I'd love to know what happened to the Zags. The last two games were so far out of character for this current team it almost raises suspicions. Up until Saturday, they were blowing teams out by 15-20 points. Not saying they tanked...but I am not not saying it either. Maybe something blew up in the locker room. Maybe they got tired. IMO, they quit hustling. Why?
Look at Gonzaga's games. They blow out a 16 seed. Oklahoma is a decent team, but not as good as the #2 team in the WCAC. Creighton was a better team, but not playing very well. Gonzaga beat both by double digits, but did not run them off the court. The impressive win was against USC, who was not as good as Creighton
but who had just humiliated Kansas. Maybe USC had a letdown, but Gonzaga destroyed them.
Against UCLA they ran into a combination of things--tenacity, team defense, and a hot shooter. The fact that UCLA's defense gave Gonzaga trouble is a sign for the finals. Here are the rankings of the five teams, in order--16, 8, 5, 6, 11. for comparison, Baylor played--16, 8, 5, 3, 2. Not only was the league soft for Gonzaga, so was the tournament.
Baylor was on a roll. Looking at the scores, no one tested Baylor either, but they were better teams. The closest anyone came was 9 points, Arkansas in the regional finals. Both of the Sweet 16 games were closer than either of the Final Four games. In the finals, Baylor matched Gonzaga's greater offensive firepower with 3-pt shooting and won the game with turnovers and on the glass. The rebounding was 38-22, with the offensive boards 14-1.
Really, it was not the blowout it appears, just the first 6-7 minutes. At the first commercial time out, 12:55, the score was 23-9. Baylor had hit their first five 3-pts and generated six turnovers. From that point on it was about equal. Gonzaga's defense tightened up and they started working the big men into the offense. Baylor would have a rebounding edge all night. Suggs had a big game, offset by Baylor's bench. After Baylor's early spurt, the rest of the game it was back and forth, winding up within two points of the same place.