Gonzaga has had a pretty good basketball season again. They were 23-8 in the regular season. Fans never know how good they are because they play late at night in the West Coast Conference. Gonzaga played conference foe St. Mary’s three times and lost twice but beat them in the West Coast Conference tournament.
Gonzaga did play a national schedule, but they lost to UCLA, Oregon State, West Virginia, Kentucky, UCONN, and conference foe Santa Clara. These losses suggest Gonzaga may not have the type of magical NCAA Tournament they have had in the past. That said, they are ranked number ninth in the Ken Pom rankings. Where do you think Gonzaga will end up in the NCAA Tournament?
Gonzaga Bulldogs Men’s Basketball Roster
The leading scorer for the Bulldogs, who are commonly called the Zags, is Graham Ike. Ike is a senior 6-foot-9 forward from Aurora, Colorado. He averages 17.1 points per game. Khalif Battle is a senior 6-foot-5 guard from Hillside, New Jersey. He averages 13.2 points per game for Gonzaga. The third leading scorer for the Bulldogs is Nolan Hickman. He is also a senior guard from Seattle, Washington. He averages 11.0 points per game.
The fourth-leading scorer from the Bulldogs is sophomore Forward Braden Huff. He is also from Glen Ellyn, Illinois. The 6-foot-10 player averages 10.8 points per game and 3.2 rebounds a game. The fifth-leading scorer is Ryan Nembhard 6-foot senior guard. He also averages 10.8 points for the Zags. Those are the five starters for the Bulldogs.
Coming off the bench the Zags have senior 6-foot-10 Forward Ben Gregg. He is averaging 9.4 points per game. The is a significant amount, so he is an important player. Michael Ajayi is a senior guard who is 6-foot-7. He is from Kent, Washington. He is the seventh-leading scorer for the Bulldogs. The eighth-leading scorer for the Zags is Dusty Stromer a 6-foot-6 guard. He averages 4.6 points per game.
The rest of the bench for the Bulldogs is Ismaila Diagne (a seven-footer from Senegal), Jun Seok Yeo (from South Korea), Emmanuel Innocenti (from Italy), Joaquim ArauzMoore, Joe Few, and Noah Haaland.
Main Storylines
The top story on the Gonzaga page is an ESPN Plus article about the bubble team and automatic bid teams in the NCAA Tournament. The article is on the Gonzaga page by their win over St. Mary’s. St. Mary’s will make the NCAA Tournament as well. So, the West Coast Conference will get two teams in the tournament. The bubble teams are particularly interesting. It will be interesting to see which teams make the tournament.
After this story, there is one about NCAA Tournament history. Gonzaga has a great tournament history. They are famous for being the David’s to various Goliaths. To give the reader a sense, there are links to stories about tournament records, both men’s and women’s.
The third story is about NCAA Tournament bracketology. As you can see in this story, the Gonzaga Bulldogs are expected to get a No. 7 seed. It seems they are being discriminated against because of their conference because they rank ninth in the nation in the Ken Pom rankings. That would suggest they should get a third seed. As an automatic bid entrant in the tournament, they are a low seed. St. Mary’s is also supposed to be a seven seed.
Conclusion
Gonzaga has had a good year, though perhaps not quite so successful by their standards. They have some star players and five who average more than ten points a game. Being so balanced will help them in the NCAA Tournament. They are likely to overperform their seed, but because they have suffered losses to top-ranked teams, they are likely to run into one of those teams and suffer a defeat.
