THE FRONT ROW WITH MARK NELKE: Thursday, March 24, 2016

After one wacky weekend of the NCAA tournament, who knew this to be true:

The most difficulty the Gonzaga Bulldogs have faced in the postseason was just getting out of their own West Coast Conference.

Of course!

The Zags had to play some of their best ball of the season on back-to-back nights in Las Vegas, and still, that was barely good enough to beat BYU and Saint Mary’s.

After that meatgrinder of a conference tournament — isn’t that always the talk nationwide: “If you can survive the grueling WCC, you’re prepared for anything” — the NCAAs have been a cakewalk for the Loveable Zags.

Seton Hall? Sure, the Hall beat — I can’t type the name of that team, but it starts with a ‘V’ — to win the Big East tournament.

BUT THE Zags took away the Hall’s best player, and the rest of the Pirates were reduced to hurling outrageous boulders at the rim from afar, dazed and confused as they quietly lost by 16 points.

Utah? Nearly everyone but Charles Barkley thought the Utes would end the Loveables’ run. Chuck might not be able to sing, but he sure nailed this second-round game. The Zags’ Domantas Sabonis dominated Utah’s big guy — not the other way around, as many thought would happen. It took only a few minutes into the game to realize this was going to happen, and Gonzaga could have won by as much as it wanted. Seed-wise, it was a little bit of a stunner — an 11 seed (Zags) pummeling a 3 seed (Utah), not so much because the Loveables beat the Utes, but the way the Zags destroyed Utah. Once the Utes’ big man was unable to do anything, the rest of the team failed to step up.

That seemed a little disappointing — though not as disappointing as the Pac-12’s performance on the first weekend of the NCAAs. Its seven qualifiers went 2-5 in the first round, and only top-seeded Oregon — which had to rally down the stretch to subdue eighth seed Saint Joseph’s — advanced to the Sweet 16.

How you can tell the WCC is starting to think like a big-boy conference?

The bottom seven teams keep firing their coaches because they can’t keep up with the Big Three (Gonzaga, BYU, Saint Mary’s).

So much for faith-based institutions.

MEANWHILE, SIX teams from the storied ACC advanced to the Sweet 16 — which is still impressive even when you realize the ACC now consists of 49 teams.

OK, maybe not that many — actually, just 16 — but the ACC is no longer the eight-team bus league it was for decades. Pitt is in the ACC. So is Boston College. And Notre Dame.

And Syracuse, which is the next victim of the Zags, on Friday in the Midwest Regional in Chicago. Remember when the Zags apparently had to win the WCC tourney to make it into the NCAAs? The ’Cuse took a lot of flak even when they were selected for the Big Dance, as if they had no business making the field.

Who knows what the rationale is for choosing which at-large teams get into the NCAAs, and which become top seeds in the NIT? Maybe they need more play-in games for teams that thought they got snubbed, like Monmouth and, to a lesser (but more regional) degree, Saint Mary’s.

In any event, what we do know about Syracuse, a 10 seed, is the Orange lack the star power of some of the teams from a few years ago, which were considered contenders to reach the Final Four. They no longer have (Rakeem) Christmas in Syracuse, but they still have Jim Boehiem and his 2-3 defense. You’d be hard-pressed to name too many players on their roster. Their assistant coaches — former ’Cuse guards Mike Hopkins, Adrian Autry and Gerry McNamara — are more familiar names than most of the players.

Syracuse will have a hard enough time defending Gonzaga’s two future pros in forwards Sabonis and Kyle Wiltjer. And if the guards — Kyle Dranginis, Eric McClellan and Josh Perkins — step up as zonebusters, it could get ugly for the Orange.

AND THAT could lead to a regional final matchup for the Zags vs. top-seeded Virginia, led by former Washington State coach Tony Bennett. Silly are the Coug fans who couldn’t understand why Bennett would leave Pullman for a middle-of-the-pack outfit in the ACC.

Then again, the Wahoos could trip up against fourth-seeded Iowa State — that would be typical of this year’s unpredictable tournament.

But better see what Chuck thinks about it first.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.