Mark Few didn’t expect perfection from his Gonzaga team. He was correct, but the Bulldogs weren’t too far off.

“I didn’t think we were going to go undefeated this year, playing the schedule we have,” the head coach said after a win over Kansas State on Dec. 15, Gonzaga’s first game since its loss to Illinois a week earlier. “I’m not going to make any proclamations, but we got back to getting our feet under us (tonight).”

Following the Bulldogs’ win over Portland on Saturday, Gonzaga (29-2, 16-0 West Coast Conference) became the first team in the 61-year history of the conference to finish the regular season undefeated in league play. Led by the stellar performance of forward Kelly Olynyk, the Bulldogs cruised to their 10th outright WCC title, winning their league games by an average of 19.4 points per game.

And with then-No. 1 Indiana’s loss to Minnesota on Tuesday, Gonzaga’s 12-game winning streak has propelled the Bulldogs to the program’s first ever No. 1 ranking in Monday’s Associated Press Top 25 poll.

Prior to dropping the 11-point home decision to Illinois in early December, the Zags started the season 9-0 and elevated to No. 10 in the polls from their preseason No. 21 rank. After the loss, Gonzaga won 20 of 21, dropping only a heartbreaker at the buzzer to then-No. 13 Butler on Jan. 19 in what some consider the best nonconference matchup of the year.

“We played every game with a huge bull’s eye on our chest, and we played pretty darn well in almost all of them,” Few told reporters. “They’ve been really, really focused. We’ve been so consistent with our effort and preparation. That’s the most impressive thing about it.”

Outstanding performances from Olynyk throughout the season thrust him into contention for WCC Player of the Year while spearheading the Bulldogs’ surge to the top.

After a year of redshirting to develop, the 7-foot forward ranks best in the WCC and third in the nation with a 66.8 field-goal percentage. Olynyk’s efficiency has helped the fourth-year junior – who played guard growing up – to an average of 17.7 points per game, good for fourth in the conference.

“He’s a smart player, one that can hurt you in a lot of different ways – passing, driving and scoring,” Few said after the victory over Kansas State. “I think that’s probably the biggest thing — he went from a guy who loved to just play out there on the perimeter to a guy who is seven feet tall and can use those skills down low.”

In 12 of Gonzaga’s games, the British Columbia native attempted 10 or more field goals. In eight of those 12 contests, Olynyk converted more than 50 percent of his shots while never shooting under 41.7 percent from the field in those games.

On Feb. 16, Olynyk led the Bulldogs to a 10-point win at San Francisco, scoring 26 points on a 13-of-17 shooting performance – an economical 76.5 percent. After facing Gonzaga twice this season, San Francisco head coach Rex Walters told reporters Olynyk is an “absolute pro” and NBA lottery pick – the first time he’s ever said that about a WCC player, he said.

But even a game of that caliber didn’t live up to Olynyk’s showcase more than a month earlier. At Santa Clara on Jan. 5, he dropped a career-high 33 points in Gonzaga’s seven-point victory, converting 12-of-15 shots from the field for a phenomenal 80-percent clip.

“I knew, in this game, especially, that I was feeling good about myself,” Olynyk told reporters after the game. “My confidence was really high and I knew I was going to make plays if my team needed me to.”

After Few acknowledged on Saturday what a No. 1 ranking would mean for Gonzaga’s program, he downplayed its overall significance.

Instead, he pointed to the postseason – starting with the WCC tournament opener on Wednesday in Las Vegas – as the time when his Bulldogs want to be named the top dogs.

“I don’t think we’re too caught up in what number we’re at or what we’re seeded,” Few told reporters Saturday. “We’re just going to go play. We’re going to go down to Vegas to try to win the thing. We’re going to go into the NCAA Tournament trying to win the thing.”

Published on March 5, 2013 at 1:12 am

Contact Phil: [email protected] | @PhilDAbb