During rare escape from the bubble, Gonzaga men got into the swing of things while Few got in a workout

The NCAA bubble appears to be expanding a bit as the number of teams chasing a national championship shrinks.

Top-seeded Gonzaga is preparing for Sunday’s Sweet 16 contest with fifth-seeded Creighton at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, but the Zags have been able to stretch their legs outside of the practice court.

GU players and several staff members toured the Indianapolis Zoo a few days ago and then trotted out their best swings Wednesday at Top Golf. There wasn’t much question about who holds the title of best golfer on the team.

“Obviously Corey (Kispert) was at the top,” junior guard Joel Ayayi confirmed. “I know that Pavel (Zakharov), Martynas (Arlauskas), Aaron (Cook) and Oumar (Ballo) were kind of down there at the bottom.

“Will (Graves) and Matt (Lang) have great swings, too. I have a decent swing. I got better because I’m so bad that I made progress. (Sports information director) Barry (Henderson) and (trainer) Josh (Therrien) have good swings.”

Kispert seems to be a natural at any sport he attempts to play. He’s posted videos on social media in the past showing off his solid golf swing and some low numbers on a scorecard.

Head coach Mark Few skipped the golf to get in a workout on the baseball diamond close to the team hotel, but he still knew which Zag carried the day on the driving range.

“Corey is head and shoulders above everybody else,” Few said. “I believe Joel would like to think of himself in that second tier and I probably don’t doubt it, but that’s quite a drop from where Corey’s at. I’m sure there was some heavy overswinging, a lot of topped balls, probably a lot of slices, too, if you know anything about young golfers.”

In Few’s case, there was some overzealousness.

“Me and a couple of staff members were able to enjoy some of this Indiana sunshine. It was awesome to be outside on a 70-degree day,” he said. “I’m feeling it a little bit. I got a little bit overzealous with my workout. I wasn’t quite ready for that.”

The Zags also were able to play badminton and throw the football around last week prior to wins over Norfolk State and Oklahoma.