Gonzaga Basketball

Gonzaga has suspended head men's basketball coach Mark Few following his DUI arrest in September.

As first reported by Dana O'Neil of The Athletic, Few will be suspended for Saturday's Kraziness in the Kennel event, two exhibition games and the regular-season opener against Dixie State on Nov. 9.

Few will then return to the sidelines for the Bulldogs' second game of the season Nov. 13 when they host the Texas Longhorns.

Few released the following statement regarding his suspension:

Statement from Mark Few. As @DanaONeilWriter reported, he’ll miss Kraziness in the Kennel and then be out through the season opener. pic.twitter.com/8UkZuI4FTv

— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) October 9, 2021

Gonzaga athletic director Chris Sandiford released a statement on the suspension as well, per NCAA.com's Andy Katz: 

Statement from @GonzagaBulldogs AD Chris Standiford: pic.twitter.com/qpVrZPVB7t

— Andy Katz (@TheAndyKatz) October 9, 2021

Per O'Neil, Few was arrested near Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, over Labor Day weekend after being pulled over for speeding and erratic driving. Few refused a field sobriety test, but he was later found to have had a blood-alcohol level of .119, which was above the legal limit of .08.

Few, 58, is preparing to enter his 23rd season as head coach of Gonzaga, and he has enjoyed a remarkable amount of success thus far.

In 755 regular-season games, Few has posted a 630-125 record, which is good for a winning percentage of .834.

The Zags have reached the NCAA tournament in each of the 21 seasons it has been held under Few, and they have won the West Coast Conference regular-season title 20 times and the WCC tournament 17 times.

Few, who is a two-time Naismith Coach of the Year and one-time AP Coach of the Year, has taken Gonzaga to the Final Four twice as well.

Last season, Gonzaga was a perfect 31-0 entering the National Championship Game against Baylor, but the Bulldogs fell to the Bears 86-70.

Gonzaga remains in search of an elusive national title, and it seems like it is only a matter of time before it happens, as Few consistently has the Zags in contention. 

Some adjustments will be required during the 2021-22 season, though, as key contributors from last year's team in Corey Kispert, Jalen Suggs and Joel Ajayi are no longer on the roster.

Gonzaga men's basketball coach Mark Few was cited on suspicion of driving under the influence in Idaho, according to Greg Mason and Nico Portuondo of the Spokesman-Review.

Mason and Portuondo reported police pulled Few over Monday night based on a report he was "driving erratically and speeding." His blood-alcohol level was measured at .119 and .120, above the legal limit of .08.

Gonzaga athletic director Chris Standiford issued a statement: "While the facts of the situation are still being evaluated, we understand its severity and the legal process that will follow. As a Gonzaga employee, we respect Coach Few's right to privacy and will refrain from further comment at this time."

Few released a statement later Tuesday evening:

Statement from Mark Few: pic.twitter.com/aDpzLaavzZ

— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) September 8, 2021

Per the Coeur d'Alene Press, the police report said Few "exhibited several signs of intoxication" at the scene after he was pulled over. He refused to complete field sobriety tests but did undergo breath testing.

Few is entering his 23rd season as the Bulldogs' head coach. The team is 630-125 during that time and has grown into a perennial Final Four contender. The Zags were the national runners-up in 2017 and 2021.

Gonzaga is scheduled to tip off the 2021-22 season Nov. 13 at home against Texas.

LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Jayson Tatum, Karl-Anthony Towns, Ben Simmons and, now, Chet Holmgren.

Those are just some of the players who have taken home the Gatorade National Player of the Year award after Holmgren was announced as the 2020-21 winner on Wednesday, per Myron Medcalf of ESPN.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrfPUiH9CGs?

The Gonzaga signee, who is a 5-star prospect and the No. 1 overall player in the class of 2021, per 247Sports' composite rankings, averaged 20.8 points, 12.6 rebounds, 4.7 blocks and 4.4 assists last season for Minnehaha Academy in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

"It's definitely a huge honor to win such a prestigious award and it's even more of an honor to me personally because of the charity work that they'll do on my behalf by donating to a sports program close to home that's helped a lot of people I know," he said. 

Attention now turns to whether Holmgren can help lead the Bulldogs to their first national title in program history after they lost to Baylor in last season's national championship game.

He figures to be part of a dominant frontcourt alongside Drew Timme, who returns and could challenge for the Wooden Award as a double-double threat every time he steps on the floor.

ESPN's Jeff Borzello ranked Gonzaga as the No. 1 overall team in his Top 25 rankings for the 2021-22 campaign, highlighting both the return of Timme and the recruitment of Holmgren. Gonzaga also added highly regarded point guard Nolan Hickman and Iowa State transfer Rasir Bolton.

If Holmgren can live up to expectations, he may parlay a national title run during one season at the collegiate level into being a top-five draft pick at the 2022 NBA draft.

For now, he was the best high school player in the country this past season and is preparing for his time at Gonzaga.

Power forward Fanbo Zeng is reportedly decommitting from Gonzaga in favor of joining the NBA G League Ignite, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium.

Zeng is listed as a 4-star recruit by 247Sports, and he ranks as the No. 71 overall prospect, No. 16 power forward and No. 12 player from the state of Florida in the 2021 class.

The 6'9", 190-pounder was born in China, but he moved to the United States in 2017 and played high school basketball at Windermere Preparatory School in Windermere, Florida.

Charania reported that Zeng's decision to go to the G League has a great deal to do with the departure of Tommy Lloyd.

Lloyd, who had been part of Gonzaga's coaching staff since 2001-02, left his post as an assistant this month to become the head coach at Arizona. Lloyd reportedly led the way in the Bulldogs' recruitment of Zeng.

The Ignite enjoyed a successful first season in the G League in 2020-21, finishing 8-7 and reaching the playoffs behind the play of NBA draft prospects Jalen Green, Jonathan Kuminga, Daishen Nix and Isaiah Todd.

While the Ignite lost to top-seeded Raptors 905 in the first round, their players gained some valuable experience ahead of the 2021 NBA draft.

Zeng will look to do the same next season in anticipation of the 2022 draft.

With the Ignite, Zeng will join Michael Foster, whose commitment was announced Friday. He had offers from Baylor, Florida, Florida State, Kansas, Michigan and Ohio State.

Foster is a 5-star prospect and the No. 14 overall player in the class of 2021, per 247Sports.

With Zeng and Foster leading the way, the Ignite will have a strong chance to be among the top teams.

Meanwhile, Gonzaga is losing a player who could have been a key part of the equation next season as it looks to bounce back from falling to Baylor in the 2021 NCAA tournament championship game.

Gonzaga ran into a brick wall in its national championship game loss to Baylor earlier this month. Bulldogs coach Mark Few said Monday he wished someone had warned him about Baylor's physicality. 

"That was the most physical game we've played in the last five years," Few told Dana O'Neil of The Athletic.  "I wish somebody had told me on Sunday morning that's what we were in for. My guys would have responded. I wasn't ready to go there."

Of course, Few knew Baylor was a physical team coming into the game. Experiencing it in person was another thing entirely. 

Baylor bullied Gonzaga on its way to a dominant 86-70 victory to capture the program's first national championship. The Bears ripped down 38 rebounds to Gonzaga's 22 and forced 14 turnovers as their length and athleticism overwhelmed Few's team.

He told The Athletic: 

"At first, I mean, you're 31-1 and you feel like, I don't know? 1-31? Kinda. And then you slap yourself and say, 'C'mon, man.' In 40 minutes you can't go from people saying you were the greatest team ever to whatever they're saying now. I never bought into the greatest ever, and I'm not going to buy into the Oh, my God, what happened? We're all good. The program reigns supreme."

Few didn't waste much time readying his program for the future. 247Sports' No. 1 overall high school prospect Chet Holmgren announced his commitment to Gonzaga on Monday, giving the Bulldogs their highest-rated prospect in program history.

With tournament star Drew Timme expected back for his junior season, there's a good chance Gonzaga will find itself playing for a national title again in 2022. 

One of the top recruits in the class of 2021 has made his college decision. 

Seven-foot center Chet Holmgren will attend Gonzaga after announcing his commitment Monday on SportsCenter:

BREAKING: Chet Holmgren, the No. 1 prospect in the Class of 2021, has committed to Gonzaga -- meaning Mark Few's program is now set to enroll its highest-rated high school prospect in history for the second consecutive year.

— Gary Parrish (@GaryParrishCBS) April 19, 2021

Chet Holmgren, the nation’s No. 1 player, is headed to Gonzaga.

If Timme and Nembhard come back, the Zags should start the season No. 1.

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) April 19, 2021

To the surprise of no one, Chet Holmgren has committed to Gonzaga. Another huge score for Mark Few.

— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) April 19, 2021

247Sports ranked the 18-year-old as a 5-star prospect and the No. 1 overall recruit in the country. Holmgren recently finished his high school career at Minnehaha Academy in his native Minneapolis, where he posted 20.8 points on 80 percent shooting, 12.6 rebounds, 4.7 blocks and 4.5 assists en route to leading his 20-1 team to a state championship. He was also named a McDonald's All-American.

Holmgren narrowed his list of finalists to seven before the announcement, per ESPN's Paul Biancardi. The group consisted of Minnesota, Michigan, Georgetown, North Carolina, Ohio State, Gonzaga and Memphis.

He also entertained offers from Purdue and Texas as well as blue bloods like Kansas.

According to Josh Gershon, the national recruiting analyst at 247Sports, Holmgren is projected to be a top NBA pick should he turn pro and is a standout prospect:

"Extremely unique player who is unlike almost any American prospect in recent years. Good size, long arms and plus athleticism but very narrow frame. Extremely physically immature and may take a while to put on strength due to narrow shoulders/base. Despite lack of strength, very tough kid with impressive mental makeup. Has range to perimeter with jumper, good body control and high feel. Outstanding rim protector and rebounder. Level 10 motor."

Expect him to make an immediate impact on campus.

After Holmgren's former teammate Jalen Suggs led Gonzaga to the national title game as a freshman last year, the newest addition could be a similar difference-maker in 2021-22.

The Arizona Wildcats are reportedly considering Gonzaga assistant coach Tommy Lloyd to replace Sean Miller at the head of the Pac-12 program, according to Jim Meehan of The Spokesman-Review. 

Arizona fired Miller on Wednesday after 12 years in Tuscon during which he compiled a 302-109 record but failed to advance past the Elite Eight.

Lloyd is currently the head coach-in-waiting at Gonzaga, where he's worked on Few's staff since 2000.

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Meehan noted Lloyd serves as a massive recruiting tool for Few, helping land notable international players like Rui Hachimura, Killian Tillie, Domantas Sabonis, Kevin Pangos, Kelly Olynyk and Ronny Turiaf. Leading recruiting efforts at a West Coast program is certainly a strong qualifier in general. 

Gonzaga athletic director Mike Roth told Meehan that Lloyd had received interest from three other programs this year alone before the latest Arizona rumors. That comes as no surprise to Roth, who believes the coach is destined to run his own team one day.

Said Roth:

We’re committed to Tommy here and he knows that. We’ve made that public. If Gonzaga is committed to Tommy, where our program is and where it’s been built and Tommy has been such an important part of this, why wouldn’t any other school have him on their list, even high on their list.

“We’ll continue to do our best to let him know this is where we want him to be a head coach someday when the time comes and we want him between now and then to help us be one of, if not the best, basketball programs in the country.”

Arizona is the latest high-profile program to feature a head coaching vacancy this offseason after Roy Williams retired at North Carolina, Shaka Smart left Texas for Marquette and Chris Beard left Texas Tech for the Longhorns. 

Jeff Goodman of Stadium reported Damon Stoudamire, Miles Simon and Josh Pastner remain in consideration for the Wildcats job.

Jalen Suggs helped lead the Gonzaga Bulldogs to an undefeated regular season and an appearance in the national title game of the 2021 NCAA men's tournament, and he may have played his way into No. 1 overall pick status while doing so.

Jordan Schultz of ESPN spoke to an NBA general manager who said he would at least consider taking Suggs with the top pick.

"It's because Suggs possesses a rare combination of special tools: Elite playmaking, lockdown defending and an overall competitiveness that helps transform an entire team’s DNA," Schultz wrote.

It's hard to argue with what Suggs did in his first and perhaps only year at Gonzaga.

The consensus All-American, WCC Rookie of the Year and WCC tournament MVP averaged 14.4 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 1.9 steals while shooting 50.3 percent from the field and 33.7 percent from three-point range.

His ability to defend the opponent's best playmaker while either scoring or facilitating on the other end stands out, and he certainly proved he can perform in pressure-packed moments when leading the Bulldogs in the Big Dance and drilling a buzzer-beater in overtime to win a Final Four game over UCLA.

Bleacher Report's Jonathan Wasserman ranked Suggs as the No. 2 overall player on his latest big board, behind only Oklahoma State's Cade Cunningham.

"Suggs was the talk of March Madness after his clutch play and buzzer-beater against UCLA, which highlighted the 'it factor' we've talked about all season," Wasserman wrote. "He impacts winning and possesses the type of maturity, leadership and professionalism NBA teams want in a lead guard."

Cunningham has been the presumed No. 1 overall pick throughout the season and surely did nothing to dissuade that line of thinking as the Big 12 Player of the Year and a consensus All-American.

Yet it seems as if Suggs did enough to at least drive one general manager to consider taking him with the top pick instead.

INDIANAPOLIS—From Nov. 26 through the early evening of April 5, the 2020-21 Gonzaga Bulldogs felt like a Death Star laying waste to everything in their path.

They opened the season with an even-more-convincing-than-the-final-margin 102-90 victory over preseason No. 6 Kansas. The following morning, the Zags bludgeoned Auburn by 23 points. Game No. 3 against West Virginia got a little dicey when Jalen Suggs suffered a lower-leg injury and Drew Timme fouled out on an off night, but they still eked out the victory.

From there, it was 27 consecutive wins by double digits.

Fresh off a COVID-19 pause, they dropped 99 points on Iowa.

Seven days later, they eviscerated Virginia's usually stingy defense for 98 points in a blowout.

All five of those games against major-conference opponents were played on a neutral floor, as were the 87-71 win over Oklahoma, the 83-65 win over Creighton and the 85-66 win over USC en route to the Final Four.

Say what you will about the West Coast Conference, but Gonzaga proved time and again that it could spank teams from the "big leagues." (Also, BYU was quite good this year and still thrice lost to the Zags by double digits.)

Heading into the Final Four, it really felt like the only strategy for putting up a fight against Gonzaga was to injure one star player, foul out another one and then hope for the best.

In the national semifinal, UCLA played what seemed to be the most perfect possible game against the Zags, making unnecessarily difficult shot after absurdly challenging mid-range jumper. The Bruins got Timme into some foul trouble and they mostly held Suggs and Corey Kispert in check. Even that was only enough to get the game into overtime, where UCLA lost on a last-second shot for the ages.

That UCLA game felt like the one chance to blow up the Death Star. And after that mission failed, regardless of how great Baylor was this season, it just felt like the Bears were going to run into a buzzsaw in the national championship.

After all, if Evan Mobley and gigantic USC couldn't do anything to slow down Timme, what hope did Baylor—a team without a single frontcourt player in any NBA mock drafts—have of subduing Mustache Mania?

Turns out, the Bears had a pretty doggone good plan of forcing him out to the perimeter to even touch the ball and then wearing him out on the defensive perimeter when the Zags switched every ball screen.

While neutralizing Timme along the perimeter, Baylor simply dominated on the glass, finishing plus-16 against a Gonzaga team that had an average rebound margin of plus-7.5 this season. Baylor also won the turnover battle (14-9) and at one point had 10 made three-pointers to Gonzaga's one. (It felt more like 20 to one, though, since Baylor so frequently got the offensive rebound when it did miss.)

The Bears simply dominated a team that didn't even seem beatable for most of the year.

And if this Gonzaga team could get blown out on what wasn't even that terrible a shooting night, can we ever expect anyone to go undefeated again?

"It's weird, I never felt like we played with that weight (of trying to go undefeated) all year," said Gonzaga coach Mark Few. "I always felt like we were the aggressor and we were always, I call it attack mode. And we just ran into a team tonight that was, they were the aggressor, clearly."

Baylor is very much a deserving national champion. Don't think for a second that I'm trying to say or do anything here to devalue or delegitimize what the Bears accomplished. I was expecting a Gonzaga-Baylor national championship game all season long.

But prior to Monday night, Baylor was just a very good team, while Gonzaga was the greatest team in KenPom.com history.

The Bulldogs entered the national championship with an adjusted efficiency margin of +38.13. The next-best team was 2014-15 Kentucky with a rating of +36.91. Next-best after those Wildcats were the 2008 Kansas Jayhawks at +35.21. Beyond that, 2018-19 Virginia at +34.22 and 2001-02 Duke at +34.19.

All excellent teams, but all in Gonzaga's rear-view mirror.

And that makes sense, because even that almost-undefeated Kentucky team had some warts and off nights. Those Wildcats needed overtime to survive each of their first two SEC games and had five other regular-season wins by single digits. Including the NCAA tournament, they were held to 70 or fewer points on 18 occasions.

Even compared to that greatest-in-recent-history Kentucky squad, this Gonzaga team was clearly different and special.

"You really do forget what it's like to lose," Kispert said in the postgame Zoom conference. "And every time it happens, it doesn't feel good. Thankfully I've had not very many of them over my career, whether it's in the regular season or in the tournament."

Twenty-seven consecutive wins by double digits is a feat we almost certainly will not see again.

Prior to the Final Four, Gonzaga's average margin of victory was 23.1 points per game, which is just absurd. The Zags were damn near a full Luka Garza better than their competition every night.

They set the NCAA record for two-point percentage for a season.

Even after getting trounced by 16 points by Baylor, Gonzaga still finished well ahead of the Bears on KenPom and second only to 38-1 Kentucky in the site's history.

To repeat: different and special.

Had they won the game and finished off the undefeated season, there would have been an immediate and furious debate about where Gonzaga belongs in hoops lore. Given how drastically the game has changed in the past few decades since the 1975-76 Indiana Hoosiers last ran the table—better scouting, recruiting and transfers, players leaving early for the NBA, the inherent randomness of the three-point line, more games per season, more NCAA tournament games etc.—I probably would have been leading the charge to crown Gonzaga as the greatest men's college basketball team of all time.

As is, we're left to seriously doubt if we'll ever see a perfect season again.

Then again, up until a few years ago, I had spent most of my life doubting I would even see a team get to the NCAA tournament with a zero in the loss column.

I was barely out of diapers when Jerry Tarkanian led the Runnin' Rebels to the brink of perfection in 1991, and then 23 years passed before Wichita State reeled off 34 consecutive wins to do the unthinkable.

Those Shockers didn't feel like that serious of a threat to win it all, but when Kentucky fell short the following year, it felt like that was going to be the last juggernaut that we ever saw.

But then Gonzaga felt like even more of an inevitable champion this year, and would anyone be all that surprised if they threatened to run the table again next season?

Suggs and Kispert are both all but certain to embark on the next stage of their careers as likely lottery picks. Joel Ayayi might leave for the draft, too. But Timme, Andrew Nembhard and Anton Watson are all likely to return in 2021-22.

They'll be joined by 247Sports top-10 recruit Hunter Sallis and top-60 recruit Kaden Perry. All of 247Sports' recruiting experts believe it's only a matter of time before No. 1 overall recruit Chet Holmgren also chooses the Zags. UNC transfer and former 5-star recruit Walker Kessler could also land at Gonzaga.

Factor in the potential breakout of guys like Julian Strawther, Oumar Ballo or Dominick Harris and there's a good reason the Zags are No. 1 in basically every way-too-early top 25 ranking you can find.

Will they be as good as this year's team was?

Don't bet on it.

However, there's going to be enough talent on that roster to go wire-to-wire as the No. 1 team once again. And maybe next April—after national championship losses in 2017 and 2021—they'll finally be able to bring a title back to Spokane, Washington.

                   

Kerry Miller covers men's college basketball and college football for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter, @kerrancejames.

Jalen Suggs grew up wanting to have his Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade moment, leaping to the top of the scorer's table after coming through in the clutch.

He got his moment Saturday night in the Final Four.

"I've always wanted to run up on the table like Kobe and D-Wade and go like that, and that's the first thing I did," Suggs told reporters after knocking down a buzzer-beating three to give Gonzaga a 93-90 overtime win over UCLA. "Man, that is something that you practice on your mini-hoop as a kid or in the gym just messing around. And to be able to do that, it's crazy."

"I've always wanted to run on the table like Kobe or @DwyaneWade to celebrate."

@JalenSuggs2020 on his EPIC buzzer-beater for @zagmbb #FinalFour pic.twitter.com/RI6FsRd8kh

— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) April 4, 2021

Suggs' on-the-run, pull-up three as time expired will go down as one of the greatest shots in men's NCAA tournament history, to cap off one of the best games in men's NCAA tournament history. Gonzaga and UCLA put on a shot-making clinic, trading back-and-forth blows in a game that seemed like it would never end.

JALEN SUGGS CALLED GAME! 😱@ZagMBB #FinalFour pic.twitter.com/jzfZWU4seE

— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) April 4, 2021

UCLA's Johnny Juzang hit a shot with 3.3 seconds remaining to knot the game at 90 and seemingly set up a second overtime period, but Suggs caught the inbounds pass on the run and dashed up the court before pulling up just inside half court to knock down a bank-shot buzzer-beater.

Suggs immediately kept on running as the shot went through the net and leaped onto the scorer's table as a group of teammates came to mob him. The likely top-five pick had taken a backseat to Drew Timme and Joel Ayayi until that final shot, with both Bulldogs stars finishing with 20-plus points, whereas Suggs had only 13 before his game-winner.

That said, his 14th, 15th and 16th points will go down as the greatest in Gonzaga history.

Next up for the freshman guard and Gonzaga is No. 1 seed Baylor in the title game Monday at 9:20 p.m. ET on CBS.