This is a little weird given it's the summer and nowhere near basketball season but I just saw the whole game for the first time and I have to say it's one of the bigger chokes I've ever seen. Gonzaga led by double digits nearly the whole game, had a number of favorable calls down the stretch, were a veteran team facing a very young team and led by 9 (71-62) with about 3 minutes left. UCLA played poorly in the first half and looked out of it for much of the first and midway through the second half.

I think if they win that game, Gonzaga as a program is looked at differently, more of a yearly top ten team and not a occasional top 25 team. It wasn't Adam Morrison's fault (more on J.P. Bautista if you ask me) but he didn't exactly lead them down the stretch either.

One of the greatest Sweet 16 games ever though.

As much as I respect them, Gonzaga always chokes in the NCAA Tourney.

Not really. They choked in 2002 (though they may not have been the better team), 2005 and in 2006, the latter two of which should have been at least Elite 8 years. Granted, them choking in those years has caused them to stall as a program but they've done fine and are doing more than they should at their level:

1999:

Surprise Elite 8 run as 10 seed (lost to 1 seed UConn, eventual national champions)

2000:

Sweet 16 run as 10 seed (Purdue)

2001:

Sweet 16 run as 12 seed (1 seed Michigan State)

2002:

First round loss as 6 seed (11 seed Wyoming)

2003:

Epic second round 2OT loss as 9 seed (1 seed Arizona)

2004:

second round whooping as 2 seed (10 seed Nevada)

2005:

Second round choke as 3 seed (6 seed Texas Tech)

2006:

Sweet 16 choke as 3 seed (2 seed UCLA, national runner ups)

2007:

First round loss as 10 (7 seed Indiana)

2008:

First round loss as 7 seed (Steph Curry's 10 seed Davidson team)

2009:

Sweet 16 loss as 4 seed (1 seed and eventual champion UNC)

2010:

Second round blowout as 8 seed (1 seed Syracuse)

2011:

Second round blowout as 11 seed (Jimmer Fredette and 3 seed BYU)

2012:

Close loss as 7 seed (2 seed and FF participant Ohio State)



Nevada in 2004 seemed to just be a bad matchup. Like I said, they seem to have stalled at a program and squandered the momentum and bandwagon they had by not going to a Final Four in the Adam Morrison era but they by no means choke every year. If anything, they're overdue.