Mike Roth on the pressure Gonzaga faced last season: ‘People wrote us off early’

The former Bulldogs' AD joined Gonzaga Nation for a special episode

Photo by Erik Smith, Myk Crawford

Mike Roth has seen just about every memorable moment for the Gonzaga men’s basketball program, both as the school’s former athletic director and now as a fan.

Some of the more recent moments come to mind first — Julian Strawther’s go-ahead 3-pointers against BYU in the regular season and against UCLA in the Sweet 16 later that same season are hard to forget. Other moments, like Jordan Matthews’ clutch triple against West Virginia in the Sweet 16 that helped propel the Bulldogs to their first Final Four, were more emotional than others given the magnitude of the moment. The program’s next trip to the 2021 Final Four had a bittersweet touch to it since there weren’t many fans in the stands to enjoy.

As for the 2023-24 team, it’ll be remembered most for the adversity it overcame when the going got tough.

“People wrote us off early,” Roth said. “You know, ‘are they going to even get to the tournament?’ And then, our ninth straight Sweet 16 or better. No one's got that run going, just us.”

Some notable analysts and bracketology experts had the Zags on the outside of their projected NCAA Tournament field after the team’s fifth loss of the season in January, a crushing 77-76 loss to Santa Clara on the road. The defeat knocked Gonzaga out of the AP Top 25 for the first time in a while, which was enough for some outsiders to write off any chance of making the NCAA Tournament given that there were few quality opponents left on the schedule.

And yet, after a lineup change and some time to gel together, the Zags started stacking up wins in West Coast Conference play. They went into Rupp Arena in February and came out with a victory over then-No. 17 Kentucky, followed by road wins over San Francisco and Saint Mary’s to close the regular season.

Gonzaga won 14 of its final 16 games heading into Selection Sunday. A team that had been on the outside looking had turned things around to earn a No. 5 seed from the selection committee.

Roth shared stories of Mark Few’s early days as Gonzaga’s head coach, what makes the university and Spokane special and so much more on a new Gonzaga Nation episode.

WATCH THE FULL EPISODE BELOW:

Produced by Thomas Gallagher.

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