WCC: Making Case For Gonzaga As No. 1 Team In Nation

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Being in the West Coast Conference shouldn’t halt the discussion of Gonzaga being the top ranked team in the country.

Regular season success has become synonymous with Gonzaga Bulldogs basketball during Mark Few‘s tenure. They’ve never won fewer than 20 games or missed the NCAA Tournament under Few and own a ridiculous .813 winning percentage.

Although, Gonzaga has never had this type of success to start a season. The Zags are the last undefeated team in the nation at 18-0. Even when they went they went 32-3 in 2012-13, they only started 9-0.

Despite their historic start, the Associated Press has overlooked Gonzaga up to this point. This past week, the Associated Press ranked Gonzaga fourth in the nation, which is 10 spots higher than where they started the season, but the Zags still only received two first place votes.

Gonzaga only has the 64th toughest schedule, according to ESPN, but that shouldn’t knock them out of the running for being considered the best team in the nation.

Of course, based on Gonzaga’s past regular season success but dreadful play in the NCAA Tournament, everyone is waiting to see if Gonzaga can finally make the Final Four, rather than if they can run the table in the regular season.

That said, ESPN’s bracketology only projects Gonzaga as a 2-seed in the NCAA Tournament and three one-loss teams still rank ahead of them in the AP Top 25.

Past regular season success and disappointment should not stop Gonzaga from topping the AP Top 25, and here’s why.

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Quality Wins

Aside from Gonzaga being the last undefeated team in the nation, the Zags are 3-0 against ranked teams this season, plus a win over the currently 19th-ranked Florida Gators. The Bulldogs took down Iowa State, Arizona and St. Mary’s by an average of 10.7 points.

Their large average margin of victory primarily comes from their 23-point beatdown of St. Mary’s, but Gonzaga also held big leads against Iowa State and Arizona. They led Iowa State by as many as 18 and Arizona by 13 before taking their foot off the gas in each game.

Maintaining those leads would look more impressive a month later, but they still dominated two ranked teams, nonetheless. Holding a double-digit halftime lead over Iowa State and Arizona further proves how dominating they were early in the game.

Also, in Gonzaga’s latest win over a ranked team, they controlled the final 25 minutes against St. Mary’s. After trailing 30-29 with 5:25 left in the first half, Gonzaga outscored St. Mary’s 49-27 to end the game. The Bulldogs went on a 13-2 run to end the first half and 21-4 run to end the game.

Gonzaga is naturally going to have a weak strength of schedule because them and St. Mary’s are the only legitimate national threats in the conference, and the Gaels did not impress in their meeting with Gonzaga.

However, UCLA owning only the 132nd toughest schedule in the nation hasn’t stopped voters from giving them a serious look as the top team in the nation.

Besides, Gonzaga has the second most wins over top 25 RPI teams this season and their 3-0 record against such teams ties with West Virginia for the most without a loss. It’s telling that even though Gonzaga is in a weaker conference, they filled their non-conference schedule with formidable opponents and, as previously mentioned, beat them handily.

It would be one thing if Gonzaga scheduled easy wins in their non-conference schedule and then entered a conference whose third and fourth best teams are BYU and Santa Clara, respectively.

But Gonzaga scheduled ranked teams and beat them easily, not to mention winning by an average of 26.2 points in conference play. It’s telling of how dominant they have been against bad teams and that their 23-point win over St. Mary’s didn’t cover up for bad games.

It matters how you win in college basketball, and this season Gonzaga has not given any team a chance thus far. They have held a double-digit lead in every game outside of their win over Florida.

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Well Balanced

From Kyle Wiltjer and Domantas Sabonis, to Kelly Olynyk and Robert Sacre, to Adam Morrison, the Zags have always had big men to lean on in tough situations.

The lack of a star was their assumed Achilles heel heading into this season, though. They lost Wiltjer and Sabonis from a season ago and Josh Perkins was their only returning double-digit scorer.

Helped by transfers who sat out last season though, the Bulldogs have arguably their most balanced team under Mark Few and now have an established star in Nigel Williams-Goss.

Goss doesn’t get a ton of national attention, but he’s one of the most complete players in the nation. He leads the team in scoring, assists, steals and is second in rebounding. Plus, he shoots 49.2 percent from the field and 39.7 percent from three. His 6’3″, 185-pound stature doesn’t fit Gonzaga’s usual star, but Goss has quickly cemented himself as their go-to player.

It doesn’t stop at Goss, though. Gonzaga is one of the most consistent teams on both ends of the floor because of their undeniable depth. Eight players have played in at least 17 games this season and all average at least 14 minutes per game.

Their concrete rotation and players accepting their roles has led to Gonzaga being the most equipped team in the nation. They don’t have the five-star recruits that had everyone excited before the season, but they can still match up with anyone.

On offense, Gonzaga has the 14th and 18th best two-point and three-point percentage in the nation, respectively, at 56.9 percent and 39.8 percent. Plus, they rank 16th in points per game and fifth in field goal percentage in the nation.

They do it by sharing the ball, as they are second in assists in the WCC and have seven players attempting at least five shots per game, as well as having players who can play inside-and-out.

Despite their ridiculously high three-point percentage, Gonzaga doesn’t rely on threes like other teams. They attempt just the 195th most threes in the nation this season and only have one player attempting more than five per game.

It leads to them using the forgotten post-up games of seven-footers Josh Collins and Przemek Karnowski, who combine to shoot 13.8 two-pointers per game.

Defensively, Gonzaga is just as good. They’re long, athletic and don’t rely on blocking shots, rather playing good team defense who moves well on the perimeter. As a result, the Zags rank just 98th in the nation in blocked shots and Collins is their only player with more than one block per game.

Still, Gonzaga holds teams to the 22nd fewest points per game, sixth worst field-goal percentage and 12th worst three-point percentage at a miserable 29.4 percent. Gonzaga even held two of their ranked opponents to under 40 percent shooting.

Their consistency on both ends of the floor has led to Gonzaga being the only team in the nation with a top 15 offensive and defensive rating. This season, the Zags own a 119.8 offensive rating, third in the nation, and a 88.7 defensive rating, fifth in the nation.

Gonzaga doesn’t have the star players other top programs have, but they’re as well-balanced as any team because of their depth, and it’s shown by their 18-0 start.