Gonzaga upset by St. Mary’s: Will it open up a 1 seed?

Perhaps the biggest upset in the 2019 conference tournament season just took place.

St. Mary’s just stunned the top-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs 60-47 to win the West Coast Conference. But more importantly, the Zags are now in danger of losing their 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

After all, losing to a 22-11 Gaels team should make it a much tighter race for Gonzaga to hold off teams like the Kentucky Wildcats, North Carolina Tar Heels, Duke Blue Devils and Tennessee Volunteers for a 1 seed. Those aforementioned teams have played a far more daunting schedule, have more Quadrant I wins, and already strongly in the mix for a 1 seed.

As of now, Kentucky is in position to get a 1 seed by winning the SEC Tournament. Regardless of what anyone else does, that should be enough to get a top seed.

But if Kentucky were to lose in the semifinal or even the title game, a 1 seed is by no means a lock. And it doesn’t help that, if the Wildcats win Friday, they’d likely play Tennessee on Saturday, who is also in contention for a 1 seed.

Now, it’s not out of the question to think Kentucky could go 1-1 in the SEC Tournament and still get a 1. A 27-6 Kentucky team certainly deserves a 1 more than 30-3 Gonzaga, who went 1-2 against the group of Tennessee, North Carolina and Duke, their only real tests this season.

Kentucky also has 10 Quad I wins compared to four for the Zags. Just winning one game in Nashville could give the Cats another.