As soon as the West Region (or, more aptly, Gonzaga’s region) was announced three Sundays ago, it was widely tipped as an easy path for the No. 1 overall seed. To be fair, Mark Few’s Zags have beaten all comers. They’ve often made things look pretty simple, drubbing Creighton by 18 points to earn their Elite Eight bid. On paper, for the best team in the country, what draw wouldn’t have felt like a cakewalk?
Not for nothing, what few saw coming was USC’s emergence as the most frightening defensive team in the tournament, and a potentially capable match for the undefeated Bulldogs.