• last year
Former Gonzaga All-American Dan Dickau shares his thoughts on the upcoming season as he breaks down the Gonzaga Bulldogs' 2023-24 schedule
Transcript
00:00 Hey, everybody, it's Christian Pedersen joined by Dan Dickow.
00:03 We're back for another episode of the Gonzaga Nation podcast.
00:05 Thank you very much for checking in with us.
00:07 If you are new here, make sure you search and subscribe to
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00:16 you get your podcasts by searching Gonzaga Nation.
00:18 Dan, thank you very much for joining us.
00:19 As of us recording this today, we are less than a month out
00:24 from the craziness in the kennel.
00:25 We are less than two months out from actual like consistent Gonzaga
00:32 games being available to watch and consume both in person and on
00:35 television, wherever you are in the broadcasting spectrum.
00:39 So let's do some schedule talk.
00:41 Is that okay?
00:41 Can we get into the nitty gritty just a little bit now that the
00:43 year is kind of finally here?
00:44 Might as well, because Gonzaga still hasn't dropped their official schedule.
00:51 You're trying to get bits and pieces from the other teams releasing their schedule.
00:57 There was one that just came out in the last couple of days.
00:59 But Gonzaga still has one, maybe two openings, if I'm not mistaken,
01:04 that they've got to fill and you know, I would expect that
01:09 release to happen any day.
01:10 I mean, shoot.
01:11 So maybe this is just the nitty and not the gritty.
01:14 You could put it that way.
01:17 I mean, it's close to being finalized from my understanding.
01:20 But you know, the last school or two that they're in negotiations with to get a game
01:27 done, a contract hasn't been signed.
01:29 And so you're not going to put that out there until a contract has been signed.
01:32 Okay, fair enough.
01:34 So we will get into the nitty, but not the gritty of the schedule.
01:36 We'll give everybody a little bit of a teaser.
01:38 We can definitely talk about the front end of the schedule a
01:41 little bit more concretely.
01:43 They open up against Yale and then they move on to the Maui gym invitation.
01:49 Let's talk about the Yale game and then or the Maui gym invitational, because there
01:52 was some headlines coming out about the Maui invitational's location and games being played.
01:58 Yeah, I mean, obviously there's been everybody knows or should know about the
02:04 devastating fires in Maui that have kind of just completely torn apart Lahaina, which
02:10 is where the Maui invitational has been played since its inception, other than the
02:14 COVID year or two where they had to play in different places.
02:18 But that tournament has always been played at the Lahaina Civic Center.
02:23 The Civic Center was spared by the fire, but it's been serving as kind of like a kind
02:32 of a hub for getting people back on their feet, being able to be take care of community
02:38 services and those kind of things.
02:39 So they've been searching for secondary options, ideas of where to host a
02:46 tournament, and they've kind of well, they haven't they have fully been they're fully
02:53 set now on playing the tournament in Hawaii, which I think is great.
02:57 You know, there was talk of Las Vegas.
02:59 There was talk of San Diego, different places like that.
03:02 But glad to see that the tournament is staying in Hawaii.
03:05 It's going to be played in Honolulu, though, instead of Maui.
03:10 But the nice thing is, is especially for Gonzaga fans who want to travel instead of
03:16 being in the Lahaina Civic Center, where there's roughly eighteen hundred two thousand
03:20 seats, they're playing on the University of Hawaii's campus in the gym.
03:24 There are seats close to ten thousand.
03:26 So it's going to be a much easier ticket for people to get to.
03:30 Honolulu is obviously a much easier place to get to as well.
03:34 It's a little cheaper for flights, a little cheaper for hotels, much many more options
03:41 there. So all in all, good news.
03:44 Tournament is still going on in Hawaii.
03:46 And so, though, that's the latest in regards to the Maui Invitational.
03:51 Let's talk about the games themselves, then what's what we know, Purdue.
03:55 And then it sounds like Tennessee or Syracuse would be that second option.
03:58 But what's the vibe going into the Maui Invitational for this Gonzaga roster?
04:03 Are you looking for blowout wins?
04:06 Are you like, hey, we just got to hold on by 10 against Purdue.
04:09 Give some of the people what you're really trying to be like.
04:11 Hey, these are my main three hopeful takeaways from this first couple of games.
04:15 Well, it's going to be a bloodbath of a tournament.
04:18 I mean, I think this might be the best.
04:21 Early preseason ranked field that's ever been to a Maui Invitational, you can take it a
04:28 step further and possibly say it might be even the most loaded field for any of these
04:32 kind of tournaments.
04:33 You look at Purdue, who Gonzaga opens with, they're going to be preseason number one in a
04:39 lot of polls. Kansas is out there.
04:41 They're going to be number one in some of the preseason polls.
04:44 You mentioned Tennessee.
04:46 They've been really good as of late.
04:48 They're a top 10-ish team to start the season.
04:50 Syracuse, they're to be determined.
04:54 Well, yes, I know you're a Syracuse alum, but they're to be determined.
04:59 Nobody knows what to expect because Boeheim's gone.
05:01 Coach Autry has been there for a number of years, but is he going to keep implementing
05:07 that zone? Is he going to have his own wrinkles?
05:10 Offensively, are they going to have a plan?
05:12 I mean, that was one thing with Syracuse is offensively, you never knew what they were
05:17 going to do for the most part because I don't want to say they just rolled the ball out.
05:22 But Coach Boeheim really trusted his top player or two to create opportunities and to be the
05:32 guy they kind of just provided scoring opportunities for themselves or others.
05:39 They didn't play with a lot of free-flowing continuity.
05:42 They were kind of an ISO type of team.
05:45 Carmelo Anthony basketball became the signature style on offense.
05:50 Yes. Yeah. But you know what?
05:51 If you recruit the right kind of player to fit that, it can work.
05:56 And it worked for a long time for Coach Boeheim.
05:58 So I think the biggest thing for that will be what they do on the defensive end of the
06:02 floor. And then you look at a couple of the other teams.
06:06 Marquette has a chance to be a Final Four type team this year.
06:10 I mean, they should be preseason top 10.
06:13 And I know I'm missing a team or two in regards to the field.
06:17 Are you setting this up?
06:20 Are you trying to be, hey, Gonzaga could lose some games here and let's not freak out.
06:25 Are you trying to soften the blow here, or do you think that they can still go toe to
06:29 toe with potential preseason number ones?
06:32 I think it can go both ways, to be honest with you.
06:35 I think Gonzaga's roster is talented enough to be considered that caliber.
06:42 But think about it.
06:44 You're replacing an all-timer in Drew Timmy.
06:47 You're replacing a first-round draft pick in Julian Strother.
06:51 You're replacing a lot, and you've got to figure out where the production is going to
06:56 come from. Now, if you look at last year's team, I think they were overrated going into
07:02 the season. They took some bumps and bruises early on, and then they were challenged.
07:07 They grew, they improved, and they maximized their abilities and their opportunities by
07:12 the end of the year. I think this is a Gonzaga team that is very talented, and I
07:18 haven't been to a practice yet.
07:19 I plan on getting there in the next couple of weeks before craziness in the kennel,
07:22 because myself and Greg Heister, Richard Fox will be broadcasting that for KHQ and SWX.
07:28 But we don't know what this team's going to look like without Drew Timmy.
07:33 I mean, everything has been focused on him scoring opportunities the last couple of
07:38 years, and rightfully so.
07:40 So it's going to be a work in progress, but I think it's going to be a fun work in
07:45 progress. I think they can definitely compete, but I don't think they know what they're
07:49 going to be at this moment in time.
07:51 I think the Maui Invitational could show a lot as to what they're going to be, but I
07:57 wouldn't be surprised or I wouldn't be heartbroken or disappointed if Gonzaga doesn't
08:03 play or have the results that many fans are going to want.
08:07 Because again, the expectations are so outlandish for this program now that they're
08:12 hard to continue to meet game in, game out, event in, event out, season after season.
08:20 That being said, they're going to be good.
08:23 This is going to be a great team.
08:24 But do I think they're going to win the Maui Invitational?
08:27 I'm not ready to go there just yet.
08:29 Fair enough. Let's talk about the month of December then for what we've got lined up
08:33 is at Washington, home vs.
08:36 Jackson State, home vs.
08:37 San Diego State.
08:40 Not entirely a cakewalk to follow up the Maui Invitational, your thoughts on some of
08:45 their December games.
08:45 Well, that UW game is, I mean, you want to call it a rivalry game just because it's a
08:53 big school in the state, but Gonzaga has handled that series over the last 15, 20
09:01 years. So that's a fun game for Gonzaga fans to get the win and kind of have the
09:07 bragging rights amongst the state.
09:10 But I don't know.
09:11 I mean, it's there's been a lot of fluctuation and changes in UW's roster.
09:15 You know, they lost a scoring guard, Minifield, that had a chance to be really good
09:21 for him. But Keon Brooks decided to stay.
09:23 So so they do have some talent there over at UW, but it's just a fun game to have on
09:31 the schedule. The other one or two games really in the month of December that are
09:35 providing a lot of interest would be the game against UConn in the battles in Seattle
09:41 at Climate Pledge, where they get a chance to, you know, I don't want to say avenge the
09:46 loss to UConn, who become the national champs, but that's the way a lot of people look
09:51 at it. I think it's a tremendous, you know, scheduling coup for Gonzaga to go ahead and
09:58 get the defending champs on the schedule again.
10:00 They come to Seattle this year.
10:02 They return the game by by going back east at Madison Square Garden next season.
10:06 So I think that's great. And then the other one would be the San Diego State, another
10:10 national title contending team from a season ago.
10:13 They were in the national title game.
10:15 So if you look at the talent of programs that Gonzaga plays, I mean, the conversation
10:21 and I know I'm kind of going off topic here, but the conversation anymore that Gonzaga
10:25 doesn't play anybody just needs to be done.
10:27 It just needs to be done.
10:28 We need to schedule again.
10:29 So San Diego State's going to be good, but they're going to be much different than they
10:34 were a year ago.
10:35 Dutcher, coach Brian Dutcher, one of the most underrated nationally in regards to getting
10:41 credit. But he and his staff do a great job.
10:44 I don't think they're a Final Four type team this year, but they are dang good.
10:49 All right, so let's look then past that and we get to largely the rest of that is WCC
10:56 play. But there is one specific stretch that we have alluded to before that you have
10:59 labeled as kind of like the linchpin of we're going to figure out who this team really
11:05 is. And that's the month of February where they take on St.
11:08 Mary's Portland, Kentucky, LMU in a pretty.
11:11 Tight 12 day stretch, is that still the key part of the season that you're looking at
11:18 once we hit WCC play or have you had some time to maybe drift towards, you know, hey,
11:23 I'm a little bit more worried about this, that or the other?
11:26 No, I think that's an important stretch for sure, because that's if I remember
11:30 correctly, that's about two thirds of the way through WCC play.
11:35 So you should know who you are.
11:37 Finished with that stretch, they have everybody one more time and then they're done.
11:41 So it's by the time you're done, it's February 15th and it's closing time on the WCC
11:48 play. Yeah. So I think really what you're looking at there is you're looking at, you
11:53 know who you are as a team by that point.
11:55 You've played everybody in the league.
11:56 You should should know who everybody else is in the league at that point.
12:00 But then you get a chance to go outside your league and play a team like Kentucky, who's
12:05 a top 10, top 15 ish team this season and test yourself in a new environment.
12:11 I mean, yeah, you get the environment of playing at St.
12:13 Mary's in front of thirty eight hundred people.
12:16 You get the experience of playing at LMU again for forty five hundred people.
12:21 But to prepare yourself for opportunities to play in the NCA tournament, you haven't
12:27 played in front of crowds like that since early in the season.
12:30 So you go out, you're going to play at Kentucky, nearly twenty thousand people in a
12:35 different style of game than you're used to in the WCC with style of play, with
12:41 athletes, with different officials.
12:43 I think it's a great test for Gonzaga right there.
12:46 So then at that point, we have kind of talked about the schedule.
12:51 I think we can expect maybe once we get into the little bit closer to it, we'll talk
12:55 more in depth about WCC.
12:57 But let me ask you then the big question that's on everybody's mind.
12:59 How many wins, losses this year?
13:02 Oh, I had a feeling you were going to try to peg me on this.
13:06 And I'm one of those guys that have never I don't want to say those guys, but I try
13:12 not to put a number on it, but quickly count up for me since I don't have the schedule
13:17 pulled up, how many games will Gonzaga play?
13:22 Before the WCC tournament, give me that one.
13:26 Before WCC player, before the tournament, no, sorry, before the WCC tournament.
13:31 We know there'll be a 16 WCC games, so I'm guessing they'll have twenty nine, I think
13:40 is the max allowed.
13:41 I see four on here, depending how many they end up playing in Maui, it could be 26
13:47 or seven. OK, so it's always three in Maui, so that would be twenty seven.
13:51 All right. Twenty seven.
13:54 And then I believe there are two games are left to be filled on.
13:58 So let's let's say twenty nine games going into the WCC tournament.
14:03 You know, there's been years now where in that case they've been twenty eight, no,
14:10 twenty five and four.
14:12 You know, I think if this team is twenty four wins, twenty five wins going in there,
14:17 that that's that that's solid.
14:21 I think if you're sitting at that with the schedule that they've played, your net's
14:27 extremely high.
14:28 You are prepared. You played all different styles of teams.
14:32 You know, it's I think you're looking at twenty five wins.
14:37 You're sitting in a good spot.
14:41 I think that's a bit of a tepid twenty four, twenty five, but I like that it's a
14:44 confident enough we got to go.
14:46 I will say this. I'm not going out there and saying Gonzaga is running the table to
14:49 share. You're going to have those fans that are going to do that.
14:52 That's that's not me.
14:53 I mean, I look at just more in terms of the post-production social media clipping job
15:00 that our wonderful people do behind the scenes.
15:02 Yeah. So this one's going to go out there and.
15:04 You took you took 90 seconds to say twenty four or twenty five wins when you could just
15:10 have hit it with twenty five wins, baby, and that would be all they need to just
15:14 click and click and click and love you.
15:15 But it will get you there eventually.
15:17 Dan, we'll turn we'll turn you into a walking, talking, tick tock reels type dude.
15:21 We're going to have not going to have Dan wants so little of that that they built a
15:27 whole studio so Dan could avoid working with me.
15:29 That was the entire game plan there.
15:32 All right. Dan, thank you very much.
15:33 We will, like we said, have all the like the in-depth of the WCC and there's probably
15:39 a couple more schedules.
15:39 So this is not entirely the schedule, but I think we get a pretty good gist of where
15:43 this season is headed and kind of some of the major plot lines to look forward to.
15:46 So I thank you very much for setting that up for us, Dan.
15:48 Like we mentioned before, follow us at Fan Nation Zags on all the social media and make
15:52 sure you search and subscribe.
15:53 Gonzaga Nation, wherever you get your podcasts.
15:56 Until then, talk to you guys soon.

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