Former Gonzaga All-American Dan Dickau discusses how many games the Zags can win in the 2023-24 regular season, as well as his broadcast schedule with CBS Sports
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00:00 Hey everybody, it's Christian Pedersen,
00:01 joined by Dan Dickout for another episode of Gonzaga Nation.
00:04 Okay, hey everybody, it's really,
00:05 it's Dan Dickout joined by me.
00:07 I don't know why I get to set myself up
00:09 as he's hanging out with me talking basketball.
00:11 You're back on another episode
00:12 of the Gonzaga Nation podcast.
00:13 You're catching us on a mailbag edition
00:15 where we ask Dan the fan questions
00:17 that you guys have submitted to us at FannationZags
00:20 or at DanDickout21 on social media.
00:22 Dan, how are you doing today?
00:24 - Can't complain too much.
00:26 I mean, it's starting to get late September.
00:29 I mean, shoot, we're in the twenties now.
00:32 Not, that's late September.
00:33 That's not early September.
00:35 That means basketball season, college hoops.
00:38 - Are you in the leaves turning phase
00:41 of the Pacific Northwest yet?
00:43 - Yeah, you know, we got a couple of trees in our backyard.
00:46 We got some leaves that are starting to go from gray
00:49 or sorry, gray, green to that fire orange.
00:53 So that means in about probably three weeks,
00:56 I've got some good yard work to be done.
01:00 - This is not a fan submitted question.
01:01 This is a me submitted question.
01:03 - All right, let's do it.
01:04 - We are headed into the fall.
01:05 Are you a pumpkin spice and or pumpkin guy in general?
01:08 Like, do you make that part of your personality
01:10 for the next couple of months?
01:12 - Absolutely not.
01:13 I'll do pumpkin pie, that's for sure.
01:15 But pumpkin spice, not a chance.
01:19 You're not gonna catch me getting
01:20 a pumpkin spice latte at Starbucks.
01:23 I got a question back for you then.
01:25 Are you a Trey Kennedy fan?
01:27 - Yes.
01:28 - You gotta watch, what is it?
01:31 It's like a fall something.
01:33 It's like two or three years old.
01:35 Trey Kennedy had some clips on, you know,
01:38 fall with the leaves coming down
01:41 and pumpkin spice lattes.
01:43 Just making fun of all these different stereotypes.
01:45 It was hilarious.
01:46 - Girls during fall be like, yes, I will check that.
01:48 - Yes, that's the one right there.
01:50 - I'll admit that I have given in
01:54 and I don't hate pumpkin bagels
01:57 to start my day off for breakfast every now and then.
02:00 - Y'all pass.
02:02 - Yeah, I know, man.
02:04 I live the life I live, Dan.
02:06 Let's get to the fan submitted questions though
02:08 because that's what people are here for.
02:10 And we have talked a little bit about schedule
02:13 and people wanna know, how many wins are you projecting
02:16 for this year's Gonzaga team?
02:17 - I mean, that's one of those ways
02:20 you can kind of hem and haw about it.
02:22 I don't think this team is gonna be undefeated.
02:24 I don't think there's any team in college basketball
02:26 that's gonna have that storyline this year.
02:31 I think what you're gonna see is a ton of balance.
02:34 I mean, you look at the Maui Invitational,
02:35 there's a number of teams in the top 10
02:38 that you could say have a legitimate final four
02:40 team with aspirations.
02:43 I think Gonzaga, once you get past that tournament,
02:47 you're gonna have a solid idea of what they are,
02:49 who they could become if they continue to improve
02:52 the way that past Gonzaga teams have.
02:55 I think anything around 25 wins is doable this season.
03:00 25 wins, it's odd.
03:03 Years ago in college basketball, 20 wins was a benchmark.
03:07 Gonzaga now, it's 25 wins.
03:10 But I'm saying this 25 number before the post-season.
03:14 So this is pre-WCC tournament, this is pre-NCA tournament.
03:19 Yeah, so regular season.
03:20 So I think 25 regular season wins
03:24 would be a terrific goal.
03:25 And I think that's absolutely doable.
03:27 - Next question we had submitted,
03:29 and you guys remember you can get to us @FanNationZags
03:32 on all the social media or by searching Gonzaga Nation,
03:35 wherever you get your podcasts.
03:37 People wanna know,
03:38 are you calling Gonzaga games this year?
03:39 - Yes, I am.
03:42 I'm waiting to sign my contract for this upcoming season,
03:45 but the plan is to sign it hopefully this week.
03:50 It will be to call games on KHQ, Greg Hyster,
03:54 and Richard Fox.
03:55 And then I'll also be calling games on CBS Sports Network,
03:59 Pac-12 Network, ESPN.
04:02 And I've been in conversations to call a few games
04:05 and then Westwood One Radio.
04:07 So my busy time of the year is just around the corner,
04:10 but yes, Gonzaga games will be on my schedule.
04:14 Starting with the craziness in the kennel on October 7th.
04:18 But I've gotten this question before,
04:20 like why were you not on a Gonzaga game?
04:22 Well, CBS Sports has my first right for those dates
04:27 that they offer me assignments.
04:31 So if there's a conflicting date
04:32 in my schedule for broadcasting,
04:34 I automatically go to CBS Sports
04:37 as opposed to a Gonzaga game.
04:39 - I think that there's a lot of fun games,
04:44 but I'm assuming that that kennel experience
04:46 has to be like kind of a different type of broadcast
04:49 in terms of just overall how much fun it is.
04:51 - Yeah, it's funny too,
04:54 because I've called games now for ESPN,
04:59 CBS Sports, Westwood One, at Gonzaga.
05:03 And the amount of prep doesn't change,
05:08 but the amount of, not the amount,
05:12 but the angle of what I kind of am prepared to share,
05:17 the angle is different,
05:21 because obviously the KHQ games were a hometown crew.
05:25 I try to call it as down the middle as possible,
05:28 but anybody listening to this and has seen games
05:30 knows that Greg definitely has a Gonzaga slant,
05:33 and that's perfectly fine.
05:35 He's the hometown play-by-play guy.
05:38 I try to kind of keep it right down the middle.
05:41 Fox goes one way or the other different times of the year,
05:43 depending on what catches his eye.
05:45 But for those other national broadcasts,
05:48 I'm straight down the middle,
05:50 following the lead of our play-by-play guys.
05:52 - Next question we had submitted to us,
05:54 and this one was kind of interesting.
05:55 I never thought about this before,
05:56 'cause in football, small schools,
06:00 an Appalachian State or something like that
06:01 will be paid by bigger schools for early season games.
06:05 We're talking about Gonzaga still having
06:06 some available slots early season,
06:09 trying to add some stuff like a Chicago State last year.
06:11 Like there's sometimes games where it's a school that you go,
06:14 "Oh, didn't think Gonzaga would ever play them."
06:16 And this person was writing in asking,
06:17 "Does Gonzaga have to pay schools for those games?"
06:20 - Yeah, Gonzaga is at the point now
06:25 where they generate enough money,
06:27 where they do have buy games,
06:29 so they will pay a less,
06:32 what is deemed a lesser opponent to come to school.
06:35 - It's a delicate, you wanna dance around it,
06:37 but yeah, it is.
06:38 - Yeah, so a lot of times what those buy games are
06:41 is they will agree to pay a opposing program
06:46 X amount of money.
06:47 And with that X amount of money,
06:50 it pays for their travel costs, whether it's hotel.
06:54 If it's a small school in the area,
06:55 like for example, Lewis and Clark State and NA High School,
06:59 they'll bus up, it covers their costs,
07:02 their travel costs, their hotel costs.
07:04 And then typically,
07:07 that school also pockets some money
07:08 to be able to go back into
07:10 supplying what that program needs
07:14 to run throughout the course of their regular season,
07:16 whether it's their recruiting budget,
07:18 or whether it's their game management budget,
07:22 whatever it is.
07:23 But yeah, Gonzaga does have a number of buy games
07:27 on their schedule.
07:28 And the buy games can defer when changed
07:31 with who they pay and the amount that they pay,
07:34 depending on time of year, depending on negotiations,
07:39 depending on the location of the school that's coming.
07:43 There's lots of different variables that can adjust
07:45 just how much that buy game is worth.
07:47 - Man, I had no clue that that was kind of a thing also
07:53 in college basketball, but it's awesome.
07:55 I feel like for Gonzaga to be at a point
07:56 where they are enough of an economy
07:59 that they have that war chest
08:00 to go out and have some buy games.
08:02 That is a sign of good times, yes?
08:04 Being able to- - I would think so.
08:06 Yeah, I mean, for fans out there,
08:09 it's nowhere like in Alabama or Georgia football
08:13 with buy games.
08:14 It's nowhere near that.
08:15 - Yeah, they're not paying 800.
08:16 - But it's enough for schools to be enticed to come play.
08:20 - Yeah, well, that's a good sign.
08:20 Dan, thank you very much for checking in with us
08:22 and answering these fan submitted questions.
08:25 As a reminder, one more time,
08:26 you guys can find us at Fan Nation Zags
08:27 on all the social media.
08:28 You can get it Dan at DanDickout21,
08:30 or you can search and subscribe Gonzaga Nation
08:33 wherever you get your podcasts,
08:34 because we are your number one source
08:36 for all things Gonzaga basketball all season long,
08:39 both online and on podcast form.
08:41 Talk to you guys soon.
08:43 - Let's do it.