Gonzaga is No. 1 in AP Top 25 for 1st time

Published - Mar 04 2013 06:01PM EST

NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS, Associated Press


Gonzaga's coach Mark Few, left, celebrates with his team after their West Coast Conference Championship win in an NCAA college basketball game against Portland, Saturday, March 2, 2013, in Spokane, Wash. Gonzaga defeated Portland 81-52. (AP Photo/Jed Conklin)

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — The to-do list for the Gonzaga basketball team got shorter Monday: For the first time, the Zags were ranked No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 poll.

Sweet, but it may get bumpier from there.

Next: Avoiding the potholes that have stopped every other No. 1 this season, then finding a way to the Final Four.

"We don't believe there is any jinx," assistant coach Tommy Lloyd said, subbing for coach Mark Few, who was said to be fly fishing and unavailable for comment. "Obviously, it's a dream for us, the ultimate accomplishment."

The fact that Few would skip perhaps the biggest day in program history to go fishing says much about the priorities of the coach who helped build and has sustained Gonzaga's success.

Few has repeatedly said he enjoys the balance between work and family time that Gonzaga provides, a major reason he has not left for a bigger program.

Students celebrated the No. 1 ranking on the downtown campus Monday, and the food services department wheeled out a 20-foot cake that said "Congratulations Zags."

Staying No. 1 has been tough this season, with Gonzaga the fifth school to hold the spot after replacing Indiana this week. The others were Duke, Louisville and Michigan.

Gonzaga, a small Jesuit school in Spokane, is where crooner Bing Crosby went and where John Stockton threaded pinpoint passes. It has the best record in Division I at 29-2 following weekend wins against BYU and Portland. The Hoosiers, beaten by Minnesota last week, dropped to No. 2.

"We're not necessarily in pursuit of a ranking," Lloyd said. "We're trying to get to the NCAA tournament. When that's over, as coaches we can look back and realize what an accomplishment it is and how difficult it is."

The Zags are the 57th school to be ranked No. 1 since the AP poll began in January 1949. The school is considered a mid-major and reached No. 2 for the first time last week. Now it will play for the first time at No. 1 on Saturday night in the West Coast Conference semifinals.

The school received 51 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel, 44 more than Indiana. Duke, winners over Miami after a loss to Virginia, remained third with five first-place votes.

Kansas and Georgetown both jumped two spots to fourth and fifth. The Hoyas received the other two first-place votes. Miami, Michigan, Louisville, Kansas State and Michigan State rounded out the top 10. Virginia Commonwealth and UCLA, both ranked earlier in the season, returned to the poll at 21st and 23rd, respectively.

Gonzaga's rise to the top comes 14 years after the school burst onto the national scene with a surprise run to the final eight of the NCAA tournament. Since then, Few has guided the Zags to 12 conference titles, 13 trips to the tournament and four trips to the round of 16.

Along the way, Gonzaga has produced a slew of NBA players, including Dan Dickau, Adam Morrison, Ronny Turiaf, Austin Daye, Robert Sacre and Jeremy Pargo. The team features players from Canada, France, Germany and Poland along with Stockton's son, David.

Kelly Olynyk, the 7-foot Canadian center, leads the team in scoring at nearly 18 points a game and averages seven rebounds. He calls the No. 1 ranking a "great milestone."

"We have a special team this year," he said. "It shows that college basketball in the rest of the country has a lot of respect for us."

Olynyk never dreamed that he would be playing for the No. 1 team in the nation when he chose Gonzaga over other offers.

"It never even crossed my mind," he said.

Spokane is a city of 200,000 near the Idaho and Canadian borders. The Lilac City is a blue-collar town, far from the high-tech wealth of the Seattle area. But basketball is one place where the state's second-largest city outshines Seattle. Gonzaga, in fact, is the first team from the state of Washington to be ranked No. 1.

At the time of Gonzaga's run to the final eight, the school had fewer than 5,000 students and was struggling with enrollment and budget issues.

Today, enrollment is at 7,800 and new buildings are popping up on campus all the time. The 6,000-seat McCarthey Athletic Center, which opened in 2004, has been sold out for all but one game. The Zags have rewarded their fans with a 120-8 home record there.

"Our success with basketball is a significant component of the convergence of forces that allowed us to grow," said school president Dr. Thayne McCulloh.

That success hasn't come easy. Every year, the Zags seem to take on a tougher nonconference schedule to make up for their WCC schedule. This year they own wins over No. 9 Kansas State, No. 13 Oklahoma State, plus Clemson, Oklahoma, Baylor, Washington State and West Virginia. Their only losses are to Illinois and Butler.

"We've had our struggles and battles, but we've made the right adjustments and calls," Lloyd said. "We must be doing something right."

For now, the Zags, newly anointed No. 1, head to the league tournament in Las Vegas. Lloyd knows such honors go only so far.

"I don't think those teams are going to care where we are ranked," he said.

http://www.rr.com/sports/topic/article/r...r_1st_time

Good for them. They've put in enough time beating good opponents over the last decade.

If this was football, they would be blasted for the league they play in... lol.

(03-05-2013 10:16 AM)Topkat Wrote:  If this was football, they would be blasted for the league they play in... lol.

To be fair they are 5-0 against the Big 12 and their wins are mostly over tournament teams. Teams is bad leagues get a bunch more chances to play the Big boys in college basketball and Gonzaga has made the most of theirs. That is a team fully capable of winning the entire thing. I don't think they are the best (I still like IU, Michigan and a fully healthy Duke team), but I think their record against the RPI top 50/100 speaks for itself.

(03-05-2013 10:16 AM)Topkat Wrote:  If this was football, and they were in the Big East, they would be blasted for the league they play in... lol.

FIFY. Boise State doesn't get any crap at all for their schedule and their league.

(03-05-2013 10:55 AM)BJUnklFkr Wrote:  

(03-05-2013 10:16 AM)Topkat Wrote:  If this was football, and they were in the Big East, they would be blasted for the league they play in... lol.

FIFY. Boise State doesn't get any crap at all for their schedule and their league.

lol.... good one. Best not google "Boise State weak schedule".

(03-05-2013 10:55 AM)BJUnklFkr Wrote:  

(03-05-2013 10:16 AM)Topkat Wrote:  If this was football, and they were in the Big East, they would be blasted for the league they play in... lol.

FIFY. Boise State doesn't get any crap at all for their schedule and their league.

Eh. I don't buy this. I have heard a ton of stuff over the years about Boise State's weak schedule (this year in particular it was a strong talking point when there was still a chance they could earn a BCS bid). It took a lot of wins over several years including wins over big programs like Oklahoma, Oregon and Georgia for Boise State to really garner respect and even then it was met with skepticism among many. The year UC was an eyelash from the national title, Boise was 5th in line despite also being undefeated. Boise has earned every bit of respect they get, but their schedule still gets questioned.

(03-05-2013 10:55 AM)BJUnklFkr Wrote:  

(03-05-2013 10:16 AM)Topkat Wrote:  If this was football, and they were in the Big East, they would be blasted for the league they play in... lol.

FIFY. Boise State doesn't get any crap at all for their schedule and their league.

Boise tends to get crap from media in PAC 12 land. I listen to Petros & Money and the Loose Cannons. Individuals on those shows have taken jabs at Boise from time to time.

(03-05-2013 10:43 AM)bearcatmark Wrote:  

(03-05-2013 10:16 AM)Topkat Wrote:  If this was football, they would be blasted for the league they play in... lol.

To be fair they are 5-0 against the Big 12 and their wins are mostly over tournament teams. Teams is bad leagues get a bunch more chances to play the Big boys in college basketball and Gonzaga has made the most of theirs. That is a team fully capable of winning the entire thing. I don't think they are the best (I still like IU, Michigan and a fully healthy Duke team), but I think their record against the RPI top 50/100 speaks for itself.

I think we are talking about two different things.

You are talking about a teams ranking based on what they have accomplished using some instrument of measure (same as football).

I am saying that imo, the media doesn't treat the "underdogs" in the NCAA tournament the same way they are treated when a team crashes the BCS Bowl from outside the PAC, B12, B10, SEC or ACC.

Maybe its just me, but the perceived little guy is celebrated in the NCAA basketball tourney. In a BCS bowl game, the announcers wonder how a Florida team can get "up", or motivated, for a Louisville, as I heard one commentator say. It's not an isolated incident.

Topkat- I'm not disputing that point with you. I in fact agree. I was disputing BJU's point about Boise not getting crap.

Not a Gonzaga fan but I suppose they deserve their week in the sun. Still, let's see if they can advance in the tourney for once. Like X, they've built a nice program but have never been to the promised land (Final Four; Championship game).

(03-05-2013 01:43 PM)indycat Wrote:  Not a Gonzaga fan but I suppose they deserve their week in the sun. Still, let's see if they can advance in the tourney for once. Like X, they've built a nice program but have never been to the promised land (Final Four; Championship game).

They've won tourney games in 10 of 12 years. Been to the elite eight, a couple sweet 16s. It's a really solid program that has far and away it's best team (closest before was probably Morrison's team, though the team the year after the elite eight that made the sweet 16 was really good as well). One of the best basketball columns put out every week is Gasaway's Tuesday Truths. Read his thing on Gonzaga this week: http://basketballprospectus.com/article....cleid=2543

(03-05-2013 01:43 PM)indycat Wrote:  Not a Gonzaga fan but I suppose they deserve their week in the sun. Still, let's see if they can advance in the tourney for once. Like X, they've built a nice program but have never been to the promised land (Final Four; Championship game).

This is arguably the best defensive team that Few has had. They've always been able to score, but you need to be able to get stops in close tournament games. It seems like they have taken the torch from us as the team that regularly disappoints in the tournament. Since their great run from 1999-2001 they have only made the Sweet 16 twice in 11 appearances despite being a ranked every season. Including this year 6 of those teams have been ranked in the AP top 10. Few's teams are 0-4 in the Sweet 16.

Maybe, but the get an order of magnitude less than we get. I guess that was my point.

Boise is the lovable "Cinderella", and we're "the best team in the crappy Big Least who's coach is about to leave"

I'm not sure anyone can dispute that.

My only memories of Gonzaga are getting screwed by the officials in the Maui tournament (Yancy was clearly fouled!) and Chuck getting the boot in SLC when we played them in 2003.

(03-05-2013 02:56 PM)JackieTreehorn Wrote:  My only memories of Gonzaga are getting screwed by the officials in the Maui tournament (Yancy was clearly fouled!) and Chuck getting the boot in SLC when we played them in 2003.

I remember beating them in an OOC game 10 or so years ago. Might have beaten a really good Rhode Island team same year. I was at the Beach for that NCAA game.