Average Frank Views: Gonzaga Makes Them Suffer, Again

It’s official, is there a sports team in the country that puts their fans through more tribulation than the Gonzaga University basketball team?

Gonzaga fans felt their loyalty tested again with another embarrassing exit from the NCAA tournament, in the latest instance in a history of high-profile losses featuring undisciplined play.

Gonzaga’s Friday night matchup against North Carolina was a 4-seed vs. 1, so it should’ve been a game, but it wasn’t. Just the same, it was another one plagued by basic mistakes from the start.

It’s one thing to lose, it’s another thing to lose dumb.

The ball was tipped and Gonzaga came out and delivered more ill-considered Gonzaga play – three-pointers off no passes, pushing the ball up the floor for no apparent reason, sloppy passing and four turnovers in four minutes.

Suddenly they were down by 10, in a chase to try to make it a game.

This was all before the Zags got around to trying to set up a half-court offense to see if they could get the ball inside.

So it begs the question: if any 8th-grade coach knows that in order to open up three-pointers you want to at least try to establish an inside game, why doesn’t Gonzaga coach Mark Few?

But the highly-accomplished coach never seems to make the connection on these basic things.

Going beyond particular offensive strategy, for a game like this, amateur psychology tells us that a 1-seed from the ACC (North Carolina) has the advantage going in, and if they get a significant lead early, that momentum just builds on itself.

So the goal for a West Coast Conference 4-seed is to establish that they can and will make this a game. The way this is done is by distilling any early North Carolina momentum. Even if they jump out by a few points, if Gonzaga plays calm and sets up an offense, it works to hold North Carolina back from, or at the very least, delay them from blowing open a significant lead, which only compounds itself in a matchup like this (and, indeed, is just what happened).

So instead of establishing a legitimate, calm presence in the game, Gonzaga came out and rushed up the floor to take three-pointers off no passes.

Instead of creating an offense, all it did was bring back bad memories.

How about the classic Arizona-Gonzaga second-round game in 2003? The game went into overtime and Gonzaga made a great effort, but that game was prolonged by their getting lucky enough to have made thrown-up three pointers late in the game (when they only needed two points). It was undisciplined play, and was the same thing they showed the next year in a 19-point second round dismissal by Nevada.

Then, in 2006, of course, the Zags put their fans through the greatest collapse in tournament history against UCLA in the regional semifinal.

Back in ‘02, with one of their best teams and Dan Dickau, they got ran out in the first round.

So it’s hard not to sympathize with Gonzaga fans. Because of their team’s national success in the past 10 years, they now play a conference schedule that offers virtually no relevant competition, just the notion of looking forward (or back) to the 4 or 5 non-conference games each season.

So the fans wait all year for some significant games, and their Bulldogs get to the NCAA tournament and play like any Spokane middle school team is smarter than they are.

What other college or pro team consistently provides their fans this experience?

All this from a coach (along with predecessor Dan Monson) who has built and sustained this small-conference program to consistently be a presence in the tournament every year.

So you have to hand it to Gonzaga fans.

Bring on next year.

There’s eight months to recover before it begins.

• March 27, 2009 -- Wildcats Humiliate Blue Devils (0)
• March 23, 2009 -- One And Done (0)
• November 21, 2008 -- Early Season UCLA Blues (0)
• April 15, 2009 -- Average Frank Views: Magic and Bird vs. Spike TV (1)
• March 17, 2009 -- Breaking The Brackets (6)