Gonzaga Chokes Again: They Should Never Be Trusted
Tell me if you’ve heard this one before: Gonzaga chokes earlier than you expected in the NCAA Tournament. There’s a 99% chance you’ve thought this. I don’t know how people keep defending this team to the death. Year after year, people put unrealistic expectations on this team and they also fail to meet it. I’m tired of this narrative. Until Gonzaga wins a natty, they should never be trusted as a NCAA contender ever again.
First, let me just say that Gonzaga is a great basketball program, respected to say the least. However, I always thought there’s no way if Gonzaga is this good that they should play in the WCC. I’ve always insisted that they play in a bigger conference, like the PAC-12, to really prove their excellence. Karl Heiser, a guy that is a wizard when it comes to college basketball, corrected and educated me on why that’s a bad idea. The smallest school in the PAC-12 is Stanford University, which has about 16,000 students. That’s almost 4x more than Gonzaga’s total number of students. Also, I was selfishly only looking at Gonzaga for basketball and did not take into account the other sports played at Gonzaga that would get killed in the PAC-12. So, staying in the WCC is actually smart.
But, there’s got to be a way to fix this problem.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. -Albert Einstein
-Chickster
This is insanity. The committee gives Gonzaga a high seed (Top 2 seed 6 times since 2013. A 1 seed 4 times in the last 5 years) they choke, repeat. Then, it hit me. It’s the committee’s fault. I shouldn’t blame Gonzaga for winning basketball games in a considerably weaker conference and getting ranked high. I should blame the committee for overrating them every year and wonder why this keeps happening. The problem is that Gonzaga is a 1 seed, when in reality, they should be closer to a 3 or 4 seed. Only three 3 or 4 seeds have won the NCAA tournament. That’s more Gonzaga’s speed there.
Yes, you can bring up their tournament history. They lost in the Natty in 2021 and in 2017. Made it to the Elite 8 in 2019 and 2015. The Sweet Sixteen in 2018 and 2016. Awesome. Doesn’t mean they should be taken seriously. Especially as serious as a 1 seed. That simply sets the expectation for this program way too high. That’s not fair to them and not fair to seeds that might perform better as a 1 seed.
This is no disrespect to Gonzaga, this is one of the best basketball programs ever as a mid-major. In fact, I think I’m one of the few that properly rates them. I won’t put them as a 1 seed, but I won’t disrespect them as much to put them lower than a 4 seed. That’s right, Gonzaga is on a prove it deal. Gonzaga chokes consistently They must prove they should be taken seriously. They need to prove that they can win the big enchilada. Until that point, no, they do not need to be trusted and you shouldn’t pick them to win a bracket ever. They shouldn’t be ranked as high as a 1 seed if they’re in the WCC. They might be the best mid-major basketball program ever, but there’s no way they should be ranked as a 1 seed until that point.
