-Jim Root
When the Gonzaga/Virginia game was announced nine days ago, I immediately checked flight prices. Christmas provided a nice break in the college hoops schedule, potentially allowing for a quick dip over to Texas, and the opportunity to see this particular Gonzaga juggernaut square off against a (possibly) ended up too good to pass up. Fortunately, the logistics all worked out, and I ventured to Fort Worth, Texas, on Christmas Day.
My goal was largely to investigate whether this Gonzaga team was as good as I’d built them up to be in my head. That made the bar incredibly difficult to clear: if the expectation is “best meal I’ve ever had,” it’s essentially impossible for the chef to make something satisfying. This team, though, is the rare squad worthy of three – nay, four – Michelin stars.
Virginia is a legitimately impressive team, objectively. The Cavaliers have extensive experience (two juniors and three seniors in their rotation’s top six), multiple proven defenders and scorers, and one of the nation’s truly elite coaches in Tony Bennett. It would not be a surprise at all to see them win the ACC this year. And yet, faced with the terrifying specter that is this dominant Bulldogs brigade, none of that mattered even a little bit.
Gonzaga set the tone early, clearing out the left side of the court for a wing pick-and-roll for Corey Kispert, who found Anton Watson open on the roll for a lay-up. Kispert called his own number the next time down, burying a triple in semi-transition off a Kihei Clark turnover (a concerning trend for the Hoos), and the flame-throwing senior did not cool off for the entire afternoon.
Coach Mark Few quickly went to his deadly “smallball” lineup, swapping in Andrew Nembhard for Drew Timme barely two minutes into the contest, and that lineup change immediately unlocked Kispert as a devastating matchup issue. By the time Timme returned to the game at the 12:21 mark, Kispert had buried three more long-range bombs while adding a free throw for good measure.
Timme then took the baton, dominating the paint and banishing poor Jay Huff to the bench with foul trouble for most of the first half (and later, the second half as well). He finds space so easily, naturally rolling into the defense’s vulnerable pockets, and his one-on-one post skills continue to blossom:
Quick aside: we need a nickname for the Timme/Kispert shaggy-haired, headbanded duo. My first instinct is the Headband Honchos, but I am quite open to suggestions on this – tweet at me/us!
Virginia could do very little to slow the ongoing onslaught, as turnovers and missed jumpers continued to fuel the Zags’ fire like Yule logs in a Christmas fireplace. Perhaps the most shocking part, though, was Virginia’s shaky transition defense even when they did score. Gonzaga just plays at a different pace than any other team, both in terms of possession count and in keeping the cinder block on the gas pedal. This is just ridiculous off a make:
A paint touch in close range for a 20-point scorer with 27 on the shot clock is outrageous, but Jalen Suggs lives his life in attack mode, and Sam Hauser is no match for his lightning crossover.
The Cavaliers actually ripped off a quick 7-0 spurt to end the first half, cutting the deficit to 13 and offering hope for a competitive second half, but those hopes were quickly squashed. Rarely do you see a dagger delivered before the under-16 timeout in a ranked matchup, but Gonzaga getting this immediately after an Anton Watson and-one bucket was devastating:
That was Kispert’s seventh three-pointer of the game, already tying his career high in that category, and he added two more to his ledger before sitting out the final five minutes of the blowout. Final line: 32 points on 11-of-15 shooting, 9-of-13 from beyond the arc, and about 1000 wildly frustrated Virginia fans in Texas. His fellow Headband Honcho was not far behind, as Timme racked up 29 points and eight rebounds in a hyper-efficient performance of his own. When the two checked out of the game together with 5:04 left, they themselves were knotted with Virginia, 61-61. Pretty solid day’s work!
This brings me to my larger point: just how good is this Zags team? If you ask me, my current answer would be “transcendent.” Baylor is outstanding too, but this version of Gonzaga has a real chance at the mythical undefeated season, with an offense that could rival 2015 Wisconsin (and 2018 Villanova - hat tip to @RealBillyBizzle for that reminder) for the most efficient in KenPom’s database. To that end, Gonzaga took back both the top spot in Ken’s overall rankings (Baylor was #1 entering today) and the #1 spot in his AdjOE rankings (knocking Iowa’s own terrifying group down a peg to #2). I would expect that to hold fairly steady for the forseeable future.
Seeing any live basketball in 2020 felt like a dream, and couple that with the fact that there were (limited) fans in the arena and that it was this Gonzaga team – one that feels special, feels monumental – and I’m on a major basketball high. If Mark Few and Scott Drew aren’t able to reschedule the Gonzaga/Baylor matchup we nearly got three weeks ago, then let’s hope this season culminates in that showdown – the one we all deserve.