

In the championship game, Gonzaga's starting frontline sported 6-foot-9 and 7-foot players combined with three guards. BYU had no answer for Sam Dower, the 6-9, 243-pound power forward who went for 20 points and 13 rebounds.

But all is not lost, BYU fans. Despite the overwhelming evidence, Rose believes the gap is closing between Gonzaga and the rest of the league.

“Look at some of the games this year,” Rose said. “There are quite a few games that could have gone either way. There were two teams (BYU and San Francisco) that were two games behind them in the standings.”

For BYU, the hope is in the future. The thinking is Rose has reeled in some of the best recruits in the program’s history.

Over the next few years, when all these recruits return from serving church missions, BYU is expected to provide serious opposition to halt Gonzaga’s domination.

But as we've seen, sometimes expectations don't match reality.

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