Goodbye 2015-16 season, let's prepare for the long haul

That was a NCAA Championship game for the ages, and when the final buzzer sounded at the Villanova Wildcats were named the 2016 NCAA Tournament winners over North Carolina, that buzzer also signified the start of the offseason for the Gonzaga Bulldogs and the rest of the nation.

It is time to hunker down folks, and save our energy and resources for surviving next season. We will awake from our approximately six month slumber to a new day, a new team, and a new chance at greatness.

The Wildcats celebrated their first title in 31 years. Perhaps next season the Zags will celebrate their first Final Four in forever? The sky is always the limit in these uncertain times, and we are quite uncertain about our team at the moment.

The Zags have the best recruiting class in history charging into Spokane. They will be accompanied by Nigel Williams-Goss and Johnathan Williams, a transfer class deserving their own mention. They will settle in with Silas Melson, Josh Perkins, Bryan Alberts and Ryan Edwards to give a big push in 2016-17.

Of course, we left out some key names there. Domantas Sabonis might declare for the draft. Przemek Karnowski might call it quits on his collegiate career and head to Europe. We are already losing Kyle Wiltjer, Kyle Dranginis and Eric McClellan. So yeah, right now, there is a lot of flux on this team.

The Zags should start the season ranked in the AP Preseason Top 25. As we saw this year, those rankings don't necessarily mean much. Teams can take a lot more time to gel than expected and can also get hit with huge injuries to start to scuttle any dreams of a NCAA Tournament bid.

But then teams can also dig down and find themselves at just the right moment, pushing in for a Sweet 16 appearance not a single soul had assumed was possible one month earlier. This, my friends, is why it is all called March Madness. Trying to make any sense of why anything happens is a fool's endeavor.

There is still going to be plenty to cover with this team going forward. We have draft watches for at minimum Kyle Wiltjer, and maximum Kyle Wiltjer and Domantas Sabonis. We have Przemek's decision. We have the potential for people to transfer away. We have the potential for people to transfer to. The point is, keep on tuning into this blog, because where this is news, we will find it and make it out to be bigger than it should be.

It was a wild ride y'all, but in the end it ended up being one of the more memorable seasons in recent Gonzaga memory. Let's take a breather, buckle our seatbelts, and prepare for the next one.