Grip on sports: Zags look like a No. 1 this season

Wednesday:  There is a lot to debate about college basketball these days – shot-clock length, attendance, rankings – but the No. 1 point of contention right now nationally seems to be whether the Zags deserve a No. 1 seed.

Every time someone posts a mock bracket, the top couple lines are argued about, with Gonzaga at the heart of the storm. Do the Zags belong atop the bracket? Sure. So do about six or seven other teams. Happens every year. Only four teams can be No. 1 seeds.

This season, Kentucky is a lock. The Wildcats would have to lose two or three games down the stretch to forfeit the top line and, with their talent, does anyone see that happening? Nope. So they will be a one. After that, who knows?

Virginia is playing well, but is missing its top scorer right now. There is no guaranteeing the Cavaliers will win out – there is always a small margin of error for Tony Bennett’s teams – which will force the committee to determine their standing with Justin Anderson healthy.

Duke, Wisconsin, Villanova and Arizona all join the Zags in the debate for a top line. All have strengths, all have weaknesses. And we’re not even talking about their teams but their resumes. Duke defeated Virginia in Charlottesville, but lost at home to Miami. Wisconsin has won eight consecutive games, but the Badgers last loss was to Rutgers. Arizona defeated Gonzaga earlier this season but has lost to UNLV, Oregon State and Arizona State.

The Zags? Despite playing one of the top dozen nonconference schedules in the nation, GU has only lost once: The overtime game in Tucson. The Zags are No. 3 in ESPN’s basketball power rankings, trailing only Kentucky and Virginia. Nonconference wins over SMU, Georgia, St. John’s and UCLA – all but the first away from home – shouldn’t be discounted. But they are. Why? Because of a track record.

A couple of years ago, the Zags earned a No. 1 seed. They lost in the second round. To Wichita State, a team that went on to win 37 of its next 38 games. Still, all most people remember was the “L.” In the second round.

That has happened to a top seed less than two-dozen times the past 30 years. It’s used as an argument to deny this year’s Gonzaga team the top line. Really? That’s as weak an argument as one could possibly have.

This year’s team has to be considered in a vacuum. That’s not opinion, it’s part of the NCAA committee’s charge. The committee has to look at this year alone. Like Italian driving, what’s behind you doesn’t matter. If you want to deny the Zags a top seed, you must do it based on this year’s results, not what happened in the past.

Of all the contenders – besides Kentucky, which is in a different galaxy all together – for the top line, only the Zags don’t have a bad loss. Now. That could change as the WCC regular season and postseason wind down, but their only defeat today is at Arizona, a tough place to win at any time.

Duke has Miami, at home. Wisconsin has Rutgers. Arizona has three. If Gonzaga wins out, a task you would expect of a No. 1 seed, then it deserves to wear white throughout the West Region. Not because of anything that’s happened in the ancient past, but because it’s earned it. This season. 

Monday: The Cougars aren’t as bad as they looked Sunday (against Arizona).

Quick shots are great – when they are falling. When they aren’t, as was the case yesterday, then all they lead to is a landslide – especially when the opponent is one of the best teams in the nation.

So let’s just label this a pothole on the road to respectability and keep on driving.

Unless, of course, the pothole knocked the whole car out of alignment.