INDIANAPOLIS – The formal takedown of the start was pushed forward by a 3-pointer from Jalen Suggs, who, at the very least, establishes a winning margin on level ground with 39 previous minutes of basketball between Gonzaga and Southern California. And as the reserves played the final 51 seconds, Gonzaga hugged in front of the bench between players and coaches. He had a clear understanding that despite saying a lot about the 2021 NCAA tournament, there is a lack of a specific definition of March Madness.
Following his 85–66 victory, he cut the trap in an almost empty courtroom, occupied by some NCAA representatives and members of the Gonzaga Yatra Party. There will be no trip home for Spokane to celebrate this Final Four appearance with thousands of students and community fans. It will return to the hotel, such as after three pre-tournament games. But it will be different.
Coach Mark Few told reporters after the game, “Everyone wants to pursue this, but how we roll is not what it is.” “This is one heck of an accomplishment, and we are going to celebrate it. This does not diminish our desire to win the next game, but these are special times.
“This is something that needs to be celebrated, and we need to take time to enjoy the hake out of it. I think if you go to the endgame you are missing that point in life. “
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The game between the Zags and the Trojans ended early. Really fast. Like, immediately after tipoff.
USC was trailing by 17 points before 10 minutes of the West Zone final. The Trojans committed four turnovers in that period and missed nine of their first 13 shots. By halftime, it was 49-30 in Gonzaga’s favor. The first three USC tournament opponents averaged 58 points for their entire game.
“I think our players made some mistakes,” USC coach Andy Enfield called the postgame to reporters. “They are college basketball players and sometimes it happens. They spit a little. They were very ready to play. They knew Gonzaga, what they were trying to do. This was not a lack of preparation on the part of our players. He did not play well at the start of the game. “
Gonzaga joined the 2015 Kentucky, 1991 UNLV and 1979 as Indiana State, and as the only team to reach the Final Four since 1976, the Indiana Hoosiers made it all the way through the championship with a perfect record.
“It’s great. It’s not hard to think about it.” We try our best to keep our minds focused on work. It’s a great achievement to be mentioned with those teams, because they are amazing. We just do it every day. Want to come and play by Gonzaga standard, and this is the result. We are not chasing anyone or anything. “
The old “what if Gonzaga played in a major conference” narrative is being destroyed, game after game, in front of our very eyes. If the Zags played in a major conference, they would win more games against major-conference opponents.
They have played eight teams this year, which were among the very best in almost all the best leagues: Iowa the Big Ten, ACC champions Virginia, Pac-12 to USC, Crayton from the Big East and Oklahoma and West Virginia. Big 12. The only league to survive the outbreak of Gonzaga: SEC. Lucky for them.
The Zags did not go just 8–0 in those games. He destroyed almost every team on the list. Only WVU came in double digits, losing by five. On average, those teams fell by a margin of 16 points.
Enfield was asked what it would take for one of the other three Final Four teams to prevent Gonzaga from finishing the season 32–0.
“We didn’t do a very good job, so I’m probably the wrong person,” Enfield said with Chuckley. “They have skills in every situation. They are working hard because a lot of teams can take you away from the players at any one or a particular time, but Gonzaga is very efficient and very fast. His pace is very hard.
There is a sensible crowd to elevate this Gonzaga team to a historical context, especially after such a performance. Are they in conversation with Carolina 2009, Kentucky 1996, Duke 1992, Georgetown 1984 or dare we say 1976 Indiana?
no not today. Nobody understands it better than the Bulldogs that everything they do to win the title is less than winning the title.
If they had to lose on Saturday or the following Monday night, the conversation would be completely different. This would include the Zags being one of the best teams that failed to win it: Kentucky 2015, Memphis 2008, Illinois 2005, UNLV 1991. This is not a list in which Gonzaga’s talent and achievement anywhere wants to pass.
And so they will continue to focus on what is in front of them. They will not have a customary week to prepare for the national semifinals, but they also do not need to go home from the West Zone site and then to Indianapolis. They are here. They know their surroundings. After playing their opening tournament rounds at Bankers Life Fieldhouse and Hink Fieldhouse, the Jags even played at the stadium where the Final Four would be staged.
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If you don’t want to compare them to the best teams, they should not win, but consider that in 2015 Kentucky blocked their regional final over Notre Dame with an Irish try on a game-3-pointer with Willie Koelle-Stein Lived while doing it. And in 1991 UNLV beat Seton Hall by only 12, later only three times ahead of halftime.
Gonzaga has dominated the tournament in a way that both of them did not and they seem unaffected by the pressure they put on to end an unaffected season. In a conversation with some fans on both sides, fellow students, or anyone with boosters or even their own families, short zoom calls with questions about completeness and perhaps some calls or texts Are limited to.
Although both the Zags and the Trojans hail from universities in the Pacific time zone, their game was played in the first time slot of Tuesday’s doubleheader, closing at 4:15 PT. Some were asked if they were worried if the team’s fans would not be in a position to allow their team to reach the second final four in program history.
“Trust me, our fans are not at work. If you think they are working, then you don’t know Zag fans, ”he said. “We’re not lacking for any more viewers or fans. They have their priorities in the line. They stop work early, stop whatever they’re doing and are happy to zag.”
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