College basketball rankings: Full-circle moment at Gonzaga as Bulldogs rise in college basketball rankings
A weather delay creates some extra time in Spokane, provides a moment of reflection following an impressive win by Gonzaga
By
Gary Parrish
•
3 min read
SPOKANE, Wash. -- Illinois freshman Keaton Wagler scored 46 points. BYU freshman AJ Dybantsa had 43. Houston freshman Kingston Flemings finished with 42.
Saturday was an incredible day of college basketball -- a reminder that I really do think we're watching the best freshman class in the sport's history. If you want a full recap, Matt Norlander and I discussed it for 83 minutes on the Eye On College Basketball podcast.
And now I'm stuck at Gonzaga.
A winter storm disrupting much of the country has made it impossible for me to get home to Memphis or back to work in New York. So here I am, stranded in Spokane after serving as the sideline reporter for CBS Sports Network during Gonzaga's 68-66 win over San Francisco on Saturday -- a result that pushed the Zags to 21-1 and up to No. 6 in Sunday morning's CBS Sports Top 25 And 1.
Which brings me to a story.
As I was sitting inside the McCarthey Athletic Center -- The Kennel -- on Saturday watching a future Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame coach guide one of the best college basketball programs in the country to another win that will eventually lead to a 27th straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament, I couldn't help but think about the first time I watched the Zags play. I remember it clearly. I was a senior at the University of Memphis, the sports editor of The Daily Helmsman. Like Saturday, I was sitting courtside -- but it was November 1998, inside The Pyramid in downtown Memphis.
The Tigers were hosting Gonzaga.
I'd never heard of Gonzaga.
At the time, the small private school from the Pacific Northwest had made exactly one NCAA Tournament appearance and never won a game in the event. That all I knew. Then Richie Frahm scored 37 points, Gonzaga beat Memphis 88-73 and nobody quite knew what to make of it.
Was Memphis bad? Was Gonzaga great?
Turns out, the answer to both questions was yes. Roughly three months later, Gonzaga won its first NCAA Tournament game. Then another. Then another -- advancing all the way to the Elite Eight of the 1999 NCAA Tournament. The rest, as they say, is history.
I told this story to Mark Few late Saturday.
He smiled.
It's crazy, any way you tell it. But think of it like this: Imagine somebody from the future floated into The Pyramid just before tip-off on Nov. 16, 1998, and said, "You know this Gonzaga program from the West Coast Conference that's never won a game in the NCAA Tournament? It's about to make 26 straight appearances in the NCAA Tournament and advance far enough in two of them to play in the national championship game."
What? How?
It would've sounded impossible.
And yet that's exactly what's happened over the past 27 seasons, which is a reminder that the streak would already be at 27 straight NCAA Tournament appearances if not for the 2020 event being canceled. It's absurd. It's remarkable. It's one of the greatest stories in college sports history. So it was super-cool to be here Saturday and really fun to tell that story on "The Mark Few Show" after the Zags improved to 9-0 in the WCC.
It's one of the best stories in college sports history -- a basketball power with unlikely roots. Man, I didn't plan on getting stuck here this weekend. Getting stuck is never ideal. But, yeah, it was awesome to see the Zags up close again on Saturday, just like it was the first time, even if, the first time, back in 1998, none of us really had any idea what we were watching -- or a clue about the greatness coming next.
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Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Brayden Burries finished with 22 points and seven assists in Saturday's 88-53 win over West Virginia. The Wildcats' next game is Monday at BYU. | -- | 21-0 |
| 2 |  | Pryce Sandfort finished with 22 points and 10 rebounds in Saturday's 76-57 win at Minnesota. The Cornhuskers' next game is Tuesday at Michigan. | -- | 20-1 |
| 3 |  | Solo Ball finished with 24 points and five rebounds in Saturday's 75-67 overtime win over Villanova. The Huskies' next game is Tuesday against Providence. | -- | 20-1 |
| 4 |  | Cameron Boozer finished with 32 points and nine rebounds in Saturday's 90-69 win over Wake Forest. The Blue Devils' next game is Monday against Louisville. | -- | 19-1 |
| 5 |  | Yaxel Lendeborg finished with 18 points and nine rebounds in Friday's 74-62 win over Ohio State. The Wolverines' next game is Tuesday against Nebraska. | -- | 19-1 |
| 6 |  | Jalen Warley finished with 19 points and four rebounds in Saturday's 68-66 win over San Francisco. The Zags' next game is Saturday against Saint Mary's. | 1 | 21-1 |
| 7 |  | Jeremy Fears Jr. finished with 17 points and 17 assists in Saturday's 91-48 win over Maryland. The Spartans' next game is Tuesday at Rutgers. | 1 | 19-2 |
| 8 |  | AJ Dybantsa finished with 43 points and six rebounds in Saturday's 91-78 win over Utah. The Cougars' next game is Monday against Arizona. | 2 | 17-3 |
| 9 |  | Milan Momcilovic finished with 29 points and seven rebounds in Saturday's 84-71 win at Oklahoma State. The Cyclones' next game is Thursday against Colorado. | 2 | 19-2 |
| 10 |  | Keaton Wagler finished with 46 points and four assists in Saturday's 88-82 win at Purdue. The Illini's next game is Thursday against Washington. | 2 | 18-3 |
| 11 |  | Emanuel Sharp missed 10 of the 16 shots he attempted in Saturday's 90-86 loss at Texas Tech. The Cougars' next game is Wednesday at TCU. | 2 | 18-2 |
| 12 |  | JT Toppin finished with 31 points and 12 rebounds in Saturday's 90-86 win over Houston. The Red Raiders' next game is Saturday at UCF. | 1 | 16-4 |
| 13 |  | Fletcher Loyer missed four of the five shots he attempted in Saturday's 88-82 loss to Illinois. The Boilermakers' next game is Tuesday at Indiana. | 7 | 17-4 |
| 14 |  | Flory Bidunga finished with 21 points and 10 rebounds in Saturday's 86-62 win at Kansas State. The Jayhawks' next game is Saturday against BYU. | 2 | 15-5 |
| 15 |  | Tyler Tanner finished with 24 points and five assists in Saturday's 88-56 win at Mississippi State. The Commodores' next game is Tuesday against Kentucky. | 4 | 18-3 |
| 16 |  | Darius Acuff Jr. finished with 31 points and six assists in Saturday's 85-81 win over LSU. The Razorbacks' next game is Tuesday at Oklahoma. | 2 | 16-5 |
| 17 |  | Boogie Fland missed eight of the 12 shots he attempted in Saturday's 76-67 loss to Florida. The Gators' next game is Wednesday at South Carolina. | 3 | 15-6 |
| 18 |  | Malik Thomas missed nine of the 12 shots he attempted in Saturday's 85-80 loss to North Carolina. The Cavaliers' next game is Tuesday at Notre Dame. | 3 | 17-3 |
| 19 |  | Nick Davidson finished with 13 points and six rebounds in Saturday's 77-63 win at Georgia Tech. The Tigers' next game is Saturday against Pitt. | 1 | 17-4 |
| 20 |  | Mikel Brown Jr. finished with 20 points and six assists in Saturday's 85-71 win over Virginia Tech. The Cardinals' next game is Monday at Duke. | 1 | 14-6 |
| 21 |  | Trey Green finished with 15 points and three rebounds in Friday's 97-62 win at St. Bonaventure. The Billikens' next game is Tuesday against George Washington. | 1 | 20-1 |
| 22 |  | Labaron Philon missed 13 of the 20 shots he attempted in Saturday's 79-73 loss to Tennessee. The Crimson Tide's next game is Tuesday against Missouri. | 5 | 14-6 |
| 23 |  | Bryce Hopkins finished with 18 points and eight rebounds in Saturday's 88-83 win at Xavier. The Red Storm's next game is Wednesday against Butler. | -- | 16-5 |
| 24 |  | Jaron Pierre Jr. finished with 28 points and five rebounds in Saturday's 83-80 win over Florida State. The Mustangs' next game is Saturday at Louisville. | -- | 15-5 |
| 25 |  | Peter Suder finished with 27 points and 10 rebounds in Tuesday's 107-101 overtime win at Kent State. The Redhawks' next game is Tuesday against UMass. | 1 | 21-0 |
| 26 |  | Caleb Wilson finished with 20 points and four rebounds in Saturday's 85-80 win at Virginia. The Tar Heels' next game is Saturday at Georgia Tech. | NR | 16-4 |
