Hilltoppers still have a few peaks to conquer

PORTLAND – Western Kentucky has goals that reach beyond the NCAA tournament.

After an unexpected run in last year’s tournament and a first-round upset of Illinois, the 12th-seeded Hilltoppers will play in the second round against Gonzaga, a team that represents exactly what they hope to emulate.

The fourth-seeded Bulldogs are making their 11th consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament. In 1999, they burst onto the national scene as the scrappy underdogs among the last eight teams standing.

It isn’t as if the ’Toppers, as they’re sometimes called, came out of nowhere. They’ve been to the NCAA tournament 21 times. They’ve made it five times this decade.

But the Hilltoppers aren’t quite to the point where they would be considered in the mix for an at-large bid, like Gonzaga, without a conference tournament title.

“I don’t want it to come down to a three-day tournament every year, and I think we’re going to build toward that,” coach Ken McDonald said. “I want to get to the point where we’re really doing well in our conference, and we can schedule out of conference all the time, that national type of schedule like the Zags do, and know that you’re going to be able to have an at-large bid.”