The Gonzaga Problem

I’m sitting here watching the UNC vs Louisville college basketball game and I can’t help but LOVE the game intensity. The game has great meaning for two teams competing for the prestigious ACC regular season title. Great athletes. Each competing at late season basketball form. I freaking love that shit! As a hoops fan there is nothing better. The juices flow, the game moments build upon each other, the pressure climbs, and finally, great players and more importantly great teams- reach their peak performance level; that A game.

Each team seeks to play its best basketball as the tourney nears. Which brings me to the Gonzaga problem- They are undoubtedly a good basketball team. They play clean hoop with togetherness offensively and at times, tenacious defense. GU has beaten every team on their schedule and thus has reached new program heights as the number 1 ranked team in the country. Admitedly, as a native Spokane hoops junkie and Zags fan- I should just stop here.

But I cant. GU hasn’t played a tough squad since December. Nearly 2 months ago! How can a team reasonably seek to peak without measuring itself as many times as possible against top competition? It is just basketball fact that the best teams rise-up against top competition. And the more experience rising up, the deadlier the team becomes. Jordan’s Bulls teams KNEW that when the funk really go down, who was really ready to ride (shout out Beastmode). Kerr, Pippen, Harper, Paxton, Armstrong, Kukoc, Rodman- alll the role-players in addition to Jordan were battle tested and hardened in their roles. They had that killer crunch-time team psyche that great squads have. And the only way to get it is to PLAY in those games. Through no fault of its own (unless they grow a pair and step into the Pac-12) they haven’t played a true Carolina or Louisville, or shit Kansas, Baylor, Kentucky type game since they beat Arizona before Christmas! (all teams that have played eachother in the last month!)

The solution? I call upon the proposed Sports Czar (why can’t you get into Trump’s cabinet btw? seems like every other white person with fat stacks or notoriety can..) to implement the Call Out Game. It works like this- the Wednesday between the close of the regular season and the Thursday of Major conference tournament play, we hold the Call Out Game.

The AP poll is the draft order for the game with the Top team getting the first chance to “Call Out” another squad. The teams can choose to pass, but if called out, and team MUST play. Lets play say, 10 games around the country. Think of the possibilities!!

1. A team could call out based on $$$ (Think if Kansas and Kentucky hadn’t played yet this year and they could create a super ESPN-hyped game where everyone makes bank except the players).
2. A team on the bubble (like Northwestern) or loser of a smaller league conference tourney game (Lookin at you Witchita State and Illinois State) could call out another bubble team. Maybe then we could stop adding rounds and play-in games to the best tournament format ever created.
3. OR a team like Gonzaga could say F-this disrespect, we calling out UNC or Louisville or Villanova and get a taste of a competitive game before the tourney starts- true, they could get exposed- or they earn their 1 seed with an opportunity like that. But more importantly from a basketball purist standpoint- they get a chance to grow toward that perfect A game.

In summary- Make that shit happen! It makes way too much sense not to. Seriously, what are the arguments against? School? Psshhh, nobody goes to that anyways. Cost? Hahah more games = more money, thats why we are adding tourney games correct? Player Safety? C’mon, they are 18–20 year olds…do they really need a 6 day break like double bye teams get? Or a week-and-a-half off like Gonzaga will have after they pound Saint Mary’s for the 3rd time this year in Vegas? More good basketball is good. Go Zags!