THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: On expansion, and the Zags shot at a run

OK, let’s jump ahead to next year’s March Madness — which has beefed up from 64 teams to 76.

Or …

Maybe it’s 176.

Nah, just joking at the silliness of how one remaining collegiate event can somehow be heading for dumb and dumber.

Actually.

Feel free to toss aside that little wise-guy introduction.

We’re going to be mildly serious today.

This is the middle of basketball season (player acquisition section), and there are plenty of reasons to peer into the 2026-27 Gonzaga program.

If you take a big-picture look at the NCAA tournament, it usually works out pretty much the same way.

Even with 176 teams (or as many as amuses the committee), the truth is that there are basically a dozen teams that might win the thing.

Oh, the individual schools can vary a teeny bit from year to year, but when it’s time to tee it off, the reality is that there are about a dozen actual contenders.

Duke and 11 more.

IF YOU feel that sounds a little too much like royalty and you want to make the thing more democratic, pick a round in the tournament.

Final Four: Sixteen teams (give or take) have a chance to make it.

Elite Eight: Two dozen or so can reasonably dream that far.

Beyond that: You’re there for the fun of the trip.

Our exercise today is to seriously scout Gonzaga, and decide where the Zags fit in one of those upper tournament groups (if they do).

Logic dictates that Mark Few has a better team than the one he ran out there a year ago.

And yet …

If the Zags hadn’t lost Braden Huff to injury at midseason, I suspect they would have played up to their No. 3 seed.

Freshmen guards Mario Saint-Supery and Davis Fogle grew into big-time roles as each week progressed — and Graham Ike was a legit All-American in the middle.

They needed a slasher (Tyon Grant-Foster) a street-ball rebounder (Adam Miller) and a 3-point shooter.

Oops.

Sorry on that last one.

The Zags canned only 33 percent from beyond the arc, which was (gasp!) 218th nationally — and doggone painful near the end of close games.

In this era of catch-and-heave, you need FAR better long-range shooting than that.

So many games came down to streaks of momentum, and drilling treys is the way to get firing.

The Zags, unfortunately, did not have that weapon.

Saint-Supery was miles the best from deep (41 percent on limited tries) and everyone else was basically just wasting a possession.

FEW IS hot on the trail of Ethan Copeland, a native of Sunnyside who somehow wound up at Stetson — but is currently in the transfer portal.

Copeland hit 43 percent on 3-pointers last year, which was 16th in the country.

He is not a particularly gifted athlete, but the Zags have plenty of those.

They need someone to spread the floor.

Speaking of transfers, the Zags have changed their key personnel pretty drastically.

The big addition (pun intended) is 7-1 Massamba Diop, who averaged almost 17 points per game as a freshman at Arizona State.

Diop offers rim protection and another low post weapon alongside Huff.

Gonzaga also landed elite German guard Jack Kayil and former Houston guard Isiah Harwell (who missed most of his freshman season while recovering from knee surgery).

Both Kayil and Harwell have committed to attend the NBA testing program, so they’re not (quite) Zags yet.

Gonzaga will get a decision by the first week of May.

There are other interesting frosh coming aboard, too.

Center Sam Funches has a 7-foot-5 wingspan, and he was Mr. Basketball in Mississippi.

The presence of Diop may help him immensely.

Wing Luca Foster is considered the most polished shooter/scorer of the young Zags — and is definitely welcomed.

Gonzaga is going to have as much pure talent as any group back to the team that played in the national title game — especially if Kayil comes to Spokane.

Will they all mesh?

Can the Zags wind up in that magic half-dozen that’s playing for an NCAA title?

It’s not impossible.

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Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press three times each week, normally Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday unless, you know, stuff happens.

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”