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Close your eyes and think of the Gonzaga Bulldogs of the last two decades.
What do you see?
A mustachioed Adam Morrison burning up the nets? The long locks and long-range jumpers of Kelly Olynyk and Kyle Wiltjer? How about Domantas Sabonis and his deft touch around the hoop?
The Zags always have been able to score.
But if they're going to do that thing they've never done, and finally, at long last, breakthrough into the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament, it just might be because this year's Bulldogs can bulldog opponents on the other end of the court.
"I think everybody's always, over the years, focused on Gonzaga's offense," coach Mark Few said after his team's first-round win over South Dakota State on Thursday. "This team has been great defensively all year."
The Bulldogs' 66-46 win in Salt Lake City probably left more than a few people second guessing their brackets. Top-seeded Gonzaga's offense sputtered and Few's team had to battle the No. 16-seeded Jackrabbits into the second half of the game before finally pulling away.
But the Bulldogs (33-1) were able to get stops when they needed them as they have all year.
"There's a reason why, by all the analytical measures, they're the second-best defensive team in the country," South Dakota State coach T.J. Otzelberger said.
Actually, that still might be underselling Gonzaga.
College hoops statistical expert Ken Pomeroy's system at KenPom.com ranks the Bulldogs as the nation's No. 1 defense. And while five teams allow fewer points per game than the 61.2 Gonzaga's opponents have averaged this season, no team has been better when that number is adjusted for pace, per Sports-Reference.com.
"You can't just rely on offense to win the games they won," Northwestern coach Chris Collins said. "I think they're very underrated when it comes to their defense."
Collins' No. 8-seeded Wildcats squeaked by No. 9-seeded Vanderbilt in the opening round of the West Regional and now face the daunting task of sizing up with the top dogs from Gonzaga in the round of 32.
Northwestern point guard Bryant McIntosh will have to try to work around Gonzaga's Nigel Williams-Goss, who averages 1.8 steals per game, and Jordan Mathews.
"We enjoy shutting down other teams," Mathews said.
Even if McIntosh and the Wildcats on the wings can break through Gonzaga's active hands and denial on the perimeter, they will have a gaggle of giants waiting for them in the paint.
The Bulldogs have "elite-level rim protection and size," Few said, something they've lacked in the past. And the Zags' big men are versatile defenders, too.
Forward Johnathan Williams was strong enough to keep South Dakota State's Mike Daum, the nation's second-leading scorer, in check and quick enough to switch out onto the Jackrabbits' guards on the perimeter. Zach Collins, a 7-foot center, can do some of that himself while providing a shot-blocking presence at the rim. Even Przemek Karnowski — who at 7-1 and nearly 300 pounds might be mistaken for a tiny house — showed off his agility as a defender.
On Friday, the freshman Collins recalled Few drilling his players on defensive schemes even before official practices had begun.
"Coach Few just kept saying we have the potential to be a really, really good defensive team," Collins said. "I don't know if we believed it at the time, but they pushed us."
That's been missing from Few's squads over the years. In 2013, the first time Gonzaga was awarded a No. 1 seed, they let Wichita State score 23 points on nine possessions during a second-round loss in Salt Lake City. Arizona trounced the Zags 84-61 in 2014. And they couldn't get enough stops to take down Syracuse on the doorstep of the Elite Eight last year.
Williams-Goss said he has had long talks with Wiltjer and other former Gonzaga standouts who had their hopes dashed and tournaments ended too early.
"They were giving us some advice," Williams-Goss said, "telling us not to worry about what everyone's saying about the past and just focus on right now."
The junior guard, however, already may have understood what it would take to reach Phoenix and the school's first Final Four.
"We knew for us to reach our potential," he said, sitting at a locker inside Vivint Smart Home Arena, "we had to have our defense be as good as our offense."
Twitter: @aaronfalk