Killian Tillie, Gonzaga Basketball.
“You take the blue pill… the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want. You take the red pill… you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.” – Morpheus from the Matrix. In our gout red pill installment, we ask, What if the Gonzaga Bulldogs played the 2020 NCAA Tournament?
On March 10, 2020, the NCAA canceled its Men’s Basketball Tournament, the same day the Gonzaga Bulldogs won the West Coast Conference Tournament. With the uncertainty of a looming pandemic, the entire sports world stopped at that time. Covid-19 had the world in its grip, and no one knew what to do.
Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz was the first significant athlete diagnosed. Donovan Mitchell, of the same team, was next. Commissioner Adam Silver was quick to postpone the NBA season. No one wanted to hear the word – cancel. How would a stacked Gonzaga Bulldogs team have done if the NCAA Tournament went on as usual?
By then, some of the conferences had already played their tournaments. As mentioned above Gonzaga won the WCC Tournament for their 23rd bid to the NCAA Tournament. It was a tough call to stop March Madness, but most coaches, including Mark few, backed the decision. The Big Dance never happened so, we’ll never know if the 31-2 Gonzaga Bulldogs would have taken the trophy that year. But what if the Tournament went along as planned?
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 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.
Kansas had an incredible season and is college basketball royalty. Coming into the Big-12 tournament, they were on a 16 game win streak. And the Bulldogs had yet to get the hang of the Power 5 teams. Although the Gonzaga Bulldogs get better every year in the tournament, their momentum in this year wouldn’t have won the Final Four.
Pat Forde of Sports Illustrated wrote an article imagining how the 2020 NCAA tournament would have gone. In his proposed tournament bracket, Forde predicted Kansas coming out of the East while Gonzaga marched through the Mid-West region to meet in the Finals. He also had Kansas winning. I agree with Forde on both teams in the championship game, I’d like to think Gonzaga wins that game. But KU was that good and it wasn’t the Zags’ time just yet.
Fallout
Coming so close to a title but falling short is a great motivator. With that momentum from the 2020 tournament and the number five recruit of 2020, Jalen Suggs committing to Gonzaga, the Bulldogs would have won the 2021 NCAA tournament. Something Zags fans hope they see in 2022.
How do you think the Gonzaga Bulldogs would have done if they played the 2020 NCAA Tournament? Let us know in the comments section below or on social media.
Everyone, please stay safe and have a healthy New Year!