Zags headed for a place Few have gone
INDIANAPOLIS » The weight of the line, not the lure, unspools the reel. The timing, the rhythm whisk the fly back and forth before it lands in the desired spot.
The physical act takes a mental approach, of knowing the type of hatch for the season, the riffles where the fish like to feed.
Mark Few understood none of this when he first picked up a pole. His idea of fishing back then was to attach a blob of Magic Bait and drop it beneath a bobber.
In the years since, Few has transformed himself into a skilled fly fisherman through wits and will.
He’s molded Gonzaga basketball in a similar manner, amalgamating mind and body into an offensive juggernaut.
“They’re both kind of an artform,” former Gonzaga and current Long Beach State coach Dan Monson said. “He’s a very accomplished fly fisherman, but he didn’t start out that way. And this whole program, his offense, everything has been an evolution of 20 years, kind of brick-by-brick building.”
Gonzaga enters the final weekend of the college basketball season on the cusp of history. The Bulldogs are two wins from becoming Division I’s first undefeated team since the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers.
They’ve gotten here with an offense that’s evolved into a hardwood orchestra through years of honing, talented parts fusing to make beautiful basketball music.
Gonzaga’s offense has been unlike anything college basketball has seen in decades, maybe ever. The Zags (300) led the nation in scoring by more than six points per game and have yet to be tested, winning a Division I-record 27 straightby double figures.
They’ve mauled four straight opponents in the NCAA Tournament to reach the Final Four for the second time in five years. Beat UCLA on Saturday and they’ll play for a national championship and a chance at history.
“It’s so cool to see it go from ground zero all the way up to where it is,” Few said.
Few has been the engineer, turning a small Jesuit school in eastern Washington into a national powerhouse by thinking big and refusing to shrink from his convictions.