Tales for the tournament: More Zag-centric stories for fans to follow
The tables are set and the courts are waxed and ready for the chaos that will ensue on Thursday as the NCAA championship tournament tips off with Michigan and Colorado State at 9:15 a.m. PST. Gonzaga basketball fans are enthused to see what kind of run the Zags could embark on for the next three weeks to hopefully tell the story of yet another historic run.
Along with the potential tale of triumph that could be painted by this year’s Bulldogs, there are storylines being built by other teams connected to GU that are worthy of any Zags enthusiast’s attention.
You get a bid! You get a bid! You get a bid!:
For the first time since 2012, the West Coast Conference is a three-bid conference for the NCAA tournament. Both Saint Mary’s and the San Francisco Dons have been placed in the East Region as respective fifth and 10th seeds along with the top seeded Zags out west.
SMC was the team to end Gonzaga’s two-year long undefeated streak in the WCC and is ranked 18th in the latest AP poll. The Gaels finished second in the conference overall after falling to GU in the championship game, but earned an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament where they’ll take on Indiana in Portland at 4:20 p.m. PST on Thursday.
SMC has the making of a strong tournament team with experienced guards in Tommy Kuhse and Logan Thomas to match a strong head coach in Randy Bennett, who was named coach of the year in the WCC this season.
Indiana is coming off a first four win against another western mid major university in Wyoming. Both Indiana and SMC rank in the top-20 nationally in adjusted defense.
As for San Francisco, the team that ended the WCC regular season ranked fourth, the Dons also feature a stand out guard pairing to go with solid coaching. It’s Jamaree Bouya and Khalil Shabazz in the back court leading USF in scoring this season while head coach Todd Golden is one of the fastest rising coaches in all of college basketball.
When the Dons take on regional seven-seed Murray State in Indianapolis at 6:40 p.m. PST on Thursday, they’ll be without a key piece of their lineup however. All-WCC first team forward Yauhen Massalski will remain sidelined after reinjuring the same knee he aggravated during the WCC tournament versus BYU.
Meanwhile, the Ohio Valley Conference champion Racers feature 6-foot-10 K.J. Williams, who averages 18.2 points a game while also leading his team in rebounds and steals. The defensive presence of Massalski will be missed by USF as the team tries to contain Williams, but the Dons have overcome challenges all season that give them the grizzle to get over a first round hump.
Who wouldn’t like to run back last year’s Final Four:
If the first weekend of last April isn't imprinted in the minds of Zags fans for both good and bad reasons, then you might want to get your memory checked. A thrilling Final Four game against tournament darling UCLA, ending in the potential shot of the year from Jalen Suggs, was followed up two days later with a sobering defeat against Baylor which lost the championship and the perfect season for GU.
Now, these two significant characters in the Zags story arc from last year are back in the tournament once again and could potentially cross paths with GU in the final weekend. Both schools are tied to the East Region, meaning that they would have to traverse their entire weekend just like GU potentially in the west in order to meet each other once again in the Final Four.
Baylor has once again claimed a No. 1 seed at 26-6 on the year, while the Bruins earned a lot more respect from the committee this season and are the fourth seed.
Where the scripts have flipped for these two foes is in the lineups they bring to March this year, as UCLA has retained practically its entire lineup, while Baylor hosts an entirely new guard room. That news concerning Baylor is probably welcome to GU as the Bear trio of Davion Mitchell, Jared Butler and MaCio Teague stole the show in last year’s championship but won’t be back this year.
However, Baylor’s back court still leads the team in scoring and James Akinjo is a defensive menace in a similar vein as Butler last season, while James Tchamwa Tchatchoua remains a presence in the front court this year.
UCLA meanwhile, has battled a lot of challenges this season which has kept the team from seeing its full potential on the court for most of the season. With that being said, the Bruins still reached the PAC 12 championship and were a comfortable selection to make this season’s tournament.
Johnny Juzang and Jaime Jaquez Jr. continue to lead the team as the Bruins prepare for a 4 v. 12 matchup with Akron on Thursday. With two wins each, Baylor and UCLA could meet each other in the Sweet 16 for a “what could have been” championship rematch from last season if a particular shot wasn’t hit against UCLA in double overtime. One more win by that game’s victor from there assuming GU runs the table out west, and we could get a Final Four reminiscent of last season’s classic games.
Tucson looks a little like Spokane this time of year:
It’s been reiterated again and again that what possibly awaits GU, should the team make it to New Orleans’ final day of action, is potentially the Arizona Wildcats out of the South Region. Not only is Arizona the No. 2 overall team in the country, but the team is led by a man who sat on the same sideline as Mark Few for nearly 20 years in Tommy Lloyd.
Lloyd was a maestro of international recruiting, in large part responsible for why GU became one of the pioneers in college basketball for heading overseas to find legitimate talent. He also helped Few develop and expand GU’s special high pace style of basketball which incorporates plenty of ball screens, fades, cuts and transition baskets to exhaust opponents.
Now, Lloyd has brought that brand of hoops over to Tucson where he claimed the PAC 12 throne in just his first season, going 26-3 on the backs of Bennedict Mathurin, Christian Koloko and Azuolas Tubelis. The Wildcats started out the season by winning their first 11 games, and really haven’t run into a greater speed bump yet this season despite playing in a contentious PAC 12.
They’ve done so by premiering one of the fastest and tallest teams in the last 10 years of college basketball, rivaled this season only by GU. The PAC 12 champions are kindled by their big men who love to run the court to either get transition points, or to spread the floor and create shooting/passing options for the Wildcats’ guards.
Both Tubelis and Koloko are good at doing this, but so is transfer from GU Oumar Ballo. Ballo jumped up from 2.6 points and 1.5 rebounds last season at GU to 7.3 points and 4.6 boards a game this season in a critical role off the bench for Arizona.
However, Ballo’s impact for Arizona goes beyond the counting stats as he’s more of a general presence in the post which causes opposing defenses to give him a lot of attention at 7-foot, 260 lbs., and he’s an equal threat on the defensive end, threatening shot blocks whenever a ball handler enters the paint with him in it. This includes a clutch rejection against UCLA in the final minute of the PAC 12 championship to shut down the Bruins’ late game run and secure the title for the Wildcats.
The Wildcats are legitimate contenders for the NCAA crown in Tommy Lloyd’s very first season for a reason. Winners of its last six games, Arizona’s potential title run begins Friday against No. 16 Wright State, and from there could be playing either Seton Hall or TCU in the round of 32.
Tommy Lloyd and his squad face a tough bracket if they want to see Mark Few and the Bulldogs down the line, with Jay Wright’s Villanova and the SEC champions Tennessee gunning for a Final Four position out of the south as well.
Leon Rice is making waves one state over:
A lot of the college basketball enthusiasts have their eyes set on a potentially classic championship matchup between GU and Arizona, a contest pitting a coaching master against his pupil when it comes to Mark Few and Tommy Lloyd. But if folks simply can’t wait for that to come true, they may not have to look any further than the second round to see a similar narrative unfold.
Head Coach Leon Rice of the West Region’s No. 8 seed Boise State Broncos was Few’s first staffing hire when he took over the GU program in 1999. After 11 seasons there, he was hired by Boise State as its head coach in 2010. The Mountain West Conference coach of the year has amassed nine 20-win seasons and gotten the Broncos to its only two previous NCAA tournaments in 2013 and 2015.
However, both prior selections to the big dance for Rice’s squads have been at-large bids as Boise State had never won the MWC title, until this year. The Broncos won a 2022 MWC tournament that included three other tournament teams, pulling off a tight win against San Diego State in the title game.
The Broncos are being guided by Marcus Shaver Jr. in the back court, with Abu Kigab and former Mt. Spokane high school standout Tyson Degenhart, the MWC freshman of the year, leading the team down low. They’ll be sized up against ninth seed Memphis on Thursday at 10:45 PST for what should be an exciting matchup between Rice and Penny Hardaway who’s at the helm for Memphis, before a potential set up with the Zags later in the weekend.
