Lopes are Champions, Again; Is It Too Early to Call it a Dynasty?

GCU has won three out of the last four WAC Tournament titles and a pair of regular season crowns.

The Havocs come out in full force to support the GCU men’s basketball team. Courtesy Western Athletic Conference.

If you have ever played NCAA Football on your Xbox or Playstation, you have the Dynasty Mode. Choose your team or create one...and go on to win multiple conference titles as well as national championships.

Yes, it's football. But, you could also run Dynasty Mode on NCAA Basketball, as well.

However, if you did run Dynasty Mode on NCAA Basketball, you would not have been able to choose the GCU men's basketball team. Why? Because the Lopes did not become a Division I program until 2013. NCAA College Basketball was discontinued in 2009.

Since that time, men's basketball in the Western Athletic Conference has really been dominated by two teams. At least in terms of NCAA Tournament appearances.

New Mexico State won the WAC Tournament 10 times since 2013-14. And GCU has won three of the last four. The lone time the Lopes didn't win in the last four years was against New Mexico State in 2022.

It is ironic that both the Aggies and Lopes only had one team ever beat them in the WAC Tournament. For New Mexico State, it was Cal State Bakersfield. You remember it, right? 2016...Dedrick Basile dribbles to the left wing, and buries a 3-pointer as time expired at Orleans Arena.

Outside of that loss, an ugly COVID year, and a year in which the Aggies didn't even make the WAC Tournament due to suspending the program, New Mexico State was pretty darn good at WAC Vegas.