Gonzaga Basketball Is What We Think Kentucky Basketball Is

After a come from behind win against Kansas in the Round of 32, the Gonzaga Bulldogs are off to their ninth straight Sweet Sixteen appearance, officially setting a record for second-longest streak of Sweet Sixteens ever.

Yet, a lot of people don't think highly of Gonzaga, and it's understandable. For starters, they play in the crappy West Coast Conference where they regularly monopolize conference titles. Second, it's a private Jesuit university that is hard for people to get into because of their rigorous academic curriculum combined with the school’s religious aspect. Third, they are located in Spokane, Washington, a small city with a population of around 230,000 on the Idaho border. All of these factors are why I call Gonzaga the West Coast version of Notre Dame- one is just better known for basketball (Gonzaga) than football (Notre Dame).

After hiring head coach Mark Few in 1999, the Bulldogs have qualified for the NCAA tournament every year since his hiring and have gradually over the past decade become an elite program. In fact, they are becoming what we think the so-called elite Kentucky basketball program is.

Kentucky Has Underachieved Since Winning The Natty

John Calipari and the Wildcats once again underachieved this year and were one and done in the tournament for what feels like the millionth time. Since their national championship win in 2012, Kentucky only has one Final Four appearance to show for themselves, and several early exits. In fact, they have not made it to the Sweet Sixteen/Elite Eight since 2019.

Kentucky’s underachievement is surprising considering how many very good to elite NBA players have come out of the school under Calipari. Anthony Davis, Julius Randle, Karl-Anthony Towns, Devin Booker, Bam Adebayo, SGA, and Tyrese Maxey are just some of the bigger names to have played for Kentucky since Calipari’s hiring in 2009.

In 2015, Kentucky went into the Final Four with an undefeated record before being upset by Wisconsin, missing the national championship game. Since then, they have only made one Sweet Sixteen and two Elite Eights. Since the turn of the decade, excluding 2020 when the tournament was canceled, Kentucky has one combined tournament win, which came in 2023. They even missed the tournament altogether in 2021.

Meanwhile, what has small school Gonzaga done since 2015?

Gonzaga Has Established Themselves as a Powerhouse Over The Past Decade

Since their streak of Sweet Sixteens started in 2015, Gonzaga has made two Elite Eights and made two appearances in the National Championship in 2017 and 2021, both of which were losses. They have slowly and quietly become a small-school powerhouse.

Unlike Kentucky, Gonzaga has not landed premier recruits due to the aforementioned obstacles listed at the start of the blog. Their most prominent players that are in the NBA include Chet Holmgren, Domantas Sabonis, and Jalen Suggs. While they did make a Natty appearance during their one year with Suggs, their most prominent player during their 2017 appearance was Zach Collins, who has underachieved in the NBA.

Like Kentucky in 2015, Gonzaga went into a Final Four with an undefeated record in 2021. However, they made it to the final game of the season, losing to Baylor. As a Zags fan since 2017, that is still among the most devastating losses I've endured as a sports fan.

Gonzaga's Sweet Sixteen appearance this year is particularly impressive because many thought this would be their “down year” due to a lack of NBA talent. This was a rare year where Gonzaga did not win the WCC, and their tournament qualification was uncertain for most of the season because their seven losses were their most under Few since losing eight games in the 2011-12 season. However, one of Gonzaga’s wins this year was an 89-85 upset of, you guessed it, Kentucky!

Gonzaga Does More With Less

Kentucky basketball is a blue blood program that always lands top recruits under an elite coach, but yet always seems to underachieve. Meanwhile, Gonzaga basketball with an elite coach does more with less despite being a smaller school. This ultimately falls on the coaches, Few and Calipari. Few knows how to do more with less due to his situation whereas Calipari is a great salesman type of recruiter who increasingly shrinks when it matters most.

The main difference between Kentucky and Gonzaga, of course, is that Kentucky has a natty whereas Gonzaga doesn't. Gonzaga has come close though, and in fact they've come closer than Kentucky in recent years.

We should all take a moment to appreciate what Gonzaga has done and recognize them as an elite program, or at least a better program than popular Kentucky.

Serafino Diaz is a writer at Chaotically Intolerant, Phoenix's finest Vikings, Bucks, and Cubs fan, traveling everywhere I can.