The Zags Family Gets Their Final 4, but They're Not Done!

The Gonzaga Family hoisting their Final 4 trophy. (photo credit: Sports Illustrated)

The Zags did it! It took 18 years. 18 years of Cinderella runs in the late 90’s to great runs in the mid-2000’s to a #1 seed in 2013.

There have been many criticisms and sceptical takes by many based on Gonzaga’s lack of a Final 4 berth in their history and also due to the small West Coast Conference they play in.

The whole time Gonzaga has been led by Head Coach, Mark Few who has become the Godfather of Spokane, Washington building a contingent of Gonzaga Bulldog powerhouse teams consisting of unranked and/or international recruits. He had a knack for finding many diamond in the rough recruits like Dan Dickau, Adam Morrison, Elias Harris and Kelly Olynyk, just to name a few. (No Paulsen Pun intended) Few has built a culture within his past teams that have emanated to this year’s team that includes 2 McDonald’s All-Americans in Nigel Williams-BOSS and Zach Collins.

If you build it…..that is, if Few builds it the way he has, then the big name recruits will come. In the manner Few has built his program, he’s also built a family of players that remain close together and forever loyal to Coach Few.

This was evident with the many posts on social media by groups of former players watching the Elite Eight game vs. Xavier together.

Support for the culture of Gonzaga is one that can be felt from all alumni. One that is genuine and thankful for what Few has instituted.

This present team which is now historical among a history-laden program among the Casey Calvery’s, Ronny Turiaf's and Kevin Pango's . This present team is an intelligent team not only in basketball IQ but academic prowess as well. They're intelligent in being fully aware of the ramifications of Sunday’s moment in winning the game vs. Xavier to clinch the program’s and Coach Few’s first Final 4 berth.

The team cut down the nets and celebrated with their fans as they flew back to campus in Spokane.

They enjoyed the moment as they returned to the Gonzaga campus, and they quickly shook hands as they entered their training facility on campus. They came out for some encore love to the raucous Zags faithful.  You should see the clip; the crowd was absolutely bonkers. It had screaming like this was a clip from a Beatles entrance in the 60's.

But what this moment was, was just that…a moment. Gonzaga walked through that crowd, not to give long victory parade-like speeches. They were walking through the pandemonium with well-deserved smiles and their smartphones in hand to film and savour the moment. They then were walking into their facility to prepare for their games this weekend.

This is such a great feeling after 18 past trips to the Madness with no Final 4 banner.

Those 18 trips were as The Cinderella team posters children for two decades.

No more. This Final 4 run was not as a mid major high seeded team. It was as a #1 seeded national powerhouse.

The moment was savoured.

As Matt Norlander from the CBS: Eye on College Basketball Podcast said, “Gonzaga has nothing to prove and still lots to accomplish!”

The criticisms and scepticism is non-existent to Coach Few. It’s non-existent to the team and to the alumni. It doesn’t exist as Few has built a program based on class, hard work and the ever valuable process.

That process and culture dictates that the Gonzaga team sincerely appreciated the moment with their fans upon their arrival back to campus, but there is still business to attend to. A national championship!

Zags aren't done. They're just getting started.

See y'all this Saturday!!!

#ZagUp #ZagsUnite

Yours in Madness,

Commissioner Adolph

Final 4 is Set!!

Utter Madness from Florida's Chris Chiozza over Wisconsin! (photo credit: New York Times)

Final 4 is set!!!!!

Whatta bunch of Elite 8 games we had too!

Let’s start with UNC vs. Kentucky in a rematch of arguably the best regular season game of the year when these two teams played in Viva Las Vegas in December to a 103-100 victory for Kentucky led by an unconscious 47 points by Malik Monk.

The game started off like another classic, but the wind was taken out of the classic sails with 1^st half foul trouble on pretty much all of the Kentucky starters. They weathered the storm and the Wildcats had lots of momentum with about 5 minutes to play. But the Tar Heels came out of nowhere to go on a run and boom! We had a game!

UNC Big man, Luke Maye was the only consistent offensive player for the entire game. He hit multiple treys in the 1^st half and early in the 2^nd half. After hitting a big shot, he was subbed off from about the 10-minute mark to 5-minute mark.

I’ve wondered for years why many coaches sub off players while they’re hot. I’ve never understood that. Any coaches out there if you have any insight, please let us know. The Insanity Staff is curious, not critical as many of these coaches that do these subbing practices are hall of famers. But still curious.

Anyways, Maye came back in with some more sparks leading to his game winning shot with 0.3 seconds left. Kentucky cut off the lead with difficult high-degree of difficulty three pointers to tie the game leading to Maye’s game winner!

Madness!!

UNC will play Oregon in their Final 4 match up. UNC has much more depth than Oregon. Oregon needs Tyler Dorsey and Dylan Brooks to have monster games. Brooks has been a tad less amazing then he’s been in the past, so he’ll need to pick it up.

Oregon dismantled KU to earn their Final 4 berth taking KU out of their comfort zone offensively and defensively while also catching KU on a night where they weren’t as sharp as other games in the Madness. Oregon’s Big Man Jordan Bell was an absolute beast with blocks and offensive rebounds coming outta his ears!

And the Zags momentous Final 4 berth beating Xavier? Lets save that for it’s own Insanity Report!

South Carolina is coming out of the South region beating a Florida team that had the game of the Madness with their amazing buzzer beater to beat Wisconsin. Many people were upset there was a non-marquee match in Madison Square Gardens with only Wisky playing Florida with the possible Villanova/Duke matchup squashed. Well we were treated to the moment of the Madness thus far!

And Melanie Booth was heard through 3 times in rejoice of Chris Chiozza’s buzzer beater three pointer!

One thing about South Carolina is their Head Coach, Frank Martin was seen as quite the nut job with his bulging, psycho eye balls and demonstrative demeaner on the sidelines from his days back when he coached Kansas State to his past 4-5 seasons in South Carolina. After listening to many interviews this past week as well as a couple throughout the season, Frank Martin seems like a stand up guy that is fiercely honest and more fiercely loyal to his players.

The Insanity Report Staff are all expecting more Final 4 magic this Saturday! It’s gonna be a long week waiting in anticipation! Until then!

Yours in Madness,

Cooler-issioner Adolph