I dunno about it. Gonzaga would be 1st or 2nd place in the B1G right now. They’re pretty much have been as close to being a blueblood program in the past 20 years. They’re attracting NBA talents and have begun to get elite recruits like Suggs and likely Chet. You can’t punish Gonzaga for the conference they play in which is why they scheduled a lot of P5 schools in the non-conference.
2 Likes
Whatever y’all might think of Gonzaga, I think it’s fair to say now that we’re on the same “tier” as Baylor.
The ‘you can’t punish them for this or that’ argument only takes you so far, though. Sooner or later, KenPom renders judgement.
Fair or not, it’s always going to be the narrative about Gonzaga. I don’t think they’re interested in leaving the WCC and frankly joining the Pac-12 probably wouldn’t give them that much of a challenge boost given the current state of that conference. Another thing out of their control is that Saint Mary’s kind of sucks this season. They’re usually a fringe top-25 team that you can count to be a formidable foe for the Zags but this year they’ve been pretty disappointing.
How would joining the Pac 12 work without football?
2 Likes
Gonzaga feels like Michigan with a little more talent. Suggs, Timme, Kispert,Ayayi, Nembhard. Lotta good players.
1 Like
So I have a somewhat ignorant question. Is the committee seeding the teams at the top end trying to determine who the best teams are at the end of the year? Or do they care about the best resumes?
Those things are of course related, but I wonder if Michigan has a chance of moving up to the number two overall seed if it can string together an incredible end to the season. Being undefeated carries a lot of weight (and for good reason), but playing in and running through an historically tough Big Ten should matter too.
No idea, but doubt it’s even a possibility without football. Just sort of a throwaway comment based on it being the closest “power” conference. Gonzaga isn’t a founding member of the WCC, but they’ve been there since 1979 and based on the fact that all of the league’s members are private, faith-based institutions I don’t see them bailing.
Pac-12 is also kind of a total mess right now. Don’t think it’s anyone’s dream.
Some sort of WCC/MWC mash up seems to make the most sense if you were ever going to go that route but probably not feasible either.
1 Like
BYU is as good as most any St Mary’s team has ever been, and Gonzaga crushed them twice.
Totally true. Just trying to say that at least that is normally four games that Gonzaga has to “get up” for during league play. This year it was only two because Saint Mary’s is really meh.
1 Like
I wish this narrative mattered in practice, but the Zags perform well in the tourney nearly every year despite playing zero meaningful games for 2-3 months. I don’t get how they do it.
3 Likes
MWC is football too though. They have Hawaii as football only, so maybe Gonzaga as basketball only? Not sure if that’s beneficial to the MWC though.
Yeah, MWC schools probably wouldn’t be thrilled with basically never getting to win their league again. 
I would like to see a Gonzaga football program tbh.
2 Likes
When it comes to conference alignment football is king
Hop in your time machine to the early 20th century!
1 Like
But in a plot twist that means basketball never gets the support it needs and now Gonzaga is a D2 school
2 Likes
Talent is how they do it. They are legitimately good every year
2 Likes
In another plot twist, Boise State never stopped being a community college but still has a blue football field.
7 Likes