It has been almost a decade since the Gonzaga Bulldog’s women’s basketball team has made it to the Sweet 16 in March Madness. There have been a couple of ill-fated early upsets, a couple of dreaded No. 9 seeds, and a global pandemic in the middle of it all.
Coming into the 2023-24 season, with an incredibly experienced roster, the Zags are fit to make as good of a push as any into a deeper NCAA Tournament run.
Gonzaga returns virtually every single piece of the last year’s team, minus McKayla Williams, who transferred to Cal over the offseason. Last year’s team was the top three-point shooting squad in the nation, thanks to Brynna Maxwell, and ran a fine-tuned efficient machine on both the offense and defensive ends.
Ultimately, injuries took a toll with the Zags throughout the season. Bree Salenbien sat the entire year recovering from an ACL injury. Kayleigh Truong only appeared in 10 games. Maud Huijbens logged just 13 appearances as she dealt with a concussion.
The result was a much more limited rotation than head coach Lisa Fortier normally employs. Kalynne Truong and Williams both averaged over 30 minutes per game, the first time any player has done so on a Fortier coached squad since Elle Tinkle in the 2015-16 season.
Losing Williams on the wing hurts–she was the team’s best defender, but the Zags have the personnel to offset that loss, and Fortier can once again return to a deep bench without a significant drop in skill/talent from the starting five to the bench.
There is a chip on the shoulder element here. We cannot sugar coat that the Zags were absolutely pasted in their NCAA first round loss to Mississippi to close out the year. But they also finished ranked No. 16 in the final AP Poll. Those same AP voters, when presented with a team that is returning everyone, thought otherwise to open the season. The Zags aren’t even in the top 25–just earning votes.
There is a huge reason to be excited, despite what the voters thing. Yvonne Ejim, Brynna Maxwell, and Kaylynne Truong were all named to the 2024 Becky Hammon Mid-major Player of the Year Award Watchlist–the first time three players from a single school have made the cut in the same list.
There is talent on this team, there is experience on this team, and there are a lot of quality games on the non-conference schedule. Do yourself a favor and tune in. Otherwise, you are missing out.