Former Gonzaga All-American Dan Dickau gives his thoughts on Braden Huff, the WCC's media deal with ESPN and more on the newest Monday mailbag episode of the Gonzaga Nation podcast
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00:00 Hey everybody, Christian Pedersen joined by Dan Dickow. We are back for another edition
00:05 of the mailbag podcast that we do here at Gonzaga Nation. That's where we answer or
00:11 we we all collectively ask Dan Dickow our genius basketball resident mind. You guys
00:16 as fans submitted questions that you got to us on social media at fan nation zags on all
00:21 the different platforms or to Dan at Dan Dickow 21. And as well, you're at, he might as well
00:25 subscribe to Gonzaga Nation wherever you get your podcasts. First one, Dan is going international
00:32 and we've been talking about coach few the last couple of weeks. We had some people asking
00:36 what was your international playing experience like either for team USA or for any international
00:41 squads? Well, I actually did have a chance to play for team USA. So I got to represent
00:48 our country back in college. I played in the world university games. It was in 2001 in
00:54 Beijing. And so the team was made up of as it's called the world university games. You
01:01 had to be a current college student at the time or loosely enrolling in college classes.
01:08 So myself, Juan Dixon, Lynn Greer, Andre Barrett, Chris Owens, Melvin Eli are a couple of the
01:16 names that maybe, you know, some, some big time hoop heads would remember who those guys
01:21 were as well. You know, we were on the team. We went back to Beijing and we actually were
01:29 the first team, unfortunately, in that tournament to lose in about 20, 30 years from the United
01:35 States. So we ended up losing in the semifinals to China in Beijing, in a, in an arena, in
01:43 a stadium that was filled with about 14, 15,000 screaming, rabid Chinese fans. And the reason
01:50 it doesn't make a whole lot of sense, or it wasn't very fair is the fact that, okay, so
01:56 we're college students. The Chinese team had three, well, their whole team was made up
02:04 of professional players. You either were either playing professionally in China at the time
02:10 or in the NBA at the time. So two of the players were actively playing in the NBA. That would
02:16 have been Wang Zizhi and Meng Batier. And the third was Yao Ming, who ended up nine
02:22 months later being the number one pick in the 2002 NBA draft. So we were college students.
02:28 They were, they were pros and we were, it was a close game with, I remember clearly,
02:34 I think we were, we were down one with less than a minute left. And one of our players,
02:42 John Dixon, I believe it was, drove the lane, shot a floater. Yao Ming came over from the
02:48 weak side and goal-tended it, right? In international play, if the ball hits the rim and the ball's
02:53 rolling on the rim, you can knock it off. That's fine. But it's same as far as if the
02:57 ball hasn't hit the rim and the shot is on its downward trajectory, you can't touch it.
03:03 Well, Yao Ming goal-tended the shot on its downward trajectory. Officials didn't call
03:08 it. We ended up losing the game. We ended up winning third place a couple of days later,
03:14 but that was my experience playing for Team USA. Now, fast forward a few years later,
03:20 the Polish national team wanted me to play for them in the FIBA Eurobasket. And this
03:28 would have been, I believe in 2008 or 2009. I was playing with the Clippers at the time.
03:35 They flew out a delegation at least twice to come meet with myself and my wife and talk
03:42 to my agent and kind of see what it would take for me to play for Poland in the Eurobasket.
03:48 Now I have Polish heritage. I've got Polish connections. I believe great, great grandparents
03:56 on my father's side. And so it would have been easy to get a passport because I didn't
04:02 play at the highest level for Team USA. You can go play for another country if you get
04:07 dual citizenship. Now, that's something you see a lot of in the World Cup. You got guys
04:12 that are American, they're playing for other countries because they got dual citizenship.
04:16 But that was an opportunity for me. Unfortunately, I didn't go forward with it because I didn't
04:23 have a contract after that season. Like I mentioned, I was playing for the Clippers.
04:27 I didn't have a contract after that for the next season. So I wasn't comfortable not playing
04:33 in Eurobasket without a contract. So looking back, maybe I should have done it, but it
04:39 would have been about a two and a half month commitment. I didn't know where my contract
04:42 status lied leading up to it the next year. So that would have been fun, but I didn't
04:47 take advantage of playing for Poland.
04:50 Just think we could all be calling you the pierogi right now. That could be your nickname
04:54 at this point. And also, I just want to point out Dan, who we were talking to was a first
04:57 round draft pick 28th overall, meaning that that year there was only 27 better basketball
05:04 players available in the entire world for people to pick. And Dan is looking at and
05:09 telling you that the gap though, between being the 28th pick and being the first pick overall
05:13 is noticeable. And that Yao Ming is bad memories. And a viewer that asked that question, shame
05:19 on you for bringing up Dan.
05:20 Well, I got a great Yao Ming story for another day. So, you know, if you're listening to
05:24 this and you want to send a mailbag question and ask about Yao Ming and his restaurant
05:30 in Houston, the story is unbelievable.
05:33 I can't even wait. You already one up me with what I think is one of the funniest show moments
05:36 in history between us. When you hit me with a you, I thought I made a great Udonis Haslam
05:40 point. You're like, let me tell you a Udonis Haslam story. So I'm not even going to go
05:44 there. I absolutely am ready for that podcast. Next question we got is why is Braden Huff
05:49 such a mystery?
05:52 Well it's because he redshirted a season ago. And you know, it's one of those things where
05:59 years ago it was normal for players to redshirt. And you would kind of have this mystery guy
06:10 the very next year appear. And many times, hopefully he was an impact player. Sometimes
06:15 he wasn't an impact player. Now with the amount of information that's typically out there
06:21 on guys, there's not a whole lot of mysteries about players. But you're right in the regards
06:28 that Braden Huff does still seem like a mystery. I've been at a number of practices over the
06:34 last year and I can say this. I think he's talented. I think he brings a little bit of
06:41 a curveball element, not the way that I've described Drew Timmy, but in the way that
06:45 he's a lefty. I think all lefties, especially when you put them in the post, have a unique
06:53 challenge for defenders to guard. I think athletically he's improved since the time
06:59 he stepped on campus, but he's still by no stretch, he's still not a drop dead, wow,
07:05 he's an athlete kind of player. He's kind of one of those guys who's cerebral, who's
07:09 skilled. I think he's a little bit bigger and taller than maybe initially he was advertised
07:15 as. But I know the staff has high hopes for him. And with the fact that Drew Timmy's gone,
07:22 there's minutes available with the fact that Caden Perry has announced that he's no longer
07:28 going to try to play college basketball. I think there's an opportunity right there for
07:34 him. He's got to show that he's able to pick up defensive schemes and rotations and keep
07:40 guys in front. I think he's got to be able to prove that he can guard and pick and roll
07:44 situations on the offensive end of the floor. I think, again, he's lefty, so he's got that
07:49 advantage. I think he's creative. When I've watched him in shooting drills, he's got a
07:53 nice touch. But by no means would I say he's a knockdown step out big, but I think he's
07:59 got a chance to play some minutes this year.
08:02 Next question we got in reminder, if anyone wants to submit questions, you can find us
08:05 at Fan Nation Zags on all your social media. You can also get this podcast straight to
08:09 your phone every single time a new one drops by searching and subscribing to Gonzaga Nation,
08:14 wherever you get your podcasts. What's going on with the ESPN Plus deal? Can you explain
08:17 that to the viewers?
08:21 You know, a lot was made about this ESPN Plus deal, and I get it. ESPN is the name in college
08:28 sports and just sports in general that a lot of people gravitate to and flock to. But really,
08:34 the only change that it makes for Gonzaga fans are the ones that live outside of the
08:40 region that gets the KHQ and root sports games. So, you know, if you were a Gonzaga fan living
08:47 in Illinois or living in on the East Coast, you probably couldn't get those regional games
08:52 unless you got creative, you know, with your TV provider services. Or if you are willing
09:00 and you could figure out how to get the WCC sports website to work and stream properly.
09:07 I've had a number of people ask me, "Hey, what goes on with it?" And I'm like, "I have
09:11 no idea." But that's well out of my, you know, job description.
09:16 I like that just because you work in media, you somehow know the coding on the back end
09:20 of the WCC website.
09:21 Yeah, for sure. For sure. So I think what this does is it allows, you know, anybody
09:26 to buy an ESPN Plus membership and have access to all those games, you know, through the
09:32 ESPN platform, their website. So it should be a lot easier. We actually had an interview
09:36 last week with WCC Commissioner Stu Jackson, and we talked about the ESPN Plus deal and
09:42 what it meant. And he was really excited about it because it gets them on a number of different
09:47 platforms streaming and outside of the normal just TV network box. So he's excited about
09:55 it. So he explains it in much more detail. So if you want to hear kind of the nuts and
09:59 bolts and how it's going to impact some of the other sports and other schools, that'll
10:04 be a great podcast to listen to as well.
10:07 I don't think that the studio that we've been building is completely under wraps because
10:12 our last week that we connected, you were in there and you showed off a little bit of
10:15 it. So I apologize to our wonderful, absolute saint of a content coordinator, creator who
10:23 is our boss. If I'm spilling the beans here, but that studio's fire. Absolutely amazing.
10:31 You guys are going to love the shows that Dan is producing in there. It is going to
10:35 be such a jump, like a quantum leap forward. Absolutely. You guys are going to be ready
10:39 and that's a great one to kick it off with. I know you guys have been doing some other
10:42 ones, but that's two Jackson was going to be a lot of fun. Last question we got.
10:45 Yeah. You know, on that, I'll just say we've recorded a couple virtual in the studio. But
10:52 then we've also recorded it in person with Greg Heister. That'll be releasing soon. We've
10:56 got three Gonzaga players coming in later this week. So those will release, you know,
11:02 later on down the road in the fall. So our content game is definitely picking up.
11:06 You smell that America, Dan Dick, I was cooking with gas. Finally, that man has got himself
11:12 a beautiful studio. It makes his hair even look good, which I know you guys like to clown
11:15 on Dan for that sometimes. Perfectly quaffed back there. Feathered and lethal is Dan Dick
11:22 out today. Last question we got for you, Dan is Marcus Adams to BYU. What the hell is that?
11:29 I don't know. You know, I think it's one of those things. And then I touched on it on
11:35 a podcast the other day is like, hey, look, there's something going on that we don't know.
11:41 You go to Kansas, a blue blood, and it's not right for you. Are you scared of competition
11:46 for minutes? I don't know. Any ups and leaves. He commits to Gonzaga. He's only committed
11:52 to Gonzaga or signed with Gonzaga for about a month. You know, then things may not be
12:00 what he wants as far as thinking how the minutes are going to go and he up and leaves again.
12:05 So, you know, it is what it is these days. Players are more tend are around this type
12:13 of approach now more than ever because of that's the AAU basketball world. That's even
12:18 the high school basketball world now. So it's not it's not a big deal, unfortunately, to
12:22 kids these days to up and leave so quickly and so many times in such a short time frame.
12:30 But you know what? He's at BYU. Best of luck to him. And we'll see if Mark can get his
12:36 game right. You could have answered that a lot less politely, but a lot more succinctly
12:43 by saying, don't know, don't care. He's not our problem anymore. Wish you well. Don't
12:47 let the door hit you on the way out, kid. Maybe I'm just harsh for that. That's all
12:52 that we got in this week's mailbag edition. Somebody please hop on some social media and
12:56 ask Dan about Yao Ming. Just if I need to do it, Dan, I'll tweet at you. Yeah, I mean,
13:00 because I want to hear that question. So make sure you guys tune in to the next consagination
13:04 by searching and subscribing, like we said, to consagination wherever you get your podcasts
13:09 or fan nation zags on all the social media. Talk to you guys soon.
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