‘Blue-Blood level’: How Gonzaga forced its way near the top of college basketball’s hierarchy

If the team from Gonzaga thumps Kentucky by 35 points one week, and then looks to stretch its all-time advantage over UCLA to 8-3 the next week, it’s fair to question the contemporary relevance of the term “Blue Bloods” in regard to men’s college basketball.

And if you beat the basketball aristocracy more often than not over a span of 25 years, shouldn’t you also be a part of such conversation?

The topic springs from a comment by Gonzaga head coach Mark Few during the recent Players Era Festival. When asked to compare his current team to previous highly ranked Zag teams, Few remarked that some analysts don’t often acknowledge that GU has been playing at a “Blue-Blood level” for a long time.

It was just a brief comment, slightly barbed. But worth another look.

Few is a passionate curator of the program’s competitive reputation. Possibly, because their genesis story was so compelling and improbable, some will continue to see the Zags as the forever underdogs. In some ways, the anti-Blue Bloods.

However, to claim they’ve played at “Blue-Blood level” over the course of this century is fair commentary.

Duke, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina and UCLA, with 39 national championships on their collective resumes, constitute programs typically recognized as the Blue Bloods.

It’s a subjective term, largely fueled by nostalgia and respect carried over the decades, which probably means less and less to the typical fan (and recruit) as the game becomes increasingly mercenary.

These are legacies that date back to the underhand free-throw and keyhole-lane days, or in the case of UCLA, to when John Wooden coached the Bruins to 10 of their 11 total championships, most when the NCAA Tournament was comprised of 16 teams.

A few schools, Gonzaga among them, have moved forward in the discussion, based on 21st century success, and have reason to feel well-rooted among the modern elites.

Let’s consider Gonzaga’s blood-type:

As pointed out in a preseason CBSSports.com feature by Kyle Boone, from the start of the 2000-2001 season until the start of the current one, only three programs have registered more than 700 wins: Duke (720), Kansas (717) and Gonzaga (716).

Critics point out that Gonzaga’s win totals are inflated by membership in the West Coast Conference, with fewer highly regarded member teams than most of the other top conferences.

But the Zags’ consecutive NCAA tournament bids since the 1999 season, 47-27 overall record in the Tournament – including two title games, two Final Fours, six Elite 8s, and a recent run of nine-straight Sweet 16s – are testament to their sustained excellence.

Consider head-to-head meetings.

The Zags have gone 16-11 against the six traditional Blue Bloods.

They have struggled against Duke (1-4) and North Carolina (1-3), although with some thrilling defeats.

The last matchup with the Blue Devils was a three-point Duke win in Las Vegas in November 2021, when Paolo Banchero scored 21 and led the No. 5 Blue Devils over the top-ranked Zags.

GU’s only win in the Duke series was in the Maui Classic title game in 2018, when Rui Hachimura scored 20 to help the Zags edge the star-studded Blue Devils (Zion Williamson and RJ Barrett), 89-87.

The Zags’ only win over North Carolina came in The Kennel in December 2019, a 94-81 runaway fueled by Corey Kispert’s 26 points. It provided small revenge for the loss to the Tar Heels in the 2017 national title game, when the Zags had a two-point lead inside the last 2 minutes but fell 71-65.

Aside from those troubles with Tobacco Road denizens, the Zags have absolutely flourished against the other Blue Bloods, going a combined 14-4 against Indiana (2-0), Kansas (2-0), Kentucky (3-1) and UCLA (7-3).

The No. 8-ranked Zags (9-1) meet 25th-ranked UCLA (7-2) Saturday at Seattle’ Climate Pledge Arena, in what has turned into one of the top West Coast rivalries.

The series had an almost mythical first meeting, in December 1999, when the Zags were led by Ryan Floyd’s 17 points (five 3s) and a defense that held the Bruins to a record-low scoring production in a 59-43 upset victory at Pauley Pavilion.

That game spanned eras, symbolically, as the retired Wooden sat behind the UCLA bench and watched his former team get dismantled by then-upstart Gonzaga, led by Floyd, a hot-shooting, walk-on guard from Class B Sprague-Harrington.

GU and UCLA have met four times in the NCAA Tournament, the Zags winning three, including the Jalen Suggs Game, when the freshman guard banked in a shot from near halfcourt for the overtime semifinal win that put them into their second national championship game (2021).

The one NCAA Tournament loss to the Bruins was the unforgettable, tear-jerking collapse in the 2006 Sweet 16.

Looking back, the 1999 upset of UCLA was one of the early invitations into the palaces of the Blue Bloods. The Zags’ shocking run to the Elite 8 the previous March opened doors to games at places like Pauley Pavilion.

After beating Kentucky in 2022 at the Spokane Arena, Few cited the Wildcats’ visit representing an important stage in the Zag growth-progression that started with winning big games, upgrading recruiting, getting games at the opponent’s place, and finally leveraging top teams to come to Spokane.

The Zags aren’t the only program viewed on the cusp of blue-bloodedness. Connecticut has won five NCAA titles this century. Arizona, Michigan State, Florida, Michigan, Houston, Louisville, Purdue, Villanova, Syracuse are also among those with valid claims.

In Boone’s CBSSports.com ratings of the top 25 teams since 2000, UConn was the highest non-traditional Blue Blood, at No. 3, behind Duke (three national titles) and Kansas (two titles).

Michigan State was No. 5, Florida, No. 7 (titles in ’06, 07 and ’25).

The Zags were ranked No. 10, with the third-most wins, but no titles.

Boone wrote that he wrestled with the placement of Michigan State (six Final Fours) and Gonzaga, the only two teams in his top 10 without national championships in that time frame. He “ultimately decided a ranking of the top 10 programs in college basketball since 2000 that omitted Gonzaga would be invalidated in an instant.”

He acknowledged the benefits of WCC membership toward piling up regular-season wins, “but they’ve also broken through on the national stage,” with their consistent deep advancement in the tournament.

A No. 10 ranking over 25 years, with such a high success rate in March, and wins against so many of the best programs in history?

Surely, that’s at least Blue Blood-adjacent for the Zags. And there’s no insult in that.