There have now been 43 games in college basketball history between the teams ranked first and second in the Associated Press Top 25 poll. Most of them are competitive. The latest was not.
It was a Tuesday night beatdown from start to finish.
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“We got exposed by a great team,” said UCLA coach Mick Cronin. I suppose that’s possibly true. But, remember, UCLA beat an obviously good Villanova team just two weeks ago, so I’m not sure the Bruins got exposed as much as they simply ran into the best team in the country that seems capable of doing this to basically anybody.
What. A. Performance.
The Zags led 29-8 just 10 minutes after tipoff and made 13 of their first 18 shots en route to shooting 56.0% from the field for the game. They led by as many as 24 points and were never threatened while holding UCLA to just 34.8% shooting. Andrew Nembhard finished with 24 points, six assists and five rebounds. Drew Timme added 18 points and eight rebounds. And Chet Holmgren contributed 15 points, six rebounds, four blocks and an incredible coast-to-coast highlight that showed all of the reasons he might be the No. 1 pick of the 2022 NBA Draft.
Bottom line, here’s the truth: Gonzaga has now played two preseason top-five teams and completely overwhelmed both of them with literally zero issues. It honestly looks a lot like last season, when the Zags destroyed the likes of Kansas, Auburn, Iowa and Virginia before finishing the regular season undefeated. Considering it’s not even Thanksgiving, it would be a little premature to suggest they’ll do that again, if only because Gonzaga will have to — unlike last season — play true road games in hostile environments in a much-improved West Coast Conference that currently has as many teams ranked in the top 45 at KenPom as the ACC, Big East and Pac-12. That’s tricky.
But anybody completely dismissing the possibility of another undefeated regular season isn’t using their eyeballs because this team — which remains No. 1 in Wednesday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings — is obviously special like last season’s team was special and the clear favorite to win the 2022 NCAA Tournament.
Ivan Ivan, Evan Vierling, Logan Dowhaniuk and Aidan De La Gorgendiere are among the CHL overage players being eyed by NHL teams, according to Sportsnet’s Jeff Marek.
Ivan, a 20-year-old centre with the QMJHL’s Cape Breton Eagles, scored 33 goals and 90 points in 64 games this season. The native of Ostrava, Czechia, is being pursued by six teams, according to Marek.
Vierling, a centre from Aurora, Ont., is also particularly intriguing.
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“[He] was once upon a time a draft pick of the New York Rangers [and] didn’t assign,” Marek said during Saturday’s 32 Thoughts segment on Hockey Night in Canada. “Tearing up the OHL [with] 95 points for the Barrie Colts. Went to Columbus [Blue Jackets] camp last season — they almost signed him. He’ll get picked up this year for sure.”
Dowhaniuk, a defenceman, was traded to the WHL’s Moose Jaw Warriors from the Edmonton Oil Kings in December. He potted four goals and 17 points in 39 games for the Saskatchewan club.
De La Gorgendiere, also a defenceman, enjoyed a strong season with the Saskatoon Blades, scoring 12 goals and 65 points in 65 games. His 155 career points with the Blades ties him with Wendel Clark for tenth in all-time points by a defenceman in team history.
