Jay Bilas will make good on Twitter bet to grow beard with Gonzaga making Final Four

The Gonzaga Bullldogs are off to the Final Four for the first time in program history, after an extremely impressive 83-59 Elite Eight victory over the Xavier Musketeers on Saturday.

So, we’ll get our first look at Gonzaga in the Final Four, and we’ll also get our first look at ESPN college hoops analyst Jay Bilas in a beard. It’s quite understandable if you’re confused, but I’ll explain.

Twitter user @KarnowskisBeard — an account named in honor of bearded Gonzaga big man Przemek Karnowski — asked Bilas in December if he’d grow a beard should Gonzaga make the Final Four:

Bilas responded, on-air during the Gonzaga-Arizona game in December:

“I accept the challenge. I will grow a beard that will be far better than Przemek Karnowski’s if the ‘Zags make the Final Four.”

Well, after Gonzaga won on Saturday, Bilas shared multiple tweets saying he will indeed grow a beard. He also gave us a couple of photoshopped examples of how the beard could look:

Bilas appeared on Mike and Mike Friday and actually talked about the type of beard he would look to grow if Gonzaga beat Xavier:

… maybe go with something that small animals could live in it, or a bunch of food gets stuck in it. That would be good.

We’re certainly excited to see how this beard looks, and kudos to Bilas for being a man of his word.