Zags shipped to San Diego
Gonzaga is headed to the NCAA tournament. Again.
The perennial standout is making its 16th straight tournament appearance. This season the Bulldogs (28-6) visit San Diego to face Oklahoma State (21-12) on Friday (approximately 1:40 p.m., TNT).
The eighth-seeded Zags have advanced to the tournament's round of 16 five times, and they've made it to the Elite Eight once. But they've never been to the Final Four.
"I don't think any of us were hung up with the seed this year," Gonzaga coach Mark Few. "We knew we were going to get a really, really tough opponent. Obviously the location was nice; there were some that would have been tough for us to get to, tough for friends and family to get to."
Gonzaga defeated BYU 75-64 to win the West Coast Conference tournament.
Ninth-seeded Oklahoma State, which won national championships in 1945 and 1946, is making its 26th overall tournament appearance and second in a row as an at-large selection.
The Cowboys have bounced back since losing star guard Marcus Smart to a three-game suspension for shoving a fan at Texas Tech. Oklahoma State lost 77-70 in overtime to No. 10 Kansas in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament.
"I think they're vastly underseeded based on how they are playing right at this particular time," Few said. "They make these random numbers based on your whole body of work, but that's a team that. since Marcus has come back, has played great and been on a mission and have righted their ship, and have definitely been trending upwards.
"But so are we," Few added. "I think we're a team that's definitely playing some of our best basketball also."
Gonzaga edged Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Okla., during the 2012-13 season.
"Obviously it was a great game," Few recalled. "We were fortunate to get out of there with a win. There's a lot of characters on both teams from that game that experienced it, and we can try to draw off of it in a positive way."
A loss in the Pac-12 title game didn't hurt Arizona when it came to seeding the NCAA tournament.
Despite their loss to UCLA on Saturday night in Las Vegas, the Wildcats (30-4) are No. 1 in the West Region and will open against No. 16 Weber State on Thursday in San Diego.
Arizona got the top spot based on its regular season, one that started with a school-record 21 straight wins and included the Pac-12 regular-season title despite losing forward Brandon Ashley for the season with an injured foot on Feb. 1.
"To see a No. 1 seed, no one has to tell us how hard it is to do," Arizona coach Sean Miller said. "It's an achievement in and of itself to be thought of. It's very hard-earned. You don't get that seed through reputation, you get it through performance."
The Wildcats are the top dogs in the West, but they'll have a tough road. Get past the Big Sky version of the Wildcats (19-11) and Arizona will face the winner between Oklahoma State and Gonzaga.
The rest of the West bracket is filled with strong teams, too, including No. 2 seed Wisconsin, No. 3 Creighton with player-of-the-year front-runner Doug McDermott, San Diego State, Oregon and Baylor.
That's four ranked teams standing in the way of fourth-ranked Arizona in a regional that will conclude Mar. 27-29 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.
Wisconsin (26-7) had been in the running for a No. 1 seed before losing to Michigan State in the Big Ten tournament semifinals. The 12th-ranked Badgers still will be a tough out with a defense that's always one of the best in the country under coach Bo Ryan.
Wisconsin will have a short trip, too, opening Thursday in Milwaukee against American, the Patriot League champions who went from 10-20 a year ago to a 22-10 season to reach the NCAA tournament for the third time.
"They won't hear from me that we're a two seed, they won't hear from me that we're in Milwaukee," Ryan said. "My guys are pretty smart. They know what's at stake."
Get past American and Wisconsin will play the winner of what should be an electric game between Oregon (23-9) and BYU (23-11), two of the nation's fastest-paced and highest-scoring teams. They played once already this season, with the Ducks winning a home overtime game that featured nearly 200 combined points and nearly as many highlight-reel plays.
The Cougars might have a hard time keeping up this time, though, after guard Kyle Collinsworth suffered a torn ACL in the WCC title game.
Who’s coming to Spokane ...
• Here is the schedule for Thursday’s NCAA tournament games at the Spokane Arena. Thursday’s winners meet on Saturday at the Arena:
EAST REGIONAL
(5) Cincinnati (27-6) vs. (12) Harvard (26-4), 11:10 a.m.
(4) Michigan State (26-8) vs. (13) Delaware (25-9), 30 minutes following
WEST REGIONAL
(5) Oklahoma (23-9) vs. (12) North Dakota State (25-6), 4:27 p.m.
(4) San Diego State (29-4) vs. (13) New Mexico State (26-9), 30 minutes following