Comments on: On This Season’s Gonzaga Dilemma

By: Jim M.

Jim M. — Sat, 10 Jan 2015 09:47:59 +0000

At 33-1, just put Gonzaga down for a 2-seed, and they’ll be happy as long as it’s not the weakest 2 in Kentucky’s region. All those other teams they are capable of beating on any given night, so they’ll be happy to take their chances. Maybe Kentucky can get bushwhacked before the championship game.

The problem until now has been that the first midge hatch on Rockyford Creek occurs on the second weekend of the tournament in March and Fewie loses his concentration on basketball 8 days before that occurs. If your head coach has his mind elsewhere, upsets happen. But he’s getting old enough that a little arthritis here and there should convince him to postpone the first fly-fishing trip of the season for the warmer weather coming around April 10th. Wooden won his first in his 16th season, and this is Few’s 16th season, so why not now?

By: Tommy

Tommy — Fri, 09 Jan 2015 17:33:20 +0000

The PERCEPTION is that the WCC is helpless, while the reality is that it is one of the more vastly improved conferences over the past 2 seasons. Last year the conference had no team outside of the KenPom top 185 for the first time EVER. The middle of the pack with Portland, San Diego, Pepperdine, Santa Clara, and San Francisco looks to more formidable enough once again this season and it would be a mistake to just assume that since “it’s the WCC” one team can just streamroll through everyone (although if it’s going to happen, this is the Gonzaga team to do it). The WCC is currently the 2nd highest ranked non-major conference behind only the A-10 which makes going on the road to win a conference game more difficult than people generally give them credit for. If the Zags go 33-1 then is totally safe to think that based just off the precedent of Wichita St last year that a 1 seed is likely. Ultimately, the seeding doesn’t matter so much as the location so a 1 or 2 seed really makes no difference as long as they are sent out West, with Arizona likely joining them.

By: Mark W

Mark W — Fri, 09 Jan 2015 17:32:09 +0000

Gonzaga plays in a conference that makes it difficult to assess their true strength. When that is true, the team must prove itself worthy of a high seed. Part of what earned the respect for Gonzaga was their history of winning in the tournament when they were a poor seed. It was that history of winning in the tournament in what were upsets by seed number that gained them better and better placement in the tournament. If it is reasonable to give a team better placement based on their history of winning, then it is just as reasonable to give a team worse placement based upon their history of losing. Just imagine the future consequences if Gonzaga is granted the 1 seed and has another early exit.