Being a No. 8 seed is a new experience for Gonzaga

BUFFALO, N.Y. — In its 12-season run as a player in the NCAA tournament, Gonzaga has been just about every seed imaginable within its range of credentials: It's been everything from a 2 through a 7 and it's been a 10 and a 12.

But never an 8, until this season — the Zags' lot opposite Florida State in Friday night's first-round game.

However, Gonzaga once was a 9 — essentially the same as an 8, the winner in the crosshairs of a No. 1 seed — and that didn't turn out so badly.

In 2003, the No. 9 Zags faced eighth-seeded Cincinnati and won, pitting them against top seed Arizona in Salt Lake City.

"What a classic game that was," recalled Brian Michaelson, a member of that team and now an administrative assistant for the GU program.

Arizona won, 96-95, in a double-overtime screamer recognized as one of the best ever played in the NCAA tournament. At year's end, Sports Illustrated celebrated it as an occasion in which both teams put forth a supreme effort and neither seemed to lose.

"I would say our mindset was really, really impressive for that game," said Michaelson.

For Zags fans looking for an omen, here are a couple: Like this year, 2003 was one in which Spokane hosted a sub-regional. And if Gonzaga were to survive Buffalo, it would end up back in Salt Lake City.

That's a longshot, but as coach Mark Few points out, the trip to Buffalo isn't a fate unfamiliar to his team. Early in the season, it competed well at Michigan State, won the Maui Invitational, and captured road wins against Illinois (in Chicago) and Memphis.

"Over the course of history," Few said, "we've fared pretty well in this kind of scenario."

The Zags had six road or neutral wins against the RPI top 80. FSU had three.

Moving up?

Zags assistant Ray Giacoletti, the former University of Washington assistant to Bob Bender, and later, head man at Eastern Washington and Utah, has talked to Hawaii officials about their vacancy. Other names centrally in that hunt are Steve McClain, Colorado assistant, and Saint Mary's assistant Kyle Smith.

Meanwhile, Gonzaga aide Leon Rice is expected to be a candidate at Boise State.

And what's more ...

• Inside Gonzaga, they like to point out that the Zags have responded well to defeats this year, never incurring a two-game losing streak.

• AD Mike Roth says Gonzaga sold all 350 of its tickets for this regional, but it's the smallest Zags contingent it will have had in its 12-year NCAA run, owing probably in part to the far-flung site, the economy, and the fact No. 1 seed Syracuse could await later Sunday.

• Freshman Manny Arop, who broke a foot against Loyola Marymount in the West Coast Conference tournament, is on the trip, still wearing a boot he probably won't be able to remove until May 1. "It could have been worse; it could have happened at the first of the year," said Arop, who has played in Buffalo before as a member of Canada's developmental-team academy in Hamilton, Ontario.

• Few's next victory moves him out of a tie with Hank Anderson (1952-72) as the Zags' winningest coach. Anderson was 290-275, while Few is 290-72.