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Last season Gonzaga had their way with Kentucky in Spokane. This year's matchup won't be so easy...
Gonzaga is not just going to play Kentucky, the winningest program in men’s college basketball history, in Kentucky’s storied home gym for the first time ever. It’s more than that. They’re playing Kentucky for the second time in a six-year series, which last season saw the Wildcats visit Spokane Arena and in a few years’ time will see the two national programs take the court in The Kennel.
Think back again to that 2011 team that was 15-8 at this point in the season.
That team played a tough schedule with a handful of teams ranked in the AP Poll, but none of them were big-time, blue blood brands.
Sure, Kansas State was ranked No. 4, but Kansas State is hit-and-miss on a year-to-year basis. San Diego State was No. 25, but the Aztecs were just beginning their climb from complete obscurity. The same could be said for then No. 9 Baylor. Illinois and Notre Dame? Two of a sizable pack of Midwest programs that rotate in and out, sometimes good, sometimes forgettable.
“It was the last thing to come around,” Mark Few said about Gonzaga landing games like Kentucky in his press conference after Wednesday’s win over Portland. “It’s a pretty exclusive club to be able to get in and have these games."
Getting invited to play Kentucky in Rupp Arena, not as a buy game where the Wildcats are paying you to get run off the court, but because coach John Calipari wants to measure his team against yours, is a sign of respect.
It’s like when North Carolina scheduled a home-and-home with Gonzaga after the two programs met in the 2017 National Championship. Credit to Roy Williams, though, who unlike Coach Cal was willing to play that series straight up on campus.
Since that first trip to the title game, and the incredible run of success which has followed, games like Saturday’s have become more common.
Last season the Zags were selected to face Michigan State on an aircraft carrier. The year prior they played host to Texas in what was a matchup of two Top 5 teams. A year before they opened the year against Kansas, the second-winningest program in men’s college hoops history.
Since 2017, the Zags have won most of those incredibly high-level matchups. This year, though, they’ve faltered. They came up short against Purdue and again against UConn (though they’ll get another shot at the Huskies next season).
Is this the start of a slow decline in the program, or just a down year that even programs on Gonzaga’s level must endure from time to time?
UConn missed the NCAA Tournament as recently as 2019, and likely would have again in 2020 had it not been canceled. Duke missed out in 2021, as did Saturday’s opponent, Kentucky. Last year it was a North Carolina team which began the year ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll that missed the Big Dance — and that came just three seasons after UNC's dismal 14-19 campaign in 2020.
Gonzaga has now spent more than three decades — the vast majority of that with Mark Few calling the shots — climbing from a complete afterthought to setting up series with the best programs in the history of the sport.
Saturday, they’ll get another shot at the best of the best.
“It took a while to get to that point. I mean, incredible job that all our players did over the years, and the success they had, and the attention they garnered for the program, is what put us in this position. Now you gotta take advantage of it,” Few said.
If the Zags can take advantage on Saturday, it will go a long way to ease the discomfort in the fanbase this season. Even if they can’t, it’s still worth remembering the incredible journey that put the team in this position.
UP NEXT
MenGonzaga at No. 17 Kentucky • Sat, Feb. 10 at 1 pm • CBS
Women
Gonzaga vs. Pepperdine • Thu, Feb. 8 at 6 pm • SWX & ESPN+
Gonzaga vs. LMU • Sat, Feb. 10 at 2 pm • ESPN+
