Gonzaga bolsters NCAA resume, still highly motivated for WCC Tournament

Never one to pass up an opportunity, Ryan Nembhard had a question of his own after a session with the media Saturday night following Gonzaga’s 95-75 win over San Francisco.

The senior point guard asked Bracketeer.org’s Rocco Miller where GU stood in his NCAA Tournament projections. Miller said he had the Zags as a nine seed, but likely moving up after two Quad 1 wins last week.

“We’ll see about that nine seed!” Nembhard responded before heading to the locker room. True to his word, Miller’s latest bracket Monday listed Gonzaga as an eight seed facing No. 9 Creighton – Nembhard’s former team – in Lexington.

Gonzaga (23-8, 14-4 West Coast Conference) certainly improved its tournament credentials with wins over Santa Clara and USF. The Zags are 3-6 in Quad 1 – a season-opening win over Baylor slipped to Quad 2 with the Bears dropping to No. 32 in the NET rankings – and 5-2 in Quad 2.

“We’ve been pretty good on the road all year,” Nembhard said. “We knew we needed these two wins. These were two Quad 1 opportunities and they were super important for our resume. We were all mature about the week.”

Next up is another big opportunity for Gonzaga in the WCC Tournament. The Zags are No. 8 in the NET and appear safely off the bubble, but their goal is to remove all doubts at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. The second-seeded Zags will have to wait until Sunday night to learn their assignment in Monday’s semifinals.

“We don’t want to leave it up to fate,” said senior forward Ben Gregg, following a 23-point effort against the Dons. “We want to go in there and punch our ticket and not worry about Selection Sunday. Last year we left it to fate, luckily we got in, we did enough throughout the season, but that’s what we want. We’re going down there to win the championship.”

If the third-seeded Dons win in Sunday’s quarterfinals, Gonzaga would face USF for the third time. GU owns a pair of wins by a combined 31 points.

Saint Mary’s is the top seed and edged Gonzaga by four points in Moraga and seven in Spokane – two of GU’s eight losses by eight or fewer points, including three in overtime.

Gonzaga coach Mark Few said the WCC has been underrated all season.

“What we’ve been able to do, Saint Mary’s is having a heck of a year,” he said. “Saint Mary’s is going to give problems to anybody in the NCAA Tournament playing in any round and I think we are, too. Literally, we’ve played everybody tough this year, we just haven’t had that play to break through in probably five or six of those games. And who knows, if we did we’d probably be 30-2 or something.

“We had some unfortunate things happen at the end of UCLA game, things that were our own problems at the end of the West Virginia game, just some difficult plays in the last possession. I don’t think anybody has had as many one-possession losses as we have. I think that’s going to be very concerning for any team out there that sees our name pop up opposite of them in the NCAA bracket.”

Gonzaga had eight points and shares eighth in receiving votes with UCLA in the latest AP poll. Saint Mary’s moved up to No. 21.

No. 1 Auburn received all 61 first-place votes from the media panel. The Tigers are followed by Duke, Houston, Tennessee, Florida, St. John’s, Alabama, Michigan State, Texas Tech and Iowa State.

Eight SEC teams are in the top 25. The Big 12 and Big Ten both have five.

The Zags had 17 points in the USA Today coaches’ poll, tied for fifth in receiving votes with Vanderbilt. The Gaels are ranked No. 17. The top six is the same as the AP top six.