The false narrative of defense being the key for Gonzaga

It’s time to see if this year's Bulldogs really got that dog in them.

After blowing the first matchup against St. Mary’s down in Cali at the start of the month, the Zags control their own destiny heading into the final week of the regular season. A win this Thursday would set up the WCC-finale rematch against the Gales as a battle for the conference title. A win would mean the Zags split the WCC regular season championship (assuming SMC takes care of business in their game Thursday against Pacific), while a loss would lead to the Zags not winning at least a share the conference for only the second time since 1999 (St. Mary’s won it outright in 2011-12).

With the home cooking, GU will be the favorites for Sunday’s tilt. Seeing how they avenged their only other WCC loss — by absolutely stomping LMU by 43 points last Thursday, it's fair to think the Bulldogs might be ready to unleash their frustration in a similar way this weekend.

And here’s an adage you’re almost assuredly going to hear when you turn on the broadcast from the announcers and studio analysis:

Gonzaga is always great offensively, but defense is the real key for the Zags. They’re only going to go as far as their defense takes them.

This line of thinking has been spouted for decades now. It follows around every Gonzaga team Mark Few coaches. It’s more played out than ESPN’s Sean Farnham shoehorning talking about the Davenport’s spicy shrimp flatbread into every telecast. And while it’s easy to be numb to the narrative after a while, that numbness masks a more important point.

That narrative is bullshit.

Is Gonzaga ever a defensive juggernaut? No.

But the truth of the matter is Gonzaga losses usually are much more about their vaunted offenses sputtering out more than the other teams lighting them up. It's the offensive no-shows which usually doom the Zags.

This has been the case literally since the first time Gonzaga was upset in the NCAA Tournament. In the 2002 loss versus Wyoming — the first time the Zags were the higher seed in a first round matchup — star guards Dan Dickau and Blake Stepp went a respective 7-24 and 1-13 shooting and the high powered Zags offense which averaged 81.1 points per game (11th best in the country) only mustered 66 points.

One would think that might’ve set a narrative. It did not.

The crushing tourney loss to UCLA in 2006 might be remembered for Adam Morrison’s tears, but it shouldn’t be remembered for the Zags lack of defense. They held a loaded Bruins squad loaded with NBA talent to 73 points… but only mustered 71 points, well below their typical output.

Since the Zags got their first No. 1 seed in 2013, Gonzaga has had their season end on nine different losses. The always explosive Zags have scored over 70 points in zero of those games. Starting with last seasons L versus Arkansas the Bulldogs’ point totals are as follows: 68, 70, 69, 60, 65, 60, 52, 61, 70.

It’s not that the Zags’ defense was stellar in all those games. They put up no resistance against Baylor in the national title game or Arizona in 2014, but again, even if they’d held those high-powered teams to 71 points (instead of 86 and 84) they still would’ve lost.

Now certainly defense isn't irrelevant. Obviously, having a stellar defense allows a team to still be in game when their offense isn’t clicking, but at some point basketball becomes a matter of one team trying to do their best thing better than the other team does their best thing.

Just look at St. Mary’s. Coach Randy Bennett has built a nationally relevant program by forcing his opponents into his style of grind-it-out games where possessions are drawn out to minimize possessions and thereby limit scoring.

Gonzaga is pretty much the opposite. For the Zags, their best thing is always the offense. And even the eye test shows that more often than not the agonizing games aren’t the ones where they other team is going off as much as the offense comes to a standstill with long scoring draughts.

Just look at the toughest games for this year’s GU squad for more evidence of this. There’s certainly no defense of the defense that was played in the losses to Texas and Purdue as those top-tier teams torched the Bulldogs for 93 and 84 points. But the majority of the losses come down to the offense not playing close to it’s potential more than anything on the other end of the court.

The Zags are 1st in the country in scoring at 87.5 points per game.

How many did they score in the 1-point loss to Baylor? 63.

How about the 1-point home loss to LMU? 67.

That prior showdown with St. Mary’s? 70… in overtime.

Were there bad defensive stretches in all those games? Oh yeah, for sure.

Is this year’s Gonzaga team particularly good at defense? Heck no!

The Bulldogs rank 290th in the country in points allowed per game (74.2)! Not great, Bob! But even given that sour statistic the gap between the horrid D and the top-flight O lead to a +13.3 margin.

As constructed, the only path to victory for the Zags is for their strength to overwhelm their weakness. Or to put it in blunt terms: when your identity as a program is scoring, you simply gotta score more.

The old saying goes: “Defense wins championships.” Sometimes that’s true.

But when the broadcasters tell you that the D is the real key for Gonzaga, feel free to hit the mute button.

NEXT UP

Men

Gonzaga vs. San Diego • Thur, Feb. 23 at 8 pm • ESPN2

Gonzaga vs. #15 St. Mary's • Sat, Feb. 25 at 7 pm • ESPN

Gonzaga vs. Chicago State • Wed, Mar 1 at 6 pm • KHQ | Root Sports Plus

Women

Gonzaga at San Diego • Thur, Feb. 23 at 6 pm • WCCsports.com/watch

Gonzaga at BYU • Sat, Feb. 25 at 1 pm • BYUtv