From Arizona to UCLA, here are 5 programs Gonzaga should add to its schedule

College basketball fans need these matchups every year

Anytime, anywhere. 

That’s essentially the message Mark Few and the Gonzaga men’s basketball program send when assembling their non-conference schedule. As the mid-major’s prowess in the college basketball landscape has grown since its Cinderella days, so has the level of competition — neutral site matchups, in-season tournaments and even closed-door scrimmages against the nation’s bluebloods are a yearly occurrence at this point.

It’s necessary given the competition in the West Coast Conference, as Few prepares his team for the NCAA Tournament with top-25 matchups throughout November and December. Home-and-home series are a way of essentially guaranteeing such high-profile games on a yearly basis while giving fanbases something to look forward to as well.

As of now, Gonzaga has an ongoing home-and-home series with Kentucky and national champion runner-up San Diego State. Few and John Calipari struck a six-year deal that’ll see their programs face off in Lexington, Kentucky this season, while the Zags and Aztecs have a two-year agreement that’ll start with a matchup in Spokane this fall. The entire 2023-24 nonconference schedule is loaded, but going forward, there’s plenty of potential to bring top-tier programs to the Inland Northwest over the coming years.

Here are some programs that’d make for a riveting home-and-home series:

Arizona

Former Gonzaga men's basketball assistant coach Tommy Lloyd and head coach Mark Few / Photo by Darren Yamashita, USA TODAY Sports

The storylines write themselves. The “master vs. apprentice” aspect of coach Few facing his former prodigy in Arizona’s Tommy Lloyd, who has built a basketball oasis in the desert since taking the head coaching job in the spring of 2021. Two of the best hoops programs on the West Coast battling for regional supremacy.

Coaching relationships aside, the Zags and Wildcats already have a budding rivalry formed. They’ve matched up six times over a seven-year span from 2014-2020, including a home-and-home series that saw Arizona edge out two narrow victories in 2015 and 2016. Gonzaga has had the upper hand as of late, taking the last three matchups (two neutral, one away).

It feels imminent that these two powerhouses will square off again sometime soon — maybe not as Big 12 rivals, but in the NCAA Tournament perhaps.

UCLA

Julian Strawther shoots a game-winning three point basket against the UCLA Bruins in Las Vegas, NV / Photo by Joe Camporeale, USA TODAY Sports

A reenergized rivalry between the Zags and Bruins has delivered nothing but late-game drama on the game’s biggest stages. The 17-point comeback that left Adam Morrison heartbroken in the 2006 Sweet 16. Jalen Suggs’ buzzer-beater 15 years later in front of cardboard cutouts. And most recently, Julian Strawther’s deep go-ahead 3-pointer in the waning seconds of last season’s Sweet 16 added another memorable chapter in the Gonzaga-UCLA lore.

Recent success over the Bruins gives Gonzaga a 6-2 edge in the all-time head-to-head series, though six of those meetings have come on neutral site floors. UCLA won’t be in the Pac-12 anymore, but its Big Ten affiliation shouldn’t prevent two West Coast powerhouses from arranging a home-and-home series within the next few seasons.

Duke

Anton Watson defends against Duke Blue Devils forward Paolo Banchero in Las Vegas, NV / Photo by Stephen R. Sylvanie, USA TODAY Sports

Far-fetched sure, however, it feels wrong that two of the winningest programs over the last two decades have only met four times on neutral site courts. The Zags and Blue Devils, a combined 49 NCAA Tournament wins and 10 Elite Eight appearances since 2012, are two of the biggest brands in the sport that always garners the full attention of the college basketball world.

A whopping 2.8 million viewers, with a peak audience of 3.1 million, watched Paolo Banchero and the Blue Devils squeak out a three-point win over Chet Holmgren and the Zags in the most recent matchup in 2021 down in Las Vegas. It was the most-watched regular-season college basketball game on any network since March 9, 2019, according to ESPN.

Three years prior, Gonzaga’s thrilling 89-87 win over the Zion Williamson-led Duke squad in the Maui Invitational was viewed by 2.4 million. College basketball fans can’t seem to get enough of this matchup, and it might be time to give two of the most passionate fanbases more of it.

The Kennel and Cameron Indoor are considered two of the best atmospheres in college basketball, according to a 2022 CBS poll of 100 coaches.

Tennessee

Tennessee Volunteers head coach Rick Barnes and Gonzaga Bulldogs head coach Mark Few / Photo by Chris Jones, USA TODAY Sports

The relationship between coach Few and Vols head coach Rick Barnes goes back two decades, when the former was still an assistant at Gonzaga and the latter was in his fourth year at Clemson. The two clicked ever since, and that friendship has sparked many unofficial preseason scrimmages from Barnes’ time with Texas (1999-2015) and Tennessee. Maybe it’s time to take this relationship to the next level?

Barnes has turned Rocky Top into a perennial NCAA Tournament team in the stacked SEC, with three appearances in the last four years and a conference tournament championship win in 2022. The Vols picked apart the Zags in a preseason scrimmage last year, though three of the four official meetings have gone to coach Few.

Gonzaga has only been to Knoxville, Tennessee, once while the Vols have never traveled to Spokane — it’s time that changed.

BYU

BYU forward Fousseyni Traore shoots the ball against Gonzaga Bulldogs guard Nolan Hickman / Photo by James Snook, USA TODAY Sports

No one from Spokane to Provo, Utah, wants to see this rivalry go away. Just because the Cougars left the WCC for greener pastures in the Big 12 doesn’t mean that Gonzaga and BYU can’t work out a home-and-home series arrangement for the future.

The numbers indicate it’s a one-sided rivalry, with Gonzaga owning a 24-6 head-to-head record since 2011 (when BYU joined the WCC) but the Cougars have had their share of moments over the last decade. They’re the only team to beat the Zags three straight times in the Kennel, doing so in 2015, 2016 and 2017 (the last two were vacated by the NCAA due to a scandal involving BYU guard Nick Emery). In 2020, the Cougars knocked off the second-ranked Zags on senior night, which would be the program’s last win in the series.

The rivalry went even further in January 2022 when former Cougar big man Caleb Lohner said “Everyone hates Gonzaga, so it’ll be a lot of fun to play them” prior to playing the Zags in Spokane later in the week. What ensued was a rain of boos and chants directed at Lohner from the minute he stepped onto the Kennel floor for warm-ups. Lohner, who finished with 17 points in the loss, said he enjoyed the attention even if he wasn’t expected it in such force.

In the last meeting in Provo, Strawther ripped the hearts out of all Cougars fans when he delivered a go-ahead 3-pointer in the final seconds of Gonzaga’s 75-74 win in Provo. If the rivalry isn’t restored soon, at least Zags fans will have that to look back on in what was one of the defining rivalries in the WCC.