2008-09 Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball team

The 2008–09 Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball team is currently representing Gonzaga University

Gonzaga University

Gonzaga University is a private Roman Catholic university located in Spokane, Washington, United States. Founded in 1887 by the Society of Jesus, it is one of 28 member institutions of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities and is named after the young Jesuit saint, Aloysius Gonzaga...

in NCAA

National Collegiate Athletic Association

The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...

men's Division I competition

College basketball

College basketball most often refers to the USA basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association . Basketball in the NCAA is divided into three divisions: Division I, Division II and Division III....

. The Bulldogs, also nicknamed the Zags, have emerged in recent years as a legitimate national power despite playing in the mid-major

Mid-major

Mid-major is a term used in American Division I college sports, to refer to athletic conferences that are not among the major six conferences...

West Coast Conference

The West Coast Conference is an NCAA collegiate athletics conference consisting of nine member schools across the states of California, Oregon, Utah and Washington....

, having appeared in every NCAA tournament

NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship

The NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship is a single-elimination tournament held each spring in the United States, featuring 68 college basketball teams, to determine the national championship in the top tier of college basketball...

since their 1999

1999 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament

The 1999 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 11, 1999, and ended with the championship game on March 29 at Tropicana Field in St....

run to the West Regional finals.

This edition of the Zags was highly touted as one, if not the best, Gonzaga teams of all time. Gonzaga is also scheduled to have one of their toughest schedules ever, by playing teams like Oklahoma State, Maryland, Tennessee (on two occasions), Arizona, Washington State, Portland State, Connecticut, Utah, Memphis, and St. Mary's. Also by being ranked in the top 10, and winning their first seven games, Gonzaga improved their all-time regular-season record to 53–2, while ranked in the top 10, their only two losses being to then #3 Connecticut in a Maui Invitational Championship game, and #4 Memphis. During the course of the season Gonzaga lost to unranked Arizona and Portland State, Arizona becoming the first team to beat Gonzaga as an unranked team while "the Zags" were ranked in the top 10 during the regular season, as well as #2 Connecticut, making UConn the first team to beat Gonzaga twice under these circumstances, Gonzaga's current record while ranked in the top 10 during the regular season is now 54–5. During the streak of losing to #2 UConn in overtime, Portland State, and Utah, Gonzaga lost three games in a row for only the second time in eight years.

The Zags, however, would recover in conference play, becoming one of only two men's teams in NCAA Division I to finish the 2008–09 regular season unbeaten in conference play—the other being Memphis in Conference USA

Conference USA

Conference USA, officially abbreviated C-USA, is a college athletic conference whose member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports...

. They punched their ticket to the NCAA Tournament

2009 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament

The first and second round games were played at the following sites:First and Second Rounds: Thursday and Saturday, March 19 and 21, 2009-Qualifying teams:-Brackets:Results to date * – Denotes overtime periodAll times in U.S. EDT....

by crushing Saint Mary's

Saint Mary's College of California

Saint Mary's College of California is a private, coeducational college located in Moraga, California, United States, a small suburban community about east of Oakland and 20 miles east of San Francisco. It has a 420-acre campus in the Moraga hills. It is affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church...

83–58 in the WCC Tournament final

2009 West Coast Conference Men's Basketball Tournament

The 2009 West Coast Conference Men's Basketball Tournament took place March 6–9, 2009 at Orleans Arena in , just outside Las Vegas. This was the first WCC tournament to have been held at a neutral site; it previously rotated between various campus sites...

. Going into the NCAA Tournament, their only loss since New Year's Day was to Memphis, considered a potential #1 seed in the "Big Dance" and ultimately a #2 seed.

Roster

Recruits

Demetri Goodson

6'0"/175 guard from Klein, Texas
Klein, Texas
Klein is an unincorporated community in the extraterritorial jurisdiction of Houston within north Harris County, Texas, United States, bordering on Houston to the South and Tomball to the North. It is named after Adam Klein, a German immigrant whose best-known great-great-grandson is singer Lyle...

Grant Gibbs

6'5"/175 guard from Marion, Iowa
Marion, Iowa
Marion is a city in Linn County, Iowa, United States. The population was 26,294 at the 2000 census and was estimated at 32,172 in 2007. The city is part of the Cedar Rapids Metropolitan Statistical Area.- History :...

Andy Poling

6'10"/200 forward from Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...

Schedule

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!colspan=9| 2008 Old Spice Classic

Old Spice Classic

The Old Spice Classic is an annual college basketball tournament played over Thanksgiving weekend. The inaugural tournament was held November, 23, 24, and 26, 2006. The tournament is played at the HP Field House at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida. In the current format, the...

2009 West Coast Conference Men's Basketball Tournament

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!colspan=9| NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament

2009 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament

Roster

Recruits

Schedule

See also