Zags react to no. 1 seed, first round matchup

Gonzaga guard Nigel Williams-Goss drives around Pacific forward Ray Bowles during their West Coast Conference tournament game Saturday, March 4, 2016, at the Orleans Arena. In several other instances, the Bulldogs have fallen victim to an early upset.

Gonzaga vs. Arizona. Last time they met, the Wildcats didn’t have gutty point guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright and star guard Allonzo Trier. With an experienced coach Sean Miller who led them to three Elite Eight appearances in five years, they have as good of chance to have a long tournament as anybody. Gonzaga is a very good team and we have some experience playing Washington during the last two seasons. Coon has more than a decade of experience covering sports for different publications and outlets, including The Associated Press, Salt Lake Tribune, ESPN, Deseret News, MaxPreps, Yahoo!

The Zags enter the NCAA Tournament after winning their seventh West Coast Conference Tournament Championship last week. Villanova, Kansas and North Carolina earned the other three No. 1 seeds. SDSU is in its fourth Dance in six years.

– Do you think UCLA coach Steve Alford and North Dakota coach Brian Jones – longtime associates – may have exchanged text messages about the first-round game with Arizona? They defended well against a similar MI offense in the game that most likely clinched this tournament bid. Last season, South Dakota State gave Maryland a scare as a No. 12 seed before falling 79-74 to the Terrapins.

The Jacks flew out of Sioux Falls at noon and will arrive amid 70 degree temps in Salt Lake City later in the afternoon.

No. 5 Notre Dame. The number is un-sayable unless you are a math professor, so let’s just round it off to one in 9 quintillion, which sounds like a made-up word like bazillion but isn’t.

Here are some notes from the rest of the action set to happen in the SLC. They take 46% of their shots from behind the arc, and hit them at a decent 36.1% clip. Said program makes a run to at least the Sweet 16, furthering his popularity for a couple weeks.

I’m guessing a segment of college basketball fans in our region, if they’re now unattached to a team in the NCAA men’s tournament, will take up the banner of UNC Wilmington. The Commodores have the most losses for an at-large team and got in with some margin for error as a ninth seed.

The field for the 2017 NCAA Tournament is out, and all the bracket-picking challenges have begun.

Notre Dame F Bonzie Colson: The junior averages a double-double, producing 17.5 points and an ACC-best 10.2 rebounds per game. The Wildcats are hot, healthy, deep, have size, can shoot, play defense and are well-coached. FSU has been great at times this season, but FGCU won’t be far from home and will have the backing of the Florida fans in the house in Orlando.

Dollars will host North Dakota on Thursday night.

The argument that they haven’t always played up to their seeding, though, is fair.

Well here’s one reason: they’re not going to beat Gonzaga. We’ve got your back. If Bobby Hurley is lured away by a higher profile job in the coming years, ASU should aggressively go after Bennett. Their RPI is 75.

SDSU is led by Summit League Player of the Year Mike Daum. The Jackrabbits earned some wins but then stumbled to a 2-6 start in the Summit League. But hey, as they say in basketball – no harm, no foul.