LAS VEGAS — A hint that this season might be different for Gonzaga’s basketball team came early, when it was thumped by Tennessee in a scrimmage. There have been other periodic reminders: getting walloped by Texas and pounded by Purdue, and losing at home to Loyola Marymount, which ended the Zags’ 75-game home winning streak.
And then there was Tuesday night, when Gonzaga ran out to face St. Mary’s in the West Coast Conference championship game dressed in its road blues, signifying it was the lower seed.
But just as it nears another N.C.A.A. men’s basketball tournament, the stage on which Gonzaga long ago made its national name, the Zags delivered a timely reminder — to the tournament selection committee and others — that they should never be discounted in March.