After Gonzaga’s men’s basketball team stumbled to three straight losses late last month, the unthinkable began to surface — was the Bulldogs would have to win the West Coast Conference tournament just to make it into the NCAA tournament for the 13th straight year.

No way! the faithful cried. What would the NCAAs be like without our lovable Zags! The thought of playing in the NIT is ... is ... so beneath us!

Calm down. The way things are going now, the Zags might wind up creating a little margin for error by winning (or at least sharing) the WCC regular-season title.

And with the NCAA tournament expanded this year by three teams to 68, the Zags have even a little more wiggle room.

In the latest version of Bracketology at espn.com, Gonzaga is listed as one of the “Last Four In,” slated to play Boston College in one of those play-in games for a No. 12 seed in this year’s expanded field.

Since losing at home to Saint Mary’s on a last-second shot Jan. 27, the Zags have won six WCC games in a row. And with a win tonight at Saint Mary’s (8 p.m., ESPN2), the Zags (19-9, 9-3 WCC) will pull even with the Gaels (22-6, 10-2) for first place with one conference game remaining — Saturday at San Diego, which is tied for last place.

Four weeks ago at the McCarthey Athletic Center, Mickey McConnell’s leaning 18-footer at the buzzer gave Saint Mary’s a 6-0 league record and dropped Gonzaga three games back at 3-3.

But while the Zags haven’t lost in league since, the Gaels have stumbled twice. Saint Mary’s followed up its big win in Spokane by losing two days later at Portland.

And last week San Diego coach Bill Grier, the former Gonzaga assistant, helped out his old boss by upsetting Saint Mary’s at home.

The WCC tournament is next weekend in Las Vegas, and the Zags haven’t had this little margin for error since Gonzaga started this remarkable run of 12 straight NCAA tournament appearances.

They can thank Saint Mary’s slippage of late, but they can also look at the improved play of some of their own players, most notably Marquis Carter and David Stockton.

While the production of veterans Robert Sacre, Steven Gray and Elias Harris are usually a given, Carter has moved into the starting lineup of late, and last week the junior college transfer was named the WCC player of the week. And Stockton, a point guard and son of the great John Stockton, is getting more and more playing time — especially at the end of games. And, more often than not, he produces the big pass or the big shot — sort of like, well, you know who.

And if the Zags do get in, one team that will be kicking itself will be Washington State — which pasted the Bulldogs by 22 points in Pullman in December, in a game that wasn’t even that close.

WSU was 6-1 after that game, then won four more in a row. Now, the Cougars are 17-10, 7-8 in the Pac-10, losers of five of their last eight league games, including a setback at last-place Arizona State last Saturday.

They are at Washington on Sunday, then host USC and UCLA prior to playing in the Pac-10 tournament in Los Angeles.

They may need to win that tournament to get into the NCAAs — something they probably didn’t think they would be necessary in the revelry of that Dec. 8 night in Pullman.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via e-mail at mnelke@cdapress.com.