Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Guess what, Gonzaga is (still) not a top-3 college basketball team

Somebody who plays for Gonzaga helped them beat
St. Mary's 70-60 on February 21.
I haven't watched the Gonzaga Bulldogs play all season.  I can't name a single guy on their team.  And to be honest, I have paid next to no attention to college hoops this season.

But even having said all that, I am still 99 percent certain that Gonzaga is not worthy of their No. 2 USA Today Coaches/No. 3 AP ranking.  The Bulldogs climbed that high in the polls by virtue of their 28-1 record (16-0 West Coast Conference).  However, they've played one top-20 team all year--can you guess which game their lone loss is?  It came against then No. 3 Arizona on December 6.

I wrote this exact post two years ago, a few days before Gonzaga took over the No. 1 ranking for the first time in school history.  Then I wrote it again last season when 34-0 Wichita State (out of the Missouri Valley Conference) entered the postseason ranked No. 2.  Both clubs were awarded No. 1 seeds in the NCAA tournament, and each of them got upset in the second round.

Murdering your crappy conference schedule does not make you a top team.  Playing well against quality competition does.

No comments:

Post a Comment