History
Basketball History feated UCLA for one of its greatest victories in the long Bulldog history. But the Bulldogs didn’t rest on their laurels following the 1999 season, and the program has continued to grow by leaps and bounds and has joined the elite of collegiate basketball. The Bulldogs capped the 2000 season with their second straight run deep into the NCAA tournament. A final season No. 24 ranking and Sweet Sixteen appearance have helped establish Gonzaga as a true basketball power in the Pacific Northwest. Santangelo, Frahm and Calvary were all named first-team All-WCC, while starter Mike Nilson was named the WCC Defensive Player of the Year. In 2001 Gonzaga again returned to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen and finished the season with a No. 20 ranking. The Zags continued to impress people on a national level with Calvary earning John R. Wooden second-team All-American honors. In addition Gonzaga became the first school to sweep the West Coast Conference honors with Calvary earning Player of the Year honors, Few earning Coach of the Year honors, Blake Stepp earning Freshman of the Year honors and Mark Spink earning Defender of the Year honors. In addition Dan Dickau was named a first-team All-WCC selection and played for the USA National Team as the World University games in China. The 2002 season became a banner year for the Bulldogs program as the team finished the season ranked No. 6 in the Associated Press poll and posted a school record 29 wins. Dickau grabbed the nation’s attention with individual honors as the senior point guard was named the school’s inaugural first-team Associated Press All-America. He would go on to earn John R. Wooden Award Player of the Year Top Five All-America honors and be drafted in the first round of the 2002 NBA draft by the Sacramento Kings. In 2003 Gonzaga once again ventured into March Madness as the Bulldogs received the school’s first at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament after winning their third straight West Coast Conference regular-season crown. Gonzaga was knocked out of the tournament by No. 1 seed Arizona in one of the best games of the 2003 NCAA Tournament, if not all time. The 2004 season set new standards for the GU men’s basketball program as the Zags climbed to a No. 2 spot in the USA Today/ ESPN Coaches poll and No. 3 slot in the Associated Press poll. Gonzaga posted a 28-3 record with a 14-0 mark in WCC action and a school-record 20-game win streak. Gonzaga was rewarded with a No. 2 seed in the 2004 NCAA Tournament, the highest ever for a WCC school. GU ended the season with two players earning AP All-American honors, Blake Stepp a second-team selection and Ronny Turiaf an honorable mention pick.
Gonzaga finished among the elite programs in college basketball in 2005 as the Bulldogs picked up their third Top 10 ranking in the final Associated Press Poll, checking in at No. 10. GU again dominated the West Coast Conference, winning their fifth straight regular-season title with a 12-2 record. The Bulldogs swept the WCC awards for the second time with Ronny Turiaf earning Player of the Year honors, J.P. Batista earning Newcomer of the Year honors, Erroll Knight winning Defender of the Year and Few being named the Coach of the Year for the fifth straight season. The Bulldogs advanced to their seventh straight NCAA Tournament earning a No. 3 seed. The year ended with Turiaf and Adam Morrison both earning honorable mention AP All-American honors. A new home also greeted the Bulldogs for the 2004-05 season when the 6,000-seat McCarthey Athletic Center opened its doors. The new surroundings suited the Bulldogs just fine as – after winning their final 12 games in the Martin Centre – the Bulldogs ran off 38 straight wins over three seasons to run their home winning streak to 50. Gonzaga finished strong in 2006 as the Bulldogs picked up their fourth Top 10 finish in the final Associated Press Poll with a No. 5 ranking. GU rolled through the West Coast Conference, winning their sixth-straight regular-season title with a perfect 14-0 record. Morrison earned WCC Player of the Year honors and Few was named Coach of the Year for the sixth-straight season, the first such coach to accomplish the feat. Gonzaga hosted and won the WCC Tournament to advance to the NCAA Tournament for the eighth-straight season, earning a No. 3 seed. Morrison closed out the year as the nation’s leading scorer and was named a consensus All-American. He was the third overall pick in the 2006 NBA Draft, the highest of any Bulldog. It wasn’t the slam dunk of previous seasons, but Gonzaga University nonetheless was back in the field for a ninth straight trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2007. After trailing Santa Clara University by one game heading into the final weekend of the West Coast Conference regular-season race, the Bulldogs won two road games while SCU dropped its two contests to give Gonzaga a seventh straight WCC regular-season crown. Armed with the No. 1 seed into the WCC Tournament, the Bulldogs captured semifinal and championship game outings at the Chiles Center on the University of Portland campus to keep March Madness alive for one more season. The beat continued in 2008, the Bulldogs finishing 24th in the final AP Top 25. Gonzaga captured the WCC regular-season crown with a 13-1 mark, but for just the second time in earning their 10th straight trip to the NCAA Tournament the Bulldogs had to rely on an at-large berth after falling in the WCC Championship to host University of San Diego.
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Jeremy Pargo captured WCC Player of the Year accolades, the eighth straight year a Bulldog had won the honor, and Few won his seventh WCC Coach of the Year award in the past eight years. In 2009 Gonzaga ran the table in WCC play for the third time since 2004, rolled through the WCC Tournament and again found itself on the road to the NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen. The Bulldogs stayed close to home in Portland, Ore., to down Akron in the first round, got a length-of-the-court drive for a layin from freshman Demetri Goodson to edge Western Kentucky and return to the Sweet Sixteen for the fourth time under Few as the head coach and for the fifth time in school history. The run ended in Memphis, Tenn., when the Bulldogs fell to No. 1 seed and eventual national champion North Carolina University. Jeremy Pargo, Josh Heytvelt and Micah Downs graduated as the nucleus of seniors, along with fellow seniors Ira Brown and Andrew Sorenson. For the third time in school history and the second time since 2006, the Bulldogs saw a player leave early for the 2009 NBA Draft when sophomore Austin Daye entered the draft. He was picked 15th overall in the first round by the Detroit Pistons, joining Stockton, Dickau and Morrison as first-round Bulldog draftees. The 2010 season saw the Bulldogs do more of the same. The Bulldogs won their 10th straight WCC regular-season title, the longest current active streak in the nation and ranks tied for second all-time in the NCAA Division I ranks. The Bulldogs knotted UNLV (Big West, 1983-92) and UConn (Yankee, 1951-60) for second behind UCLA’s 13 Pacific-10 Conference titles from 1967-79. Matt Bouldin was named the WCC Player of the Year, Elias Harris the Newcomer of the Year and Few the Coach of the Year as the Bulldogs once again dominated the conference honors. The Bulldogs lost the WCC Tournament title game to Saint Mary’s College, but Gonzaga nonetheless was picked for a 12th straight trip to the NCAA Tournament, advancing to the second round. It was the eighth time in Few’s 11 seasons as head coach the Bulldogs went at least as far as the second round. Gonzaga was ranked 22nd in the final Associated Press Top 25 and 23rd in the final ESPN/USA Today poll. From those humble beginnings and nine wins just after the turn of the 20th century, the Bulldogs have emerged 103 years later as one of the household names associated with college basketball. While Cinderella may have lost her place in Bulldog basketball lore somewhere just after entering the 21st century, to some the slipper does still fit. But the Bulldogs have become more the hunted than the hunter. A proud athletic tradition coupled with academic excellence. That’s the tradition of Bulldog basketball.