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Gonzaga won! Now hoops fans are asking: Where's Gonzaga?

Three teams in the Final Four have easy-to-locate school names. And then come the Zags.

Gael Cooper
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
Expertise Breaking news, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, food, shopping and deals, product reviews, money and finance, video games, pets, history, books, technology history, generational studies. Credentials
  • Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year"​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
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Gael Cooper
2 min read

Sure, it's clear what state the University of North Carolina is in, or Oregon. But when a college's name gives no hint to its location (Seton Hall? Butler? Villanova?), often only true sports fans and nearby residents (or graduates) know where it is.

Gonzaga University's men's basketball team beat South Carolina 77-73 on Saturday, and while some were cheering the Bulldogs as they qualified to play in the national championship for the first time ever, others had a question: Where in the world is Gonzaga?

Siri was no help.

Maybe Google will know.


Maybe it's a giant lizard?

Or it moves around?

It seems to be a good place to be a trombone player.

Are we sure it exists?

OK, time for some answers. It's a Catholic university in Spokane, Washington, named for a 16th-century Italian saint who cared for plague victims.

"In the literature we send out, we have to explain the name of the place, because it's an odd name for people to work with," Gonzaga vice-president Patrick Lee told the New York Times.

Bing Crosby attended, though the crooner didn't graduate (the school later gave him an honorary doctorate).

OK, but then who's Joaquin?

And if you were anywhere near Spokane when the game was going on, you pretty much had the roads to yourself.

For some people though, the only location that matters is right in the center of their March Madness bracket.

Gonzaga -- or possibly, Godzilla -- will play North Carolina on Monday for the national championship. North Carolina is a state located in -- oh, just MapQuest it already.

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