SPOKANE, Wash. — If you’re a Gonzaga fan you most likely have been on quite an emotional rollercoaster ride the past few days. It involved several loopty loops, but the final feature felt more like an intense drop than anything.
Gonzaga announced on Wednesday they’ll play at Pacific on Thursday and at BYU on Monday. Hardly the level of competition fans, and the program, wanted to play this week.
I want to give my thoughts on how this all shook out and how there is a potential silver lining to it all.
VILLANOVA'S VANTAGE POINT
There was a lot of talk Tuesday afternoon that a Gonzaga-Villanova game could happen due to Villanova’s weekend opponent, Xavier, having to pause due to Covid. By the end of the night, the talk about a potential Bulldogs-Wildcats match up was completely over. That’s due to the fact that Villanova, as head coach Jay Wright stated, has an allegiance to their conference and thus had to entertain in conference games first. Georgetown was the only option with how schedules shook out, so that game is now happening.
I really can’t fault anyone here, especially since Villanova has only played six conference games so far due to Covid protocols while some other teams in their conference have played 12.
Oh, and just one more thing, this game is a lot easier to work out TV wise as conferences need to fulfill their contracts with networks. It’s an in conference game. It goes on Fox. Boom. Done.
THE COUGARS COURAGE (OR LACK THEREOF)
Now, we’re on to Houston. Oh, Houston.
It’s been previously reported that their game with Gonzaga was basically a done deal and then fell apart at the last second.
Well, on Wednesday Houston announced that they will play Our Lady of the Lake on Saturday. Excuse me. Who?
If it was a team in their conference, I’d be more understanding, but that’s not what this is. Houston is playing an NAIA school that is *checks notes* 1-3 on the season. That’s right, they’ve played four games in total.
It’s not like the Cougars are even replacing a game. They had a bye this weekend.
I mean, what exactly does this team gain here? I guess you fulfill getting a game on ESPN+? Honestly, I think they’re better off not playing. What if someone gets injured?
Because Gonzaga pursued a game with Villanova after the Houston deal fell through, this tells me this was an issue most likely either on Houston’s end or within the American Athletic Conference’s higher ups. And if that’s the case: Shame on you.
A point that was brought up Wednesday was that Houston would’ve had to travel to East Carolina then Salt Lake City to play Gonzaga and then to South Florida in eight days for games, so travel could’ve been a concern.
I’m not buying.
Houston knew about those other games before the Gonzaga game was on the table. If that concerned them, they would’ve never entertained the Gonzaga game to begin with.
Oh, and one more thing: Houston lost to East Carolina on Wednesday night. The Pirates had one conference win all season before their defeat of the Cougars. Gonzaga fans certainly took some delight in that loss.
THE SILVER LINING
Because of Gonzaga’s games with Pacific and BYU getting moved up from the last week of the season to this week, that leaves the last week of Gonzaga’s season open.
That means there is now a chance the Zags will play their final week of the season at home potentially making up conference games against LMU and Santa Clara, the two home games that got cancelled this week. Obviously that depends upon if those two teams have end of season Covid cancellations.
If the Zags keep winning, they could wrap up an undefeated regular season in The Kennel.
That really does feel like the way this should all go down. They should be able to celebrate something so momentous in their own facility.
And yes folks, that also leaves the final week of the regular season open for potentially another big-time non-conference match up.
Although with how the rollercoaster ride ended this week, I wouldn’t raise my hands up in anticipation for round two.