Zags win Maui Invite; shows it is reloading, not rebuilding

Welcome to Gonzaga men’s basketball – version 9.0.

Maybe even 10.0. It would be fitting, but that’s to be determined in March when the regular season comes to a close. For now – as the Zags enter another year of what could be another prosperous season – the West Coast Conference coaches have predicted Mark Few & Co., will once again win the conference.

“We’re used to it,’’ Few told reporters before the season started. “ We’ve pretty much been picked every year for the last 11 or 12. It’s something we need to live up to and we need to teach the younger guys how we live up to it. The old guys have a responsibility there to teach them the tradition of this program and how we handle it.’’

So far so good. The Zags have started out very well, winning the annual Maui Invite in dramatic fashion. It beat Cincinnati, 61-59, in overtime. Steven Gray and Matt Bouldin were named co-MVPs of the tournament.

“That was a heck of a street fight we were in and we survived it,” Gonzaga head coach Mark Few told the media after the title. “Cincinnati is playing some great basketball right now; they’re incredibly tough on both ends of the floor. It didn’t go great early in a lot of phases of the game, and we hung with it and hung with it and stuck with the plan. We made both offensive and defensive plays at the end of the game to win it. Boy, Cincinnati is a tough, tough, tough team.”

Gonzaga was tough, too. Can it stay that way? Will it have a psychological hangover when it returns home? Time will tell, but …

If they handle it correctly, Gonzaga will win an unprecedented 10^th consecutive WCC title. Forget that Gonzaga welcomes seven newcomers and 10 total players who have not seen Division I action.

Understandably there could be – should be? – doubters and skeptics at every corner or WCC arena.

But, like the lyrics from yesteryear say, you can’t discount Bulldogs basketball at anytime or any moment. Five seniors gone from yet another 25-plus joyride of a season?

Down?

Out?

Not the Bulldogs. Not Few. He’s built more than a once-in-a-blue moon program. He’s built a program.

Fret five seniors departing a program? Maybe.

Lament the future with underclassman Austin Daye now in the NBA? Never.

“I know the coaching staff  - and Mark and I have talked about it – views this as a great opportunity,’’ said Gonzaga athletic director Mike Roth. “We know over the last couple of years they’ve had such a veteran squad … but with all the new guys it’s just another chance to teach.’’

It could be a case of teaching new (Bull) Dogs old tricks. Despite the departure of standouts Josh Heytvelt, Micah Downs, Jeremy Pargo and Daye, Gonzaga is still THE team to beat in the West Coast Conference.

Behind senior Matt Bouldin, a John R. Wooden preseason candidate and junior center Robert Sacre, Gonzaga may be thin on deep talent but long in young talent. Still, WCC coaches might create a debate and say Gonzaga is a shell of itself with so many unanswered questions marks and so much youth, but proving and reproving yourself has been what Few has been about the last decade.

“No question this will be an interesting year,’’ said Roth. “We’ve got a bunch of new faces.’’

Roth is confident Few will “coach them up.’’

He’s done it every year and will get a chance again this one. Some Internet gossip and misplaced innuendo had Few heading up some other program in the spring. Arizona? Unconfirmed reports had him as a Wildcat. Oregon. Nope. Pick a school and it’s likely Few’s name has popped up.

“Every late March or April it’s what I like to call the Mark Few sweepstakes,’’ said Roth, half-jokingly. “And why wouldn’t a school want Mark Few there. Look what he’s done at our place.’’

What he’s done is set the bar for other schools. Now other mid-major schools wish to be Gonzaga.

Is Davidson the new Gonzaga? Is College of Charleston? George Mason made its best Gonzaga impersonation a couple of years back when it reached the Final Four. The point is Gonzaga is the standard for the millennium’s underdog.

“I’ve had a lot of conversations with a number of ADs around the country about that,’’ Roth said. “We’ve set a nice precedent. And many of my colleagues are saying they need to do what Gonzaga is doing – and that’s extremely flattering to us. But I also don’t envy my peers with that.’’

Not that Roth won’t take the success. And why not? Already in preparation for this season, the Zags have played in front of stand-room-only crowds. Big-name departures haven’t given way to wide-spread apathy. But you’d expect the fans to be there for a potential 10^th WCC title and another trip to the NCAA tournament.

Gonzaga fans have been here before so no use calling it a comeback. The faces change but not the consistent, heart-pounding success.