Gonzaga faces naysayers after earning a NCAA No. 1 seed

Gonzaga earned a Number One seed in the NCAA tournament for the first time in school history.

Gonzaga may have been ranked first in both of the polls, but they were not a consensus number one seed for the tournament seedings.

In fact, of the four number one seeds chosen, Gonzaga was the last one picked and even then a lot of experts were arguing they didn’t even deserve that. They said their 31-2 record was a mirage because they play in a weak league.

That was one of the first questions asked of Mike Bobinski who headed up the NCAA’s Selection Committee. Did Gonzaga really deserve that seed over the likes of battle-tested Miami or Duke?

He said, of course it was a close call, but Gonzaga earned their ranking on the road.

“Gonzaga for years has taken the challenge on played on the road, done a lot of aggressive things to give us evidence of who they are,” said Bobinski. “They did that again this year. I believe they were 16-1 on the road, which is spectacular. And you know, everybody gets Gonzaga’s best shot when they show up.”

Wally Szczerbiak on CBSSports.com also took on the Zag doubters.

“Gonzaga has the skill level, they have shooters, and they have Kelly Olynyk, who can do it outside, he can do it inside,” said Szczerbiak. “This team is complete and they’re going to prove all the naysayers wrong.”

Wisely, Gonzaga coach Mark Few did not get in to the debate. He was just happy for his team.

“I think it was an overwhelming feeling just being an honored,” said Few. “There were a bunch of teams that deserved. Whether or not we deserved it over them or not – I was just honored to be in the conversation.”