Gonzaga's next chapter

When you only lose one game in 32, chances are most people would say that is quite a feat. When it’s the last game for a national championship, then some pundits will wonder why that one.

Yes, Gonzaga was beaten by Baylor last week in the championship final and we can all look into the microscope and come up with our reasoning as to why. For a lot of people the answer is the WCC doesn’t challenge the Zags enough once the NCAA tournament begins. Some might say that the Bulldogs aren’t physical enough in the game that they play since it is more run and pass oriented. Rebounding was a problem against the Bears for sure.

Gonzaga has been the most successful program in the NCAA over the last bunch of years. They are the first team in history to win over 30 games five years in a row. They win games in the tournament. They seldom are beaten in the WCC tournament even though they are a lock to go to the ‘Big Dance.’ Coach Mark Few views the WCC championship as being very important. If you look at other conference tournaments there are numerous upsets. We often see teams make the NCAA tournament only because they won their conference championship.

Coach Mark Few knows that for his team’s preparation for March Madness, they need to win the WCC and have momentum once the big tournament begins. A few years ago Few was asked if a loss to St. Mary’s was beneficial to the conference because the Gaels were also going to the tournament. He told the reporter that he was concerned with his team and his team only. Congratulations to St. Mary’s for having a great game plan and beating the Zags but the goal was to win the WCC championship.

It is that tenacity that has worked well for Gonzaga. Work hard, play hard and expect to win and chances are high that you will win. Coach Few has had plenty of offers to go elsewhere to coach for big money but he believes that he can win a national championship at Gonzaga and with the recruits that he has gotten and the player development that has been a big part of the program, who can deny that a championship is on the horizon. Keep knocking on the door and at some point it’s going to open.

There are plenty of coaches at so-called mid-major universities who point to Gonzaga and say that is the recipe for success right there, but none have been as consistent as the Bulldogs have been.

Few has been the head coach at GU for over 20 years and was an assistant there about eight or so more, and he loves the school. Too many coaches gets some good recruits, have some success and make it to the tournament and have a great nucleus for future teams, but then they are offered a coaching position for bigger money which the place they are at can’t compete and they are off to the next challenge. So the recipe is not completed. In order for a coach to use Mark Few’s recipe you need to stick around for 20 years or so.

If you look at local schools like EWU, WSU, UI and UW, can you name the coaches they have had in the same amount of time that Few has been at Gonzaga? Now some of these coaches were fired or found better opportunities elsewhere, but only Tony Bennett who was WSU’s coach has won a national championship at Virginia.

I listened to Coach Few in an interview and he was asked about staying at Gonzaga and not looking at bigger programs and Few said, “My dad was a pastor at a church in Oregon for 53 years. When you find the place that is right for you why would you want to leave?”

This was a difficult year for teams and fans and their relationship. The games that might have been, but were canceled, may have been helpful to the Zags. I know I was looking forward to games against Tennessee, Texas and Baylor, which certainly would have helped them prepare for the tournament. The games that were added against West Virginia and Virginia were vital in November and December. Few was hoping to get another big game and tried to get one against Villanova and Houston but it wasn’t meant to be. Oh well, thanks C-19!

This was a great season of GU basketball and there are many more to come. We will be losing some great players, and will see some new talent come in as well as some promising returning players. So Gonzaga won’t be rebuilding, only reloading. The next chapter of this epic should be fun.