By Eddie Pells
Mark Few was attending a coaching conference a block away from the Final Four on Friday.
It must have felt so much farther away.
The Gonzaga coach took the Bulldogs past the first weekend of the tournament for the first time since 2009, then to the Elite Eight for the first time since 1999.
More proof — as if it were needed — that the program is on solid footing.
But with 4:16 left in the regional final against Duke, the Zags were trailing by four. Kevin Pangos missed an open 3-pointer that, as Few said, “he can make in his sleep.” Duke pulled away from there.
That’s hard to take.
“There’s a hurt when you know you were good enough to get there,” Few said. “You can see it and feel it and you were in position to do it with 4 minutes to go and you didn’t get it done.”
But he insists he hasn’t lost much sleep since last Sunday’s 66-52 loss to the Blue Devils. The players were in position to win.
“We had shots that we made all year, and we never would’ve been here had our guys not made those shots,” Few said. “They just didn’t happen to go.”