Gonzaga will play Akron in first round of NCAA tournament

So the Zags get Akron in the NCAA tournament. And then maybe Illinois, and if they survive that, perhaps North Carolina.

But more than anything, what Gonzaga faces this week is ... itself.

On Sunday, CBS turned up Gonzaga's name in the bracket for the 11th straight year. The little Spokane school with the twin spires walks with royalty, having moved into fifth place in that echelon of ongoing consistency behind Arizona (25), Kansas (20), Duke (14) and Michigan State (12).

The Zags, seeded fourth, got a better shake in Portland than fellow No. 4 Washington, drawing Akron first (4:25 p.m. Thursday) and then, ostensibly, an Illinois team wounded by a hand injury to premier backcourt defender Chester Frazier that leaves him in doubt for the tournament.

"We're clicking on all cylinders right now," said Gonzaga center Josh Heytvelt Sunday. "I don't think we could be in a better spot, and I don't think we could have a better matchup than this weekend.

"There have been times in the past where we've had seeds that we didn't think we really deserved, but I think we got exactly what we deserved this year."

Of all the Gonzaga squads in this quaint renaissance, this might be the most enigmatic, a club trailing off to non sequiturs and false conclusions.

More than once, I've been told by Gonzaga players this is a far closer team than that of 2007-08. The subtractions from that club were graduated uber-Zag David Pendergraft and selfless Abdullahi Kuso. So you're saying they were "me" guys?

On the floor, by the end of Thanksgiving weekend, the Zags had assembled more than half their tournament résumé in the Old Spice Classic with victories over NCAA-bound Oklahoma State, Maryland and Tennessee.

With that came some anointment as a Final Four contender. The Zags were long on defense and they could throw all sorts of scorers at you at the other end.

Then came the bumps, Arizona and Connecticut, and of all things, Portland State. And Utah on the road.

But just when the Zags looked capable of a full-on crumble, they went to Tennessee and beat the Vols again.

They cruised awhile, and against Memphis, they crashed horribly. But last week in the West Coast Conference tournament, they seemed to have come full circle, playing the way they had to inspire all the hosannas to begin with.

Coach Mark Few takes the long view: The team is 26-5, against a routinely salty nonleague schedule, even if it's a herky-jerky 26-5.

"We've certainly played great over the last 12 or 13 games," he insists. "We played very poorly against Memphis, but Memphis is a very good basketball team. They might be playing better than anybody in the country.

"I think we had reasons for that. We had games stacked up in a row and didn't have time to prepare for them, emotionally or physically."

He sees the December blahs, particularly the comeuppance against Portland State, as a product of "having our hearts broken against Connecticut."

Another basketball man familiar with the team is not as indulgent, perceiving an occasional crack in chemistry and saying of the Zags, "Each of them, in their own little way, [tests] the coach a little."

The testing at the Rose Garden will come from a league that has won five NCAA tournament games this decade. Akron, of the Mid-Atlantic Conference, will defend hard and will fire up threes, probably more than the 22 attempts it averaged. Meanwhile, Few will find himself in the cross hairs of folks who are projecting him into the Oregon job if the Ducks fire Ernie Kent.

"I'm here to coach Gonzaga," he said Sunday night, responding to a question about the Ducks. "That's my main objective. I don't spend time talking about things that aren't even open or available or anything.

"To me, that's just a personal thing between me and my family, and that's about it. I'd rather just talk about the Zags."

They have a shot at staying in the NCAA conversation for a while. In an odd season, successful and susceptible, it's their call.

Bud Withers: 206-464-8281 or bwithers@seattletimes.com