Dan Dickau discusses Gonzaga adding a home-and-home against San Diego State
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00:00 Dan Dekow here for Gonzaga Nation SI.
00:04 Some pretty exciting and interesting news in the realm of scheduling for Gonzaga's upcoming
00:11 non-conference, not just for this year, but next year as well.
00:15 Gonzaga continues to schedule about as difficult a slate as they can.
00:19 The fans are going to love this.
00:21 San Diego State out of the Mountain West Conference, the Aztecs and the Zags have agreed to a two-year
00:28 deal to play a home-and-home series.
00:31 I absolutely love the decision to do this.
00:34 Game one, which will be this year, looks like it will be December 29th in Spokane.
00:39 The following year, Gonzaga will go down to San Diego State and play in Viejas Arena.
00:47 One of the reasons I like this matchup so much and like this game for Gonzaga, actually
00:52 I can't say one reason, many reasons I like this.
00:55 San Diego State and Gonzaga, I think, are two of the most consistent programs on the
01:01 West Coast in the last 15 years.
01:04 San Diego State was not a good program until Steve Fisher took over that job.
01:10 I believe they were winless in league.
01:12 Steve Fisher took the job, did things correctly, built that program up.
01:18 He retired a few years ago.
01:19 His longtime assistant, Brian Dutcher, took over and they haven't skipped a beat.
01:24 Matter of fact, they've gotten better.
01:26 San Diego State in the Final Four and the national title game a season ago where they
01:31 ended up losing to UConn.
01:33 That's just one of the reasons.
01:35 The other reason is, everybody talks about atmospheres in college basketball.
01:40 You want to play in the best venues.
01:43 I think these two programs have two of the best venues, not just on the West Coast, but
01:49 in the country.
01:51 We always talk about Gonzaga and the Kennel and how great they are.
01:55 But Viejas Arena and the show is also one of the best home court advantages in all of
02:01 college basketball.
02:02 If you think quickly about West Coast hoops, I think San Diego State is the only program
02:09 that might give Gonzaga and the Kennel a run for their money as far as engagement, sellouts,
02:14 crowd enthusiasm, their ability to impact the game.
02:19 I mean, Arizona can at times, but then if you look through most of the rest of the Pac-12,
02:26 there's no great home court advantages.
02:28 You go to the WAC, Grand Canyon supposedly has a great home court advantage, but there's
02:34 not a tradition there yet.
02:36 When you look at tradition and atmosphere on the West Coast for basketball programs,
02:41 it's Gonzaga and it's San Diego State.
02:43 So I think that's tremendous that these teams will go and play at the home arena of the
02:51 opposition.
02:52 So again, Gonzaga not ducking any punches in their non-conference schedule, again, willing
02:58 to play anybody, anywhere, anytime.
03:01 This is just another example of it.
03:02 So if you look at this year's non-conference schedule and how it shapes up, and we touched
03:08 on this the other day in our WCC Weekly, you got Kentucky, you got University of Washington
03:13 in Seattle, you've got UConn who was in the national title game a season ago in Seattle,
03:19 you've got San Diego State at home in Spokane, who was in the national title game against
03:24 previously mentioned UConn.
03:27 You've got the Maui Invitational, you've got USC on a neutral site in Las Vegas.
03:37 There's not a lot that can be complained about from outsiders anymore when it comes to Gonzaga.
03:43 It's top-notch.
03:44 And once again, they prove the fact that they are willing to play a difficult schedule.
03:50 I like this.
03:51 I know San Diego State a season ago was very deep in a veteran ball club.
03:58 They've had a little bit of turnover due to graduation, due to one of their seniors wanted
04:05 to play his fifth year in another program.
04:07 But I don't think that should be the focus.
04:11 The focus is two of the best programs on the West Coast entering into a home and home.
04:17 And Gonzaga has the first of that series this upcoming December.
04:21 So for Gonzaga Nation SI, don't forget to keep up with us for all your most recent and
04:27 exciting news.