Coach Few's big year

[zag buddy]

This is a year where many experts pick us to be in the final 4. We have excellent players at every position who as a group are in the best shooters in the nation. We have a coach who has the winning-est record of all active coaches (above 80% winning percentage). I'm sure this puts a lot of pressure on coach Few to avoid the pitfalls we have faced in the past such as hot shooters, poor reffing etc., in effect judging just how good a coach he is. Many critics exclaim we are over hyped in that in our tournament performances we have won 16 games and lost 15 games under coach Few. That is a 51.5 % winning record in the NCAA tournament. They may have a claim as I couldn't find the other coaches winning percentages, but I suspect that many have a better winning percentage in their tournament performances, thus the 80% number merely reflects that we can expect about 13+ plus wins in the WCC conference (weak conference). Add 8 easy games in non conference and that only leaves about 8 good teams we may face in any given year and some of those teams have off games or years.Thereby accounting for the 80% winning record.
This is the year for coach Few to shine, putting all those naysayers to rest. If we make it (or don't) it will be because of coaching. Here is hoping coach Few is up to the task. Go Zags and go coach Few.

[Zags11]

You a zag fan or ### stirrer?

[caduceus]

You a zag fan or ### stirrer?

You dropped your _ᵖᵒᵗ.

Why this word was ever banned is beyond me.

[gonstu]

A little bit ago there was a great article from one of the national writers addressing this conception. It compared zags' tournament performance with duke, Michigan state and another program. If I recall correctly, zags stacked up decently compared to seed. I'm sure someone knows what I'm talking about any will post a link.

[zag buddy]

zag 11 you have something against facts? This is a basketball forum isn't it? What would you rather I started a thread on which player had the nicest hair last game?

[DZ]

zag 11 you have something against facts? This is a basketball forum isn't it? What would you rather I started a thread on which player had the nicest hair last game?

I believe it was your take on facts that is doing the stirring. You cast them in a light that implied (essentially) that Few is overrated. You may deny that and protest you set them out objectively, but people see what the message is. You essentially throw away the .800 winning percentage b/c of the weak conference. The very important flip side of that is that until very recently, our weak conference also undermined any chance of getting the four or five star recruits that are essential to plowing through BCS conferences. In many of those years building the program, Few didn't have the money to work with, either, in order to attract even 3-4 star recruits to a cold-weather, small metro, high academic expectations school - and yet he won. He won so much that we now do have most of those things and are getting the 4-5 star recruits and are currently number 7 in the nation.

Last year, I said that I thought Few was having a bad year. I said that after we dropped more than a few games in a short time. I did so by noting a million times everyone has good/bad/best/worst years. But, I never have, nor will ever say that he is anything less than a Hall of Fame-in-waiting, elite and unique coach. But, you are sort of implying that this specific year is a referendum on Few's worth. That is what people will find as "stirring" a pretty rancid paut.

[zag buddy]

Thanks Dixie. I'm a total Mark Few supporter, think he is one of the best coaches in America and hope he stays forever. I would like to see his coaching skills jump to the next level insuring Gonzaga being an icon in basketball. just like we want to see the players jump to the next level. It will not help him evolve by patting his back. But I want the best for him and will always say the truth as I see it and hope that it is helpful. Also, you do not learn anything from people who agree with you all the time. It takes an opposing opinion to learn something new. Maybe out of our differing views we will learn something new or see a new perspective. At least one can hope.

[Zagdawg]

Coaching skills are solid ---having a few more 5* recruits would be nice. Few took our boys and almost put it on Arizona (a team filled with top 100 5* recruits) at their house.

We will see how things go as we continue through the year--hopefully Few can make you happy by developing his game that much more---he gets much better and everyone will be happy except for the teams he plays against.

Go Zags

[DZ]

It will not help him evolve by patting his back. We do not lead from behind or be politically correct, or lie to help our great coach to get better.

How on earth does anything said here (or anywhere outside the BB Administration and his BB friends) have any impact on how he grows, regresses, whatever?

I agree we should tolerate differing views, I've always supported that and been on the sharp end of it. But, that's just among people here wanting to learn and understand, not anywhere among the coaches, administration or staff.

Having said that, some people write things solely to increase angst or to let out anger. Those threads do not help anyone learn or toss meaningful stuff back and forth. That is where one has to be careful about how a thread is perceived, or what one's intentions are.

[bartruff1]

What coach has a better record over a comparable amount of time ???

More specifically , what non Big Five coach has a better record ????

[Zags11]

What dixie said zag buddy. Also, i dont pat anyones back and will say if i think few or a player messed up but i cant argue with 80% all the time. Few does do things that i wonder about but his 20+ win seasons and tournament appearances are hard to knock. Yep, their are games in march i believe he didnt help the cause and i bang my head but the man has a solid formula to make march. This year he needs to make a elite8 run with this roster. LLuck or no luck. If we make the elite 8, i would consider it a major stepping stone for mark few.

Work calls but you seem in your posts like you like to stir the cup around and if so, fair enough.

[zagfan24]

If winning 80% of your games was simply a product of being in a "weak conference" -- a lot more guys would be up there.

[Zags11]

Plus having 5 star recruits would help. I believe this team 1 through 5 and bench has deepest talent yet at GU.

[TheGonzagaFactor]

He's won 80% of his games because he's won 80% of his games. He's coached around 135 games against power conference schools and won ~60% of them with mid major talent--with the vast majority of those games on the road. Does him having the best winning percentage in Division 1 make him the best coach in Division 1? No. But he's still an awesome coach and a great guy to run a program.

I've always heard the same narrative towards Gonzaga making the tournament every year: "oh well it's only because they're in a crappy conference!" Yeah--the WCC usually checks in at 9th to 13th overall out of 32 conferences in D1. That's mediocre. But by that logic, why aren't there any schools from the 20 or so conferences below the WCC that have streaks comparable to ours? Or anything remotely close?

Big Sky? Weber State can't get a streak longer than ONE YEAR. No Big Sky team has had a 3 year streak since the 70s.
Summit League? Valpo had a MASSIVE 6 year streak through 2002.
Sun Belt? Western KY had a 3 year dynasty through 2003. No 3 year streak in the Sun Belt before that all the way to the early 80s.
Metro Atlantic? Siena had a 3 year run through 2010. Longest in that conference since 1990.
Butler's longest streak ever? 5 years.
Creighton has never made it more than 5 years and has never made it to the S16 in the 64 team format. Never won more than 1 game in an NCAA tournament.
Wichita never more than 3 consecutive tournaments.
VCU never more than 5 years. This year would tie that.
SoCon? Steph Curry had a 3 year run. Before that most recent 3 year run was Chattanooga through 1995.
Those aren't even the worst conferences I could have picked...

I feel like I always hear of Bucknell (Patriot) and Belmont (OVC) in the tourney, but neither of them have made it past 3 years.

Utah State has had a good program in a weak conference--never more than 3 straight NCAA appearances.

You get the point. Few's winning % might be a bit inflated compared to Williams, Kryzewski, Self, Izzo... but the NCAA streak is monumental and GU is 3rd in D1 winning percentage over the last 11 years. There are 250 teams that play easier schedules every year without the bullseye we have on us. Where are they on the winning percentage leaderboard? Why aren't they always in the tournament?



Few will break through. Even if he doesn't, he will leave a great legacy. I don't like to hear "yeah, he's done well, but he should have accomplished this and that..." Whatever. His results given our conference/location have been nothing short of amazing. Winning 80% of your games is phenomenal, especially given some of our OOC schedules over the years.

[Zagger]

Critics ..... meh. Gonzaga has a unique program. It is not easy to quantify, describe, project/predict when it comes to the NCAAs. This season the Zags certainly have all the right incredients for a Final Four Soup in players and staff (I love seeing both Hart & Morrison perched behind the bench at games!). Being realistic though - there are quite a few teams all with a burning desire to go deep into March. The Zags get each WCC opponent's best shot in league play. In March it'll be the same but with the cream of the crop from the other conferences. As much as coaching and player skills make a big determination in outcome so does, at least in part, the bounce of the ball + team synergy at that time and place. Even a good night's sleep could be the deciding straw in an outcome. If we should get bounced out early - so be it. Why blame anyone when there are so many variables. Humans are mistake making machines. We also strive to improve over time. GU is mentioned in Final Four talk due to our yearly record and this collection of players. It is really a no-brainer. GU is poised to go that far. But, there will be a few teams displaying gifted play in March. Who? That's the excitement of it all. Which teams can both stick to a game plan AND capitalize on the flow of the moment. Who's going to get that loose ball like a Mike Hart? Who'll shoot the lights out like an Adam Morrison? I like our chances with Zag depth and GU's program. If the Zags don't go deep in March my money is on whoever might beat the Zags to go to the final game. My congrats in advance to whoever might beat the Zags (although all of my brackets will have GU taking the top prize).