NCAA tournament - Gonzaga relishes rare under-the-radar role

DENVER — It's been decades since Gonzaga was anything but a basketball powerhouse.

And the Bulldogs certainly flexed their collective muscles Friday night in Ball Arena with a get-loose, we're ready 82-70 win over Grand Canyon University in a West regional first-round game.

The Bulldogs rolled into this year's tournament as a No. 3 seed in the West Region, the third time they've been a No. 3 since their annual tournament campout started in 1999. That 1999 team introduced a nation to Gonzaga basketball, making a Cinderella run to the Elite Eight as a No. 10 seed during its first tournament appearance. The Bulldogs have been to every tournament since, reaching 12 Sweet 16s and twice reaching the national championship game. It's a testament to what the Bulldogs have done that this year's No. 3 seed has had a less pressure theme around it.

Especially for a team that was a No. 1 seed in each of its previous three tournament trips, including a title game loss to Baylor in the 2021 tournament.

«I would just say from the pressure level aspect, I would say it takes something off of us not really being a No. 1 seed,» guard Rasir Bolton said this week. «And then anything else is really the same. It's all the same game of basketball… anybody can lose any day. So I don't think anything changes. I think we have the same mindset.»

Under coach Mark Few's watch, Gonzaga has been a No. 1 seed more often — five times — than they have been anything else. But not holding top line status has not changed anything for the Zags.

«I think the seeding is more for everybody dinking around with the brackets and all that,» said Few, who has been the head coach at the school for every tournament except its first one. «The players and the staffs, it