Incarnate Word plays in the Southland Conference, which also has Stephen F. Austin who holds a victory over Memphis. This is more impressive than any win by any team outside Gonzaga in the WAC
All kidding aside, go ahead and take a look at the WAC. Name me one impressive win by a team that is NOT Gonzaga?
No, I just think it is unfair that they are held to a different standard than any other team in the country, year in and year out.
Which of these achievements by Gonzaga warrants that praise: 1) They have gone 2-4 against ranked squads in the regular season since 2012. 2) They have reached the second weekend of the NCAA tournament just once since 2006. 3) They have never gone to the Final Four.
Let me ask you another question, junc: If Gonzaga played in the ACC this year, what place do you think they would finish? Make sure you understand my question. I am not asking if Gonzaga beat Duke, or UNC, or Louisville, or any specific ACC team. My question is: If this Gonzaga team had to endure the grind of playing week after week against an standard ACC conference schedule, what place do you think they would finish?
doesn't matter where they play, they consistently win every year and that is hard to do. Obviously they aren't an elite program but they are a really good one. you know every year they are going to be a Sweet 16 caliber team. they may not make it but they are always in the hunt. That is impressive at a school very few hear of before 1999.
Really? It doesn't matter where they play? There would be no difference in their record if their conference included at least four AP ranked teams (ACC) versus none (WCC) There would be no difference playing on the road in a conference where the average max capacity of the home team is 6,000+ (WCC) then playing on the road in a conference where the SMALLEST arena holds 8,000 (ACC)? There would be no difference in their perception if they played almost every game on National TV (ACC) than a select few (WCC)? These things "don't matter"?
That is flat out not true. Sweet-Sixteen Caliber teams actually MAKE the Sweet 16 with some consistency. I repeat: 2) They have reached the second weekend of the NCAA tournament just once since 2006.
they have made it a bunch since 1999. caliber doesn't mean always making it. I can't wait until Gonzaga beats Villanova in the Tourney.
No, it doesn't mean that have it every year. But if you are going to ordain them a Sweet-Sixteen Caliber team, they should make it more than once in the past eight years. Once again, bending the rules for everyone's media darlings.
not bending anything, they are a very good program. It's not my fault your blind hatred won't allow you to see it.
there's nothing to answer, they don't play in a tough conference but they always play tough non conf scheds and they still have to take everyone's best shot in that conference. that's not easy.
Are you HONESTLY saying that there is NO DIFFERENCE between taking "everyone's best shot" from the ACC and taking "everyone's best shot" from the WCC?!?!
of course there is a difference but either way they are getting the best shot from every team in conference. they deserve respect for what they have done through the years. they are not North Carolina, Kentucky or duke but they have a damn good program.
Someone once asked me "What is the Big East": On Tuesday morning, Val Ackerman hopped on the subway and hustled to her office in Manhattan to avoid the rain and wind afflicting most of New York. As a nor’easter blew through, the room provided welcome refuge. Outside, it was miserable. But within the Big East commissioner’s walls, there was sunshine and glee. “I think we know it’s a long season and it’s still early,” Ackerman said, “but we’re very happy.” Happiness, it seems, is seeing one of the league’s teams beating North Carolina. And Oklahoma. And Syracuse. And Michigan, Illinois, VCU,Minnesota, Nebraska, Florida and Notre Dame. Yes, there have been stumbles. But the failings are obscured by these remarkable wins, the headline triumphs for a league that has won 78.8 percent of the time it has played outside competition and has the nation’s second-best conference RPI. In its second year of a reconstituted existence, it’s not so much that the Big East is back. It’s acting like it never left.
