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Gonzaga boosts entire community with sustained excellence

Sun., April 2, 2017

Good morning, Spokane. Or did you even go to bed after that thrilling basketball game?

It’s either pandemonium or a hangover, because the little school that shouldn’t actually could. One more victory, and the Gonzaga Bulldogs are national champions.

The delirium is hard-earned. The team has been on the verge so many times, but the season has always ended in heartache. A blown lead against UCLA. Getting upset as a No. 1 seed. The bad luck of the draw hurt, too. Remember that scrawny guy from Davidson shooting them down? Stephen Curry, anyone?

To get the full scope of this team’s transformation and arrival at the coveted Monday night game, travel back to late November 1998. Gonzaga took on Washington State University, a team it hadn’t beaten in 10 years. A mere 4,000 people trudged to the Spokane Arena for that forgettable contest (won by the Zags).

Three months later, the Bulldogs would begin a remarkable run through the heavyweights of college basketball and land in the Elite Eight. They haven’t stopped running since, earning berths in 19 consecutive NCAA Tournaments. On the way, they’ve traded the barracks-like Kennel for the gleaming McCarthey Athletic Center. An evening there is the biggest event in the Inland Northwest, and always memorable. If you can get a ticket. A big if.

Mention “Spokane” anywhere in the world, and the first topic of conversation is Gonzaga. The community and the university have become inseparable. The number of fans dwarfs the student population.

But as the team went from Cinderella to elite, the pressure mounted and the whispers grew louder. Could Mark Few ever get it done? Now, he’s the coach of the year, and deservedly so. A team that lost terrific players such as Kyle Wiltjer and Damontas Sabonis actually got better.

That’s the mark of an elite program.

Zag fans should consider themselves lucky to have a coach who values a quiet fishing stream over the glamour of other destinations. He also values character, and has demonstrated a knack for landing players from all over the world who are not only excellent athletes, but solid citizens who are easy to root for.

In this era of the one-and-done player, where college is merely a couch to flop on while waiting for the NBA to come calling, Gonzaga has done it differently, and it finally paid off. That makes it all the sweeter.

Rob Dauster of NBC Sports recently tweeted this relevant fact: In the past 30 years, only six players have been named both first-team All-Americans and Academic All-Americans in the same season, and half of them are Bulldogs – Dan Dickau, Kelly Olynyk and Nigel Willams-Goss. Three of this year’s starters already have their undergraduate degrees. The team GPA in the fall was 3.27.

This is the rare athletic program that has made its university better in every way. Enrollment has skyrocketed. The academic reputation has grown. The brand is strong. Gonzaga is known worldwide, even if everyone can’t pronounce the name.

Enjoy this, Spokane. First the Final Four, and perhaps on Monday, so much more.