The first “off” year in some time for the Gonzaga Bulldogs has some prognosticators already writing off their hopes of having another deep run in the NCAA Tournament.
After falling out of the AP Top 25 poll for the first time since 2016, Gonzaga (13-5, 4-1 WCC) was put “on the bubble” to make the NCAA Tournament in the latest ESPN Bracketology update by Joe Lunardi. The Bulldogs can still go dancing by securing the WCC Tournament championship or earning an at-large bid from the selection committee. Without many quality wins on the resume, though, the latter route looks unlikely.
But any negative talk of the team’s postseason chances or its perceived struggles this season doesn’t seem to matter in the eyes of Ryan Nembhard.
“I don’t really hear what people are saying,” Nembhard said. “We’ll be fine throughout the rest of the year if we just take care of business, so I’m not too worried about what everybody has to say. Everybody kind of wants to hate on Gonzaga right now, so we’re cool with that.”