Weekly Zag Briefing

The regular season is quickly barreling to a close, which means that the content factories are beginning to churn out postseason think pieces on a regular basis. Without further ado:

• The Athletic’s Brian Hamilton wrote a great feature on Joel Ayayi’s evolution, providing insightful details on the sophomore guard’s behind-the-scenes work to improve his game and internalize everything he’s learned watching his peers to become a crucial piece for Gonzaga’s championship aspirations. One thing is clear from this piece—Ayayi deserves a lot of credit for not shying from his failures and staying the course.
• Jackson Frank talks to several of the Zags and breaks into the film to understand the nuts and bolts of what the team is doing, or trying to do, in key areas of the game to notch more W’s.
• Bryce Miller of the San Diego Union-Tribune sizes up San Diego State’s competition on the 1-seed line to determine how it compares with Kansas, Gonzaga, and Baylor.
• In this week’s Bubble Watch, BYU is shoring up its position in the tournament field, while SMC’s hopes are touch and go at the moment. ESPN’s John Gasaway lists BYU and SMC in the “work to do” category, but his comments imply that they’ll get in the field.
• BRACKETOLOGY: With the committee releasing its seedings for the Top 16 teams, bracket prognostications were given a clear idea of how teams are being viewed, though that didn’t last for long as nearly half of the Top 16 would lose by the end of the weekend. Nevertheless, Gonzaga is entrenched in the West’s 1 spot across the board. Joe Lunardi has BYU as a 7 in the West and Saint Mary’s as a 9 in the East. Jerry Palm has SMC and BYU as 9-seeds in the East and Midwest, respectively. Chris Dobbertean has BYU all the way up to 6 in the Midwest, and SMC as a 9 in the East.