Only one ranked team played Thursday. It was Gonzaga. And, as you possibly already know, the Zags played without Braden Huff, their second-leading scorer, because, earlier in the day, the school announced he’ll be sidelined for four-to-eight weeks with a left knee injury suffered in a recent practice.
Big blow, obviously.
“We didn’t have much time to feel sorry for ourselves,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said following his team’s 86-65 win at Washington State. “That’s something that I’m very, very proud of this group. It was a really, really, really great win for us; go on the road, play a team that was playing some of the best basketball they played this year. And to do it without not only one of our best players, one of the best players in the league, one of the best players out West, I think one of the better players in the country, so that’s a lot to have to absorb in 24 hours. The guys were great, absolutely great.”
The Zags are at least 25 spots better at KenPom.com than everybody else in the West Coast Conference, at least 43 spots better than everybody other than Saint Mary’s, and at least 95 spots better than everybody other than Saint Mary’s and San Francisco. In other words, Huff’s injury likely won’t impact Gonzaga’s record much, if at all. But, again, the stated timeline from school officials is four-to-eight weeks, and eight weeks from Wednesday is March 12.
The WCC title game is March 10. Selection Sunday is March 15.
No coach with a team good enough to win a national championship, as Gonzaga clearly is, wants to have to reacclimate a big piece — Huff is averaging 17.8 points and 5.6 rebounds in 25.4 minutes per contest — to the rotation heading into a single-elimination tournament. It’s not impossible, but it can be challenging. So here’s hoping Huff’s return is closer to four weeks than eight, that way he’ll have a string of games to get comfortable again before the Zags participate in what will be a 27th straight NCAA Tournament.
Gonzaga is No. 8 in Friday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings, where Arizona remains No. 1 for the fifth consecutive day. Next up for the Zags is Saturday’s game at Seattle.
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