Houston-Gonzaga set for Final Four-style showdown in the NCAA Tournament's opening weekend

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — It's hardly hyperbole to say Houston-Gonzaga is a matchup that could just as easily be played in the Final Four as the second round of the NCAA Tournament, which is exactly where the college basketball titans will meet Saturday night. That's because four years ago, the Cougars and Bulldogs were in the Final Four together. That was the year the NCAA Tournament was played in a COVID-19-induced bubble in Indianapolis. Baylor ultimately ended both of their runs, beating Houston in the national semifinals and then defeating Gonzaga in the championship game. "They're what every program aspires to be, have that consistency year to year," Cougars coach Kelvin Sampson said Friday, one day after the No. 1 seed in the Midwest Region romped to a 78-40 victory over SIU Edwardsville in the first round. The eighth-seeded Bulldogs had a similarly easy time dispatching No. 9 seed Georgia, 89-68. "From afar, I've always admired them and respected them," Sampson continued. "When you're playing Gonzaga, you are playing one of the elite programs in the history of the game, and I really mean that. That's the truth." It wasn't always that way. Sampson remembers taking over Washington State in the late 1980s, back when it was among the Pac-10's worst jobs. The program at Gonzaga, about 90 minutes away in Spokane, wasn't much better. Eventually, Sampson got that bunch of Cougars rolling, just as Dan Fitzgerald and later Dan Monson were doing the same with the Bulldogs. "And then Mark Few came in," Sampson recalled, "and now all these years later, he's one of the best coaches in the game." Since taking over for the 1999-2000 season, Few has won at least 25 games in all but two seasons. Never has he failed to make the NCAA Tournament. And with a win over the Cougars, Gonzaga would set a record — post-1985, when the bracket expanded to 64 teams — by advancing to the Sweet 16 for the 10th consecutive season. "They have a winning culture, just like we do, and throughout the years their records show that," Houston guard Emanuel Sharpe said. "We're consistent with our effort throughout the years, and teaching the young guys our culture and keeping that alive, and it looks like they do the same." There are a lot of folks who thought Gonzaga deserved a better seed on Selection Sunday, which in turn could have pushed a matchup with Houston into next weekend. For one thing, the Bulldogs were eighth in the NET, a formula the selection committee supposedly takes into consideration when it draws up the NCAA Tournament field. "We don't even look at it like that," Few said. "Once the tournament comes out, all the speculation of where you're going to get seeded and all that — I think as you get older, you're like, 'Whatever.' You're going to have to play good teams or hot teams or even scarier than that, really, really lucky teams if you win and advance in this thing." Gonzaga is getting all of those things in one Saturday night: The Cougars are good, boasting one of the nation's best defenses. They are hot, having won 14 straight games. And they are a little bit lucky that the sprained ankle that J'Wan Roberts sustained in the Big 12 Tournament turned out to be relatively mild, allowing the big man to play this week. "It's easy to see Houston on your side of the bracket and know if you win Thursday you have to play Saturday," Gonzaga's Ben Gregg said. "We're ready for this matchup. And we're excited for it." What might have been If only UCLA had paid Rick Barnes' buyout of about $5 million in April 2019, he might be coaching the Bruins these days. Instead, the Tennessee coach will face them for a spot in the Sweet 16 on Saturday night in Lexington, Kentucky. Barnes said it was an honor that UCLA called him, and he credited the Vols' president for making a commitment to him during the negotiations at the time. On Saturday, he underscored how blessed he feels to still be coaching at Tennessee. "I'm glad it worked out for UCLA, too," Barnes said, "because the people I met with were wonderful people and again, I don't think there's any question they made the right hire." That would be Mick Cronin, whom UCLA hired instead, and who will be standing on the other sideline Saturday night. My time, Dad Purdue guard Myles Colvin has experienced a homecoming of sorts playing NCAA Tournament games in Providence, Rhode Island. His father, Rosevelt, played linebacker for 10 seasons in the NFL, including the final six for the New England Patriots, with whom he won Super Bowl rings in 2004 and '05. Myles, in his second season with the Boilermakers, doesn't have that kind of hardware yet, and he scored just four points in the No. 4 seed Boilermakers' first-round win over High Point. But he said there's no question who is the family's best athlete. "I have to go with myself," Myles said. "Always bet on yourself." Rest of the Midwest One set of regional semifinals at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis next week will be set on Saturday night. Houston and Gonzaga face off in Wichita with the winner playing McNeese or Purdue, who meet in Providence, Rhode Island. But the other semifinals will have to wait. UCLA and Tennessee will decide one participant Saturday night in Lexington, Kentucky, but the other won't be decided until Sunday, when the winners of Troy-Kentucky and Xavier-Illinois meet.