Time to Exit the WCC?

  In light of BYU's humiliating first round pummeling in the conference tournament, what is to be said?
  There's a visible decline in Coach Dave Rose's program since joining the West Coast Conference in 2011.  Five years running before joining the conference, you make the Dance, with the last year being your most successful there, going to the Sweet Sixteen. You make the NCAA tournament the first year after joining the WCC, and again two years later, then are a play-in team the following year. Yes, you got to the NIT semifinals twice, but the past two years, you've exited the NIT in the first round. The pattern is clear: You've declined steadily since joining the WCC.  Whether there are other things going on and it's a coincidence you've declined while in the WCC, who knows.
   Maybe you stay the course. Maybe the WCC is developing and you should remain a part of it. Seven of the ten teams had winning records this year.  That the seventh seed pummeled you -- what does that say? That you are bad, or that the conference is deep and good?
  Then again, Gonzaga has waltzed through the league this year,  its average margin of victory being 26.3 points per game. That speaks of a woeful conference, not a blossoming one.
   Maybe it's time to call the WCC a bad experiment -- get out before the next season rolls in, if you can.
   But, no sooner do I write the line above than I read how St. Mary's knocked off No. 1-ranked Gonzaga 60-47 in the conference championship. I reconsider. I wonder but what BYU should stay the course, remain in the conference, and help build it into a stronger and more respected conference.