If the final score of top-ranked Gonzaga‘s double-digit rout failed to get attention Saturday, the opponent should have.
The Virginia Cavaliers, a widely recognized college basketball power and still-defending national champion whose brand has been suffocating opposing offenses throughout Tony Bennett’s 12 seasons in Charlottesville, fell by a margin of 98-75.
It was an unthinkably lopsided result to befall a Virginia team. And it wasn’t really that close. Gonzaga became the first team to make 60% of its shots and score at a rate of 149 points per 100 possessions against Virginia in the Bennett era, per ESPN Stats & Information. In doing so, the Bulldogs became the first team in college basketball history to take down four top-20 opponents in their first seven games.
Any notion of the Zags becoming the game’s first undefeated national champion since Indiana in 1975-76 might seem premature after eight games. But the talk of this 2020-21 group being the best Gonzaga team in the program’s two-plus decades of college basketball relevance? It’s here.
“This is looking like the best team,” said former Gonzaga star Dan Dickau, a first-team Associated Press All-American and the West Coast Conference player of the year, both in the 2001-02 season. “They must stay healthy and not get complacent, which I’m sure won’t come into play with senior leadership.”
Sam Dower, who averaged 14.4 PPG during the 2013-14 season and played next to some of the program’s top players including Kelly Olynyk and Robert Sacre, said the current Gonzaga crew already has an argument as the best in Mark Few’s 22-year tenure.
“The team this year is very special and definitely could be the best team we have ever had at Gonzaga,” he said. “They have the selflessness you need to have when playing with so many talented players at once. They have the size, they have the shooters, they have the work ethic, the passion. … If there was a checklist for what it takes to be the best team, they would have a check mark next to everything.”
Corey Kispert (22.4 PPG, 52% from the 3-point line), Drew Timme (21.6 PPG, 7.6 RPG) and Jalen Suggs (15.1 PPG, 5.9 RPG, APG, 2.6 SPG, 48% from the 3-point line) comprise the most potent trio in college basketball. Entering the week, the Bulldogs had made 53.2% of their shots against man defense and 59% against zone, per Synergy Sports data, and they’d also made 72% of their shots at the rim, per hoop-math.com.
In spite of the numbers, Przemek Karnowski — a star for the only Gonzaga team to reach the national title game — said his 2016-17 team would have created challenges for the current group.
“I think the biggest difference with our 2017 team is size,” he said of a paint group that also included Johnathan Williams and future NBA big man Zach Collins. “On the other hand, this team is playing faster and more up and down.”
Dower said his 2012-13 squad had the depth and shooters — that squad made 55% of its shots inside the arc — to compete with this year’s team.
“The team I played on in 2013 was very special, too,” Dower said. “We were the first No. 1-ranked team in Gonzaga history. I think it would definitely be a battle down to the last second against this year’s team. We had a scrappy group of guys, and on top of that, we had multiple guys that could score the ball effectively and multiple [shooters]. We were deep, too. I’m getting chills just thinking about this matchup.”
Dickau said he wonders if the Gonzaga stars from 20 years ago would have had a shot against this team. He said the consistency of his 2001-02 team was an underrated element of its success.
“We had two playmakers in Blake Stepp and myself that could shoot,” he said, “two wings in Anthony Reason who could defend like crazy and Alex Hernandez who was a sneaky good scorer. Kyle Bankhead was a shooter off the bench and a capable ball handler. Our interior was legit. … Ronny Turiaf was a freshman who impacted the game with energy.”
Still, Dickau admitted, “My pride wants me to say we would win, but that is hard to believe because this group has zero holes and are way better defensively.”
Geno Crandall, a glue guy on the 2018-19 squad that lost to Texas Tech in the Elite Eight, said Few’s 2020-21 squad is a contender for the best team the veteran coach has led. But he won’t discount the quality of his own group — which also included Kispert among a host of household names.
“I think the one advantage that team would have over this one is interior depth,” Crandall said. “When we were healthy, we’re running a front court of Rui Hachimura, Brandon Clarke, Killian Tillie and Filip Petrusev at teams and throwing in Jeremy Jones and Corey Kispert who could both slide around to either the 3- or the 4-spot. It was a lot for other teams to deal with.”
Crandall said he thinks his 2018-19 crew would have finished 5-5 in 10 games against the current squad. The argument is a mythical one, of course. And should Gonzaga win its first national title in April, it will be a tougher barroom argument for the alumni to win.
“We will have to set up a scrimmage like that in the summer,” Karnowski joked.
Below, we came up with a largely unscientific ranking of some of the teams the current group is chasing. The rankings are based on a combination of team success, overall talent and conversations with former players, along with one man’s opinion about the best teams Gonzaga has produced thus far under Mark Few:
1. 2016-17
Record: 37-2
Finish: 1-seed, lost to North Carolina, 71-65, in the national championship game
Key personnel: Przemek Karnowski (12.2 PPG, 5.8 RPG), Johnathan Williams (10.2 PPG, 6.4 RPG), Nigel Williams-Goss (16.8 PPG), Zach Collins (10.0 PPG, 5.9 RPG)
By this time, anyone who was still calling Gonzaga a “mid-major” hadn’t been paying attention. But this group’s trip to the national title game silenced every doubter. With Collins, Karnowski and Williams-Goss, a second-team AP All-American, this was a stacked group with NBA talent on the floor and ridiculous depth. Plus, it also possessed the most efficient defense in America, per KenPom.
2. 2018-19
Record: 33-4
Finish: 1-seed, lost to Texas Tech, 75-69, in the Elite Eight
Key personnel: Rui Hachimura (19.7 PPG, 6.5 RPG), Brandon Clarke (16.9 PPG, 8.6 RPG), Josh Perkins (11.0 PPG, 6.3 APG), Zach Norvell Jr. (14.9 PPG)
This Gonzaga squad announced its place in the college basketball hierarchy with an 89-87 victory over Zion Williamson and Duke in the championship game of the Maui Invitational. Few had never coached a duo with this level of athleticism, as both Hachimura and Clarke were first-round picks — ninth and 21st, respectively — in that summer’s NBA draft.
3. 2012-13
Record: 32-3
Finish: 1-seed, lost to Wichita State, 76-70, in the second round
Key personnel: Kelly Olynyk (17.8 PPG, 7.3 RPG), Elias Harris (14.6 PPG, 7.4 RPG), Kevin Pangos (11.9 PPG, 42% from the 3-point line)
Led by Olynyk, a first-team AP All-American, Gonzaga secured a No. 1 ranking for the first time in school history. This team played a key role in elevating Gonzaga’s national profile, winning 32 games and securing a top seed in the NCAA tournament. It also won 12 of 16 West Coast Conference games by double digits during an undefeated run through the league.
4. 2014-15
Record: 35-3
Finish: 2-seed, lost to Duke, 66-52, in the Elite Eight
Key personnel: Kyle Wiltjer (16.8 PPG, 6.2 RPG), Pangos (11.6 PPG, 4.8 APG), Domantas Sabonis (9.7 PPG, 7.1 RPG)
For just the second time in school history, Gonzaga reached the Elite Eight, securing double-digit wins over North Dakota State, Iowa and UCLA before running into Duke, the eventual national champion. This was also the beginning for first-year standout Sabonis, who secured a spot on the NBA All-Star team last season, and Wiltjer, a third-team AP All-American for a team that lost two games by six points combined prior to the NCAA tournament.
5. 2004-06
Record: 29-4
Finish: 3-seed, lost to UCLA, 73-71, in the Sweet 16
Key personnel: Adam Morrison (28.1 PPG, 5.5 RPG), J.P. Batista (19.3 PPG, 9.4 RPG)
After a Dec. 4, 2005, loss to Washington, this Gonzaga group lost just one game prior to its exit at the hands of UCLA in the Sweet 16. That defeat, to a Bruins team that would reach the first of three consecutive Final Four runs, demanded an 11-0 rally by UCLA late in the game. This was Few’s first real shot at a national title.
6. 2001-02
Record: 28-4
Finish: 6-seed, lost to Wyoming, 73-66, in the first round of the NCAA tournament
Key personnel: Dan Dickau (21.0 PPG, 4.7 APG), Ronny Turiaf (7.3 PPG)
While these Bulldogs didn’t get past the first round, they made 39.1% of their shots from beyond the arc and also held opponents to a 41.8% clip inside the 3-point line. Both Dickau and Turiaf, a freshman on this squad, spent multiple seasons in the NBA.
7. 2008-09
Record: 28-6
Finish: 4-seed, lost to North Carolina (national champion), 98-77, in the Sweet 16
Key personnel: Josh Heytvelt (14.9 PPG, 6.5 RPG), Matt Bouldin (13.6 PPG, 3.4 APG)
Three future NBA players on the roster — Jeremy Pargo, Austin Daye and Robert Sacre — helped anchor the nation’s top defense inside the arc. These Bulldogs shot 39% from beyond the arc and had four top-50 KenPom wins, too.