A Grip on Sports: The bubble may be a literary fantasy but there is no doubt Gonzaga’s men have more work to do to assure the usual NCAA berth

A GRIP ON SPORTS • For those of you who have spent a lifetime watching “The Wizard of Oz” on TV, there is one scene that has to remind you of college basketball this time of year. You know the one I mean.

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• No, it’s doesn’t have anything to do with Dorothy proclaiming loudly, and often, she’s not in Kansas anymore, mainly because Kansas is always in the NCAA picture in late February. Even this year, when the Jayhawks, ranked No. 1 in the preseason polls, have disappeared from the end-of-season ones amidst a series of bad losses.

And, no, it’s not when Dorothy throws the bucket of water on the Wicked Witch of the West and she melts away, just like your favorite team’s postseason hopes.

No sir. The scene that hits every time I turn on ESPN and see Joe Lunardi is the one in which Glinda the Good Witch arrives in Munchkin Land. Not because the world’s first bracketologist is a witch – good or bad – but because he always is talking about some giant bubble. The same thing that deposits Glinda among her acolytes.

That bubble. It grows and grows as it gets closer to Dorothy and the Munchkins. Just like Lunardi’s grows and grows as we all watch the carnage play out down the yellow-brick-road stretch of the regular season and conference tournaments.

This year, the bubble even seems to include the Gonzaga men.

Not like it hasn’t happened before. They have been on Lunardi’s bubble a few times since Dan Monson was just starting out, 19 miles and 26 years from where Monson now does his coaching. Back when he led the Zags to their second-ever NCAA Tournament berth and their first run into the nation’s consciousness.

Every year Mark Few’s team has found a way to rally. Some years, it only seemingly makes the tournament by winning the West Coast Conference’s. Another year or two, making the tourney on at-large pass from the selection committee.

But if the Bulldogs are going pull a Glinda this March and explode out of the bubble, it may take staving off some last-week-of-February Bay Area madness.

It starts tonight. In Santa Clara, home of the Raging Bull, 49ers and deadeye 3-point shooters. A perfect place considering the Zags’ rollercoaster season has been disappointing, in part because their 3-point shooting has faltered. And tonight’s opponent, the Broncos, are the best 3-point shooting team in the WCC.

Case in point: Saturday’s win at Washington State. Santa Clara tied an NCAA record by connecting on 23 3-pointers in an opponent’s building. An esoteric record, sure, but it serves to illustrate how deadly the Broncos can be from beyond the arc.

Though Gonzaga doesn’t need any reminder after Herb Sendek’s crew made 18 long-range shots in the teams’ first meeting, a January 103-99 win for the visitors. That total included Tyeree Bryan’s dagger from the right corner with 43 seconds remaining, one of seven he hit that night en route to 35 points.

Another display like that from Bryan or any other Bronco could lead to another court storming.

Then again, would it? The Zags are not ranked. They are in danger of being swept by a WCC team not named Saint Mary’s for the first time since 1995. And they are tied with USF for second place – and the last bye to the WCC tourney’s semifinals. Not the kind of resume that usually propels fans out of their seats.  

Then again, Gonzaga is Gonzaga, the WCC’s Goliath and gold standard.

Even if it is a little tarnished.

The Zags still have an opportunity to burst Santa Clara’s and USF’s NCAA bubbles. It will just take two wins this week (they face the Dons on Saturday in the Chase Center).

But there is a funny thing about bubbles, NCAA-version. They have something in common with Glinda’s. They don’t exist. Like talking woodsmen and cowardly lions, they are a figment of someone’s imagination. If the WCC’s automatic berth ends up in Saint Mary’s hands, only one group’s opinion actually matters.

The NCAA selection committee is the all-powerful Wizard in this scenario, retreating behind a curtain, blowing smoke here and there, and deciding who gets to wear March’s ruby slippers. Is that group going to keep out Gonzaga, with its analytical prowess, its 25-year NCAA streak and its national following, consider it has 20-plus wins and a Hall of Fame-nominated coach on the bench?

No way. Unless, of course, it turns out to be the only way to name-drop Kansas once again.

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WSU: When the Cougars and Oregon State finish rebuilding the Pac-12’s football tradition, the conference will aspire for what everyone in college football does. To have a chance to compete in the playoffs. But the Big Two, the Big Ten and SEC, have been conspiring to make that a tougher goal by eating up eight of the available spots. Jon Wilner tells us there may only one entity in the world that can save college football from there terrible proposal. No, not the NCAA or Congress. Not enough power. ESPN. How? Why? The answer to all your questions, as always, is money. … Elsewhere in the (current, old and future) Pac-12 and the nation, let’s start with some employment news. Stanford athletic director Bernard Muir, the man with the perfect name for The Farm, is stepping down after 13 years. Former WSU basketball coach Kyle Smith loses the person who hired him and now will serve at the whim of someone new. Never the best situation. … Utah, which has improved every year under four-year basketball coach Craig Smith, fired him yesterday. Weird timing in that Smith’s team has rallied recently and has out-performed expectations in the Big 12. But the fans haven’t been turning out and that costs a school money. … John Canzano has his weekly mailbag on his website. … What are the best and worst scenarios for the Oregon State men this last week of the WCC regular season? … How about Oregon’s chances for resume building as the Big Ten winds down? … Mountain West teams are working on theirs, mainly because if there is a bubble, many of them are on it. … Kansas isn’t all that good this season. But Colorado is awful. … Mick Cronin has to tone it down. Or win more. … Utah’s first game without Smith will be at Arizona. … How can things get any worse for Fresno State? … New Mexico and San Diego State meet tonight, with the Aztecs still without a key player. … Colorado State has an easier task, facing Air Force. … What are the best and worst scenarios for the Oregon State women this last week of the WCC regular season? … In football news, spring games are losing their spot thanks to the transfer portal. How? This Athletic story explains. Short version? With no rules, players get recruited again after strong showings. … Washington’s first trip around a Big Ten football schedule taught Christian Caple a few things. … Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders doesn’t need to work out in Indianapolis to show he’s the best quarterback choice for NFL teams. … Buffs’ tackle Jordan Seaton has some goals. … Arizona lost a defensive coach to Texas.

Gonzaga: The Zags’ NCAA resume is front and center in Theo Lawson’s previews of tonight’s Santa Clara game. He dissects the good and bad and then tells us how the Broncos have played a role in that second part. … Bryan is the Santa Clara part of his key matchup. The Zag part? It could vary. … Jim Meehan and Richard Fox have their weekly Zags Basketball Insiders Podcast ready to go. You can listen to it here. … Wilner drops Gonzaga to ninth in his weekly Best of the West rankings. … And yes, the all-knowing wizards of bracketology have built a bubble around the Bulldogs.

EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, Montana made the FCS finals in 2023. It wasn’t a monetary windfall, though the Griz set records for money made and spent. … Sacramento State is hoping new football coach Brennan Marion can get the program really going again.

Whitworth: Jake Holtz understands what is expected of Pirates’ men’s basketball. Win. Win in the nonconference season. Win in the conference’s regular season. And, as they can do this weekend, win the Northwest Conference’s postseason tournament. And assure an NCAA berth. Ethan Myers has this story on the graduate forward.

Kraken: One correction from yesterday. Ales Stezka only gave up three goals Sunday. The last Lightning score was an empty netter.

Mariners: Spring can feature fun live batting practice matchups. Like it did Monday. Julio Rodriguez against Andrés Muñoz. Young star vs. young star. Muñoz won the first battle, Rodriguez the second, and last, one. … Who will win the battle to start at second base? … The M’s won the “battle” against Milwaukee yesterday. … Rodriguez is on The Athletic’s under-25 preseason all-star team. … Seattle is also included in Jim Bowden’s six teams he expects to bounce back into the playoffs this season. … One touted prospect – remember, the M’s have a bunch of them – had his family in the stands when he belted a mammoth home run.

Sounders: Never been to a game? The franchise has a ticket for you.

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• One thing about reaching Medicare age? How often the athletic heroes of your youth leave us, though their presence is occasionally felt even after they are gone. Case in point, former Laker Tommy Hawkins. He died years ago, and I noted his passing in this space. Not a star in any imagination, Hawkins did the dirty work of the great teams of the 1960s. Then he was a sportscaster in L.A. and a nice man (our paths crossed at media events when I was young). Hawkins’ possessions went up in smoke recently in the Palisades Fire, though his widow was able to flee. All that’s left is a basketball hoop and a chimney. This L.A. Times story brought back youthful memories for me and may be interesting for you. Until later …