Walking along the banks of the Spokane River, it takes less than 30 minutes to walk from the Gonzaga campus to the 12,000-seat Spokane Arena.
The Bulldogs are expecting plenty of their fans to make that walk on Saturday night, creating a hometown advantage rarely seen in an NCAA tournament regional.
''Hopefully all these fans here will bring one more friend,'' Gonzaga forward Kayla Standish said.
No team in this year's NCAA women's basketball field was given as short a road to travel as Gonzaga.
Once Gonzaga won the West Coast Conference tournament, the Bulldogs knew they would be hosting the first two rounds of the tournament. The real shock came when they were placed in the Spokane Regional, creating the possibility of four NCAA games without leaving home.
Suddenly, Gonzaga's goal became making the 1.6 mile walk through campus and over to the Spokane Arena. Goal accomplished. The 11th-seeded Bulldogs knocked off No. 6 Iowa 92-86 in the first round, then outlasted No. 3 seed UCLA 89-75 to advance to the regional semifinals.
The Bulldogs - and likely 10,000 of their friends - will face No. 7 seed Louisville on Saturday night after making the round of 16 for the second consecutive year. The victor will meet the winner of top-seeded Stanford and No. 5 seed North Carolina on Monday night for a trip to the Final Four.
''It still feels just as good as it did last year,'' Gonzaga's Katelan Redmon said. ''You can't beat this. I mean, we are going to the Sweet 16. It's awesome. Just going down the road there to the arena, that's just going to be amazing.''
Last year, Gonzaga needed a one-point upset of second-seeded Texas A&M to reach the regional semifinals then lost to Xavier 74-56 in Sacramento, Calif.
This year, the Bulldogs proved they belonged, outlasting Iowa in the first round when the Hawkeyes decided to try and run with the Bulldogs, the top scoring team in the country. Then, led by guard Courtney Vandersloot, Gonzaga solved UCLA's pressure defense and posted the most points allowed by the Bruins all season.
''I think our mindsets (are) a little bit different. I think going in we felt we can win these two games whereas last year maybe we surprised ourselves by doing it,'' Gonzaga coach Kelly Graves said. ''I think if you ask them individually I think they will tell you we deserved to be here and even win more games.''
Although Vandersloot has been the highest scorer in the tournament with 63 points and 24 assists in two games, Standish has been right behind her. The junior forward posted back-to-back 30-point games in the Bulldogs' first two NCAA tournament games. She hit 30 with more than 10 minutes left against UCLA before going scoreless down the stretch. So, Vandersloot took over, scoring 19 points in the final 10 minutes to send the Bulldogs on to the round of 16.
Now, they're eyeing the Elite Eight.
Only once has a Gonzaga team - men's or women's - been within one game of the Final Four, when the men's team lost to Florida in the Elite Eight in 1999.
But this group will get the chance to make history at home.
''It will just be an awesome opportunity,'' senior Janelle Bekkering said. ''I can't imagine the fan base that we'll have.''
