Wassell: Gonzaga hasn’t lived up to its No. 1 seed — at least not yet
Mar 25, 2019, 4:48 PM
(AP)
The Gonzaga Bulldogs have waltzed their way into their fifth straight Sweet 16, chalking up an easy win over 16-seeded Fairleigh Dickinson and a convincing (but not as easy) victory over No. 9 seed Baylor in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
Clarke scores 36, Gonzaga moves on to Sweet 16 with win over Baylor
The Zags are a No. 1 seed, however, and 710 ESPN Seattle’s Tom Wassell says longtime Gonzaga head coach Mark Few’s team hasn’t lived up to that high position in the bracket – at least not yet.
“As somebody who pays attention to this stuff, something about them being ranked so high and seeded so high just didn’t sit right with me,” Wassell said during Monday’s edition of Bob, Groz and Tom.
Wassell isn’t blaming Gonzaga itself for its seeding. He knows that’s a product of playing in a mid-major conference (the WCC) and a non-conference schedule that doesn’t stack up with other strong teams in the tournament. That last part is not for lack of trying, either. In addition to wins over tournament teams Washington, North Dakota State and fellow 1-seed Duke, plus losses to two more high seeds in No. 1 North Carolina and No. 2 Tennessee, Gonzaga beat Arizona, Texas A&M, Illinois and Creighton, all teams that have made the tournament in recent years but had down seasons in 2018-19.
The issue Wassell takes is that he sees other teams being more deserving of a top seed due to strength of schedule, and making the Sweet 16 as a No. 1 requires beating no teams ranked higher than a No. 8, so Gonzaga still hasn’t proven much to this point.
“I don’t hold them responsible but when they get seeded No. 1 or they get ranked No. 1, I guess that’s what bugs me a little bit. People have come at me and said, ‘Oh, well, they have been to the Sweet 16 the last (five years).’ Well, that’s easier to do when you’re seeded that high,” he said. “To get to the Sweet 16, who’d they beat? Oh, they beat Fairleigh Dickinson and then you beat Baylor? I mean, Baylor had as tough of a schedule as Gonzaga did.”
Wassell understands that the next two games are where the Zags can prove people like him wrong, however.
“Now here’s the thing – the further they advance in the tournament, the worse my argument becomes because to get to Final Four, you have to beat quality teams,” he said. “If all of the sudden they’ve beaten Baylor and they’ve beaten Florida State (in the Sweet 16) and either Texas Tech or (Michigan in the Elite 8), then all of the sudden you’ve racked up three pretty impressive wins in a row and you’ve proven yourself.”
Wassell isn’t ruling out the possibility of Gonzaga returning to the Final Four two seasons after the Zags reached the title game, either. But he can’t bring himself to root for it for an admittedly self-serving reason.
“And by the way, I think they are a good team. I like watching them. … They’re a good team. I mean, they’re a talented team, they have size, they can do a lot of things. They’re not just this one-dimensional team that’s hiding out in the Pacific Northwest. They are a good team, and normally I would root for them. I guess the only reason I can’t now is…” – Wassell paused for effect – “because it’ll hurt my credibility,” he said with a laugh.
You can hear the full conversation beginning around the 13-minute mark in this podcast.