Weekly Zag Briefing

Both Gonzaga squads are on the ground and in their quasi-bubbles in preparation for the start of the tournament. The players and staff will have a lot of time on their hands in isolation, but it sounds like they are making the most of a less-than-ideal situation with fierce boardgames, a football rematch, and some putting practice to occupy themselves in their hotel. Since we’re all just waiting for the games to start, we may as well fill the time with some nice words that have been written about Gonzaga over the last week:

• The NY Post put together an awesome piece recapping the journey that Gonzaga has taken to get to where it is today. If you haven’t read it yet, please take a few minutes to do so, it’s worth your while. I particularly enjoyed the bits about the reception given to the Zag alums at the 2017 Final Four.
• SB Nation’s RIcky O’Donnell joins the evangelism trail and makes the case for why Gonzaga is good enough to win the national championship and be considered one of the best college basketball teams ever.
• Two members of our beloved local broadcasting crew—Dan Dickau and Richard Fox—got together to discuss their thoughts on Gonzaga’s path to the Final Four and what the expect to see over the next few weeks.
• Ken Pomeroy takes a look at the 12 teams most likely to win the NCAA Tournament and which teams they compare to in the past from a statistical point of view to get a sense of how their tournament runs might go.
• The Athletic’s college basketball writers give their picks for the Final Four and who will be crowned the national champion. Gonzaga was the natty favorite for 8 of the 16 picks. Not a bad ratio.
• The Ringer’s Jonathan Tjarks highlights Corey Kispert as one of three elite shooters in the NCAA Tournament who could continue to push his way up the NBA’s draft boards with a strong showing.
• Rodger Sherman breaks down the bracket, and wonders why the committee decided on giving Gonzaga a second helping of the Power 5 teams it comfortably beat this year.
• ESPN’s Jeff Borzello examines why Jalen Suggs is the member of Gonzaga’s trio on the Wooden Award watchlist that will be most important to its championship aspirations.
• FiveThirtyEight breaks down the favorites and the Cinderellas of the Tournament. It will not surprise you that the numbers love Gonzaga.
• Chantel Jennings breaks down the entire field in the NCAA Women’s Tournament, so make sure to give this a look with our Zags looking to make it to the second weekend for the first time since 2015.
• Mike DeCourcy of The Sporting News wonders whether Gonzaga will have to fight against the “Curse of the Hoosiers” during their stay in Indianapolis to complete their quest of becoming the first undefeated national championship since Bob Knight’s 1976 Indiana squad.