SALT LAKE CITY — A lot has been made of one question directed at Gonzaga coach Mark Few over the past several weeks as his team ascended to the ranks of No. 1 team in the country and ultimately garnered one of four top seeds in the NCAA Tournament.

Is this the best Zags team Few has ever coached?

Well, coach, is it?

“Do you have children? Do you ever pick, say, you know what, you know, A.J., you're the best kid I've got,” Few said after the Zags’ win over Northwestern to advance to the Sweet 16. “There's just really no point in doing that.

“I love all my guys that played for me. I love all my teams. There's been one, like the one last year, certainly wasn't even close to the best team.”

Ultimately, Few explained, to become the best Gonzaga team ever, the Zags (31-1) will have to do something no squad from Spokane, Washington, has ever done: get to a Final Four.

Yes, the Zags’ run of 19 straight NCAA Tournament bids is incredible, especially given the state of the West Coast Conference when the team began its streak in 1999.

So, too, are the eight Sweet 16 appearances — three in a row now — and a run to the Elite Eight in 2015. The Zags finished the regular season ranked No. 1 in the KenPom and Sagarin ratings.

But in all their elite-level marks, the Zags have never visited a Final Four.

Is this the year? Even one of Gonzaga’s biggest rivals thinks it might be.

“They’re really, really, really good,” said Saint Mary's fifth-year senior Joe Rahon after Saint Mary’s lost a Round of 32 game to Arizona. “Arizona reminds me a lot of them. They have guards you have to respect, and then their inside game can get a basket and you can’t overhelp.”

The Gaels play the Zags twice a year, and more if they meet in the WCC Tournament for more meetings with the Zags than any team in the country. Rahon seen them three times in 2017, and the Gaels were included in the same Salt Lake City regional site with Gonzaga, as well as second-seeded Arizona and tournament darling Northwestern.

When the veteran speaks, he does so with plenty of knowledge of the Moraga, California-based institution’s rival in the Pacific Northwest.

“Gonzaga, in my opinion, is the best team in the country,” Rahon said. “They’re the best team we played. They’re a rival, so it’s a weird situation, but I absolutely think they can go (to the Final Four). Some of us will be rooting for them. It would be pretty cool for the WCC for them to make the Final Four.

“They’re a heck of a team, and I wish them the best.”

Of the No. 22 Gaels’ four losses, Gonzaga has beat them three times, including a 74-56 win in the WCC Tournament finals.

The Zags are 21-17 in NCAA Tournament games under Few, and hold the fourth-longest tourney streak in the nation behind Kansas, Duke and Michigan State. They’ve trailed at halftime only twice in 2016-17, against Florida and Pacific, and finished WCC play trailing for 7:59 of total game time.

Nigel Williams-Goss was named WCC Player of the Year after averaging 21.4 points per game since Feb. 1, and the 7-foot-1 center Przemek Karnowski is a likely NBA draft lottery candidate this summer.

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In addition, the Zags have all-WCC first-teamer Johnathan Williams, who averaged a double-double at 11.4 points and 10.1 rebounds per game in the final eight games of the regular season, and all-WCC honorees Josh Perkins, Jordan Mathews and Zach Collins.

A nonconference honoree, Silas Melson, came off the bench and led the WCC in shooting at 49.1 percent from 3-point range.

Is that a lot of pressure on the Zags?

“We don't think of anything as pressure,” Williams-Goss said. “We had pressure all year long. We were undefeated and we didn't feel any of that. This is what we live for, what we prepare for and we enjoy doing. We all enjoy competing at the highest level. The pressure doesn't mount but the competition does.”

In other words, there’s a lot of talent all around.

Even Few admits that the 2016-17 Gonzaga squad is “in the mix” for his best-ever.

“I know this one certainly is right there, should be considered with any that's ever played there,” said Few, who boasts a 500-112 record at Gonzaga. “There's probably two or three of them that should be in that mix.”

All Gonzaga can do to convince itself on the list is survive and advance, the unofficial anthem of March Madness and a mantra repeated by every Zag since Adam Morrison.

Ultimately, the rest will take care of itself.

“Everyone wants to advance to the next round,” Williams-Goss said. “You have to keep dialed in for next weekend, learn from your mistakes, but at the end of the day you're going to be really happy that you got the win.”

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