One final curtain call for Gonzaga as the representative for the West Coast Conference. The Bulldogs have dominated the conference over the last 25 years, and it seems fitting that they earn the West Coast Conference automatic bid in their last season in the conference. Gonzaga leaves the conference to join the new Pac-12 conference at the beginning of next season.
This next part is all elementary at this point. Head coach Mark Few is a living legend and has built the Gonzaga Bulldogs into one of the premier programs in the entire country. Gonzaga has made the NCAA Tournament since 1999 and will likely make the second weekend again this year. The Bulldogs are going to get a 3 seed, and some unfortunate 14 seed is going to have to try to keep a game close with them. Here is how Gonzaga can assure they make the second weekend again.
Graham Ike
There will not be a time when Ike is not the best player on the floor the entire first weekend of the tournament. The big man is a typical Mark Few big man who can run the floor, pass, shoot from the outside, and convert at a very high rate inside the paint.
Ike flat-out dominates games; the Bulldogs will look for him every time down the floor, and the senior usually converts. If he is making shots and impacting the game on the defensive end of the floor, the Bulldogs are going to be impossible to beat in the first round.
The big man means everything to Gonzaga, and when he is on the floor, the efficiency for Gonzaga increases. When he is off the floor, which doesn’t happen much, Gonzaga is still a good team but struggles a little bit on offense. The best player on the floor is going to do best player things and lead the Bulldogs to the second weekend once again.
Three-point shooting
Playing the Bulldogs is already hard enough when you have to defend Ike, knowing that if he catches the ball in the paint, you may as well tally two points. It stresses defenses more knowing that the Bulldogs can make threes. They become unguardable, and when they are hitting shots and feeding Ike, they have proven that Gonzaga is impossible to beat.
I know, I know, they lost to Portland. It was a weird game; the Bulldogs had a tough time making shots and were dealing with key injuries. That is the one blemish on an otherwise great resume. The Bulldogs have cooled off a little from deep, but if guys like Tyon Grant-Foster, Davis Fogle, and Mario Saint-Supery are hitting threes, the Bulldogs are Final Four good. It has been consistent, but it has been a problem at points this year.
Don’t sleepwalk
There aren't many fans out there who don’t know or respect what Gonzaga is capable of. Honestly, the fact that Mark Few has not won a National Championship is the strange part of this sport, and part of what makes it great. The one thing that has been true of the Bulldogs over their time dominating the WCC is that they take care of business and are always ready to play.
Being ready to play doesn’t always mean they will win, but it does mean they will always play hard. That was until this year. There were some concerns when Gonzaga got beaten by 40 against Michigan in the Players' Era Championship game, and then the debacle over Portland. Those games need to be put far back in the players' memories and never spoken about again.
At least that is the hope. Gonzaga was very uncharacteristic in that game because they just went through the motions and didn't play very hard. Coach Few has always had teams that have avoided that. If the Bulldogs want any hope of making it to the second weekend again, they have to avoid the letdown game and play hard for all 80 minutes.