With the road to the Elite 8 all but opened for them, Gonzaga couldn't take advantage, falling to the 9th seeded Wichita State Shockers in their
And now the country will allow Gonzaga to ride off out of the tournament, and next season everyone will still be talking about the great job that Mark Few does up in Spokane, WA. He's certainly not doing a terrible job up there, Gonzaga always makes the tournament, has won their conference in 10 out of his 14 seasons, and has been the best regular season team in the conference 12/14 years. Few is no slouch.
But Gonzaga earned their tournament rep under the previous coach, Dan Monson, who led his 10th seeded Zags to the Elite Eight where they fell to eventual national champion UConn after being within a point in the final minute. Since then, here are Gonzaga's tournament results:
Season
|
Seed
|
Results
|
Reached
|
Upsets
|
Upset
|
2000
|
10
|
Defeated #7
Defeated #2 Lost to #6
|
Sweet 16
|
2
|
0
|
2001
|
12
|
Defeated #5 Defeated
#13 Lost to #1
|
Sweet 16
|
1
|
0
|
2002
|
6
|
Lost to #11
|
Round of 64
|
0
|
1
|
2003
|
9
|
Defeated #8 Lost to
#1 (2OT)
|
Round of 32
|
1
|
0
|
2004
|
2
|
Defeated #15 Lost to
#10
|
Round of 32
|
0
|
1
|
2005
|
3
|
Defeated #14 Lost to
#6
|
Round of 32
|
0
|
1
|
2006
|
3
|
Defeated #14 Defeated #6 Lost to #2
|
Sweet 16
|
0
|
0
|
2007
|
10
|
Lost to #7
|
Round of 64
|
0
|
0
|
2008
|
7
|
Lost to #10
|
Round of 64
|
0
|
1
|
2009
|
4
|
Defeated #13
Defeated #12 Lost to #1
|
Sweet 16
|
0
|
0
|
2010
|
8
|
Defeated #9 Lost to
#1
|
Round of 32
|
0
|
0
|
2011
|
11
|
Defeated #6 Lost
to #3
|
Round of 32
|
1
|
0
|
2012
|
7
|
Defeated #10 Lost to
#2
|
Round of 32
|
0
|
0
|
2013
|
1
|
Defeated #16 Lost to
#9
|
Round of 32
|
0
|
1
|
Totals:
|
5
|
5
|
|||
Since 2003:
|
2
|
4
|
So since 2003, when Monson's recruits were no longer in the program, Few's teams are under-performing a whole lot more than they are over-performing. Despite 5 years since 2003 where Gonzaga is seeded top-4, they have only reached the Sweet 16 twice in that time frame.
I'm not saying Gonzaga should fire him, as I don't know that they could get someone better to fill the job. And even if they could, most anyone else would use Gonzaga as a stepping stone to a bigger program, while Few is cleearly happy there. I just want to point out that the expectations for this program should be raised, and Few shouldn't be able to live off of one deep run 14 years ago that didn't even come under his watch.
Syracuse 66, California 60
Syracuse should have put this game well away. Missed free throws and sloppy play would have kept Cal in it right until the end, except Cal was determined to match 'Cuse turnover for turnover in the final 2 minutes of the game. All in all, about as (cue Charles Barkley) turrible a final 2 minutes of game as I've seen this tournament.
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