Mark Few hopes to rewrite history by reaching Final Four

If there's a proverbial monkey on Mark Few's back heading into the Elite Eight, Gonzaga's head coach certainly isn't paying any attention to it.

The Bulldogs advanced to the Elite Eight for the second time in the last three seasons, and third time in school history Thursday, outlasting West Virginia for a 60-58 victory. The Mountaineers simply couldn't get anything done in the dying seconds, failing to muster any sort of high-quality looks against a tenacious Bulldogs defense, leaving Gonzaga just one win away from uncharted territory when it comes to tournament success for the program.

When asked following Thursday's victory about his team's inability to crack the Final Four thus far, Few never wavered from the topic and insisted that he has no preconceived notions heading into the game against Xavier, according to Stewart Mandel of FOX Sports.

"First of all, I don't know that I have a monkey on my back," Few said. "I certainly don't wake up with one or walk around with one. So I don't think these guys think I have one. I don't think my wife thinks I have one or anybody in my family, close friends. Fishing buddies never talk about it."

Casual humor aside, Gonzaga's lack of Final Four appearances on its resume is something that even Few isn't ignoring completely. The man who has guided the Bulldogs since 1999 wants nothing more than to have this year's group be the first to experience an Elite Eight victory.

"It would be phenomenal to get these guys, this team that I love deeply, the experience to go to a Final Four," Few said. "It would be phenomenal to give that satisfaction to all the players that I've been so lucky to coach, and to give it to a university that has treated me so incredibly well, and to Spokane who has just been an unbelievable community for us to have our program. But it's not about me and my monkeys and my dogs and my cats; it's about them."

Due up for the Bulldogs next is an Xavier team that is in the middle of an unprecedented run that has seen the Musketeers eliminate not one, not two, but three highly seeded teams in Maryland, Florida State, and Arizona. The Musketeers refuse to go gently into that good night, coming back from a seven-point deficit with under four minutes to play to stun the Wildcats.

Talent and overall track record says Gonzaga should advance, but momentum puts forth a strong argument for Xavier. The result of Saturday's game could very well come down to which players get hot at the right time, but Few's vision hasn't wavered since the season kicked off in early November.

"We're 40 minutes from a Final Four," Few said, "which is something we set our sights on at the start of the year."