Dan Dickau answers reader questions on a mailbag episode of the Gonzaga Nation podcast
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 Hey everybody, it's Christian Pedersen joined by Dan Dickow for another episode of the Gonzaga
00:06 Nation podcast.
00:07 Thank you very much to tuning into a mailbag episode where we fire off some questions submitted
00:12 by you, the fans to Dan to answer Dan, let's jump straight into it.
00:17 We got a huge addition to the Gonzaga roster this week and everybody wants to know is Mark
00:23 is going to be able to play right away.
00:26 Yeah I think he's got a chance.
00:28 You know I think the ability for freshmen to play is unique.
00:36 Last year if you look at the top 25 teams in the country, there were only a handful
00:41 of freshmen that played a major role on their team, you go back two years.
00:48 There were very few guns and I had one of them in Chad Holmgren.
00:52 As college basketball has gotten older, it's become harder for freshmen to be truly impact
00:59 players.
01:00 Now that doesn't necessarily mean they've lost their value in the NBA draft.
01:04 We saw a couple weeks ago when so many young guys were drafted whether they're through
01:08 one and done or G League at night or overtime elite, all these different avenues to go but
01:15 when you talk about Marcus Adams, I think he's got a chance to play some minutes.
01:20 And the reason why is he can shoot the basketball.
01:24 Coach Pugh always values guys that can score.
01:28 He's 6'8", he's about 200 pounds.
01:31 I'd say he's a good, not overly explosive and great athlete, but he's a good athlete
01:36 and when I watch clips and I watch some film on him, he's got a good release.
01:41 The ball spins nicely, he's got fairly good footwork for a player of that age.
01:48 And those are things that can help prepare you for the college game and especially at
01:54 Gonzaga because like I said, Coach Pugh likes guys that can score it.
01:58 So that's going to give him a chance to earn some minutes early on, but that can give you
02:03 a chance, but then you got to do all the other things.
02:05 You got to defend, you got to rebound, you got to understand scouting reports to go ahead
02:09 and stay in that rotation early as a young player.
02:12 So I guess the answer is he can, but it's going to be up to him to rise to the occasion,
02:16 which makes sense.
02:17 Yeah, and it's going to be difficult, quite frankly.
02:20 I mean, he's going to have some guys that are ahead of him in the rotation.
02:24 You know, Steele Venters, transfer from Eastern Washington.
02:27 Dusty Stromer, probably more of a two as opposed to Marcus Adams, who I view as a three, have
02:34 some of those minutes.
02:35 You got the South Korean player, June, who came over mid-season.
02:41 He looks to be a player who's going to have an opportunity as well.
02:45 So the thing is, is Gonzaga's got a lot of talent.
02:48 Now the fan base always likes to look at it and say, oh, we got six, seven, eight NBA
02:54 worthy guys.
02:55 Well, hold on a second.
02:57 There's talent, but then there is a discerning difference between talent at the college level
03:02 that can win you games and NBA talent.
03:04 So I think this roster has a lot of talent, but I'm not ready to go so far as to say they've
03:09 got crazy NBA talent.
03:11 But hey, that's why he's a freshman.
03:14 That's why kids get a chance to grow and to age and to develop into NBA talent.
03:18 Reminder, you can submit these questions for Dan to answer at Fan Nation Zags on all your
03:22 social media.
03:23 Next one, Dan comes to us on Twitter.
03:26 Someone wanted to know what's the latest on Kaden Perry?
03:29 Well, I haven't been down to practice here in the summertime, but you know, you see some
03:35 clips online, social media, and he's being involved in practice, which is a great sign
03:43 because, you know, he came in as a unbelievable athlete needing to learn the game and he was
03:48 showing some tremendous signs his freshman year.
03:51 Then he has a back surgery that he re-aggravated that initially happened when he was in high
03:56 school.
03:58 And since that re-aggravation of the injury his freshman year, you know, he hasn't played.
04:02 He missed all of last season.
04:05 And the goal would be to get to the point where, you know, he could do skill work.
04:10 He could do five on O work.
04:11 He could then hopefully get through some practices.
04:14 And it seems as if everything is positively on track.
04:17 Now, I don't know exactly if he's in five on O work or if he's just in skill development.
04:22 I don't know if he's in physical contact where it's one on one, two on two, three on three
04:27 kind of controlled stuff, or if he's back into five on five practices yet.
04:31 That's yet to be determined.
04:32 That hasn't been, you know, announced by anybody at the school.
04:36 But you at least see him in drill work and improving his skills.
04:41 And I think that's a positive because I think that's something that the skill set that he
04:46 brings is something that Gonzaga was lacking at times last year.
04:50 And that was that big athletic fly around bruiser that can kind of impact the game athletically.
04:58 It would have been a big help last year.
04:59 They didn't have it.
05:00 If he can be healthy and provide that this next upcoming season, I think that's nothing
05:05 but a bonus.
05:06 Last question we got for you here, Dan.
05:09 Someone wanted to know if you if they can only make it to one of the non-conference
05:13 premier marquee games this season, which one do you recommend?
05:18 There's a couple of good ones already.
05:19 You know, you've got UConn in Seattle, Climate Pledge.
05:23 You've got Kentucky all the way back in Kentucky.
05:28 You've got if you're a traditionalist in Northwest rivalry, Gonzaga plays at U-Dub.
05:35 Gonzaga's had a USC to the schedule.
05:39 I believe that game's in Las Vegas as well.
05:41 So it kind of depends on where you want to go.
05:44 Me, I think that UConn rematch in Seattle is going to be great.
05:47 I haven't been to Climate Pledge.
05:49 I've heard unbelievable things about that new arena, what they've done in Seattle, basically
05:54 getting themselves ready to have an NBA franchise again.
05:59 But I would say if I had my pick to go to one game this upcoming season, I think UConn
06:06 is the one.
06:08 I think the USC game has an interest based on Brawny James, Isaiah Collier.
06:14 It's in Las Vegas.
06:15 There we go.
06:16 There we go.
06:17 There we go.
06:18 That's the winner right there.
06:19 Look, for you, that's the winner, huh?
06:20 The one in Kentucky.
06:21 I mean, if you haven't been to a game at Rupp Arena, it's well worth it.
06:27 But there's something about, you know, Battle in Seattle games have always drawn well.
06:32 Now I don't remember off the top of my head if they're calling it the Battle in Seattle
06:35 again.
06:37 But you know, Danny Hurley, what he's done at UConn has been tremendous.
06:41 And for them to come all the way out to the West Coast in year one of a series to replay
06:47 what happened last year in the Elite Eight in Vegas, I think is tremendous.
06:51 So I think that's going to be a heck of a game.
06:53 You certainly bring up the more purist, academic basketball enjoyable type matchup.
07:00 But I don't see why you wouldn't want it.
07:03 To me, Vegas is slowly becoming the destination for any premier game you ever want to go check
07:08 out because it's got all of this, the sideshow attraction accoutrement to go with it.
07:13 And yeah, I'm down for you can go cover the Battle in Seattle.
07:16 I will stay dry and warm and I'll cover the Vegas showdown.
07:19 Hey, that's fine.
07:20 And you're right.
07:21 Vegas is becoming literally the home of basketball.
07:24 I mean, you could take it so far as say all sports.
07:29 Yeah, I mean, they've got hockey now, they've got the NFL now they're talking about baseball.
07:33 I think when the NBA expands within the next few years, I think it's going to be Seattle
07:37 and Las Vegas that gets teams.
07:40 Here's an interesting one about Vegas that somebody threw out there.
07:44 What if, say 10 years from now, the entire NCAA tournament is hosted in Las Vegas?
07:51 Yes, because they have all of the different arenas.
07:57 I'm sure they're building more and they've got enough hotels.
08:00 And then you have the final four at the dome.
08:03 I think it's called Allegiant Stadium.
08:05 Somebody threw that idea out there.
08:06 And it just made me think like, that would be unbelievable.
08:09 You could host the entire NCAA tournament.
08:14 Yeah.
08:15 Well, because currently right now it's what?
08:17 WCC, Mountain West, aren't there three?
08:21 Pac-12 and the WAC and the Big West are all in the span of like two and a half weeks,
08:28 right?
08:29 Like they're all not even span of about 10 days.
08:33 Yeah.
08:34 Deal.
08:35 Well, I hope you enjoy the battle in Seattle and I will be with the rest of the folks at
08:40 the top of it.
08:41 But no, seriously, it's amazing that Gonzaga has so many premier marquee matchups this
08:46 season and you're absolutely right that getting Yukon this early in a series, perfect timing.
08:51 I mean, that is going to be a great game.
08:53 We have a little while until we get there and Gonzaga Nation is your home for all the
08:56 coverage leading up to all of those matchups.
08:59 Dan, thank you very much for helping us crack open the mailbag and answer some more questions.
09:03 Reminder, you can get at us, VanNationZags on all the social media.
09:07 You can reach Dan at DanDickout21 and remember to subscribe to Gonzaga Nation wherever you
09:11 get your podcasts.
09:12 We'll talk to you guys soon.