-For starters, BIG TIME congrats to Scott Drew and the Baylor Bears. They survived a rough schedule in one of the nation’s toughest conferences, they had to overcome a COVID protocol shutdown at a crucial point in the season, their run to the national title game involved beating three protected seeds, plus a Villanova team that was red hot after winning the Big East Tournament and a Wisconsin team that was potentially dangerous, and they blew a Gonzaga team off the floor in National Title game. This was a program that not only had no real basketball culture or history when Scott Drew arrived. They were a program that was coming off one of the worst scandals and NCAA smackdowns in all of recent history. So to take what was undeniably a complete mess and turn it into a national power is one of the greatest accomplishments in the history of coaching. It really is. They hadn’t just sucked for half a century. They had sucked for half a century AND all but got the death penalty from the NCAA.
-I also want to say something about this Gonzaga program, and this year’s team in particular. A lot of people say Gonzaga is overrated and they always choke in the tournament. Whenever you hear anyone say that, do the best you can to not listen to them any further. They are too stupid to listen to, and while I don’t think stupidity is necessarily contagious, I don’t know that for sure.
-Gonzaga has been to six straight Sweet Sixteens. That’s more than anyone else. On top of that, they’ve been to four Elite Eights, and been the national runners up twice during that stretch. That is simply a remarkable run. That’s not “choking.” Only one team doesn’t lose their last game in the NCAA Tournament, yet Gonzaga is the only one who can win all but the national title game (twice) and be given that label. Let’s compare this year’s team to the 2014-2015 Kentucky team.
-Gonzaga had just as many top 50 wins as that Kentucky team (13) despite playing fewer games overall.
-Gonzaga had more wins against teams that finished in the top 25 than that Kentucky team despite playing fewer games overall.
-Gonzaga went one round further. The Kentucky team that year lost in the Final Four to a Wisconsin team that then ended up losing in the national title game.
Hence, I submit that this year’s Gonzaga team was objectively more accomplished than the 2014-2015 Kentucky team that everyone still says is so great and that no sane person would try to argue was a team that choked.
-The national title game, and the first Final Four game were kind of clunkers, but the UCLA vs Gonzaga Final Four game was one of the best played college basketball games I’ve ever seen. It was an absolute classic where every time it looked like Gonzaga had momentum, UCLA would fight back. The fact that it was UCLA, and that they have won 11 national titles, should take at least a little bit of the sting off that loss since…well…it’s not like they’ve never been this far or had those moments, but that is one thing about great games. A team can play great, and still not win, and that’s what happened to UCLA the other night.
-The season from hell is FINALLY over!! Thanks to all the players and coaches for making this season happen. It’s hard enough as it is during normal times, but it was infinitely harder with COVID hanging over everything. As a fan of the sport, I’m grateful that we got to have the season that we did, and want to thank everyone that made it happen regardless of how many games your teams won. Hopefully we are now on a countdown back to normalcy!! We will see you in full arenas next year!!
….and, we will see you periodically throughout the offseason as well. We will try and get some good guests and show topics lined up and come at you with at least one podcast per month until October. We will start those tonight!!