They were completely overshadowed by the Dennis Smith Jr. show and the Duke debacle on Monday night, but nevertheless, the continually impressive Gonzaga Bulldogs extended their school-record start to 20-0 with an 83-64 win at Portland.
The Bulldogs, ranked No. 1 at KenPom.com entering the game, are now building out enough of a dominant profile to establish themselves as a No. 1 seed in many bracketology projections. In our latest bracket, which was posted Monday morning, the Zags jumped to the 1 line in the West region, helped by UCLA's home loss to Arizona over the weekend.
The win puts Gonzaga in a special class of teams. Since 1992, the final remaining unbeaten has gotten to 20-0 11 times, including Gonzaga this year. The previous teams to do it:
Kentucky in 2015
Wichita State in 2014
Murray State in 2012
Ohio State in 2011
Memphis in 2008
Illinois in 2005
Saint Joseph's in 2004
Stanford in 2001
Kansas in 1997
UMass in 1996
The bad news for Gonzaga? None of those teams won the national title. The good news? Kentucky, Memphis and UMass made the Final Four. The Zags have never gotten that far. This might well, finally, be the year.
Gonzaga looks like the type of team that's 1-seed worthy in a year where 10-12 teams are still eyeing the top line in college hoops. The Bulldogs have built a great offense with veterans and are playing some of the most consistent defense of any team Mark Few has coached.
The Zags stand a very good chance of finishing the regular season undefeated. Aside from trips to at BYU (6-2 WCC) on Feb. 2 and St. Mary's (7-1) on Feb. 11, they have seven regular-season games left, all vs. WCC competition sporting a combined 17-31 conference mark.
But let's wait for Feb. 2. Win against BYU and two games that precede it, and then we'll finally, and fully, address the elephant in the room. That elephant, by the way, stands no chance in the paint against Przemek Karnowski.
