Gonzaga Is Ready for the Dance: No More One and Done

The Gonzaga Bulldogs are going to the dance for the 11th straight year. At first they were not wanted. Now the Bulldogs are expected to be there.

The first game will not be one and done. The Bulldogs are ready to dance, and they play the Zips of Akron Thursday in Portland, Oregon. Akron is a fine team, but they are not stopping Gonzaga.

A lot has been said since the Bulldogs lost to UConn. Frankly though, if the Zags put their best defensive foot down, hit the boards, and not waste ammo firing threes, they will be fine. That does not remain to be seen.

Truly this is the best defensive unit the Zags have had, if not ever, well maybe for many, many years. Josh Heytvelt is looking more intimidating and aggressive with each passing game.

That said, contributions from Micah Downs and Jeremy Pargo are key to the Bulldogs continued success. Yet this is where Matt Bouldin needs to step up and be the Zag leader. If Bouldin goes, the Zags will surely follow.

Don’t expect Matt to play poorly now that the spotlight is on him, and likewise Heytvelt will be way too much for this bracket to handle.

This being coach Mark Few's 10th year with Gonzaga and since making the Elite Eight, it appears the Gonzaga Bulldogs could not be in better shoes. Gonzaga does not have anybody that overly talented in their way—nobody they could not beat if they really went after it.

For example, looking back at the UConn game, Gonzaga manhandled the Huskies the whole game. They owned UConn, and then they let Connecticut back in and into overtime, where Gonzaga would never be in the game again.

With just minutes to go, Gonzaga had the UConn coach frothing and the fans ecstatic. What happened? Mark Few knows, the fans know, and all of Connecticut’s pride escaped Seattle and held on to their ranking.

UConn was healthy at that time. After that Husky loss, Gonzaga would lose just a few more times. Indeed the Bulldogs seem to have learned their lesson. The Zags are more aggressive now, and that wins games.

There is no reason why Gonzaga will not leave the Rose City victorious, and there is no reason why they cannot finish off North Carolina or Oklahoma after they do. Those teams are not any better than UConn, and Gonzaga showed they had what it takes to go to the wire with college basketball's better team.

Maybe now Gonzaga will show they have what it takes to pull ahead and stay ahead. Maybe now the Bulldogs will put the beast to sleep, march through the madness, and into the Final Four.

Gonzaga could not have been given a better shot of at least making the Elite Eight, and if they don’t, it's not like the brackets were stacked against them. Indeed, this time the Bulldogs truly have no excuses. They should do really well!

Don’t get me wrong, Gonzaga will not win the NCAA basketball championship, but there is no reason, at all, why these Bulldogs should not leave their mark as one of the best Gonzaga teams (since 1999 anyway) to enter the dance.