Gonzaga BB vs. Boise FB Poll

The Game Room
1

Cappyhamper is apparently afraid to start this poll, so I’ll do it for him.

Cappy thinks that what Gonzaga BB has accomplished in BB is vastly more than what Boise has accomplished in FB.

I contend that comparing the 2 is apples and oranges. Football involves massively more moving parts and money than BB. Putting together a big coaching staff, recruit a boatload of players every year, coach and babysit 80 or so players, etc. is just in another universe compared to BB.

Gonzaga doesn’t have FB so they pour all their money into BB. There’s nothing amazing about that. There have been plenty of mid-majors that have gotten deep into the tourney, but in modern times in football (sorry BYU) no G5 has ever been on the verge of playing in a national championship like Boise has. TCU came close but I think they were already P5, IIRC. Boise’s FB accomplishments are much harder to do when also supporting other sports such as men’s BB.

2

Welcome to the Straight Dope, Nevada Convert! Typically threads about sports and the like go in our Game Room sub-forum. I’ll move this thread from Great Debates to the Game Room for you.

[/moderating]

3

People who think apples and oranges are not comparable piss me off. Apples and oranges have in fact been subjected to rigorous scientific comparison, and were found to be much more similar than not. Cite And by the way, the OP doesn’t look like a poll to me.

4

Sorry, I don’t have much of a dog (or horse) in this fight but I think the Zags have made a much bigger dent on the college basketball scene than Boise has in college football. Boise State has definitely made a statement as the best non-Power 5 Conference program, and always seems to be on the cusp of becoming a contender for a national championship. Gonzaga, on the other hand, has ascended to a level just below NCAA basketball royalty (UNC, Duke, Kansas and Kentucky) and is a pretty reasonable pick for a shot at a championship year in and year out.

5

For those of us pretty clueless, is this about which team rose more from obscurity to be a powerhouse? I know Gonzaga used to be obscure and an occasionally 16 seed. I also know they are now a strong basketball school.

Did the other school do the same thing?

6

The question was, all things considered, which team has had more impressive accomplishments?

Where each time started and where they are now is certainly part of that evaluation.