WCC: Making Case For Gonzaga As No. 1 Team In Nation
By Jeremy Karll
Quality Wins
Aside from Gonzaga being the last undefeated team in the nation, the Zags are 3-0 against ranked teams this season, plus a win over the currently 19th-ranked Florida Gators. The Bulldogs took down Iowa State, Arizona and St. Mary’s by an average of 10.7 points.
Their large average margin of victory primarily comes from their 23-point beatdown of St. Mary’s, but Gonzaga also held big leads against Iowa State and Arizona. They led Iowa State by as many as 18 and Arizona by 13 before taking their foot off the gas in each game.
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Maintaining those leads would look more impressive a month later, but they still dominated two ranked teams, nonetheless. Holding a double-digit halftime lead over Iowa State and Arizona further proves how dominating they were early in the game.
Also, in Gonzaga’s latest win over a ranked team, they controlled the final 25 minutes against St. Mary’s. After trailing 30-29 with 5:25 left in the first half, Gonzaga outscored St. Mary’s 49-27 to end the game. The Bulldogs went on a 13-2 run to end the first half and 21-4 run to end the game.
Gonzaga is naturally going to have a weak strength of schedule because them and St. Mary’s are the only legitimate national threats in the conference, and the Gaels did not impress in their meeting with Gonzaga.
However, UCLA owning only the 132nd toughest schedule in the nation hasn’t stopped voters from giving them a serious look as the top team in the nation.
Besides, Gonzaga has the second most wins over top 25 RPI teams this season and their 3-0 record against such teams ties with West Virginia for the most without a loss. It’s telling that even though Gonzaga is in a weaker conference, they filled their non-conference schedule with formidable opponents and, as previously mentioned, beat them handily.
It would be one thing if Gonzaga scheduled easy wins in their non-conference schedule and then entered a conference whose third and fourth best teams are BYU and Santa Clara, respectively.
But Gonzaga scheduled ranked teams and beat them easily, not to mention winning by an average of 26.2 points in conference play. It’s telling of how dominant they have been against bad teams and that their 23-point win over St. Mary’s didn’t cover up for bad games.
It matters how you win in college basketball, and this season Gonzaga has not given any team a chance thus far. They have held a double-digit lead in every game outside of their win over Florida.