Now it’s the senior men’s last hurrah

Last week it was the senior women's basketball players who had to say goodbye to the McCarthey Center and the Spokane community that has embraced them over their past four years at Gonzaga. Now, on Tuesday, it will be the men's turn to send their seniors off.
Just like the women's team, there are three graduating seniors on this year's roster.
Gonzaga always seems to have that one walk-on who instantly becomes a fan favorite. In recent memory, the Bulldogs had Brian Michaelson and Andrew Sorenson.
This year, they had Chris Pontarolo-Maag.

I don't think many people understand just how much work college athletes put in, and to be committed to it without much playing time or a scholarship, as Pontarolo-Maag did, is definitely something to be respected.

He had to go to practice everyday against much bigger, more athletic players and work just as hard, if not harder than the scholarship players. While he was able to travel around the country with the team on every road trip, he was never in the spotlight and he still had to keep up with all of his schoolwork.

Let's make sure we get one more "We want P-Maag" chant going on Tuesday.
Then there's Will Foster, yet another fan favorite.

In my four years here, I do not think I have seen the McCarthey Center crowd more excited over a scholarship player than they have for Foster.

He has provided a spark for Gonzaga off the bench a great deal of times and is always good for an entertaining play, whether that be a block, a strong rebound, or an alley-oop dunk that makes you look at your friend and ask, "Did Will just do that?"

But what Will really deserves credit for is sticking it out and staying with Gonzaga for his college career. There were many times where he could have packed his bags and headed to a school that would guarantee him more playing time. But he didn't. He persevered through all those rough patches and showed commitment and dedication to the team.
Let's make sure we throw up our "W's" one more time on Tuesday.
Finally, there is Matt Bouldin.

Gonzaga fans have watched Bouldin transform into the quintessential Zag over the past four years. He came in with so much hype placed on him that would have been nearly impossible to live up to it. He was supposed to be the best player to come out of Colorado since Chauncey Billups.

Well, it's four years later now, and Bouldin has lived up to, if not surpassed, those expectations placed on him.

We saw glimpses of greatness from him in his freshman year, most notably when he scored 25 points and dished out five assists in Gonzaga's 97-77 win over Washington, ranked No. 8 in the nation at the time. Bulldog fans knew what he was capable of — they were just waiting to see him put a year together where he took control of the team. His opportunity came this year.

In his first three years at Gonzaga, Bouldin often had to defer to other star players, such as Derek Raivio, Jeremy Pargo and Austin Daye. But coming into this year, everyone knew it was Bouldin's team. With such a large incoming freshmen class and very little experience on the team, a drop-off from previous seasons was a possibility that many feared. If Gonzaga was going to continue to be an elite program this year, it was going to be on Bouldin's shoulders.   

And here are the Bulldogs, behind Bouldin's lead, on the brink of clinching another WCC regular-season championship and heading into the NCAA Tournament with a favorable seed.

Now, the question is how far the Bulldogs go in the tournament. With a senior leader like Bouldin, don't count out a deep run.

With these three players who have paid their dues for the program over the last four years on their way out, let's make sure we get plenty of "Thank you, seniors," chants going on Tuesday.