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Denver • From a seeding perspective, brackets may be broken this morning. But if would-be office pool winners were picking against 11-seed Gonzaga, it was at their own peril.

The Bulldogs won their eighth consecutive first-round game on Thursday night at the Pepsi Center, http://www.sltrib.com/sports/3677965-155/ncaa-tournament-gonzaga-moves-on-with";>grounding red-hot Seton Hall, 68-52. The Bulldogs led for over 37 minutes of the game, and were ahead mostly by double-digits for the second half.

If the country was looking for a reminder that Gonzaga went to the Elite Eight last year, this was it.

Led by a 21-point, 16-rebound night from sophomore big man Domantas Sabonis, the Bulldogs (26-7) offered a powerful validation of their season so far — perhaps a less accomplished season by their own standard, but nonetheless one in which they won the West Coast Conference Tournament and are now rolling into the second round looking like a tough out.

"This is a resilient group, and we've been able to battle through adversity all season long," senior guard Eric McClellan said. "People were saying the guards weren't good enough, that we weren't a tournament team. We just focused on what was going on in this locker room. When we do that, we put ourselves in position to win."

Gonzaga has now won six straight games, and it looked solid stopping one of the streaking teams in the tournament field.

Seton Hall only shot 32 percent from the field, stunted by a 4 for 24 night for star guard Isaiah Whitehead who couldn't hit from anywhere. Whitehead dished out 8 assists, but he was the only Pirate with any dishes at all: No one had all that much luck scoring.

The defense helped them overcome 20 team turnovers (http://bit.ly/257Wkxy";>the same amount Utah had against Fresno State) and secured Gonzaga's streak in the first round.

"I think it wasn't just one-on-one with him," senior forward Kyle Wiltjer said. "It was kind of a team effort. We were in the gaps. Especially Domas [Sabonis], he did a great job of vertically contesting when he got down there."

Sabonis also headlined Gonzaga's 48-34 advantage on the boards, helping control the defensive glass. A more natural power forward, Sabonis has played out of position since 7-foot-1 center Przemek Karnowski was injured for the season in December.

The quick acclimation to his adjusted role has been key in the Zags' success this year. While the Utes have beaten three of the opponents which dealt defeat to the Bulldogs (UCLA, Arizona, BYU), Gonzaga has also gotten appreciably better, winning 13 of its last 15 games.

Coach Mark Few said after Karnowski — Gonzaga's most experienced player — went down, "it was hard to envision making it through a whole season."

Sabonis has helped shift that perspective.

"Obviously you saw how he can score it, his footwork, his rebounding," Few said. "He's the best rebounder I've ever coached, and one of the best rebounders I've ever seen in college."

The national press that has kept an eye on the West is now salivating over Utah's match-up with Gonzaga, http://www.sltrib.com/sports/3678881-155/monson-jakob-poeltl-versus-domantas-sabonis";>a face-off between perhaps the two best big men in the country. Bothhttp://bit.ly/1R4sO2k";> Jakob Poeltl and Sabonis are finalists for the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award and double-double threats.

http://bit.ly/1XzkWKd";>Before the Utes beat Fresno State on Thursday night, Poeltl acknowledged the possibility of meeting Sabonis but hadn't given it a lot of thought. The duo played each other at a Nike basketball camp this summer, as well as when Austria and Lithuania faced off in international competition.

With a do-or-die match-up approaching with far larger implications than the big men themselves, Sabonis said he knew the challenge that lies ahead.

"[Poeltl is] a great player," he said. "He's very talented. I played against him before. I know he's very good, and I'm going to have to work a lot."

So will the Utes.

kgoon@sltrib.com
Twitter: @kylegoon