SPOKANE, WA -- I had the recent good fortune to witness the ascendant Gonzaga Bulldogs up close and personal. They were in the process of dismantling the Saint Joseph's Hawks in the NIT Preseason Tip-Off, step one in a process that brings them to Madison Square Garden this week while their fans hope for an even more historic journey to Indianapolis in early April.
That would be the Final Four, of course. It's about the only destination the Zags have failed to reach in their run of 16 consecutive NCAA appearances. Only Kansas, Duke and Michigan State have longer active NCAA streaks, but critics are quick to point out the national championships (four) and Final Four berths (14) those three schools have combined for in that span.
Meanwhile, Gonzaga has a big, fat zero in the Final Four column along with the lingering suspicion that it has squandered opportunities and perhaps underachieved since last making the Sweet 16 in 2009. This becomes an even more acute issue when you are the only ESPN college basketball "expert" to have predicted a Final Four appearance for the Zags in two of the last three seasons.
To which I can only respond: Deal with it.