Everyone underrated Gonzaga, and now it looks like Mark Few has yet another team with Final Four DNA

LAS VEGAS — Gonzaga entered the season ranked No. 21 in the AP poll and was regarded as a quality team but one that, if it had aspirations of being Final Four-good, well those might be a bit too lofty.

The thinking went: With ace point guard Ryan Nembhard gone off a squad that had its worst season in a decade-plus, how good could it be now? Its nine losses last season were the program’s most in 14 years, and it failed to reach the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2015.

Gonzaga would probably settle into second-tier status. Good, but not too good. 

Everyone who thought that — myself included, for I also ranked Gonzaga 21st back in October — misread the situation. Badly. 

The Zags are still good. Damn good.

Mark Few’s program got its best win of the early season with a 95-85 win over No. 8 Alabama Monday night in the first round of the Players Era Championship. A game between two dynamic offensive teams was expected to be a race to 90 and that’s exactly what played out. 

By the way, four of Gonzaga’s six wins to date have come vs. power-conference competition. That’s led Gonzaga’s push from No. 21 three weeks ago to No. 12 as of Monday’s poll refresh. 

The Bulldogs dropped a cool 1.23 points per possession on Alabama’s head, led by 21 apiece from a pair of guys whose combined ages equal 48. Graham Ike, 23, and Tyon Grant-Foster, 25, pushed the pace and roughed up Alabama’s overmatched front court. Another Gonzaga big, Braden Huff, put up 18 points, and then there were 12 more off the bench from Steele Venters. 

“Our starting 3/4/5 had 16 points, and theirs had 60,” a displeased Nate Oats said after the game. Oats has been at the head of an Alabama operation that qualifies as a top-10 program in the sport over the past five years. He knows what competing in the deep end looks like.

It looks like Gonzaga. 

“Big, they’re physical, every time we made a run they had an answer,” Oats said. “Gave up 25 second-chance points, it’s hard to win doing that.”

The scary part with Gonzaga: It got to 95 points and was just 6 of 22 from 3. Mark Few’s got a squad that is old, proud and sure looks a lot tougher than some of his previous squads that had a sheen of finesse to them. 

Oats tried to warn his players about the physicality, but sometimes you can’t learn without firsthand experience. 

“We showed them video of Tyon Grant-Foster just destroying people on the glass, multiple boards just keep coming,” Oats said. 

The 25-year-old Grant-Foster got it done in key spots in the second half. In total, more than 50% of Gonzaga’s points came in the paint. 

“This game is about after the sets, the possessions, the broken plays and things like that, and that’s where Ty really shines,” Few said. 

Labaron Philon Jr. can be an irresistible talent for the Tide. He’s one of the best guards in the country — and perhaps the most talented. Philon finished with 29 points in 30 minutes — because he couldn’t score in the final 10. 

“He was cooking us pretty good,” Few said.

Gonzaga totally shut Philon down by tossing a medley of defenses at him to sputter Alabama out of options.

“Down the stretch we knew what we needed to do, and that’s when we pad locks,” Grant-Foster said.

I love that quote. This team has real verve. 

After seeing Gonzaga up close, it’s evident there’s enough variety in this Bulldogs lineup that it should be able to match up with just about anyone in college basketball. Freshman guard Mario Saint-Supery got all 10 of his points from the foul line vs. the Tide, but he’s the most talented of the group. 

“He plays with great spirit and it’s contagious,” Few said. “We’re still ironing out things with the crazy-ass jump passes.”

With a 6-0 mark and a game against a still-developing Maryland team awaiting Tuesday night, Gonzaga’s poised to be in a good position to play for the championship on Wednesday. 

Its goals look a lot bigger than that, though. And Few is putting out signals that he believes this team can be up there with some of his best. 

“Our wings our bigger than we’ve had, and we’re a bigger team, almost like that ’17 team,” Few said. 

He’s talking about the 2016-17 team, the one with Nigel Williams-Goss, Przemek Karnowski and Jonathan Williams that went 37-2 but lost the NCAA Tournament championship. Few also invoked the 2020-21 team, the one with Drew Timme, Corey Kispert and Jalen Suggs that went 31-1 but also had to settle for the runner-up spot.

Those were the two best teams in Gonzaga history.

“Blue-blood level teams,” Few said.

This one’s not near being in that group yet, but it’s fair to say just about everyone whiffed on Gonzaga’s ceiling this year. Few has a bona fide squad, one that has a chance to come out of this week with a big statement and a better track record as one of the very best teams in college basketball.