LAS VEGAS, Nev. – The Gonzaga basketball team has been knocking down obstacles like so many wide-open 15-footers this season:
*An unbeaten regular-season West Coast Conference season: Wop!
*The program’s first-ever No. 1 national rating: Bang!
*Another WCC tournament: Count it!
*A first-ever No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament: As the late and oh-so-great Chick Hearn would have pronounced “This one’s in the refrigerator”.
The Bulldogs – or, as their players, coaches, followers and the world know them as “the Zags” – took care of that WCC tourney title in methodical fashion Monday night in front of 7,896 (6K or so seemingly wearing Gonzaga colors and regalia) in The Orleans Arena, whisking past Saint Mary’s for the third time, 65-51.
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