Bracketology: Bubble teams will be sweating these 5 conference tourneys

SPOKANE, WA - FEBRUARY 23: Gonzaga forward Brandon Clarke (15) works against BYU forward Yoeli Childs (23) before scoring during the game between the BYU Cougars and the Gonzaga Bulldogs played on February 23, 2019 in Spokane, Washington at the McCarthey Athletic Center. (Photo by Robert Johnson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

1 of 6

SPOKANE, WA – FEBRUARY 21: Josh Perkins #13 of the Gonzaga Bulldogs is congratulated on breaking Gonzaga’s all time assist record leading with 669 total assists accomplished in the game against the Pepperdine Waves at McCarthey Athletic Center on February 21, 2019 in Spokane, Washington. Gonzaga defeated Pepperdine 92-64. (Photo by William Mancebo/Getty Images) /

Championship week is a cause for celebration, but college basketball teams on the bubble will be scoreboard watching closely in the hopes that a bid thief doesn’t take one away one of the precious at-large bids.

For most of the past five years, the NCAA’s selection committee has rewarded mediocre power conference teams at the expense of prominent mid-majors. A weak bubble has helped make it easy to take a ninth team out of the ACC, but the bubble is always in flux thanks to the threat of bid thieves.

Some of the highest achieving mid-majors, like Gonzaga, are locks for March Madness even if they don’t win their conference tournament. The issue is that if Gonzaga doesn’t win their league, they fall into the at-large pool, where they take a spot away from a bubbler.

With that in mind, we have taken the time to identify the five conference tournaments that can produce bid thieves. This could be very helpful reading if you are a fan of, say, Minnesota or Clemson.

We’ll get it started with Gonzaga and the West Coast Conference.