Has Gonzaga closed the gap vs. UConn?

For a moment, it appeared that there was a chance Dan Hurley wouldn’t be on the sideline when the Gonzaga Bulldogs faced the UConn Huskies at Madison Square Garden next season.

Reports surfaced late last week that Hurley was being pursued by the Los Angeles Lakers to be the franchise’s next head coach. Hurley even met with Lakers brass in LA, where he heard a “compelling case” from Rob Pelinka and Jeanie Buss before returning to the East Coast. A long weekend for college basketball fans followed, as the sport awaited an important decision from the two-time champion head coach.

On Monday, Hurley opted to stay with UConn and thus, pursue a third straight national championship.

For the Zags, Hurley and the Huskies have had their number over the past two seasons. After a 28-point blowout in the 2023 Elite Eight, UConn outmatched Gonzaga in a 76-63 decision in Seattle this past season. In both of those games, the Bulldogs shot worse than 40% from the field and went a combined 4-for-32 from 3-point range.

“That game last year in Seattle, to be honest, was the only game that Gonzaga was clearly outclassed in,” Dan Dickau said. “[The Huskies] roster was better, their execution of the game plan was better.”

UConn boasted a level of continuity and experience that Gonzaga did not. Ryan Nembhard and Graham Ike hadn’t quite formed a tight connection yet. Ben Gregg hadn’t been inserted into the starting lineup yet. The pieces hadn’t come together, essentially, until the Zags were deep into West Coast Conference play.

But perhaps now the tables have turned. The Bulldogs returned seven of their top eight scorers from a team that won 16 of its final 19 games and advanced to the Sweet 16 for the ninth straight postseason. On top of that, Mark Few landed All-WCC wing Michael Ajayi from Pepperdine, high-scoring guard Khalif Battle from Arkansas and defensive specialist Emmanuel Innocenti from Tarleton State.

“The fact of the matter is, again with Gonzaga returning so many guys, maybe their continuity is a little bit better early in the season than a UConn. That’s to be determined,” Dickau said. “When you look at UConn two years ago, when they won their first of two national titles, they got off to a terrific start then they hit a rough patch in Big East play. And then obviously they were clearly the class of the NCAA Tournament two years ago. Last year I thought they were clearly the class of the whole college basketball season.”

UConn lost likely two NBA lottery picks (Donovan Clingan and Stephon Castle) as well as All-American guard Tristen Newton, but as Hurley has proven twice already now is his ability to rebuild and reload. The Huskies landed two-time All-WCC guard Aidan Mahaney from the transfer portal and top 10 recruit Liam McNeely. Additionally, Samson Johnson, Hasson Diarra, Solomon Ball and Alex Karaban, the latter of whom withdrew from the NBA Draft, are back on campus as well.

“UConn, as the back-to-back champs and looking like they’ve reloaded as we’ve talked about, is going to be another tremendous barometer for where [Gonzaga is] at,” Dickau said. “UConn is going to be the favorite as a national title contender. I think then you look across the landscape and there are a number of other teams that are talented enough to be in that Final Four conversation. I think Gonzaga is one of them.”

Dickau shared his thoughts on Hurley’s decision to stay with UConn, and much more, on a new Gonzaga Nation episode.

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Produced by Christian Pedersen.

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