Another year and another Gonzaga Basketball automatic bid into the NCAA tournament. It is the 24th straight year that the Bulldogs have made the NCAA tournament and for the first time in a very long time, no one knows what to expect out of the Bulldogs in the NCAA tournament. Gonzaga should still make the second weekend for the 8th year in a row. However, beyond that is anyone’s guess.
There are some picks for Gonzaga to win it all, there are some who have them in Elite Eight and there are others who have them losing in the sweet 16. There are a lot of question marks with the team this year but Gonzaga still has a team that can beat anyone in this field.
Gonzaga is battle tested this year and played one of the hardest non-conference schedules of any team. That helped them prepare for this tournament as they already hold wins over Alabama, Michigan State, Kentucky, Xavier, and Saint Mary’s. Every one of those teams is a tournament team. The Bulldogs also had their noticeable struggles this year when they struggled to beat a mediocre BYU team in Provo and lost LMU in the Kennel for the first time in a long time. The 2023 Bulldogs open up the NCAA tournament with a game against a sneaky Grand Canyon team who does some things that can pose a problem for Gonzaga.
The Bulldogs are the more talented team and are the number 3 seed in this game, as we all know the NCAA tournament can have a ton of upsets. The first day of the tournament there were not many upsets at all to speak of so that means the second day could be filled with upsets. The Bulldogs can do some things to avoid an upset against one of the hottest teams in the country.