Gonzaga ended the regular season with a loss, and now has to spend eight days between games before it can try to get back on track. Are there any takeaways to be had from that loss, and what’s to come going forward?
LOOKING BACK
While Saturday’s loss to Saint Mary’s is disappointing to Zag fans who were hoping for the program’s seventh undefeated conference season in history, the impacts of the loss haven’t done much beyond take away symbolic achievement. Gonzaga remains ranked first in the AP Poll — in part, it should be noted, because while the Zags lost on Saturday, so did the teams ranked second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth in the AP Poll at the time. Gonzaga also remains atop the NET Rankings, the NCAA’s primary sorting tool when it comes to fielding and seeding teams for the NCAA Tournament.
So, has the loss to Saint Mary’s changed much, if anything, for the Zags? Not really.
“Shit happens, man,” junior forward Drew Timme told KREM’s Travis Green on Sunday. “We didn't play the best, I didn't play the best, you know, we're human, though. It sucks to lose, but better now than March.”
In fact, the happenings Timme was referring to aren’t even all that unusual. Saint Mary’s is Gonzaga’s arch-rival. They were ranked 23rd in the AP Poll at the time. The game was played in their home gym.
Since the 2016-2017 season, when Gonzaga made its first Final Four and since which has been among, if not the best program in the sport, the Zags have a record of 188-17 (.829). Saint Mary’s is responsible for three of those 17 losses. Two of those three came while Gonzaga was ranked atop the AP Poll. Both of those games were blow outs.
When the Gaels beat the No. 1-ranked Zags back in 2019, they won by 13 points. More impressively, they held the Zags 40.6 points below their season average. When they did it on Saturday, the win was by 10 and the Zags were held 31.3 points below their season average. No team plays Gonzaga as often as Saint Mary’s, and no team knows how to play Gonzaga as well as Saint Mary’s. As a result, no team is capable of beating Gonzaga quite like Saint Mary’s.
In other words, shit happens. Not often, but it happens, and when it does, the pesky Gaels are likely to be involved.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Zags have a long break between the end of the regular season and their first game in the WCC Tournament at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. The tournament starts this week, but the Zags won’t play until next week.
The tournament tips off on Thursday, but the Zags won’t take part until Monday thanks to the triple-bye awarded to the top two seeds: Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s — yep, those two are on a collision course yet again. Thursday will feature games between 9 seed Pacific and 8 seed LMU then 7 seed San Diego and 10 seed Pepperdine. The winners of those two will move on to face 5 seed BYU and 6 seed Portland, respectively, on Friday. Then, the winner of those games will advance to face 4 seed San Francisco and 3 seed Santa Clara on Saturday. Whichever team wins against San Francisco will then advance to face the Zags in the tournament semifinals on Monday, and the winner against Santa Clara will face Saint Mary’s.
Gonzaga has won the WCC Tournament in 19 seasons, 17 of which have come under head coach Mark Few, including two in a row and eight of the past 10. The last time Gonzaga failed to make it to the title game was all the way back in 1997. Their streak of consecutive appearances in the title game is older than every player on the roster.
Since the tournament moved to Las Vegas in 2009, Gonzaga has failed to win it just three times. In each of those three instances, they lost in the title game to Saint Mary’s. The Gaels are the favorites to face off against Gonzaga in the title game once again this season.
UP NEXT
The Zags won’t play again until Monday. March 7, at 6 p.m at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas on ESPN. Their opponent is yet to be determined, but it is likely to be 4 seed San Francisco or 5 seed BYU. The game to determine their opponent will take place Saturday, March 5, at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN2.
