Gonzaga Bulldogs: What if they played the 2020 NCAA Tournament?
Stacked Zags
Gonzaga has had some great players come through the Kennel doors. Many have landed in the NBA, and this team was no exception. Three players from the 2019-20 squad are currently in the NBA, at least one more will be there next year, and three play professionally in Europe.
The Zags had six players who averaged double-digit scoring. They also had great senior leadership with guards Admon Gilder and Ryan Woolridge, as well as NBA-bound power forward Killian Tille. Sophomore center Filip Petrusev led the team in both points-per-game (17.9) and rebounds-per-game (7.9).
The quartet was joined by sharpshooter Corey Kispert and excellent all-around guard Joel Ayayi. The team also had two young freshman phenoms, forward Drew Timme and guard Anton Watson. Timme came within 0.2 of being the seventh Bulldog to average 10 or more points in 2019-20.
The Big Obstacle
The Gonzaga Bulldogs had a 31-2 record that season and were on a four-game winning streak coming into the tournament. Their conference was able to play its tournament before all games were canceled, and Gonzaga won the WCC title, hands down.
The Gonzaga Bulldogs were number one in the WCC, although the Kansas Jayhawks were on a 16-game winning streak and were the clear number one in the Final AP Men’s Poll, while Gonzaga was number two.
Jayhawks coach Bill Self had his own stacked team led by future NBAers Devon Dotson, Marcus Garrett, and Mr. Double/Double Udoka Azubuike (13.7 points and 10.5 rebounds per game). They would have been stiff competition and deserved the tournament’s overall number one seed. Except Kansas was also NCAA’s number one seed in 2010 and 2016 and didn’t reach the Final Four either time.
Udoka Azubuike is going to break the backboard one of these days! #Kansas pic.twitter.com/IqnCjmmqID
— Billy Heyen (@BillyHeyen) February 22, 2020