They’re baaaaaack!

The Gonzaga Bulldogs sent a message to the college-basketball world Wednesday night, announcing emphatically that they are once again legitimate contenders — despite losing last year’s stars, Adam Morrison and J.P. Batista — with a stunning 82-74 upset of North Carolina in the semifinals of the NIT Season Tip-Off at Madison Square Garden in New York.

In Gonzaga’s illustrious history of giant-killing upsets, this one was — in terms of poll ranking, anyway — the biggest in school history. The Tar Heels are ranked #2 in both the AP and coaches’ polls. Gonzaga is #23 in the coaches’ poll and #27 (technically unranked) in the AP poll, but that will undoubtedly change next week… if Gonzaga can beat upstart fellow finalist Butler in the NIT championship game Friday at 7:00 PM EST on ESPN2. (Butler, which previously defeated Notre Dame and Indiana, upset #21 Tennessee in Wednesday’s first semifinal.)

The Zags fell behind 14-2 early, but battled back to take a 40-37 lead into halftime. It was 52-47 with four minutes into the second half, and then Gonzaga went on a 13-2 run to take a 65-49 lead with 12:00 left. Disconcertingly, the Zags nearly blew that lead, bringing back disturbing memories of their choke job against UCLA back in March. Notably, a rapid-succession series of bad decisions and bad shots by Derek Raivio helped the Tar Heels get as close as 70-68. But, unlike against the Bruins last season, Gonzaga held on for the victory.

Two points I want to make. First, Raivio needs to get better. Period. The kid has a huge amount of talent/potential, but frankly, he was a liability for much of last season, and he almost lost us the game tonight. He’s a senior now, and needs to be this team’s leader, which means he can’t suffer massive brain-farts in crucial, potentially game-deciding situations. Granted, 5-for-8 from three-point land is nothing to complain about, but he was dreadful during that near-fatal slump when UNC rallied. No more of that, Derek, I beg of you.

But second, on a more positive note, this is undeniably a HUGE win for the Zags. I saw portions of their games against Rice and Baylor, and they looked good, but it was hard to judge because of the quality of their opposition. I was expecting a loss against UNC, and was just hoping it’d be close. To get a win is amazing, and proves this team has more potential than I think most people realized. They may be Morrison-less and Batista-less, but they’re more balanced and playing better defense. And you know what they say about defense. It wins cha… well, let’s get ahead of ourselves. But the point is, the Zags are good. This has the potential to be a very fun season.

And now for the epic clash of Bulldogs vs. Bulldogs. For me, it’ll be the Friday-evening warm-up to Saturday’s big game. GO ZAGS, BEAT BUTLER!!!