Gonzaga has reached eight Sweet 16s and three Elite Eights, but the Bulldogs have never played in a Final Four. For Xavier those same numbers are, well, exactly the same.
The hoops gods must like coincidences. These are two Jesuit schools 2,000 miles apart whose basketball programs have mirrored each other with an eerie degree of fidelity over the last two decades.
No. 11 Xavier vs. No. 1 Gonzaga
Dan Monson got the ball rolling in Spokane, Washington, with a trip to the 1999 Elite Eight. Mark Few stepped in the following season and has taken it from there.