How Far Will No. 1 Gonzaga Go?
By Ben Renner
The Gonzaga Bulldogs are undefeated and headed, presumably, to a number-one seed in the NCAA Tournament in March. We’ve seen Gonzaga choke in the Tournament many times before, will this be the year they reach the Final Four?
It’s time to sit down and have a serious discussion about how far Gonzaga can go in the upcoming NCAA Tournament. At times this season, even against less-than-scary competition in the West Coast Conference, they’ve looked unbeatable by anyone. Head coach Mark Few is a legendary coach in Spokane who always gets the most out of his players. Now they appear to have a few of the perfect personnel to go along with his winning system.
The biggest challenge the Bulldogs have faced this year is St. Mary’s College. SMC has lost only three games all year, two of them to number-one Gonzaga. Their most recent game against the Bulldogs was a 74-64 loss at home.
We’ve seen this movie before, even though Gonzaga’s dominance this year is unprecedented. The Bulldogs always seem to be too good for the WCC. They don’t suffer a few of the disappointing losses that other teams in power conferences do, but when the NCAA Tournament starts, they seem to run into a battle-hardened team that takes them out before we expected them to fall.
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This year, sporting the best team possibly ever in the Mark Few era, Gonzaga is a surefire number-one seed with an open path to the Sweet Sixteen. Reaching the round of 16 is not that difficult for a one-seed, the difficult part is living up to lofty expectations after that. Despite 18 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, Gonzaga has never advanced beyond the Elite Eight.
Doubters usually point to their weak conference schedule every year. This season, the Bulldogs had some competition at the top of the conference, but even if they only played cupcakes, this is a team with that Final Four look. During March Madness, with a quick succession of games against the best college basketball teams in the country, a deep bench is necessary. And Gonzaga has that.
There are plenty of star players for the Bulldogs, too, including leading scorer Nigel Williams-Goss, the Washington transfer averaging 15.7 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game. Williams-Goss is only one of five players on the team averaging over 10 points per game. There’s no one way to stop this offensive juggernaut of a team.
Gonzaga has the size to match up with any opponent in the paint as well, sporting two seven-foot big men with touch around the basket. Both Przemek Karnowski and Zach Collins are shooting over 60% from the floor.
Most importantly, though, this is a complete team. Everyone rebounds, everyone hustles, everyone boxes out, and Few has plenty of talent on his bench to fill in for tired players.
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It’s now or never for this team to make a run at a National Championship. A Final Four berth and nothing less is a successful season for the number-1 Zags.