ROOT Sports announcer Greg Heister shares his thoughts on the new-look Gonzaga Bulldogs and what players could break out in 2023-24.
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Gonzaga plays as good a non-conference as anybody.
00:09 You look at this next upcoming season,
00:11 you got UConn, you got the great, the Maui Classic,
00:16 you've got at Kentucky, and the Kentucky one's interesting
00:19 because Coach Few and Coach Calipari
00:21 had the deal with Gonzaga Memphis years ago
00:23 where they played at the middle of their conference season.
00:26 That's the formula they went back to.
00:28 That jumped out at me when that was announced
00:30 through Kentucky's social media a week or so back.
00:34 Is there a non-conference you're most looking forward to?
00:37 Is it the Kentucky?
00:38 - That's a question that I will answer the first week
00:43 because I wanna see these guys play together, right?
00:46 Because Gonzaga has made their life on continuity,
00:51 they've made their life on chemistry,
00:53 dudes that love each other and play together, right?
00:57 They have not all these years always been,
01:00 a few of those teams were more talented
01:01 than a lot of the teams that they've played,
01:03 but really that's not been Gonzaga's MO for these 20 years.
01:07 They're not always the most talented team.
01:09 I can make the case there were teams down in Moraga
01:12 that were more talented in some of those years
01:14 that Gonzaga beat because they were a great team
01:17 and chemistry and all of that.
01:18 And you don't know when you assemble these players, right?
01:21 If they're truly ready for the juggernaut of a schedule
01:25 that Mark Few sets up every year.
01:26 So I'm gonna, you asked me that question in November
01:30 when I see these guys all together.
01:31 Now I will tell you this, Nembhard,
01:33 Ryan's gonna make a huge difference.
01:35 I think that he's cut out of the cloth
01:39 of a Mark Few quintessential point guard, right?
01:43 Make everybody better, he can provide some offense,
01:46 he can get into the lane
01:48 and get the ball to the right person like you.
01:52 And so because of him, I think that this team could elevate
01:57 to national Final Four stuff.
02:01 - And Coach Few's best teams have always had
02:03 two primary ball handler decision makers.
02:05 It was Suggs and Nembhard.
02:07 It was Perkins, Nigel, James, Goss, myself and Blake,
02:11 Santangelo, Quinton Hall.
02:12 And so this year's team, Nolan Hickman and Nembhard
02:15 have that possibility to be a great duo like that.
02:18 - And I wanna spend some time talking about Nolan
02:22 because he's the guy that my eyes are gonna be on most
02:25 to begin this year because he took a lot of criticism.
02:29 He's been beat up over his couple of years at Gonzaga.
02:33 And you can see the potential, he's a good player.
02:36 Will he take the jump?
02:39 He stayed, he's been loyal.
02:42 It needs to be rewarded.
02:45 I hope it's rewarded on the floor for him personally
02:49 and I hope the fan base rewards that as well.
02:52 People forget Nolan Hickman was a five-star guy.
02:54 - He initially committed to Kentucky.
02:57 - Right, could have gone anywhere he wanted to
02:58 in the country and he came to Gonzaga and he's still here
03:02 in the days of NIL and the transfer portal.
03:05 - And what's interesting about that is he's only a junior.
03:08 It's his third year.
03:09 I have said this for years
03:11 and this goes back to my career plan.
03:13 Unless you're a complete outlier,
03:16 it takes like a Chet Holmgren.
03:18 It takes three years to get comfortable
03:20 at the next level of play.
03:22 College, it took me three years.
03:24 Two years at UW, a redshirt year,
03:26 and then it broke through, I was bad at UW.
03:29 But in the pros, it took me three years to get comfortable.
03:31 It's just a different game and a different jump.
03:34 And this is his third year,
03:36 so I see a big jump in his future.
03:39 - And Dan, he's playing every day now
03:41 alongside Ryan Enmark.
03:43 That can only help, right?
03:45 'Cause he sees a guy that can do it
03:47 and has done it on a national level.
03:49 So I think, I'm excited to see Nolan Hickman play.
03:53 Ben Gregg, I think, is gonna make a jump too.
03:57 I do, he's been working hard all summer.
04:00 I think he's getting stronger
04:02 and I think he's gonna shoot the beep-beep out of the three.
04:06 And I think he's gonna stretch defenses.
04:09 I think he's gonna cause problems for people.
04:11 And then the new guys, we'll wait and see.
04:13 With Anton coming back, they have the leadership,
04:16 they've got the toughness,
04:18 somebody that's been there before.
04:21 We'll just have to wait and see.
04:23 And that's a terrible answer though, isn't it?
04:26 I hate it when I'm doing an interview and people say,
04:28 "Well, we'll just have to wait and see."
04:30 Well, that's why you're here is to get your opinion.
04:31 - Well, here's the thing though,
04:32 is you and I will have conversations like this
04:35 throughout the season.
04:35 - More off-camera, frankly, than on-camera.
04:37 - Yeah, I mean, we have the off-camera one.
04:38 - Because Dan's a little goofy
04:40 if you haven't figured that out yet.
04:42 - Well, we-- - I mean, have you seen his shoes?
04:43 Will you put one of these up there?
04:45 - What's wrong with these?
04:47 - What is that?
04:48 - Well, okay, give me a--
04:49 - It's orange.
04:51 - What's wrong with orange?
04:52 - Besides the color?
04:54 Are those Nike, what are those?
04:58 - Nike Zoom All Outs.
05:02 I would buy another pair of these right now.
05:04 - How come?
05:05 - They're comfortable.
05:06 - You paid money for those?
05:07 - I did, I did.
05:09 Hey, come on.
05:10 - Now, if we're going full disclosure on wardrobe,
05:13 I mean, you wear corduroys--
05:17 - Yeah, cords, comfortable corduroys.
05:19 - Corduroys and running shoes under it with a sport coat.
05:23 - Perfectly comfortable.
05:25 I'm comfy, Dan.
05:26 I'm comfy. - Isn't there a sense
05:27 of professionalism you need to bring to the broadcast?
05:29 - Hey, those cords are like 100 bucks.
05:31 - Oh, jeez.
05:32 - Come on now.
05:33 - Well, you overspent on those.
05:34 - I did, no, there's no doubt.
05:36 I get a deal on them, though.
05:37 But anyways--
05:39 - Is this the same place you get your hair piece?
05:40 (laughing)
05:42 - Well, how's it looking?
05:43 (upbeat music)
05:47 (upbeat music)