Gonzaga's players are already cringing about having to put up with more than a week of hearing about slippers and mispronunciation after mispronunciation of its school's name after it beat Santa Clara in the West Coast Conference final.

For the record, the middle syllable is pronounced like tag or bag. Think hunting terms.

Gonzaga is headed to the NCAA Tournament for the third consecutive season.(AP)

After concocting a comeback from an early double-digit deficit for the second consecutive game, the Bulldogs hung on for an 80-77 victory before 3,180 at the Jenny Craig Pavilion on the campus of the University of San Diego.

On Sunday, the Zags bounced back from a 32-18 deficit to beat the hometown USD Toreros. Monday, Santa Clara scored 16 points on its first seven possessions en route to a 20-10 lead.

Then Gonzaga kicked in gear. After all, it is March. Gonzaga is in such an elite group, only it, Michigan State, Florida, Duke and Purdue have won at least two NCAA Tournament games each of the last two seasons.

"We're two teams," said Bulldogs coach Mark Few. "The one with Dan Dickau, and the one without Dan Dickau."

Without Dickau, who suffered a broken left index finger early on, Gonzaga won only five of nine games. With the player who earned MVP honors in the WCC Tournament, the Bulldogs have gone 19-2 and will be a formidable challenge for anyone when the NCAAs start late next week.

"It was just like (Sunday) night," Dickau said. "San Diego gave us its best shot, and Santa Clara gave us its best shot at the start tonight. We withstood it. It showed character for us to come back and withstand their barrage of 3s.

"We were down 15, 16 yesterday, so we knew we could come back from that, and against a good team. Tonight, we were down 11 (23-12), and we knew we could come back. It was just a matter of when we would string our defensive stops together, get rebounds and push the break. Just a matter of time."

Few cut down the final two strands off a net at the spiffy new Jenny Craig, which the locals have lovingly nicknamed "The Phat Farm," and walked briskly toward senior forward Casey Calvary.

The Florida Gators remember Calvary, whose tip-in ended coach Billy Donovan's season two years ago in the Sweet 16. That's the year Connecticut won it all, but the Huskies had to get by the Zags to claim their first NCAA Championship.

Calvary had 14 points against Santa Clara, and Dickau led everyone with 25, including a pair of free throws with 19.4 seconds remaining that finished the game's scoring.

The Broncos (20-12) had a shot to tie it at the end, but forward Jamie Holmes's bomb from the left side missed by a lot. Santa Clara had almost 20 seconds to work it around for an open shot, but Gonzaga had used only four fouls up to that point.

So freshman guard Blake Stepp hacked away at Brian Jones. Then Stepp slapped the arm of Kyle Bailey. By that time, only 2.7 seconds remained on the clock and Few had used his two free fouls wisely.

"This is a coaches' league," Calvary said.

But a freshman's? Stepp looked like a veteran, from beginning to end.

His 3-point shot from the top of the key got Gonzaga within 23-15, and the Bulldogs never trailed again after Stepp drilled another 3-pointer, from the right side on Bailey, creating a 30-28 edge with 5:19 left in the first half.

Two minutes later, his long-range shots on consecutive possessions gave Gonzaga a 38-29 advantage, capping a 26-6 run by the Zags and forcing Santa Clara coach Dick Davey to call a timeout.

"I just told the guys not to panic, stay with the system and maintain our poise," Few said. "This showed the character makeup of the guys."

The Broncos fought back to tie it at 48-48 with 13 consecutive points of their own, but Alex Hernandez drove in for a layup 13 seconds later and the Zags led for the final 12:52.

Stepp didn't hide, either. He converted a three-point play to make it 58-50, he drove in to attract a crowd before dishing to Calvary for a point-blank shot on the next play and his 3-pointer from the right side gave Gonzaga a 68-62 lead.

Then there were the heads-up fouls during the game's waning seconds.

"I just played my own game," Stepp said. Those words will ring true to anyone in Eugene, Ore., Stepp's hometown. Anyone outside of Eugene? Keep an eye on No. 10 during the first weekend of the NCAAs.

"And I started finding my shot. When we were down by 14 points to San Diego, we knew we had the whole second half. It was the same way tonight."

Even without Monday's thriller and the WCC championship, and the automatic NCAA Tournament berth that went with it, Few said he thought Gonzaga would get a spot in the field of 65.

"But, I didn't know," he said. "And that's scary. So we played with that motivation. That's stress. Hopefully, we'll stay out west."

Now, Few and his players will rest for about a week. The last few WCC champs have stayed out west, so he has that going for him. The first and second rounds of the West NCAA sub-regionals will be held in Boise, Idaho, and San Diego, at Cox Arena on the campus of San Diego State.

"But it may just as well be Timbuktu," a relieved Mark Few said very late Monday night, "and I'd be giddy about that."

When they see Gonzaga so close to their own names, more than a few programs, players and coaches won't be so giddy.