Gonzaga Men Tie NCAA Record with 5th Exit as 1-Seed

It’s another lost season for Mark Few’s Gonzaga.

On Thursday, the Bulldogs crashed out with a 74-68 defeat to Arkansas in the Sweet Sixteen. Once again, the best team in the country by most metrics — and the overall top seed in the men’s tournament — hasn’t delivered the school its first national championship.

The defeat was Gonzaga’s fifth time entering the tournament as a 1-seed and failing to win a title — which ties Oklahoma for the most in NCAA history.

• During Few’s 23 seasons at the helm, the Bulldogs have reached two Final Fours, four Elite Eights, and 11 Sweet 16s.
• They were ranked No. 1 wire-to-wire in 2020-21 but were blown out by Baylor in their second-ever title game appearance.
• Few hasn’t won a title despite the best career winning percentage (.836) among Division I coaches (min. 10 seasons).

Perhaps most shocking was Gonzaga’s lack of offense — the Bulldogs led the nation in scoring (87.2 PPG) behind projected NBA first-rounders Drew Timme and Chet Holmgren.

Timme scored a game-high 25 points but led the team with five turnovers, while Holmgren went scoreless in the first half and fouled out with 11 points.

Few still earns around $3 million per season with an estimated net worth of $12 million — but his legacy is nothing without a title.