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Gonzaga Basketball

Zags’ loss to Dons deeper than just a hiccup

San Francisco’s upset of Gonzaga gave Perris Blackwell, right, and Rashad Green something to celebrate and GU’s Steven Gray something to think about. (Associated Press)

One of the articles of Gonzaga’s basketball faith has been that the company the Bulldogs keep in January and February is universally disdained – though slightly less nationwide than by the Zags’ own fan base.

Apparently, however, it’s now just a half truth.

This conclusion has been reached on new evidence: that what arguably might be the Zags’ most mortifying loss – relative not to point spread but program stature – in the decade since they were decreed to be a phenomenon dropped them only four spots in one poll Monday and five in another.

Could have sworn there would have been a more humbling putdown for Saturday’s stumble against the University of San Francisco. An offer of membership in the Pac-10, perhaps.

Both in terms of record (7-14, only five of those being Division I wins) and RPI (235) entering the game, the Dons are the lowliest outfit to put one over on Gonzaga in the Era of Unbridled Giddiness. It’s the kind of loss that is likely to cost the Zags come seeding time. Both Portland and Loyola Marymount were in similar straits when they beat the Zags in 2003, and the Pilots even managed it in Spokane riding the grim momentum of a five-game losing streak. But there’s been a seven-year buildup in the Zags’ hype trap since then.

And there have been far more precipitous tumbles lately. The loss to Portland State a year ago cost the Zags 10 spots in the coaches’ poll, though it was in the midst of a three-game free fall that jettisoned them from the rankings completely. The year before, GU went from 18th to unranked for the sin of losing to Oklahoma by four points in Oklahoma City just before Christmas. Maybe voters were soured by a glance at their Visa statements.

In any case, it seems the West Coast Conference carries more cachet than imagined, even if the Zags had scorched the lodge brothers 27 times in a row before getting Dior Lowhorn-ed.

It surely carries some with Gonzaga coach Mark Few, who on Monday was moved to calm the citizenry – which happens at least once a season – by suggesting recent developments were merely a market correction.

“They’re not the juggernaut everybody wants to paint them out to be,” he said of his team. “We’re pretty even with most teams in this league if we don’t play with a ton of energy and toughness.”

Not an easy sell, that last point.

The Zags are still the program that prides itself on playing a national schedule and has dominated the league for a decade. The Dons, for instance, were in such disarray two years ago that the school resorted to clowning itself for the sake of Eddie Sutton’s charade.

But college basketball is a constant evolution, and the WCC is beginning to evolve up.

“The talent level is up – it’s still pretty young,” Few said. “But you do have some guys – Lowhorn, Omar Samhan, Brandon Johnson and all those guys at Portland – who’ve been around forever.”

In Gonzaga’s case, the Zags have evolved younger – so much so that before the season began, there was significant speculation that their dominance could come to an end this year, possibly at the hands of Portland, which has more seniors than the 4 p.m. dinner crowd. The Bulldogs’ relative inexperience was quickly forgotten when they started beating the likes of Wisconsin and Illinois, spawning some dangerous assumptions. Having pulled out some heart-stoppers against those teams made the Zags look more polished than they are (“we’ve been really poised and even a little lucky about winning games at the end,” Few said) when in fact they’re prone to some wild swings.

They don’t seem to value the basketball. The play of the bench – where all those youngsters sit – has been fitful, and inadequate. They’re maddeningly sub-average at the foul line. And lately their defense has slipped noticeably. For all the uproar over USF’s game-tying basket and the fluky inbounds save by Steven Gray that led to it, more telling  was  how  unguarded Lowhorn was for the 3-pointer he missed seconds before.

Few is concerned about all those aspects, and will do what he can to solve them. He’ll try to mitigate expectations by saying things like, “We’re not so overly talented that we’re going to blow people out,” knowing he’ll make few converts.

Could be worse, of course. Just ask Roy Williams these days.

“You go through phases in this game,” Few said, “just like you do with your golf game, or anything else. Maybe next week we’ll be writing songs about everybody, who knows?”