NCAA Tournament 2015: Gonzaga still not a legitimate title contender

The Gonzaga Bulldogs completely dominated the Iowa Hawkeyes during all facets of the game, but are the Zags for real or just getting lucky?

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Iowa was just coming off an impressive 83-52 victory, thwarting any Cinderella hopes that Davidson would have had. With all the momentum that they had, it seemed an upset over no. 2 seed Gonzaga was in the works. But the Bulldogs came out firing, cruising to a 87-68 victory.

Gonzaga just couldn’t miss this game. They shot over 60 percent from beyond the arc and from the field. They pushed their lead early, and never took their foot of the gas. Iowa couldn’t do anything but watch as their season came crumbling down before their eyes.

But what were people really expecting from Iowa? Truthfully, they were kind of overrated.

The Zags will get definitely exposed by Duke in the Elite 8, or literally anyone else in the West portion of the bracket if they make it that far.

Gonzaga did what good teams do to overrated teams — they expose their flaws. Gonzaga limited their production on defense and moved the ball like it was on fire getting open look after open look. But even though we saw a lot of good things from Gonzaga. They are still right where they were before this game as far as chances to win a title goes.

Gonzaga only played two ranked teams this year, SMU and Arizona. They beat SMU at home, but lost to Arizona in overtime by three. Their only real test of the season against Arizona came with a check in the loss column. This doesn’t really instill confidence that they can beat teams like Duke or Kentucky. Let alone the UCLA Bruins, whom they will face in the Sweet Sixteen. So how can Gonzaga fans be disappointed when I say they still aren’t even in the top five of teams that are most likely to win a National title.

Gonzaga doesn’t really belong in the same category as some of the other premiere teams in college basketball.

The Zags will get definitely exposed by Duke in the Elite 8, or literally anyone else in the West portion of the bracket if they make it that far. They can’t keep this near flawless shooting up for the rest of the tournament. They might be able to do it for one or two games, but over time they will go cold. And when that happens, its sayonara for Gonzaga.

Gonzaga’s next challenge will be against the UCLA Bruins next Friday. Let us not forget the last time they faced UCLA in the tournament it left their best player at the time, Adam Morrison, at center court in tears. As time goes on we will begin to understand that Gonzaga doesn’t really belong in the same category as some of the other premiere teams in college basketball.

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