Gonzaga basketball: 2019-2020 season review and 2020-2021 early preview

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - MARCH 10: The Gonzaga Bulldogs celebrate with the trophy after defeating the Saint Mary's Gaels 84-66 to win the championship game of the West Coast Conference basketball tournament at the Orleans Arena on March 10, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /

4 of 5

Mark Few of the Gonzaga Bulldogs (Photo by Jennifer Stewart/Getty Images) /

Mark Few keeps going

As noted previously, this was one of the best performances of Few’s career. For years, Gonzaga succeeded on the back of excellent recruiting and player development, rarely churning out a top NBA draft prospect. That began to change the last decade when lottery picks such as Kelly Olynyk, Domantas Sabonis and Zach Collins came through Spokane.

Of course, the prospect pipeline looked best in 2019, as starting forwards Rui Hachimura and Brandon Clarke each went in the top 25 picks in the NBA draft. From a high-end talent perspective, the 2019-20 season was expected to be something of a reset for Few and the Bulldogs.

It was nothing of the sort. As laid out in the previous slides, just about every player on the roster met or exceeded expectations, and it felt once again like a late-2000s Gonzaga team, with a bunch of unheralded players from all over the world well playing together.

Few proved himself again and will look to next season as an opportunity to dominate. With an awesome recruiting class and the majority of the roster set to return, 2020-21 could be a coronation of Few similar to what Tony Bennett and Jay Wright experienced in recent years. Most importantly, it could give Few his first national championship.