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Raise your hand if you had Gonzaga playing No. 9 Wichita State in Round of 32. Okay, a good number of you are left, good choice. Now, raise your hand if you had Harvard beating New Mexico. One of you? Ok, that was a silly choice that came through. Now, did you have La Salle beating K-State and Wisconsin falling to Ole Miss? Yeah, sit down.
Incredible, isn't it? For the first time ever (that's in history) the 3, 4, and 5 seed in the same bracket have fallen. The most remarkable was last night's Harvard win over New Mexico as most had the Lobos either in the Elite 8 or winning the West and heading to the Final Four. It turns out the Lobos flop was just the start as Wisconsin fell to Marshall Henderson and the Rebels and that was followed up by Kansas State making a valiant comeback but falling just short at the final buzzer.
As I wrote earlier today, the Shockers are going to present the Bulldogs with a number of challenges but the events of last night and today have honestly gotten me a little shaken. New Mexico was coming into the tournament scorching hot, Wisconsin was another big time favorite by man to reach the Final Four, and Kansas State was very dangerous as well. For all three to fall in less than 24 hours before their tournaments really got started is remarkable.
With all these fatalities, Gonzaga's road to the Elite 8 is against Wichita State tomorrow and then against the winner of Ole Miss and La Salle. While all three of these teams are capable of making a run of their own, there is no question in my mind who has been the best team all year long.
If the Zags are able to shake off the rust that we saw yesterday and put together a complete game tomorrow against Wichita State, they could run all the way to Atlanta.