Most coaches abhor what they consider distractions, those vague, murky factors that get in the way of focus and concentration.
But this year, in these circumstances? Gonzaga’s Mark Few almost considers some of them a blessing.
“Much to my chagrin, and I hate to admit this, but the fact that (his players) are always messing around on their phones and playing video games, I think it’s insulated them from a lot of stuff that’s going out there, being talked about,” he said. “It might be the one instance where I’m actually happy they have all that stuff.”
What’s being talked about, of course, is history. Gonzaga is 30-0 and two victories away from being the first undefeated men’s basketball national champion since Indiana in 1976.
That could be a burden, a heap of pressure and expectation that grows with each victory. If so, the Zags have laughed it off. They’ve had a single-digit margin of victory only once all season, against West Virginia on Dec. 2. They were threatened by BYU in the West Coast Conference Tournament championship game, trailing by 12 at halftime, and outscored the Cougars 47-25 in the second half to win by 10.
The farther they’ve advanced in the NCAA Tournament, the more efficient they’ve seemed to become. If their players were bothered by expectations they didn’t show it at all in Tuesday’s West Regional final against USC. They ran up a 21-8 lead in the opening 7-1/2 minutes and coasted to the finish against a team that, with its size, was supposed to be the most significant threat to the clean sheet. Gonzaga’s players seemed loose, free and unburdened, and the Trojans were the ones who looked tight and tense.
Now the Bulldogs get UCLA on Saturday evening, and Few has an idea of what to expect. “We know we’re in for a real rock fight of a game,” he said Friday.
Can the will, determination and stubbornness that has carried the Bruins this far overcome the talent of the No. 1 overall seed?
Gonzaga has three All-Americans in its starting lineup. Forward Corey Kispert (18.9 points, 5.0 rebounds per game) earned first-team honors from The Associated Press as well as the coaches’ and basketball writers’ associations. Forward Drew Timme (19 ppg and 7.2 rpg) and freshman point guard Jalen Suggs (14 ppg and 4.5 assists) were on each of the second teams.
The Zags are deep; 10 players have appeared in at least 24 of the team’s 30 games. They’re unselfish, with four players averaging double figures and assists on nearly 55 percent of their made baskets this season.
“They remind me of a pro team that’s won titles like the Spurs or Warriors, great teams that really pass the ball to each other,” UCLA coach Mick Cronin said. “If you’re out of position, they find the open man. If they draw a double-team, they find the open man.
“Talent combined with unselfishness is why they’re such a really tough out.”
And Gonzaga’s players have this additional edge: Having been in the NCAA’s controlled environment for the last three weeks, they’ve stayed detached from the “best team ever” speculation and “first time since ’76” chatter available on the outside.
“Being in the bubble has allowed us to keep kind of the outside noise away,” Timme, a 6-foot-10 sophomore, said Friday via Zoom. “And we’ve been able to stay closer and more connected this whole time, which has been huge for us because there’s a lot of distractions and stuff going on outside that we don’t need to worry about. Coach has done a great job just keeping us connected and locked in together as one.
“… Obviously we know what we’re doing is special and it’s something that hasn’t happened a lot, but no one’s going to give us anything. No one – no other team really cares about the history. They just want to win, just like we want to win. So it’s all about us going out and doing what we’re capable of and what we can do as a team and sticking together. And that’s just kind of all we’re focused on right now, because we don’t believe that you get handouts or anything. We believe you’ve got to take it and earn it. And we haven’t earned it yet. We’ve got a long way to potentially get there. And that’s all we’re focused on at the moment.”
This is Gonzaga’s fifth consecutive 30-win season, an NCAA record. The Bulldogs are the 29th men’s team ever to finish the regular season unbeaten, the sixth since ’76, and they have a 34-game overall winning streak and 27 straight double-digit wins, the latter also an NCAA record.
This is a bookend, in a sense. The first 30-win season in their streak was 2016-17, when they reached the Final Four in Phoenix and got to the national championship game, losing to North Carolina, 71-65. This Final Four in Indianapolis, of course, will be a far different experience.
“The public practice (in ’17), we probably had 30,00 people at it,” Few said. “When we walked out on the floor for the first game, there’s 80,000 in the stands. It’s vastly different.
“I feel bad that our guys haven’t been able to experience that aspect of it. But the flip side of it is, man, I mean we’re so focused, and there’s no distractions. None of us are having to worry about tickets and trying to connect with our families. And so you get some great camaraderie as if we needed any more.”
And this probably should be noted, as well. Those 1976 Hoosiers, the last ones to go wire-to-wire? They beat UCLA in a national semifinal in Philadelphia, in Gene Bartow’s first (and next to last) season as coach.
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