The Zags continue to be untested during the 2020-21 West Coast Conference portion of their schedule.
One thing that happens to successful people is that they often outgrow many of their friendships. The same can happen in the business world where a company may start out as a “mom and pop” location but can quickly turn into a multi-national corporation.
That is exactly what happened to the Gonzaga Bulldogs.
As I type this article, Gonzaga is laying another 39 point beatdown on the San Francisco Dons 100-61 who they have now run over twice with ease during the 2020-21 season.
Gonzaga’s 82-71 win over BYU on Feb 8 was the closest West Coast Conference game they’ve had so far this season. Since Mark Few took over the head coaching job in 1999 the Zags have won 16 WCC tournament titles along with 19 WCC regular season titles.
If this was EA Sports NCAA basketball or football “Dynasty Mode” you likely would’ve wiped the memory card clear about 10 seasons ago and started over fresh with a new program. It just gets boring when you win that easy.
Gonzaga has had success for a long time but in recent years they’ve reached Blue Blood status with Few’s ability to get McDonald’s All-Americans to go to Spokane, WA with Zach Collins in 2016 and now Jalen Suggs this year.
Its well past time for Gonzaga to embark on a new challenge that the competition in the WCC is not providing them.
The Pac-12 would make the most sense based on geography and the competition available but even a move to the Mountain West would provide them with a more challenging schedule with the likes of Boise State, San Diego State, Nevada and Colorado State.
Aside from an unforeseen injury, the major concern for Gonzaga approaching the NCAA tournament is the lack of actual competition they’ve played in the past 6 weeks. While teams in the Big 10, Big 12 and SEC are all engaging in high level battles week in and week out the Zags have looked bored rolling over cupcakes in the WCC.
Gonzaga once was a small mid-major program in the middle of nowhere but the world has changed a great deal over the past two decades and so has Gonzaga.
“I’m gonna make a change for once in my life. It’s gonna feel real good, gonna make a difference. Gonna make it right.” – Michael Jackson (Man in the mirror).
