Zags fans didn’t believe underdog status

LAS VEGAS – Gonzaga has been winning for so long, the idea was almost absurd: For the second game in a row, the Zags were playing as an underdog.

But hard to grasp? Hardly, and Gonzaga fans held onto that underdog mentality as tightly as they clutched their beers outside T-Mobile Arena before their Elite Eight game against Connecticut.

“I think we play better that way,” said Maureen McCarthey, who had traveled with friends from Southern California. “I think that’s when games go in our favor.”

That theory didn’t pan out Saturday night, as Gonzaga lost 82-54. But it was a nice thought.

Zags fans are accustomed to being the heavy in Vegas. For 15 years they’ve dominated the West Coast Conference Tournament at Orleans Arena, just a mile down the road.

That wasn’t the case this week. Gonzaga was a two-point underdog in its Sweet 16 matchup with UCLA.

The Bulldogs won that one in dramatic fashion on a late 3-pointer from Las Vegas native Julian Strawther, but oddsmakers were so impressed by UConn’s 23-point win over Arkansas that they made the Huskies a two-point favorite.

Bring it on, said the Zags, some of whom were rooting with their wallets as well as their hearts.

Dan Stack, who was visiting from Reno, Nevada, put enough faith in the underdog mentality to put down some money on Gonzaga to win the NCAA title.

His friend Greg Snyder, a Spokane native who also lives in Reno, had two theories on how the game would play out.

“Either they figure out how to stop Drew Timme, or we’re going to outscore them and knock them off,” said Snyder, whose late father Al coached at West Valley High School.

“I know they’re one of the hottest teams in the tournament, but I love being an underdog against UConn,” Snyder said.

Twenty-four years ago, the schools shared the shiniest of moments. It also came in Elite Eight, with UConn prevailing 67-62 and going on to win the first of four NCAA titles in the next 15 years.

The Zags – heavy underdogs, of course – turned that defeat into success.

A few years later, in summer 2003, Stephen Stubbs enrolled in law school at GU. Soon, he became Captain Zag, donning a cape and entertaining fans for three years.

Now living in Las Vegas, he was back, cape and all.

“My kids thought it would be cool, and I’m pretty good with a needle, so here we are,” Stubbs said as he struck a heroic pose.

True to his character, Stubbs didn’t buy the underdog theory. For that, he was counting on Timme, who scored 36 points against UCLA – and something more.

“It was fun watching him with that fire in his eyes,” Stubbs said of Timme. “He is so focused and he’s playing at a completely different level, which opens things up for everyone else.”

“And we have an older, more mature group, that higher level of experience,” Stubbs said.

That theory didn’t hold Saturday. Then again, Stubbs didn’t say whether he was betting on the Zags.

McCarthey and her friend, Gloria Alkire of Los Angeles, definitely weren’t putting down any money.

“It has no place in college sports,” Alkire said.

Most fans were just there for the fun, few more than Renee Reuther.

A Las Vegas attorney and member of the Gonzaga University Board of Trustees, Reuther couldn’t believe her luck when the Zags returned barely two weeks after the WCC Tournament.

“I was pinching myself – was this really happening”? said Reuther, who went to GU law school with Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto.

The NCAAs gave Reuther a chance to renew more acquaintances and embrace the underdog mentality she remembered back in the 1980s.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” Reuther said.