For most of the last two decades, the Gonzaga Bulldogs have been the darlings of the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

In part because their fans travel well, and in part due to their “underdog” status, the Zags have largely been the crowd favorites, especially when they've been assigned to a site in the West for the first and second rounds.

But that all changed in 2013, when Gonzaga showed up in Salt Lake City for the first weekend of play. The Zags had just recently been voted No. 1 in the nation, and were a No. 1 seed in the NCAAs. But as the Zags were trying to hang on in each of their first two games, many of the fans, as often happens at these “neutral site” events, began to root for the underdog — and this time, it wasn't Gonzaga.

This in an arena where perhaps the most famous Zag of all laced them up for the Jazz for nearly two decades.

“It was people wanting to see the underdog win,” said Matt Santangelo, a former star point guard at Gonzaga, and now a radio analyst for Zags games. “It was kind of like where this program started, as the crowd favorite. So all the casual fans, once the game got dicey against Southern in the Round of 64 game, then Wichita State in the Round of 32 game, all the casual fans wanted to see an upset. What you thought was going to be a pro-Gonzaga crowd, when those games got tight, and the blood in the water happened, both of those games kinda turned. They started to root for Gonzaga's opponent ... in a city and in a region that should be pro-Gonzaga.”

GONZAGA IS projected to end up in Salt Lake again this week as a No. 1 seed with games scheduled for Thursday and Saturday.

Should things get tight this weekend — wherever the Zags play — Santangelo thinks this Gonzaga team will be better equipped to handle a “neutral” crowd rooting against the Bulldogs, now ranked No. 4.

For one thing, this year's squad reached No. 1 in late January, so has had a few weeks to get used to it.

“(The 2013 team) got voted No. 1 late in the season, they never played a home game (afterward),” recalled Santangelo, a member of the Zags' Elite 8 team in 1999. “It was almost a sense of apology. It was almost like everyone in Zag nation was like, ‘I'm so sorry you voted us No. 1. I'm so sorry we play in the West Coast Conference. I'm so sorry ... ' versus saying ‘Yeah, we're big bad No. 1.' Ultimately I think that made them uncomfortable, because they'd never been there before. With this group, they seem a little more comfortable in their skin. They're different players, different attitude, different mentality, but you also learn from it ... the coaching staff is more comfortable, the administration, the university, Spokane, all the fan base is more comfortable with the idea that we can be No. 1, and we're OK with that.”

Wherever the Zags (32-1) end up — they'll find out this afternoon — Santangelo will again be there, though he'll be announcing hurt. Playing at the Spokane Club recently, where a lot of former Zags gather, Santangelo suffered a dislocated right kneecap, with torn cartilage to boot.

“I'm in recovery mode,” he said. “They had to go in and rebuild my right knee. I had surgery on my 39th birthday.”

ON THE eve of Gonzaga's 19th straight NCAA tournament appearance, Santangelo was kind enough to weigh in other Zag topics, such as:

The difference between this year's Gonzaga team and the 2013 squad

“Lessons learned,” he said. “You had a group that went through it before, the No. 1 ranking and ultimately the No. 1 seed, so I think it's more attitude and mentality than anything else. This team seems to have been more comfortable with their success throughout the year, and the fact the No. 1 ranking came earlier on in the season (compared to 2013), they could live with that for a little while. It felt like they were a little more comfortable in their skin, having that type of national spotlight surrounding them.”

Why being a No. 1 seed to the NCAAs is such a big deal

“It gives people like you and I something to talk about,” Santangelo said. “I don't know that in the grand scheme of things ... it's flattering, it's a nice accomplishment, but it doesn't change what the goal is for March. Certainly location has a huge impact and matchup, which remains to be seen, and bracket, which remains to be seen. So No. 1 (seed), No. 2, No. 3 ... for him (coach Mark Few) it's just about going in and competing, and that's really been the mentality, versus getting caught up in the ranking or the seeding. For the rest of us, who are outside the locker room, it just becomes good banter, something to argue amongst ourselves, and one of the things that makes this time of year so exciting. It's still something so unique. From someone who's been around the program for so long, you still pinch yourself to think you're even in the conversation (for a No. 1 seed). And now they've done it twice.”

The talk nationally is that Gonzaga is better defensively this year than in past years. But why?

“I think length and athleticism has a huge part to do with it, especially vs. the previous group,” Santangelo said. “The guards are longer, the guards are bigger now. And one thing this group has done — you don't get to 29-0 without really being about the details. And defense, a lot of the time, is about the details. It doesn't matter how smart the coach is — and I'm saying coaches in general — how smart the scheme is, the strategy, the plan, if the players can't comprehend it, and go out and execute it — the best-laid plans, right? With this particular team, they've been able take the game plan to heart, and gone out and executed it. So for whatever reason, they've bought into what that preparation looks like.

“The other thing with this group, because of the depth, something that doesn't get talked about very often is the quality of practices. Everyone's been healthy for the majority of the year, except for the last three weeks or so. So that means practices are competitive, people are fighting for minutes. That has been a blessing for the coaching staff ... there's enough guys to keep each other honest.”

Is there a particular style that might give the Zags the most trouble in the tournament?

“All the talking heads go, ‘we don't know how physical they are',” Santangelo said. “If someone like BYU comes along and beats them up ... well, I hate to break it to you, if someone wants to come in and beat you up, that's going to hurt every team. That will be a challenge for North Carolina. That will be a challenge for Villanova. It's not just unique to Gonzaga. That's not some big revelation to me. But I do think that always presents a challenge, a team that comes in really physical, ala BYU, with that mentality, but maybe with bigger, better athletes. ... They (the Zags) guard the 3-point ball as well as anybody in the country; of course you can get hot and go crazy from the perimeter, like Wichita State did (in 2013). But no one's going to stop that. But I don't think BYU found the Achilles' heel ... hey, we're going to hold them to 19 percent from 3, they're going to miss a whole bunch of free throws, and we're going to outphysical them, and we're going to rebound with them, I don't think that's a blueprint for success against this GU team. I've been watching them closely all year long — I don't know how I would attack this group. You kind of have to hope they have an off day and you have an on day. There's not that many teams in the country that have that kind of physicality to wear GU down.”

There's talent in the starting lineup, and players coming off the bench who could start most other places, but you don't hear any animosity or bickering. Does that speak to the type of recruit Gonzaga brings in?

“That speaks to the character of a Zag,” Santangelo said. “And kids recruit themselves to GU, too. It's always been a foundational piece to the program that players believe in the recruits. So if you were to have a bad recruit in, coaches ask, ‘what do you think?,' and you go, ‘this guy is not one of us' and that guy doesn't come to GU. Coaches really rely on the leaders on the team to have influence on that next group of Zags. It was that way when I came to school, and when I was at school. There's a certain kind of character trait that is in the mix for all of ‘us' that has allowed this consistency and this continuity throughout all the years of success.

“I think with this particular group, obviously winning makes everything easier, and because they're winning in such dominating fashion, I think it would have been really hard for a young athlete to be critical of his role, when you are accomplishing what the team is able to accomplish at literally the highest level. ... And you've got to give credit to the kids. Zach Collins is a McDonald's All-American. His per-minute production is off the charts. But he was willing to accept that role as sixth man or seventh man, and limited minutes, but he knew that's what the team needed. It's not like he's thinking, ‘I'm better than the guy in front of me, the guy in front of me (Przemek Karnowski, one of five finalists for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar award for the nation's top center) is pretty good.' You've got to give Zach credit for having that type of maturity.

“With this group we had a significant group of impact transfers, not because they wanted to experience individual success, but they transferred because they wanted to be part of a team. They came here to win. They already had the individual (accolades), they wanted to come here and compete for a national championship.”

The different types of players who have come to GU and had success

“Another fun story is they've had literally every walk of college basketball athlete come in and have success,” Santangelo said. “From true freshmen, McDonald's All-Americans to transfers, to redshirts (Kelly Olynyk) to fifth-year guys (Jordan Matthews, Byron Wesley) to international players ... I can't think of another path you can take to college basketball that GU has not just had, but has gone on to have really successful college careers, and beyond college. It's really remarkable that it's not all cookie cutter — it is more of a character trait than it is a type of basketball player — that's been able to come in and have success at GU.”

What is a “True Zag?”

“Whatever this character trait we're talking about. ... it's a little more mystical than something you can define.”

Why did a team with so many new faces (five of the top eight scorers are first-year Zags) jell so fast?

“The fact Przemek Karnowski was able to come back was big,” Santangelo said. “Certainly guys like Nigel Williams-Goss and Johnathan Williams III, because they've had the individual success — even Jordan Matthews — they came to GU for a reason. They came to GU to win. So in the Maslow's hierarchy of needs, they didn't NEED to lead the team in scoring. They didn't come in thinking ‘my individual game is more important than the team game.' They'd already experienced that and they didn't like that. They wanted to experience the team game and the team success. You had true freshmen, Killian (Tillie) and Zach Collins, that didn't know what to expect. They didn't know what life is like at the D-I level. That is a remarkable story, the number of new faces that did buy in and they get along extremely well off the court, and it shows in the chemistry on the court.”