THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: WCC is looking after some 'animals' more than others

Perhaps you’ve read the classic George Orwell novel, “Animal Farm.”

Whether you have or not, there is a defining quote in the book that touches on our subject matter today.

Here you go …

“All animals are created equal. But some animals are more equal than others.”

And what does that have to do with us?

Well, it seems to be the motto of the West Coast Conference.

Commissioner Gloria Nevarez would tell you that she admires and respects every member of her conference.

In reality, though, the WCC has decided it likes the schools that bring in money just a little more than it cares about everyone else.

The conference proved that over the weekend by throwing the University of Portland under the proverbial bus.

Why?

It allows Gonzaga and San Francisco to meet Thursday night in a game that was postponed back on Jan.6.

The Zags have an open date this week because Pacific had to cancel with a COVID outbreak.

So, what’s wrong with that?

NOTHING, except that …

Portland was supposed to host San Francisco on the same night this week.

The Pilots (10-7) have no COVID issues, and are in the midst of a southern California road trip.

They absolutely bombed Pepperdine on Saturday night, and face Loyola Marymount tonight.

Portland was expecting to take a few deep breaths after this trip, then face the Dons at home in the Chiles Center on Thursday.

Instead …

The conference has decided that game isn’t important enough in its goal of getting four teams into the NCAA tournament.

Sucks for you, Portland.

Just go enjoy a scrimmage or some team bonding or whatever.

The WCC has very bluntly said: “Who cares about Portland? We’re thinking of income from March Madness.”

IF YOU haven’t been paying attention, Saint Mary’s coach Randy Bennett brought up this exact scenario during the first week of the season.

Bennett saw that various teams would have COVID problems in the midst of this new omicron wave, and he immediately tied it to scheduling.

Since quite a few games might be postponed or even canceled, Bennett reasoned, it would be critical that the four WCC teams with realistic shots at the NCAA tournament play each other twice.

It’s likely that not everyone made the proper connection at the time, but Bennett was suggesting that his own team — along with the Zags, BYU and San Francisco — deserved preferential scheduling down the road if games had to be scrapped.

If you don’t follow the NCAA procedure all that closely, one of the criteria used for offering at-large teams a spot in the tournament is something called the NET.

This is just another mathematical formula for ranking teams, but what’s important for the WCC is that there are four quadrants in the NET computations — and teams desperately need Quad 1 wins (or even losses, especially on the road) to rise up in the NET.

BENNETT only said out loud what many people around the WCC were thinking …

Since conference teams (other than Gonzaga) have trouble scheduling power opponents, they can suffer from not having enough Quad 1 games.

Ah, but this year, there are four Quad 1 teams in the WCC — so Bennett blurted out that, no matter what, these four had to play each other twice.

Now, with omicron on the rise and no game safe, the WCC has shown that it’s willing to sacrifice a scheduled game in Portland — just to make sure San Francisco gets a Quad 1 ticket at Gonzaga.

The conference perhaps will suggest that the Zags, the WCC’s biggest income producers, would have gone without playing for another week and a half without this re-jiggered game.

Nonsense.

This is entirely about the NCAA tournament.

In other words, money.

Yeah, and the whole thing stinks, not just for Portland but for the image of the conference itself.

The WCC should be better than this.

Email: [email protected]

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. He also writes Zags Tracker, a commentary on Gonzaga basketball which is published weekly during the season.

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”