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AP & USAToday/ESPN name Gonzaga the number one college basketball team in the nation today.
It's a first for the Zags and has turned us fans all into giddy kids who have lived to witness this great moment in the annals of Gonzaga University basketball. And this could be just the beginning of an historic run.
But this bright, shining, moment, today, is epic. The Zags have been impressing the world as the little basketball team that annually took on the world -- and won, more often than not. Today, the whole world must stop and examine this nugget with fresh eyes. It has been named the best of the best. This designation demands attention. scrutiny. Admiration from peers.
So what will they see and what will they say and learn. The Zags have become a powerhouse in the smallish WCC league they play in, but they have also become a darling of millions of pure basketball fans around the world as they have repeatedly walked onto the hardwood anywhere and anytime and taken on the Goliaths of college basketball.
Seldom, ever, is a Gonzaga game boring. It is more like an event. A happening. Basketball fans know and anticipate and are generally rewarded, if not delighted or crushed, whenever the Bulldogs take the floor. Like the Butler game this season. Either way the odds it will be unforgettable are high.
But win or lose, the games and the endings have often wound up as ESPN classic games, still shown worldwide. I watched the NCAA 2006 GU-UCLA game a few years ago from my room in London. Don't ask what happened.
It still hurts like it was yesterday.
And now, after a week of speculation and anguish for the closest of caring fans, the possibility unfolded that the Zags could and should be voted number one in the nation.
It wasn't JUST because they won their two games, but it was also because the would be compeition, the numbers 1, 3, 4 & 5 teams in last week's poll,all lost one of their two games.
Sure, there was no one left in the top five to fight over. It was addition by subtraction to everyone who picks Duke, or Indiana. and goes to sleep until the dance.
But not to us Zags fans. We've done our math. We've waited our turns. We've heard the strength of schedule canard for a dozen years.
This time, this week, was different. We won and everyone else lost. There was NO WAY the coaches (USAToday/ESPN or sportswriters - AP) could ignore us.
They were all boxed in, not by all the biases, prejudices, punditry, contract affiliations and allegiances that go back to the days of Naismith and the peach basket, but by all those pesky facts.
GU was the best team because it has won more games. And lost less. Two to be exact.
The wins included a broad cross section of wins before the league started, and ended with a 16 game sweep of the WCC, just for added emphasis. Those who still wanted to take out their microscopes, they might note that at least one of the two games GU lost was a fluke play and a classic game in either event.
So just like the Zags that have been traveling the nation playing everyone over and over, it was time, this week, to stop, take a snapshot of the season up to this point, and decide who deserved to be number one.
It became clear it was the Zags --clearly and decisively -- not because they were the last team standing, as some suggested. They are the last team standing because they keep on winning.
Coach Mark Few has been advising everyone to stop and smell the roses over this team and it's accomplishments. He said he would be happy to be ranked number one because it's something that has never happened in this team and school's storied history.
He added there were other goals he and this team and Gonzaga University have not achieved. Three of them, a first seed, a Final four and a national championship, are possibilities as well.
But first things first. First it will be attempting to win the WCC tournament in Las Vegas this weekend. Because of the nature of this conference, the way the teams are so familiar with each other and can game their own and our own systems at times, this tourney could involve more epic battles.
Such is the nature of Gonzaga basketball. Given the road this team has traveled, from relative obscurity to national and then worldwide recognition and attention, the Zags have become used to being in the limelight under pressure.
But, for a few bright, shiny, moments, I suggest we all just sit back and enjoy the words as they take on their meaning: Gonzaga University's men's basketball team is ranked number one in the nation.
We're Number ONE !
It's a first for the Zags and has turned us fans all into giddy kids who have lived to witness this great moment in the annals of Gonzaga University basketball. And this could be just the beginning of an historic run.
But this bright, shining, moment, today, is epic. The Zags have been impressing the world as the little basketball team that annually took on the world -- and won, more often than not. Today, the whole world must stop and examine this nugget with fresh eyes. It has been named the best of the best. This designation demands attention. scrutiny. Admiration from peers.
So what will they see and what will they say and learn. The Zags have become a powerhouse in the smallish WCC league they play in, but they have also become a darling of millions of pure basketball fans around the world as they have repeatedly walked onto the hardwood anywhere and anytime and taken on the Goliaths of college basketball.
Seldom, ever, is a Gonzaga game boring. It is more like an event. A happening. Basketball fans know and anticipate and are generally rewarded, if not delighted or crushed, whenever the Bulldogs take the floor. Like the Butler game this season. Either way the odds it will be unforgettable are high.
But win or lose, the games and the endings have often wound up as ESPN classic games, still shown worldwide. I watched the NCAA 2006 GU-UCLA game a few years ago from my room in London. Don't ask what happened.
It still hurts like it was yesterday.
And now, after a week of speculation and anguish for the closest of caring fans, the possibility unfolded that the Zags could and should be voted number one in the nation.
It wasn't JUST because they won their two games, but it was also because the would be compeition, the numbers 1, 3, 4 & 5 teams in last week's poll,all lost one of their two games.
Sure, there was no one left in the top five to fight over. It was addition by subtraction to everyone who picks Duke, or Indiana. and goes to sleep until the dance.
But not to us Zags fans. We've done our math. We've waited our turns. We've heard the strength of schedule canard for a dozen years.
This time, this week, was different. We won and everyone else lost. There was NO WAY the coaches (USAToday/ESPN or sportswriters - AP) could ignore us.
They were all boxed in, not by all the biases, prejudices, punditry, contract affiliations and allegiances that go back to the days of Naismith and the peach basket, but by all those pesky facts.
GU was the best team because it has won more games. And lost less. Two to be exact.
The wins included a broad cross section of wins before the league started, and ended with a 16 game sweep of the WCC, just for added emphasis. Those who still wanted to take out their microscopes, they might note that at least one of the two games GU lost was a fluke play and a classic game in either event.
So just like the Zags that have been traveling the nation playing everyone over and over, it was time, this week, to stop, take a snapshot of the season up to this point, and decide who deserved to be number one.
It became clear it was the Zags --clearly and decisively -- not because they were the last team standing, as some suggested. They are the last team standing because they keep on winning.
Coach Mark Few has been advising everyone to stop and smell the roses over this team and it's accomplishments. He said he would be happy to be ranked number one because it's something that has never happened in this team and school's storied history.
He added there were other goals he and this team and Gonzaga University have not achieved. Three of them, a first seed, a Final four and a national championship, are possibilities as well.
But first things first. First it will be attempting to win the WCC tournament in Las Vegas this weekend. Because of the nature of this conference, the way the teams are so familiar with each other and can game their own and our own systems at times, this tourney could involve more epic battles.
Such is the nature of Gonzaga basketball. Given the road this team has traveled, from relative obscurity to national and then worldwide recognition and attention, the Zags have become used to being in the limelight under pressure.
But, for a few bright, shiny, moments, I suggest we all just sit back and enjoy the words as they take on their meaning: Gonzaga University's men's basketball team is ranked number one in the nation.
We're Number ONE !
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