I think it's absolutely ridiculous. Your conference season should be insulated. Bringing non-conference results into the picture flies in the face of structuring your scheduling strategy in a way that fits the teams' needs.
If the WAC wants to protect its best teams and have the best chance of advancing in the NCAA Tournament, then structure your tournament in a way that heavily rewards the best teams. Or just give the bid to the regular season winner. But no one wants to do that - conference tournaments are fun. While we're talking about Gonzaga, the WCC does a lot to protect its best teams, which usually end up being Gonzaga and St. Mary's, with a little BYU and San Francisco. There are single, double, AND triple byes in their format. Or the Horizon League format - Single byes for the top four seeds. First round played between the next eight on campus sites. Then re-seeded for the quarterfinals so the #1 seed plays the lowest remaining seed. Then re-seeded again for the semis so the top remaining seed plays the lowest remaining seed.