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ZAGS TRACKER: Enjoy now, but the work — and worry — starts again Sunday

| March 11, 2021 1:20 AM

Yes, the NCAA tournament is coming.

Yes, it will represent a chance for Gonzaga to achieve the only thing still missing in its ascent to college basketball’s most elite level.

Yes, we’ll study the brackets when they’re released on Sunday.

Yes, it’s mandatory to light a candle, perhaps helping keep the slightest whiff of COVID-19 far, far away as the Zags trek off to Indianapolis.

Yes, it’s still a case that anything short of a national championship will be a little disappointing.

Or perhaps deeply disappointing, depending on the circumstances – like 2017, for instance.

Yes, yes, yes.

All of this NCAA tournament business is still waiting, and there will be plenty of drama awaiting Gonzaga.

But, hey…

Can’t we just wait a week for all of that, and just enjoy the Zags’ amazing comeback in the WCC tournament finale?

Because, I mean…

The unbeaten season was soooo close to being gone.

AND THEN it wasn’t.

Corey Kispert came out of a mini-slump and started banging 3-balls.

The Zags defense swarmed a BYU team that had played a near-perfect first half.

Then for the finale, Jalen Suggs took over with a drive and two deep 3-pointers – screaming madly at his teammates and the world as he drove home the daggers.

A 12-point halftime deficit became an 88-78 victory, Gonzaga’s 23rd straight double-digit win – the longest such streak in Division I college hoops for at least 60 years.

The unbeaten regular season — only the 16th time a team has managed it ahead of the NCAA tournament in its 81-year history — has been secured.

Honestly, I think we should take a cue from Mark Few and his players…

Grasp this bit of history, folks, and allow ourselves to be truly amazed by it — and THEN let’s get back to fretting ahead of the Big Dance.

In other words, have a little fun and celebrate this achievement.

Suggs will be in the NBA at this time next year, but still he said: “I’ve been dreaming of playing college ball my entire life, and to have it be like this is just surreal.”

EVEN THE assassin — the kid who hit those cold-blooded 3-pointers to make BYU victim No. 26 — admitted that the whole thing reminded him of playing on a tiny hoop as a child.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Zags finally admitted that they could mention the unbeaten season out loud.

Few conceded that being one of only six teams to enter the NCAA tournament without a loss since Indiana ran the table in 1976 is, well…

Pretty cool.

Incidentally, I’m trying to stay away from NCAA tournament stuff here today, but…

Of the five previous teams since Indiana to enter the Dance unbeaten, it’s true that none have won the championship, but four of the five reached the Final Four.

Only Wichita State in 2014 got bumped in the second round, but that wasn’t exactly a fair draw – since the Shockers lost to a loaded No. 8 seed Kentucky, a team which went on to reach the title game.

What we’re saying here, I guess, is that being 26-0 – with more victories over teams in KenPom’s top 25 than anyone in the nation – means that you’re pretty darn good.

And…

You’ve got a heck of a shot at producing a deep run in the NCAA tournament.

FOR NOW, though, can’t we just enjoy this glorious run, and wait to turn our attention forward?

Personally, I’m just trawling through Twitter – something I rarely do – and grinning at some of the fun things that keep popping up.

For instance, there is a neat little GIF that simply shows Suggs picking up confetti, throwing it in the air and letting it fall on his head and shoulders.

That mini-video showed, in just a few seconds, what this season has meant to a young man who’s destined for the NBA.

I can’t prove this, but I suspect Suggs would like to have another year (or more) of college before he becomes a millionaire.

He loves playing for Gonzaga, and says so.

Remember, Suggs has had almost no contact with the rest of the student body, and he’s never played in front of those rockin’ fans at the Kennel.

Jalen saw all that on his recruiting visit more than a year ago, but he’s never been allowed to feel the entire experience.

There are so many more tweets and replies today that make Zag fans grin.

Domantas Sabonis offered up a tweet for all the critics who have questioned whether the Zags could get stops when it mattered.

Domas slyly reminded folks that BYU “poured in” exactly 25 points in the second half of that title game.

LIKE SO many others, though, I keep coming back to the unbeaten season.

Those naysayers back East can continue grumping if it makes them feel better, but the sheer rarity of perfection in the regular season tells you that these Zags have been VERY special.

As we mentioned, Few and the players now are willing to admit what’s been going on.

Both Suggs and Kispert conceded Tuesday night that nobody really talked about the fact that they hadn’t lost – that they were all business, game to game.

Kispert likened it to the baseball tradition of not speaking to a pitcher who’s working on a no-hitter.

But after the rally to beat BYU…

They understood.

Few made it clear that the Zags now were willing to embrace the historic nature of what they’ve done. "We just talked about it in (the locker room)," Few said.

"We finally, finally acknowledged, like, look, this is a big deal.

“It puts us in some incredible company. That Kentucky team [2015] — it's a heck of an accomplishment.”

FEW ALSO noted that continuing such a thrilling run was even more amazing while playing in empty arenas.

“It's really a heck of an accomplishment, in lieu of these atmospheres that have been so stale,” he said. “I give this group of guys just a ton of credit."

How about if we leave it to Suggs, who has the mentality of a serial winner, to remind everyone that Gonzaga’s race toward history is still going on.

It's hard not to think about it," Suggs said of a possible perfect season.

"But I think we've all done a good job of staying focused.

At some point, you kind of have to acknowledge how special of a thing, and how special of a ride that we're on right now.

“I think the best part about it is that we're all excited. We're all excited to keep it going.”

Amen, Jalen.

The Zag Nation is excited, right along with you.

Email: scameron@cdapress.com

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. “Moments, Memories and Madness,” his reminiscences from several decades as a sports journalist, runs each Sunday. Steve also writes Zags Tracker, a commentary on

Gonzaga basketball which normally is published each Tuesday.

photo

Gonzaga guard Jalen Suggs (1) grabs a rebound against BYU during the first half of the West Coast Conference men’s tournament championship on Tuesday in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)