Gonzaga Bulldogs and the Oregon Connection
Saturday, March 12, 2016
The Bulldogs beat the Saint Mary’s Gaels on Tuesday night, winning the WCC Tournament and reserving a ticket to the big dance. Without that win, the Bulldogs were almost certain to be left off the list of 68 teams as they struggled all year to beat quality teams outside, and inside, their own conference. Gonzaga’s last win against a ranked team was way back on Nov. 27 against the Connecticut Huskies, and that was before Zag’s starting center Przemek Karnowski went down with a season-ending injury. Before the WCC championship game, the Gaels themselves swept the Bulldogs during the regular season.
Having found its way to the tourney, Gonzaga now sits comfortably in a position that made it the darlings of the NCAA nearly 18 years ago during the “Cinderella” run in 1999, where the Bulldogs advanced all the way to the Regional Finals as a 10 seed. Since then, Gonzaga’s bandwagon has been busy, both with people jumping on and off through the years, causing everything from jubilation to heartache every March. They have become the most predictable, unpredictable team in the tournament. Some of the Zag’s most memorable runs have come when they were a 10 seed or lower and some of their most maddening early round exists came when they were saddled with a high seed, including a second round ouster in 2013 when they were a 1 seed.
If history has shown us Gonzaga does better as a lower seed, then maybe this is its year. Also, there are a couple of tall reasons why another “Cinderella” run could be in the makings for the Zags and both reasons have ties to Oregon. For those who may not be aware, Gonzaga owns one of the best frontcourts in the game in Kyle Wiltjer and Domantas Sabonis; two big reasons why Gonzaga should be must watch viewing for Oregonian sports fans.
The Oregon Connection
Wiltjer, a senior from Portland, Ore., is as versatile a 6-10 forward as there is in college basketball and has recently committed to Gonzaga’s storied tradition of players with uninhibited hair.
He can knock down a three just as easily as an eight-foot floater and has become the focal point of Gonzaga’s offense since the departure of Kevin Pangos, the school record holder for most threes made.
Wiltjer played high school ball at Jesuit where he was a McDonald’s All-American in 2011 and was a heavily sought recruit; a big man with a deft shooting touch. He played a year at Kentucky where he helped the Wildcats win a championship his freshman year. But, after spending most of his Kentucky career on the bench or coming off of it, Wiltjer looked for opportunities elsewhere in order to find more playing time and to “play a more significant role.” After drawing interest from just about every college team in Oregon, Wiltjer settled for Gonzaga.
Now, in his second season as a Bulldog, he is averaging 20 points a game and has made good on his promise to develop his game further. Wiltjer can go off any moment with his versatility of finding ways to score both inside and out. If Gonzaga makes a run during this tournament, it will be because of Wiltjer having a couple 30-point games of which he is more than capable of doing.
Sabonis, a skilled 6-11 forward, has averaged 17 points and 11 rebounds during his sophomore season for the Spokane-based team. He has the size and skill reminiscent of his old man and former Portland Trail Blazer, Arvydas Sabonis.
Domantas was born in Portland, Ore. during Arvydas’s time as a Trail Blazer, coming into the world when the Blazers were playing the Utah Jazz in the first round of the ’96 playoffs. He has spent most of his young basketball career in Lithuania where his dad is a highly regarded basketball legend. He had some monster games for Lithuania during the U-16 and U-18 FIBA European Tournaments in 2012 and 2013 and grabbed a record 28 rebounds during the FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship game. He had a chance to play professionally for the Spanish team Unicaja Malaga, but declined the offer, and the money, to play for the NCAA and the Gonzaga Bulldogs.
Sabonis was the sixth man off the bench for the Bulldogs when the 2015-’16 season began, but when Karnowski went down in December, Sabonis had to step into the starting lineup and develop quickly to fill a huge hole in the middle. While not the equal of Karnowski’s size (7-1) and strength (287 Ibs), Sabonis still provides some much needed presence inside the paint to go alongside Wiltjer. Sabonis doesn’t have the unique passing ability of his gene donor, but every once in a while you see the same offensive potential that Arvydas displayed while in his prime and his time here with the Blazers.
Together, Wiltjer and Sabonis are a handful; their size and abilities can match up against any frontcourt in the nation. If Gonzaga can get some solid play from the guards, regarded as a weakness for much of this season, then it will be a tough out in the tournament. But, it is Wiltjer who carries much of the burden for the Zags to advance. As Wiltjer goes, so too go the Bulldogs. If he struggles for any prolonged stretches, Gonzaga will have a tough time advancing, as being a probable lower seed will mean tougher opponents early and often. We’ll see just how much of a significant role Wiltjer can handle.
I’m sure there are many who would rather have had the Zags stay home this year for the big dance, if only because they represent the ultimate wild card, something that is truer this year than ever before. As the Bulldogs get ready to find out who they will play and what seed they will be awarded, two Oregon connections are ready to help the Zags bust a few brackets and inflame office pools across the nation. I, for one, know exactly who I’m picking for a first-round upset.
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