The best team in the country doesn’t play in the ACC, the Pac-12 or the Big 12. It isn’t over-reliant on freshmen, and it has never reached a Final Four.
It is built on three impact transfers, the modern day version of Bryant “Big Country” Reeves, and despite its status as the lone undefeated team in the country, remains a question mark in some uninformed circles.
Meet Gonzaga, the nation’s most complete team.
Skeptical? Join the club. The NCAA men’s basketball committee gave the Zags the final No. 1 seed in Saturday’s tournament bracket preview. Coach Mark Few’s team responded by manhandling No. 20 Saint Mary’s, 74-64, dominating the Gaels in enemy territory to improve to 26-0. Twenty-three of those wins have come by double-digits.
The Zags are the lone team in the country with a top-five adjusted offensive efficiency rating and a top-five adjusted defensive efficiency rating. They are 4-0 against top-25 RPI teams, 7-0 against top-50 RPI teams and ranked No. 1 by the analytics website KenPom.com.
They are deep — seven players average between 15.7 and 8.2 points per game — and versatile, with difference-makers at almost every possession. Point guard Nigel Williams-Goss, a transfer from Washington, is one of the more unsung players in the country, averaging 15.7 points, 5.8 rebounds and 4.6 assists. Center Przemek Karnowski, a 7-foot-1, 300-pound Polish import who missed most of last season after undergoing back surgery, looks like a trucker, but is polished, quick on his feet for his size, and a quality passer, reminding us of Reeves, the former big-bodied Oklahoma State star. Two more transfers — guard Jordan Mathews (California) and forward Johnathan Williams (Missouri) — would be stars elsewhere, but with the Zags, they are complementary pieces. Seven-foot center Zach Collins, one of the best freshmen nobody talks about, comes off the bench, averaging 10.6 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in just 17.2 minutes per game.
Remarkably, only one starter, guard Josh Perkins, returned from last year’s Sweet 16 group. It’s a relatively new team that is only getting better.
While you can find weaknesses in most of the nation’s top teams, Gonzaga doesn’t have an obvious Achilles’ heel. The Zags shoot 38 percent as a team from 3-point land, they have a wealth of bigs, plenty of guards, and are ninth in the country in scoring defense — a weakness in the past — limiting opponents to 61.7 points per game.
Gonzaga, of course, has never reached a Final Four, losing twice in the Elite Eight. The Bulldogs come from the mid-major West Coast Conference, so they are obviously not tested like the Dukes, Kansases and Oregons of the country. But they have defeated five power conference opponents, highlighted by a seven-point neutral site win over No. 9 Arizona and a five-point neutral site win over No. 17 Florida.
It was around this time last year I heard similar doubts about Villanova — the Wildcats never come through in March; the Big East can’t compare to the ACC and the Big Ten and the Pac-12. It wasn’t until April, when the Wildcats were the last team standing, stunning favored North Carolina in the national final on Kris Jenkins’ 3-pointer at the buzzer, that the narrative changed.
It can change again this year for Gonzaga. If you’re paying attention, you won’t be surprised to see the Zags in Glendale, Ariz., for the Final Four.
All eyes in the college basketball world should be on Storrs, Conn., Monday night. That’s where Geno Auriemma’s UConn Huskies will go for unprecedented win No. 100 in a row, a remarkable achievement. The four-time defending national champions were supposed to take a step back this year, after graduating transcendent star Breanna Stewart — the No. 1 pick in last year’s WNBA draft. Only Auriemma’s teams rarely do anything but forge ahead, dominating everyone in their path.
A few phenomenal stats in this 99-game win streak: The Huskies have won 97 of these games by double-digits, and their average margin of victory is an eye-popping 43.7 points per game. Prior to UConn’s most recent loss, Nov. 17, 2014, to Stanford, it had won 46 games in a row. That’s 145 wins in 146 games.
That No. 1 UConn (24-0) is going for the landmark victory against one of the best teams in the country, sixth-ranked South
Carolina, only adds to the intrigue. Then again, it has defeated eight ranked teams this season, knocking off No. 2 Baylor, No. 3 Maryland and No. 7 Notre Dame.
No. 18 Duke at No. 12 Virginia, Wednesday, 9 p.m.
There was too much talent, too much championship experience, for Duke to continue to sputter. The tide began to turn with a 10-point road win at Notre Dame on Jan. 30, and the Blue Devils made a major statement with Thursday’s win over No. 8 North Carolina. Winners of five straight, coach Mike Krzyzewski’s team will now face Virginia, an intriguing matchup featuring one of the ACC’s best offensive teams in Duke against arguably its best on the defensive side in the stifling, pace-setting Cavaliers.
Up: Bonzie Colson
Notre Dame’s slide came to a halt this week. Colson made sure of that, almost by himself, averaging 29 points, 14.5 rebounds and 3.0 blocks in a pair of victories over Wake Forest and No. 14 Florida State. The undersized yet relentless 6-5 forward has made a major leap this year, averaging a double-double, and owned the Seminoles’ far bigger front line on Saturday. Outworking more physically gifted opponents has become commonplace for Colson.
Up: Penn State
The Nittany Lions’ emergence didn’t end at the Rose Bowl. It has continued onto the hardwood, where coach Pat Chambers’ young team has made major strides, working its way into the middle of the Big Ten with victories over likely tournament teams Michigan State, Minnesota, and most recently Maryland. The freshmen duo of forward Lamar Stevens and guard Tony Carr, both Pennsylvania natives combining to average 24.3 points and 10.5 rebounds per game, are going to keep opposing Big Ten coaches up at night.
Down: Butler
Any hopes of a Big East crown were all but dashed after Saturday’s dismal loss at Providence, continued a recent trend. The Bulldogs have lost three of four, and still have road games at No. 2 Villanova and No. 24 Xavier. A major factor has been the erratic play of junior Kelan Martin, who was expected to be one of the best players in the Big East. His role has diminished, coming off the bench the last two games, and he’s averaging just 10.5 points in this four-game stretch. Martin is shooting just 34 percent in 13 Big East games.
Down: Mark Gottfried
Lorenzo Romar at Washington isn’t the only coach wasting elite point-guard talent. Gottfried is feeling the heat in Raleigh, with N.C. State just a game out of last place in the ACC, despite the fantastic play of Dennis Smith Jr. The Wolfpack, picked to finish sixth in the powerhouse conference but flirting with their second straight losing season, have dropped five straight, and have lost by a combined 54 points in their last two contests, to also-ran Wake Forest and Florida State.
A projection of the top seeds in the NCAA Tournament:
1: Gonzaga, Villanova, Kansas, Baylor
2: North Carolina, Louisville, Oregon, UCLA
3: Virginia, Cincinnati, Purdue, Kentucky
4: West Virginia, Arizona, Wisconsin, Florida
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