It's all about family for the deep and talented Zags

Jeremy Pargo averaged four rebounds and 12 ppg last season. Combine those stats with his boisterous personality, and he is the Zags' heart and soul this season. AP

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SPOKANE, Wash. -- Here in this sleepy town in the Pacific northwest, a basketball hoop still hangs over the driveway of the house where John Stockton grew up on, appropriately enough, Superior Street.

After Stockton graduated from Gonzaga in 1984 and became a star with the Utah Jazz, he purchased a small, three-bedroom house next door. That house would hardly merit a spot on MTV's Cribs, but as Gonzaga coach Mark Few drove me past it last Friday, it provided a snapshot not just of Gonzaga's past, but also its present.

"Do you see Stockton much?" I asked Few.

"Oh, yeah," he replied. "I just got done working out with him."

You see, John Stockton may have graduated from Gonzaga, but he never really went anywhere. The same is true for Gonzaga. In what is truly one of the most remarkable stories in sports, this little Jesuit school that is located in the middle of nowhere and plays in an off-the-beaten-path conference has become one of the most consistent powers in college hoopdom. Sure, every few years a small school catches fire, but normally the flame burns out. Gonzaga, however, has burned through players like Stockton, Dan Dickau, Richie Frahm, Matt Santangelo, Ronny Turiaf and Adam Morrison. Yet, every year it finds players to produce the next spark.

The result is a resume that makes the sport's Goliaths drool: Gonzaga has now reached the NCAA tournament nine consecutive seasons, including three trips to the Sweet Sixteen and one to the Elite Eight. The 2007-08 edition that I watched practice on Friday may not have the singular star that some of Few's earlier teams have had, but it has as much experience and depth as any other team in America. The names may have changed again at Gonzaga, but the winning won't.

Few is the most obvious explanation for that continuity. Now entering his 19th year at Gonzaga (the last nine as head coach), Few has posted a ridiculous 211-52 record. Despite being one of the most sought-after coaches in the game, he has stayed put.

The day after Gonzaga lost to UCLA in the '06 NCAA tourney, Few was essentially offered the Indiana job. You would think that if there was ever an opportunity he'd leave Gonzaga for, it would be Indiana, what with its storied tradition, powerful brand and salary approaching $2 million a year. But the courtship never went beyond that phone call, partly because Few was still grieving over the loss to UCLA.

Few's name has also been bandied about for recent vacancies at Virginia and Arkansas, among others, but nobody has pried him away even for a visit. Last spring, Few's longtime assistant Bill Grier finally took the head job at San Diego because he figured the only way he was going to be a head coach was to leave.

Few's personality is a perfect fit for this school and this town. During Friday's 2 1/2-hour practice, he never raised his voice once. ("I tell my guys, if I have to yell at 'em to get them to play hard, something is wrong.") At one point, in fact, when junior guard Jeremy Pargo was riding 6-10 freshman Austin Daye during a drill, Few said, "Give him a break, Jeremy." After practice, Few invited me to his magnificent home, which is situated on 10 acres and provides a sweeping backyard view of the city. When his wife, Marcy, called him on the ride home, Few's cell phone rang the tune of Jimmy Buffet's "Margaritaville."

"How old are you?" I asked him.

"Forty-four," he replied. "How old are you?"

"Thirty-seven."

"Well, you have gray hairs and I don't."

To watch Few arrive home at six o'clock, eat dinner with his family and play tackle football in the basement with his three young kids is to understand why he has never left. "My quality of life is at an alltime high," he told me. "This is certainly where my family wants to live. And at the end of the day, I want to win."

The family values, the passion for winning -- it all bleeds through the program. While some coaches pride themselves on arriving at their desks at the crack of dawn, Few and his assistants sometimes might not get in until 9:30 because they have to drop off their kids at school.

The players hang out together and organize informal workouts at all hours of the day. Each player has a card key to get into the arena as well as a second key to turn on the lights. "Sometimes, if I can't sleep, I'll come in here at three in the morning and get up shots," sophomore guard Matt Bouldin told me. "A lot of times guys will sleep in the locker room because they don't feel like going back to their rooms."

Bouldin, who turned down offers from UConn, Texas, Boston College, Cal and Notre Dame to play here, is a perfect illustration of why Gonzaga has maintained its remarkable success. "I've been a part of winning programs my whole life. I wanted to come to a place where that was going to continue," he said. "A lot of it also has to do with this area. They breathe basketball around here. I mean, the other day the students were lining up six hours ahead of time to buy tickets to an exhibition game."

Now, Few has brought in what many are calling his finest recruiting class. Daye, 6-4 guard Steven Gray and 7-foot center Robert Sacre were ranked 25th, 61st and 96th, respectively, in their class by Rivals.com. Juco transfer Ira Brown is a 25-year-old, 6-foot-4 former minor-league pitcher who is built like a linebacker. Yet, given how many good players Few has in his stable, not only won't the new guys have a huge impact, but also some of them will have problems getting playing time.

Of course, the only thing this program has not done is get to the Final Four. I wouldn't predict that will happen this year, but sometimes when a program like this keeps knocking on the door, it is the unlikely team that finally breaks through. If the Zags do fall short of San Antonio, however, the locals can take heart that they'll have another shot next year. This is, after all, Gonzaga, where next year is always just a year away.

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