THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: Could be the March of the Cougs, not the Zags, this year

Unless the sky falls, we’re going to have some crazy hoops this March.

It’s been 16 years since Gonzaga and Washington State made it to the NCAA tournament in the same season.

But here we are.

Yes, Wazzu must scratch and claw for an at-large spot unless the Cougs win the Pac-12 tournament and grab an automatic bid.

Same old story.

Kyle Smith faces rotating rosters pretty much every year, so he needs a soft — kind of Charmin soft — non-conference schedule to introduce his kids to each other.

Yes, it gives WSU a chance to be competitive by mid-season, but oh, those ranking numbers can kill you at tournament time.

This year, the Cougs’ non-conference strength of schedule was rated No. 307 by Ken Pomeroy’s respected metrics.

That’s BEYOND Charmin.

There are only 362 schools in the KenPom rankings, so you get the picture.

Wazzu played just three schools outside the Pac-12 (which is pretty soft itself) that are in the same universe.

Sticking with KenPom numbers, the Cougs (No. 33 overall) lost to Mississippi State (No. 35) and Santa Clara (No. 116), but defeated Rhode Island (No. 181).

Everyone else came from the Conference of the Which Way’s the Hoop.

Stuck with the weak Pac-12, that doesn’t give the Cougs (20-7) much wiggle room with the NCAA Selection Committee.

GONZAGA has a slightly different problem while trying to make the NCAA field for the 26th consecutive time.

Just like Wazzu, the Zags (20-6) have only one win that makes you take notice, a four-point thriller over Kentucky in Lexington two weeks ago.

Down on the Palouse, the Cougs are riding a seven-game winning streak, with a chance to lock up that NCAA bid with a rematch against Arizona this Thursday night in the desert.

Ordinarily, you’d say that one looks hopeless, but Smith’s teams tend to play without fear — and WSU knocked off Arizona in Tucson a year ago.

Meanwhile.

What about Gonzaga?

Indeed, there’s irony that the Zags and Wazzu will be in the same conference next year, as the Pac-2 (WSU and Oregon State) play as independents in football, but spend two years as temporary members of the West Coast Conference in other sports.

This season’s Zags have less depth and less NBA-level talent than any of Mark Few’s teams for quite some time (although Gonzaga had to scramble to make the NCAA tournament in 2016).

Well, you probably could say the same thing about the two teams THIS season.

For once, Few greeted almost an entirely new roster last fall.

Post man Graham Ike was a 20-point scorer at Wyoming two years ago, and Ryan Nembhard came in as a proven point guard from Creighton.

However.

Beyond that, transfer wing/shooter Steele Venters tore his ACL in the first game, two other rotation players (Braden Huff and Dusty Stromer) are freshmen, and three more hopeful talents are not only new, but they arrived from Korea, Croatia and Serbia.

I wonder if Few emailed Kyle Smith with condolences for past growth struggles.

FEW PUT together the same brutal non-conference schedule as always (maybe even harder), his routine backstop against the weakness of the WCC.

He’s usually thinking of a high NCAA seed when he does that, but he’s generally had the talent around to slug it out.

Not this time.

The Zags (No. 20 in KenPom) have been drilled by Purdue and UConn — bookies’ top two choices to win it all — and even blew a game over at Washington.

Ugh.

On the other hand, Washington State has been going about its business, basically winning the games where it has a shot and now finding itself in second place in Pac-12.

The Cougs are heading to Arizona with a chance take over the conference top spot.

Smith’s team is good, and fun to watch.

The scoring is spread out, with Isaac Jones and outstanding guard Myles Rice — a cancer survivor who was cleared for action less than a year ago — leading the way.

Unlike the Zags, Wazzu can shoot the 3-ball (and will do so with very little hesitation).

There are rumors floating around that Smith will juggle offers from bigger programs after this season, with the Cougs off to spend at least two years in college hoops’ version of a travelers’ youth hostel.

But.

Maybe not.

Everyone said Few would leave Gonzaga decades ago.

Now he and Smith could wind up playing home-and-home conference games.

Cool, no?

Email: scameron@cdapress.com

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press four times each week, normally Tuesday through Friday unless, you know, stuff happens.

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