Former Gonzaga All-American Dan Dickau shares a recruiting update and much more.
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00:00 What's happening, everybody.
00:00 Christian Pedersen joined by Dan Dickel back for another episode
00:03 of the Gonzaga Nation podcast.
00:05 Like this, I might not have a hat, but I got, I got a new graphic.
00:08 Uh, the, the, something is coming through like the rebrand is going fantastic.
00:12 The season is here.
00:13 So that's why we are bringing you the extra produced vibes of good
00:18 joy because Gonzaga is back to being undefeated, Dan, let's get straight to it.
00:22 Reactions, recap, whatever it is that you have now felt and or seen since
00:29 you've had a chance to go back and rewatch the film of Gonzaga's opening game.
00:33 When talk about it.
00:34 Gonzaga is good again.
00:37 I think that's a, that's an easy one for me to say.
00:41 I there's obviously a lot of question marks with Drew, Timmy gone with Julian
00:46 Strother gone, and then all the newcomers.
00:48 Um, but I liked what I saw, um, on Friday night in particular, because
00:55 there were stretches they didn't play great in particular.
00:59 That first five, six minutes.
01:00 And that's because Yale came out and kind of put it on Gonzaga early.
01:05 They were an experienced tough ball club, but you know, I liked the fact
01:09 that Gonzaga had some struggles.
01:11 They had some nice stretches and they had a team that wouldn't go away in Yale.
01:15 So I think you, you saw a lot of adversity from a number of different guys that
01:20 they kind of had to fight through that night.
01:22 Uh, and so I think that's going to end up paying dividends down the road.
01:26 Now, the one possible, you know, negative to the game, and I think it'll be cleared
01:31 up, uh, against Eastern Oregon is getting those initial first game jitters out
01:36 of the way for a lot of players.
01:37 You know, people still to this day think, Hey, Gonzaga is super deep.
01:42 They're going to play 10, 11 guys.
01:43 They've said it over the mini course of the last 10, 12 years, they might have
01:49 talent, but they have to fit within a certain role at that time and place in
01:54 their career and that time and place, uh, that coach few fields is best.
01:59 So, you know, they didn't really go more than seven deep throughout most of the
02:03 night, uh, Luca, Luca, Kranjinovic, um, got maybe three, four minutes, June
02:10 got three, four minutes.
02:11 Uh, so you didn't see a ton of minutes for those guys.
02:14 I think one of those two, uh, will definitely be in the rotation.
02:19 My, my gut tells me it's going to be Kranjinovic, um, simply because he's
02:23 another ball ball handler that Gonzaga is going to need because.
02:27 Nembhardt and Hickman both played around 38 minutes or so that night.
02:31 So I don't, I know coach few was willing to play ball handlers that much, but at
02:36 some point, um, both those guys are going to need a little bit of a break here and
02:39 there, but all in all, I thought it was a tremendous, uh, Test in open on opening
02:45 night, Yale is a really good basketball team as evidenced by the fact that they
02:49 went down to LMU and be loyal Maramount on Sunday and they, they beat them, uh,
02:56 pretty easily.
02:57 I would not be surprised to see.
02:59 Yale winning a game in the NCAA tournament this year, if they win the Ivy league.
03:03 Fair enough.
03:05 Fair enough.
03:06 I can dig it.
03:06 So all in all your reaction is good news.
03:10 Optimism.
03:11 You said it very concisely at the beginning.
03:13 Gonzaga is good again.
03:15 Yes.
03:16 Is Gonzaga like there is still room to grow?
03:18 Yes.
03:19 Though, like you feel like this is just a nice starting point.
03:22 Yes.
03:22 Yeah.
03:23 Tons of room to grow.
03:24 I mean, when you look at it, uh, Graham EK was not great.
03:29 A lot of it was due to a couple of fouls, uh, you know, that, that he was called
03:34 for one in particular on the offensive end where, you know, kind of got called
03:37 for that hook where maybe it took a little bit of his, um, you know,
03:41 aggressiveness away in that second half.
03:42 But Yale was focusing in on him.
03:45 They really, you know, they had the size to not let him back players
03:48 down, like we saw in the exhibition game against LC state.
03:51 Um, you know, so I'm not concerned with that.
03:54 You know, I do think that, uh, you know, Nembhardt and Hickman will shoot the
03:59 ball a little bit better percentage wise.
04:01 Now I thought for the most part, they took good shots and they didn't
04:04 get out of the flow offensively.
04:05 Um, you know, so I think those are things that'll be cleaned up a little bit.
04:09 Brayden Huff looked tremendous again.
04:11 Um, you know, Anton Watson just kind of was, was doing his typical
04:16 Anton Watson type things.
04:18 Next thing you look up, he's at the end of the game, he's approaching a double
04:22 double, and then I think he finished with 11 and 10, if I'm not mistaken, I
04:26 don't have the box score in front of me.
04:27 So, um, you know, all in all lots of different positives from different guys,
04:32 uh, and things that also can be corrected as well.
04:36 All right, Dan, let's move on to potential future help for that roster.
04:41 And there's the latest on zoom DL or Cole Forsman had an article posted
04:45 that everyone needs to go check out at the site.
04:47 Um, detailing all of the specifics about the crazy intricate
04:51 web that surrounds this kid.
04:52 But it seems like he is closing in on a final decision.
04:56 What is your latest info gut feeling, anything you can share with anybody on
05:00 what seems to be one of the biggest targets that Gonzaga has had over the
05:04 last couple of recruiting years?
05:05 Yeah.
05:07 I mean, he's a talented player.
05:08 That's for sure.
05:08 I've seen him play in person a number of times.
05:11 Um, you know, I, I think his, his jump shots gradually gotten better.
05:16 Um, you know, and, and if, if he can become a, a, a better than average
05:23 shooter, I think that's really going to help him because he's, he is quick.
05:26 Um, he is, uh, he's got a good handle.
05:29 He's got vision.
05:30 He's a willing passer, uh, defensively, he's willing to get it after it.
05:34 So, you know, he checks a lot of the boxes that you want to see, uh, in a, in a
05:39 lead guard at the college level.
05:40 And obviously he's got a number of tremendous schools that are recruiting him.
05:44 Um, me personally, without, you know, asking coaches direct questions, uh, about
05:49 this recruitment, cause you know, that's not necessarily my role to
05:52 really ask them about that.
05:54 Um, you know, I would think that it's going to come down to Gonzaga and
05:58 UW just because he's a Northwest guy.
06:00 He's a Tacoma guy.
06:02 And if you know anything about Northwest guys, most of the
06:07 time they like to stay home.
06:09 Now you'll occasionally get those guys that leave like Apollo,
06:13 Banqueiro, they'll have to go to Duke.
06:14 Um, you know, but there's, there's lots of connection points, uh, for him to make
06:20 the case that Gonzaga is the perfect fit.
06:22 There's lots of connection points, um, to, to make him as well as others think
06:26 that UW is a terrific landing point.
06:29 Um, you know, the question I see is, does he want to make sure that he has a chance
06:35 to play in the NCAA tournament each year?
06:37 And that would be falling in Gonzaga's lap.
06:40 Um, if he wants to follow in the line of many players in the NBA in recent years,
06:45 Gonzaga would be that, that school.
06:48 UW has had a lot of pros over the years.
06:50 That's true, but they haven't had the team success in the NCAA tournament.
06:53 Uh, in recent years, if that's an experience that he wants to be a part of.
06:58 Now, maybe he's a part of a group that gets UW to the NCAA tournament.
07:02 It's hard to say, I don't know.
07:03 Um, but I, I personally think that it's going to come down to those two schools
07:08 just because, you know, he's a Northwest guy, uh, his high school coach at Curtis
07:13 before he went off to prolific prep, uh, has done a tremendous job of, of, uh,
07:17 helping him get his game ready.
07:19 And unfortunately for him and Curtis, you know, he went the prep school route
07:23 for his final year of high school.
07:25 Dan, let's head into the week to come the games to come.
07:30 We are into the season now.
07:31 So when we talk about, Hey, games coming up, we're going to both be talking about
07:35 the Gonzaga games because this is a Gonzaga podcast, but in being a Gonzaga
07:40 podcast, we need to keep you guys educated and apprised of what the rest of the WCC
07:44 is doing.
07:45 So Dan, um, maybe always Gonzaga games first and then everybody else.
07:49 I don't know how you exactly want to stack this or how you have it in your
07:52 uh, producerial notes, but let's get to the games coming up this week and what
07:56 the people need to know.
07:57 Well, I think the league's gotten off to a solid start.
08:01 Uh, you know, I think when you look at a couple, um, uh, a good win for, for
08:08 St.
08:09 Mary's was, uh, against New Mexico at home, but unfortunately they faltered
08:13 and lost to the big sky.
08:14 Um, we were state in their, their, their next home game.
08:18 Now it's a little bit of a disappointment.
08:20 Um, you know, so they fall to, to, um, two and one on the season.
08:26 Uh, I think, you know, USF going on the road and losing at Boise state.
08:32 Yeah.
08:32 You're disappointed and frustrated in the loss for the Dawn's and league, but
08:36 that's all in all, not a bad loss being that, um, Boise state's been in the NCAA
08:41 tournament the last two years.
08:42 They're a really good player.
08:44 A surprising win for me was Pacific going on the road and beating Cal on the road.
08:51 Uh, 87 79, um, you know, it seemed as though, you know, Pacific was on the
08:57 verge of, of kind of doing some great things under David Stoudemire.
09:01 Then he leaves Leonard Perry takes over and they played a unique style last year.
09:05 It looks like that's, uh, going to be a tough style to prepare for.
09:09 Cause they space you, they play five out a lot.
09:11 Um, they have a lot of freedom to shoot threes.
09:13 Santa Clara, uh, does not look to be to me missing anything after, you know, back
09:19 to back years of losing first round draft picks, uh, Brandon Pajimski came out of
09:23 nowhere last year, Carlos Marshall jr.
09:25 Might be that come out of nowhere player in the league this year had 29, uh, in a
09:31 win earlier in the week, um, when they beat St.
09:36 Francis.
09:36 So, um, you know, I think Santa Clara.
09:39 Has a nice test in the fact that they, they play at Stanford, a pack 12 opponent
09:44 right up the road in the Bay area.
09:46 Um, but all in all you look at it, uh, you listen to this podcast, you want to know
09:51 about Gonzaga, right.
09:52 And Gonzaga, you know, has an interesting preseason in the fact that played
09:57 L.C.
09:58 State is an exhibition.
09:59 Yale is not your typical opener.
10:02 Um, you know, I touched on it that I think they're an NCAA tournament team.
10:05 Wouldn't be surprised that they win a game in the tournament this year.
10:08 And then you go and play another non D one in NAI Eastern Oregon before you go to
10:16 Maui for maybe the best field ever in the history of the Maui invitational, uh, where
10:21 you're probably, well, you face Purdue.
10:23 And I believe when rankings come out later today, Purdue, my guess should be
10:27 number two, based on the fact that Duke lost and then win or lose, you're going to
10:31 have Tennessee.
10:32 Who's a top 10 ish team or Syracuse.
10:34 So, um, really interesting, unique scheduling there.
10:38 I think you're going to learn a lot about Gonzaga at the Maui
10:40 invitational next week.
10:42 Um, but you know, what you want to see is I personally, what I want to see is a lot
10:47 of different, um, I want to see a lot of players show growth and comfort level in
10:53 their minutes and in their role in this Eastern Oregon game based on maybe what
10:58 they did in the minutes they got versus L.C.
11:00 State or, um, opportunities in, in, in limited minutes, uh, against Yale.
11:05 So interesting week, big week for Gonzaga coming up.
11:07 That's for sure.
11:09 Big week, but a week that they seem prepared for based off of the sample size
11:13 that we have now of an exhibition and one regular season game, anything specific in
11:18 these two Gonzaga games this week or three, I I'm sure we'll have plenty of
11:22 tournament specific coverage coming up, but anything just that you're going to be
11:27 like primarily watching for, for Gonzaga to do X, Y, or Z.
11:32 Not necessarily.
11:33 I mean, when, when you look at the way, you know, Gonzaga's always structured
11:40 their, their, or, or thought about their season, you know, coach few loves.
11:44 And, and I agree with it, the fact that you value league titles.
11:49 So you celebrate league titles, you celebrate conference
11:52 championships of tournaments.
11:54 So those are two distinct parts of the season.
11:57 Um, the non-conference he schedules as difficult as possible, but usually in
12:01 that non-conference, you also will see Gonzaga have a chance to win another title.
12:07 And many times that is in the form of tournament, whether it's Maui, like this
12:11 year, uh, the Atlantis and the Bahamas, uh, they've, they played in the Orlando
12:16 tournament a number of times.
12:17 I think, well, essentially what that does is, is it puts a, a carrot out in front of
12:22 you, so to speak, where you're playing for something, not that you don't play to win
12:26 each game, but you're playing to win a championship.
12:28 And I think that that builds a mindset early in the season of playing for a
12:32 specific, uh, attainable goal.
12:35 So that now when you're playing for that attainable West coast conference, turn a
12:39 title or the tournament title, um, you, you can kind of look back on experiences
12:44 and say, been there, done that I can do it again.
12:47 Um, so I think that's one thing you can look at when you see Gonzaga is non-conference.
12:51 And in particular, kind of what's at stake in the next 10 days is 12 days or so.
12:56 Right, man.
12:57 It is absolutely like, yes, things are at stake again.
13:01 It's so good.
13:01 I'm so alive.
13:02 It feels so nice to have a regular season here and to know, like Dan said, at the
13:06 start of this podcast, the Gonzaga is good.
13:07 Again, the DACA is great.
13:08 Again, there's going to be so much coverage of.
13:11 Every single game, but especially of this tournament coming up that you can find on
13:15 our website to make sure you search and subscribe to Gonzaga nation, wherever you
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13:22 I know Dan's going to be busy in the studio recording all sorts of stuff.
13:25 I mean, he's back to it every week now, but Adam's coming in and coaches come in
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13:31 Cause the season is a buzz and you don't want to miss a single thing.
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13:38 We'll talk to you guys next time.