Gonzaga was coming off a strange 2010-11 season, in which the team lost 10 games, was an 11 seed in the NCAA tournament (their worst since 2001) and faced an uphill battle to win the WCC and make the NCAA tournament for the first time since the Bulldogs 1999 elite eight run.
They lost one of my favorite Zags, Steven Gray, to graduation, as well as junior starter Demetri Goodson who left to play football at Baylor. Gray was the leader of that team and Goodson was the starting point guard. Goodson never played at a high enough level and Gray had an injury riddled and in-general-unfortunate senior campaign. As much as I liked Gray I didn't feel that his departure would be super impactful. Then there were the dark off-season months, full of boredom and scheduling/recruiting rumors.
I remember the excitement of November 11th, 2011 quite vividly. The months of waiting had finally come to an end. This was no exhibition, practice, or rumor. It was game against a D-1 opponent that would count from now until the end of the season. A Spokane County rivalry, Eastern Washington vs. Gonzaga. Gonzaga's starters were Robert Sacre, Elias Harris, Marquise Carter, David Stockton and Mike Hart. The Zags only used 3 players off the bench, Sam Dower and freshmen Kevin Pangos and Gary Bell Jr. Looking back, that seems so foreign.
The Zags' next game was against another Eastern Washington rival, the Pac-12's Washington State Cougars. Freshman Kevin Pangos got his first career start and went all out. This game was part of ESPN's "Tip Off Marathon", in fact it tipped off the marathon, and was televised nationally on ESPN. With the spotlight on the Zags, Pangos tied a Gonzaga record with 9 made threes (Dan Dickau is the guy who set that record in the first place. Yeah, good first impression, kid.) and led all scorers with 33 points. Gonzaga's backcourt, seriously depleted in the off season, had been saved. However this being only the second game there were still many issues to address.
The Zags didn't make a field goal over the last 5 minutes and had to fend off a WSU run that resulted in a far too close final score of 89-81. The defense was horrible, and WSU shot better from the field and three (despite Pangos' 9/12) than the Zags did. Mike Hart and Marquise Carter started, played about 20 minutes each, and only scored 2 points a piece. Freshman Gary Bell on the other hand, played 24 minutes off the bench and had 14 points.
Gonzaga kept improving as November went on. They posted wins against Hawaii, Western Michigan and a 20 point thumping of Notre Dame to finish off the month. Unlike typical Gonzaga schedules, none of the November games were true road games. The Hawaii game was in Robert Sacre's hometown, Vancouver, B.C.
The Zags sat at 5-0 and 18th in the nation entering December. Then they traveled to Champaign, Illinois for their first road game of the season. It resulted in a 75-82 loss to the Fighting Illini. Then the Zags faced another Big-10 team when Michigan State came to the Kennel. The Spartans are probably the biggest program willing to play the Zags in Spokane to date. This too resulted in a 7 point loss. Gary Bell was given his first career start, giving the Zags a fully freshman backcourt, and put up 13 points in a game (and career) high 37 minutes.
The Michigan State game was a positive turning point in Gonzaga's season. The 1, 2, 4, and 5 spots in the starting line-up were solidified. Despite the positive nature of the loss, Gonzaga fell out of the top-25 for the first time.
Gonzaga then went on an eight game winning streak with games against Oral Roberts, Arizona, Butler, Air Force, Portland, Xavier, Pepperdine, and Santa Clara. Guy Landry Edi, a junior college transfer who had been ineligible for the first eight games of the season, made his first appearance in the Arizona game. Edi would go on to become a starter later in the season.
In the Arizona game Gonzaga made it's case for "best in the west". Against Butler, the 2010 and 2011 national runner-up, Gonzaga showed which mid-major (and team named "the Bulldogs") was best. Against Xavier, on new years eve, Gonzaga showed it was capable of winning in hostile road environments. It was only the Zags' second road game of the season. Against Portland the Zags opened up WCC play with a 90-51 blowout win. A statement win that showed even with the addition of BYU, the WCC was Gonzaga's conference.
Then Gonzaga traveled to Moraga, CA to face perennial WCC runner-up Saint Mary's. The Gaels had already routed BYU in the Cougars' first WCC game. Their 21 point pounding of Gonzaga on January 12th set the stage for the rest of conference play. Saint Mary's was in the WCC's drivers seat. It was still very early in conference play, so the Zags' 12th straight WCC title wasn't out of the question, but they were now fighting with newcomer BYU for second place.
The Zags then ran off 4 straight wins to round out the month of January to take their record to 17-3.
February got off to a bad start though. The ZagsMarymount. Gonzaga wasn't able to make it three straight and fell 73-83. Kevin Pangos was getting a lot of publicity for his hot hand from deep and strong leadership for a freshman. The BYU game made us all remember that he was still just a freshman.
Pangos went 2-6 from the field and 0-3 from deep. For the entirety of the season there would be two versions of Kevin Pangos. The great one and the freshman, the latter came to play in almost every road game including this one. On the other end of the freshman performance spectrum Gary Bell continued his unheralded and workmanlike yet stellar season with a 14 point performance. This game highlighted the problem with two freshman starting in the backcourt. While both were capable of great games, and Pangos was capable of extremely great games, they were still freshmen.
In retrospect this was a game that would define Gary Bell's season. He never escaped from the shadow of Kevin Pangos' trending-on-twitter debut, and was never considered among the top freshmen in the country. Bell was, however, far more consistent from game to game. Regardless of where the game was played. I had been impressed with him from the get go but from this game on I saw Bell as being the better player. Mark Few had showered praise on his defensive prowess from the start. All the while he was putting up great numbers on the offensive end that somehow avoided publicity.
Following the loss Gonzaga was 7-2 in conference play, two games behind Saint Mary's. The Gaels would have to slip up for the Zags to catch them and thus extend their WCC regular season title streak
to 12. Gonzaga slipped them up at their rematch in Spokane on February 9th. These two teams would end the season having met more over the past two years than any other two teams in the country. That familiarity does not breed close games however. Both games this season were blowouts and this one went the Zags way. Kevin Pangos continued his feast or famine freshman campaign with a feast in this one. Accounting for 27 points on 8-6 from the field, 5-6 from three, and 6-6 from the charity stripe, Pangos shone again on a national stage.
Gonzaga now sat one game behind Saint Mary's. On February 15th the Lions of LMU visited Moraga and left with a 15 point win (and sole possession of 3rd place, ahead of BYU). This meant that if the Zags won their remaining games they could finish no worse than tied with Saint Mary's. This game was huge as it opened the door for the Zags to continue on their quest for a 12th straight WCC regular season title, which would be one short of UCLA's record of 13 straight.
San Francisco fouled up the Zags' plans with their third home win against the Zags in as many years. The loss, by one point in the closing seconds of the game, cost Gonzaga their 12th straight regular season conference title.
Gonzaga then closed out the regular season with a revenge win over BYU in Spokane on February 23. Interestingly, BYU also played a one point game decided in the closing seconds against San Francisco, and just two days before Gonzaga did... but won. Also interestingly, Saint Mary's played at San Francisco just after Gonzaga did and trailed at half... but won. Thus securing the WCC regular season title for the Gaels.
Robert Sacre and Marquise Carter were honored with the senior night game at the Kennel against Longwood on February 27th. The Zags' last WCC game was Feb 25th and their next would be the WCC Tournament in Las Vegas against 3 seed BYU on March 3rd. The freshmen had a great senior night. Ryan Spangler recorded his first double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds in 21 minutes. Kevin Pangos and Gary Bell shot lights out from deep. Pangos had 12 points, all from three, and took only five shots. Bell, who came off the bench so Marquise Carter could start in his last game in the Kennel, scored a game and career high 20 points in only 15 minutes on the floor. He hit six of nine from three and seven of ten overall. The efficiency of the freshmen, on senior night, is a great sign for the program.
With the two seed in the WCC Tournament the Zags had a double-bye to the semifinals where they met three seed BYU. The Cougars had just played their first WCC Tournament game the night before in what was a close win over San Diego. Pangos scored 30 points on 10 of 17 shooting and had his best performance away from the Kennel to date. Elias Harris had double-double with 15 rebounds and 10 points in a very strong performance.
Gonzaga then advanced to play top seeded Saint Mary's on Monday, March 5th for the WCC Tournament Championship. The two squads were playing for the ninth time in four years, ranked in the top 25, on ESPN in primetime, for an auto-bid, for a championship, and for bragging rights. It lived up to the billing.
There were 14 lead changes during the contest. Gonzaga held at least a one possession lead for the majority of the first half but let Saint Mary's come back at the end. The Gaels then held at least a one possession lead for the majority of the second half, but never trailed. Continuing his strong tournament, Elias Harris topped off his second straight double-double by hitting a contested three with two seconds left in the game to send it to overtime. Saint Mary's outscored Gonzaga ten to six in the extra period. Despite the loss Gonzaga managed to set an NCAA record. The game was their 15th straight WCC tournament championship appearance.
A seven seed was revealed for the Zags on Selection Sunday. They were to play in Pittsburgh against ten seed West Virginia on Thursday. The Mountaineers were 19-13 on the year and 9-9 in the Big East. Their physical front court of Kevin Jones and Deniz Kilicli was expected to push the West Coast Conference product around. Robert Sacre and Elias Harris made sure to disprove the the idea the Zags were soft because of the conference they play in. Jones shot a very poor 5/13 and scored only 13 points compared to his average of 20.1 per game.
The Zags advanced to the round of 32 by beating the Mountaineers 77-54. They were in control the entire game and did not let up. It was the best effort the team had given all season. Dominating in the first round is the best way to start the NCAA tournament. Sacre and Gary Bell lead the team with 14 points each, followed by Pangos with 13 and Harris with 10.
Two seed Ohio State beat Loyola Maryland and faced Gonzaga in the Third Round. The way the Zags had handled West Virginia's frontcourt made the match up of Rob Sacre and Jared Sullinger extremely exciting. While not the most efficient game it fit the mold of a great NCAA Tournament game. The first ten minutes was back and forth with both teams scoring over 20 points. Then for the remainder of the half Gonzaga took control. Leading by as much as 7 thanks in large part to forcing Sullinger into foul trouble.
Just before the half a Buckeyes' rally led to another lead change and the score sat at 37-39 Ohio State at the break. The Buckeyes took control immediately in the second and built leads of up to 10. Point Guard Aaron Craft, a defensive whiz, held Kevin Pangos to just three of thirteen shooting. Craft wasn't just the top defender, he was responsible for (by scoring or assisting on) over 60% of the Buckeyes' points.
As was the story of the season for Gonzaga, away from home the team goes as Kevin Pangos goes. He had a chance to tie the game with 90 seconds left but his three rolled around and out. Gary Bell played his most impressive game yet. 18 points on 5 of 9 shooting including making an extremely well defended three that brought the score within 4 points with 12 seconds remaining. True, Pangos was dealing with possibly the best defensive guard in the nation, so it's not just his feast or famine road game. But this game highlights the potential of Gary Bell Jr. going forward. On the biggest stage of his basketball career the Freshman was tied with NBA lottery picks Sullinger and DeShaun Thomas for the game high in points. His composure was highlighted on the late game three.
Gonzaga would be eliminated by Ohio State, 72-66. This was Gonzaga's 14th straight NCAA appearance and 4th straight year advancing past the first round.
Seniors Marquise Carter and Rob Sacre finished their Gonzaga careers in the loss. Rob Sacre's experience, personality and interior presence will be missed. He's the Zags biggest loss going forward. Carter, who was responsible for turning around Gonzaga's 2010-2011 season, had a down year comparatively. However despite his lack of minutes he embraced his role and played hard, team oriented basketball every moment he was on the court.
The future is bright for the Zags. Since it's still the 2011-12 season, and this is a long piece of writing, I'll save that for another day.
Gonzaga Bulldogs 2011-12 Season
26-7, 13-3 WCC 2nd Place (Regular season and Tournament)
7 Seed, East Region, NCAA Tournament, Round of 32
Highest Ranking: #18
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