THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: There are many theories why Zags got pounded by UConn — but this one has legs

Let’s think of this as calling an audible at the line of scrimmage.

OK?

See, I’d planned on a Notes and Quotes column for today, simply because so much has happened since we last chatted on Friday.

The Zags got blown out of the NCAA tournament by new Final Four favorite Connecticut; the Seahawks brought future Hall of Fame linebacker Bobby Wagner back into the fold; and of course, the Mariners are preparing to host Cleveland in the regular season opener Thursday night — with worrying questions about shortstop J.P. Crawford’s foot.

That’s a lot of news, and we can even add the Kraken getting a little closer and closer to the NHL playoffs in just their second season — and doing it despite a long-term injury to winger Andre Burakovsky, who was their leading scorer when he got hurt in early February.

Whew!

Originally, I wanted to touch on each of these items — all of which seem pretty meaningful to the teams involved (and plenty of fans who care deeply about their fate).

Um, change of plans.

I’ll get to the whole lot later this week, but something about Gonzaga’s dreadful performance against UConn made me want to look at it in more detail.

SO, WHAT was the narrative that hoop fans across the country took away from that 82-54 blowout?

What did YOU make of such a stunning loss by the Zags?

Has Connecticut, which was ranked as high as No. 2 in the AP poll early in the season, found such all-conquering form that most fans (and so-called experts) have come to believe that the Final Four is a more formality?

Should we let the Huskies cut down the nets right now?

Hmmm.

Not yet.

If you were to find a box score from the Gonzaga-UConn game, print it out and spend some time studying it, you might come to the same conclusion I did.

Connecticut was good, as they’ve been throughout the tournament.

But they didn’t perform like a super team.

The whole thing was about the Zags, whose one failing allowed the game to become a rout.

Everything, and I mean everything, came down to Gonzaga’s horrendous shooting.

This is a team that finished the season converting 53 percent of its shots, yet managed to hit only 20 of 60 attempts.

The Zags have been a consistent 39 percent shooting team on 3-pointers all season, yet they managed to go 2-for-20 in this nightmare performance.

Julian Strawther (40.8 percent, including the game-winner two nights early against UCLA) somehow missed all six deep tries against Connecticut.

Point guard Nolan Hickman (35.4 percent) not only missed his four attempts behind the arc, he went entirely scoreless for the game — and for the weekend.

Free throws?

They managed to convert only 12 of 22 despite hitting 70 percent for the year.

I’m not going to claim that Gonzaga SHOULD have won this game, although rebounds, turnovers, and points in the paint were basically equal.

Connecticut made a blah 42 percent of its shots, an unspectacular 11 of 31 from 3-point range — and star center Adama Sanogo was held to just 10 points on 3-of-11 shooting.

SO, IT seems only conclusion here is that the Zags — who wrapped up the year averaging 87 points per game — curiously couldn’t put the ball in the hoop.

Why?

The Huskies were decent, but not particularly special on defense.

Gonzaga had plenty of open looks, and obviously nobody was hassling them at the foul line.

I’m guessing there were two logical reasons for the terrible shooting.

The first has to do with the way the tournament is set up, with two games each weekend.

Generally speaking, teams that have relatively easy games on the Thursday or Friday (Saturday night at the Final Four), tend to play very well in that second game.

Note that Connecticut had cruised through every matchup leading up to meeting the Zags.

But …

If you have to put your entire physical and emotional effort into surviving the first game of a weekend — like the Zags did against UCLA — it’s liable to be really rough two nights later.

When you’ve spent it all to win one game, what tends to go are your legs.

If you’ve played this sport, you know that shooting is all about needing your legs.

EXAMPLE …

Kansas State won a sensational overtime battle against Michigan State, but then was physically spent and played exhausted while losing to Florida Atlantic.

I think that exact situation caused the Zags’ shooting woes — plus Drew Timme’s four early fouls harming the cause.

Also …

As Gonzaga has done quite a bit this year, the wrong people (excluding Timme) took a wrong percentage of the shots.

We mentioned that Hickman was scoreless, and meantime, Malachi Smith attempted only four shots from the field — making two — and swished his ONE 3-pointer.

Smith shot a sensational 50 percent from behind the arc this year (45-for-90), and I’ve wondered all season why he hasn’t been more of a focal point in the offense.

Sigh.

So, in this Elite Eight game, Gonzaga had weary legs and an unbalanced office.

Connecticut said thank you and strolled into the Final Four.

Simple as that.

Email: scameron@cdapress.com

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press four times each week, normally Tuesday through Friday unless, you know, stuff happens.

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”