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Thursday, March 22
Zags' third sweet trip the toughest
By Andy Katz
ESPN.com
Here's the most amazing thing about Gonzaga matching Duke and Michigan State as the only teams to reach three straight Sweet 16 appearances:
The Bulldogs had to win the West Coast Conference just to get into the NCAA Tournament.
That's right. This was no free pass to the first round. Gonzaga was under immense pressure just to get into the tournament. Losing games to Boise State and Wisconsin-Green Bay, and failing to beat Arizona or Florida during the season because of Dan Dickau's injury, brought the Bulldogs' power rating down to near 80 late in the season.
|  | | Alex Hernadez is one of the new Zags blazing a familiar NCAA trail. |
Then, losing at Santa Clara, as good as the Broncos were late in the season, didn't do wonders for the Bulldogs' national perception.
Gonzaga coach Mark Few knew this team was as good, if not better than the two previous teams that went to the Elite Eight in 1999 and Sweet 16 last March. But he was genuinely stressed that no one in the nation would ever find out about them if they didn't win the WCC tournament.
And, to do that, it meant beating San Diego, in San Diego, and then Santa Clara again in the final.
"It's unbelievable what our guys have accomplished just to get into the NCAAs," Few said as his Bulldogs prepared for a Sweet 16 game against Michigan State in the South Regional in Atlanta. "We had to scratch and claw this year. And all the vibes I was getting was that we had to win our tournament just to get in.
"That's a tough road."
But this year's run to the Sweet 16 has been made sweeter for two reasons: the Bulldogs have had that tougher road and more to prove because of the lack of pre-tournament respect by the selection committee.
Two years ago, the No. 10 seed Bulldogs got lucky when first-round opponent Minnesota was rocked on game day in Seattle with news of a major academic scandal. As a result, four Minnesota players -- including starters Kevin Clark and Miles Tarver -- were suspended and the team was emotionally crushed. Stanford was then not nearly as mentally prepared for facing a hungry Gonzaga in Round 2. Casey Calvary's offensive putback then eliminated Florida in a freakish Sweet 16 win before the Zags lost to Connecticut in the Elite Eight.
A year ago, No. 10 Gonzaga got an overrated No. 7 Louisville in the first round and then a troubled St. John's in the second round. The Bulldogs ran into a more physical Purdue and were eliminated in the Sweet 16.
But this year, the committee didn't do Gonzaga any favors in the first round. And the second round found the Zags facing a mirror-image of the team Gonzaga was two seasons ago.
Virginia had beaten Duke, North Carolina and Maryland at home, making the Cavaliers "the toughest first-round team we've played," Few said. "They were unbelievably athletic and we were lucky to get out of that one with a win."
Indiana State, on paper, looked like a easier second-round game. But the Bulldogs had never been in the role of NCAA Tournament favorite. Wearing white in the tournament just added pressure to get to the Sweet 16 for a team that wasn't even supposed to be in the tournament without a conference title.
"To get to three straight Sweet 16s speaks to the character of these guys, especially (seniors) Casey (Calvary), (Mark) Spink and Dan Dickau," Few said. "If anybody watched this team they knew this was a really good team, especially when they saw Dickau. That's why the power rankings are so flawed."
The committee doesn't look at past history, at least that's what it says. But Few feels like the Bulldogs got punished for a poor power rating.
Yet, in the end, Gonzaga is still standing, while three of the four Final Four programs of a year ago are finished. Gonzaga is making its third straight Sweet 16 appearance, something two of the four No. 1 seeds haven't done.
"It's very humbling to have done this," Few said. "It's unbelievable that we're in the same category as Duke and Michigan State. Those are two incredible programs. This is a great college basketball story."
While Calvary, Spink, Dickau, Zach Gourde and former players Jeremy Eaton, Quentin Hall, Matt Santangelo and Richie Frahm deserve a ton of credit, a lot of it has to go to the coaching staff. Former head coach Dan Monson led the Bulldogs to the Elite Eight before he bolted to Minnesota. But the rest of the staff remained intact. Few was promoted to head coach and Billy Grier stayed on as assistant coach. Leon Rice knew the offense and was brought in from a nearby junior college.
"We didn't miss a beat," Few said. "The continuity is huge. The kids were used to hearing the same voices."
Gonzaga likes to patent itself as being known as Guard U. Obviously that's what drew Dickau from Washington to Gonzaga and helped sign Blake Stepp. The Bulldogs desperately wanted Luke Ridnour as well, but he signed with Oregon and eventually became the Pac-10 freshman of the year. The coaching staff said Ridnour told them he wanted to go to a program that had more national appeal.
Gonzaga might not get the pub during the season, but it's not even close between Oregon and Gonzaga in March. This month belongs to the Bulldogs for three years running, even if they lose to Michigan State on Friday in Atlanta. But don't think that's a done deal. Gonzaga can win the point guard battle, shoot with the Spartans and bang with them underneath with Calvary and Zach Gourde.
And they'll likely zone the Spartans, hoping to avoid having MSU wearing them down inside.
"Michigan State is awesome and they play so hard and tough," Few said. "But all I know is we can hang with a lot of those other teams that we have played, like Arizona and Florida. We've always belonged here and that's a tribute to our players heart and character. We're just as good as a lot of big-name teams that make this field every year."
Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.
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