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Editorial: Zags, GU represent Spokane at its finest

Fri., March 27, 2015

Feelin’ 16? You should.

Today, the Gonzaga University men’s basketball team will renew play in its 17th consecutive March Madness campaign, taking the court against UCLA, a team the Bulldogs defeated in December. That will count for nothing in Houston.

Tomorrow, the Gonzaga women will continue their underdog quest to remain in the NCAA championships with a game against Tennessee at the Veterans Memorial Arena. This will be the fourth Sweet 16 appearance for the Zag women.

Sweet as this first-time double-dose of Zag bracket-climbing may be, for Spokane the real treat is the positive light the programs and players have reflected on their university and their community.

Academically, for example, graduation rates for the men athletes have averaged 91 percent for the most recent four “cohorts,” whose members are given six years to earn a degree. Only Notre Dame and Duke have better marks among the Sweet 16.

The rate for Zag women is 92 percent over the same period, which places the program seventh among its Sweet 16 class.

The character of both teams has been exemplary. Players, like many other Gonzaga students, perform hours of community service. Men’s coach Mark Few and his wife, Marcy, have set an example with their Coaches vs. Cancer galas and golf tournaments, which have raised $6 million for cancer research and patient care.

The basketball program’s impact on Gonzaga is almost immeasurable.

Since the men began their 17-year run of NCAA tournaments, enrollment has grown more than 80 percent, and applications have more than doubled. The campus has been transformed by $285 million in investment that has built new classrooms, science facilities, housing and student amenities, and athletic facilities – basketball mecca McCarthey Athletic Center not least of all.

That the men pack the place for every game is not surprising, but the women also attract more than 5,500; attendance other men’s teams in the West Coast Conference can only envy.

There isn’t a university development director who would deny that a strong athletic program strengthens bonds with alumni willing to open their wallets a little wider when a Kevin Pangos or Keani Albanez is tossing in three-pointers from North Hamilton.

Yet, while on many campuses athletics has become the tail that wags the dog, Gonzaga’s leaders have kept the Bulldogs’ achievements in perspective. The same can be said of Eastern Washington University, whose Eagles returned to the tournament this year for the first time since 2004, and gave Georgetown plenty of game; 84-74.

There may or may not be another weekend of play ahead for the Zag women and men, but Spokane appreciates the image they convey to the rest of the world year after year.

To Tennessee, Maryland and Duke, and their supporters: Welcome to Zag Nation. Get outside and enjoy the Centennial Trail, Riverfront and Huntington parks and the Spokane River falls.

It’s sweet outside as well as inside. And good luck, up to a point.