Gonzaga Bulldogs men’s basketball carries quest for an undefeated season to NCAA tournament
It seemed as if the dream of a perfect season might end for the Gonzaga men’s basketball team in the West Coast Conference tournament on Tuesday. But Gonzaga found a rhythm in the second half — the Bulldogs were down by 12 points at halftime — to maintain a spotless record by securing an 88-78 win over BYU in the title game.
Gonzaga (26-0) will now enter the NCAA tournament with an opportunity to match college basketball’s last perfect season, achieved by Indiana during the 1975-76 campaign. Per Zags coach Mark Few, the team has embraced the history attached to this moment.
“We just talked about it in there,” Few said after Tuesday’s victory. “We finally, finally acknowledged, like, look, this is a big deal; it puts us in some incredible company. That Kentucky team [2015]. … It’s a heck of an accomplishment. It’s really a heck of an accomplishment in lieu of these atmospheres that have been so stale. I give this group of guys just a ton of credit.”
Gonzaga is the fifth team to enter the NCAA tournament with an undefeated record — joining Indiana State (1979), UNLV (1991), Wichita State (2014) and Kentucky (2015) — since Indiana’s perfect season 45 years ago. None of those squads that followed Indiana claimed the title.
Most recently, fans adorned in blue and white sobbed in the stands of Lucas Oil Stadium six years ago after Kentucky suffered a 71-64 loss to Wisconsin in the Final Four in Indianapolis in 2015. Much like Gonzaga, the Wildcats seemed to have it all: size, athleticism and NBA talent. They had entered the NCAA tournament with a 34-0 record and were just two wins from perfection when they ran into the Badgers.
Now, Gonzaga will get its shot at history. Although the stars have not aligned for the other undefeated programs in the modern version of the NCAA tournament, Gonzaga has already proved it is a step ahead of the field. It is not only college basketball’s last undefeated team this season, its résumé also includes wins over Kansas, West Virginia, Iowa, Virginia and BYU (three times).
“It’s hard not to think about it,” said projected NBA draft lottery pick Jalen Suggs about the potential for a perfect season, after contributing 23 points to Gonzaga’s win on Tuesday. “But I think we’ve all done a good job of staying focused. At some point, you kind of have to acknowledge how special of a thing and how special of a ride that we’re on right now. I think the best part about it is that we’re all excited. We’re all excited to keep it going.”
It’s important to understand the impact of the expanded field and modern format on the pursuit of perfection in college basketball.
According to the NCAA, 19 teams — now 20 — have been perfect upon entering the final chapter of the season. All but four of those teams, including Gonzaga, entered the NCAA tournament with zero losses after the expansion of the field to 64 teams in 1985. Indiana’s perfect season unfolded a year after the field had been expanded from 16 teams to 32 teams in 1975. No team has completed a perfect season in the 64-team — now 68 teams — era.
While the perfect teams that fell after Indiana met the same fate, their journeys were different.
In the 1978-79 season, Larry Bird averaged 28.6 points and 14.9 rebounds per game for an Indiana State squad that met Magic Johnson’s Michigan State team in the national championship game. It was a surprising run because Bird’s squad had not been ranked entering the season, although it quickly built momentum and generated buzz once the season began. Johnson scored 24 points in his team’s 75-64 win over the Sycamores.
In 1991, UNLV had won every regular-season game too. Larry Johnson (22.7 PPG) led the defending national champion Rebels, who featured five future NBA players. They were unstoppable in the tournament, as well, until they faced Duke — the same team they had stomped by 30 points in the previous season’s national title game — and lost a 79-77 thriller in the Final Four. That was a shock for college basketball.
The 2013-14 Wichita State squad, however, seemed doomed from the beginning of the tournament. On Selection Sunday that season, the undefeated Shockers — who hadn’t faced an impressive nonconference slate — were placed on a collision course with an 8-seed Kentucky team led by Julius Randle. Kentucky pulled off the 78-76 win over Wichita State in the second round and then made a run to the national title game, where the Wildcats lost to UConn 60-54.
But a year later, the 2015 Kentucky squad seemed like a lock to finish with a perfect record nearly 40 years after Indiana’s run. But Karl-Anthony Towns & Co. didn’t have an answer for Wisconsin’s Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker in the Final Four, where the Wildcats suffered a 71-64 defeat.
Now, Gonzaga will push for the school’s first national title while also making NCAA history. The Bulldogs understand what they’re up against.
Like Indiana State, they’re not a sexy Power 5 program. Like UNLV, they’re blessed with elite talent (Suggs and Corey Kispert are both projected top-10 picks in ESPN’s latest mock draft). Like Wichita State, they’ve faced a multitude of doubters. And like Kentucky, they’ve stormed through the season with a dominant effort.
And their dream is still alive.
“I’ve been waiting to play in these moments my entire life,” Suggs said Tuesday. “Tonight was surreal.”