NCAA Tournament Bracketology: Could Gonzaga still play in the Spokane Region?

Here's a look at the teams that are projected to play in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament in Spokane

After a 64-62 loss to Saint Mary's last week, the Gonzaga Bulldogs are out of the NCAA Tournament picture entirely.

The latest ESPN Bracketology update from Joe Lunardi didn't feature Gonzaga (17-6, 8-2 WCC) in the 68-team field or on the bubble in the "first four out" or "next four out" group, where the team hovered for the last few weeks. Considering the Bulldogs are 0-5 in Quad 1 games, their at-large resume doesn't quite live up to the standard of most programs that make the postseason, despite advanced metric sites like KenPom, the NET and Bart Torvik all placing Gonzaga among the top 30 teams in the country.

Computer metrics aside, the current outlook likely means the only ticket to the Big Dance will be earned through the West Coast Conference tournament in Las Vegas in March.

And even if Gonzaga can claim the league's tournament championship and earn an automatic bid, the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee is unlikely to place the Bulldogs in the Spokane Region for the first and second-round games. Instead, a few programs familiar with the Spokane area might be in town from March 22-24.

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Looking at ESPN's bracketology, the Spokane Arena is slated to host a pair of No. 5 vs. No. 12-seed matchups and a pair of No. 4 vs. No. 13-seed games. From the Midwest Region, projected fifth-seed San Diego State and 12th-seeded UC Irvine are matched up in a hypothetical first-round matchup at the Arena. The Aztecs got a win earlier this season in Spokane when they defeated the Bulldogs, 84-74, at The Kennel.

San Diego State also played at the Spokane Arena for the first round of the 2014 NCAA Tournament, when former coach Steve Fisher took the Aztecs to the Sweet 16 before bowing out to Arizona. 

The hypothetical winner of the Aztecs-Anteaters matchup would play either projected 4-seed Iowa State or 13-seed Louisiana Tech. Neither school has played in Spokane before, though Cyclones head coach T.J. Otzelberger was on the coaching staff of the 2017 South Dakota State Jackrabbits who lost to Gonzaga in the first round of the NCAA Tournament that season. Otzelberger was also an assistant at Washington from 2013-15.

For Louisiana Tech, it would be the program's first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1991. Head coach Talvin Hester, now in his second season leading LA Tech, was an assistant coach at Texas Tech when Gonzaga defeated the Red Raiders in a neutral site game in Phoenix during the 2021-22 season. 

From the East Region, the Spokane Arena is projected to host four teams that have all played at least one game in the city — Kentucky, Samford, Dayton and Akron.

The Wildcats' last trip to Spokane resulted in an 88-72 loss to Gonzaga at the Spokane Arena, which was the first of a six-year home-and-home series between the two programs that'll conclude at The Kennel in 2027.

Kentucky's hypothetical opponent in this season's tournament, projected 12-seed Samford, made one trip to Spokane in 1994 to play Gonzaga in the Shootout Spokane event. Gonzaga won 72-70.

In the other section of the bracket, Dayton and Akron would play the hypothetical No. 4 vs. No. 13-seed game. The Flyers were in Spokane for the first round of the 2003 NCAA Tournament, when they lost to 13-seeded Tulsa. The Zips were in town much more recently, as Gonzaga hosted a regular season game against them in 2016 and won 61-43. The two also squared off in the first round of the 2009 NCAA Tournament, in which the Bulldogs won 77-64.

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