DAVE BOLING

Sorry Zags fans, this might not be the major conference realignment news you were awaiting.

DETROIT – Gonzaga’s men dominated so thoroughly the first week of the NCAA Tournament, it almost seemed like they had been sandbagging during much of this inconsistent season.

DETROIT – The advancement of the Gonzaga men to the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 effectively quashed recent warnings of a nosediving trajectory for the Zags’ program.

LAS VEGAS – If you could spare a little sriracha sauce for me, it might help the crow go down a little better.

In an 89-77 win over San Francisco in the semifinals of the West Coast Conference Tournament on Monday at the Orleans Arena, Ben Gregg became The Man.

The Zags had swallowed the humility of slipping out of the national rankings for the first time in almost eight years, shuffled the lineup and rotation a bit, and fought back into the top 25. But the impressive revival could have unraveled without a strong final regular-season weekend, on the road at San Francisco and Saint Mary’s.

As often happened during the bleak 1989-90 season, the Zags were getting clobbered by a more talented opponent.

SEATTLE – Well, it turns out that this is a great season for Gonzaga to still be in the West Coast Conference.

SEATTLE – If you’re worried that the forces of conference realignment will endanger the Gonzaga-Washington rivalry, don’t bother, this thing hasn’t been a rivalry for years.

HONOLULU – In the land of volcanic activity, of flowing lava and bubbling calderas, a long-awaited eruption took place Wednesday night.

HONOLULU – Mark Few had roughly 15 to 16 hours between a disheartening loss to Purdue and the tipoff of his Gonzaga Bulldogs’ game against Syracuse in Tuesday’s breakfast bracket of the Maui Invitational.