Former Gonzaga All-American Dan Dickau on why Braden Huff has been the best player for the Bulldogs this season
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00:00 Hey everybody, it's Christian Pedersen joined as always by Dan Dickow.
00:03 You'd probably be confused if it was just me on a podcast.
00:05 Although occasionally I am with Rob Sakra.
00:07 It's always fun, but you're catching us this time on a mailbag edition.
00:11 That's where we serve up fan submitted questions from you guys,
00:14 the viewers to Dan Dickow to pick that beautiful basketball brain of his.
00:17 Dan, you ready?
00:18 Let's do it.
00:19 All right.
00:20 First one we got coming in this week.
00:21 A couple people wanted to know who do you think had the best standout
00:25 start to the season?
00:26 Who's the best player?
00:27 A couple different permutations of that question, but who's had the
00:29 best year so far for Gonzaga?
00:31 I mean, you could go a number of different routes.
00:36 I mean in the backcourt, I think Nolan Hickman has accepted,
00:40 you know, the role that coach few wants him in.
00:44 He's embraced it.
00:44 He's looked really good so far.
00:46 You know, I think Ben Gregg has showed in flashes that, you know,
00:50 he continues to improve and he's going to be a big part of everything
00:54 they do.
00:55 But I think the storyline is honestly, it's Braden Huff.
00:59 I mean people had excitement and expectations of him because he was
01:03 the Gatorade player of the year in the state of Illinois and Illinois
01:06 has always produced a lot of good players in that Chicago area.
01:08 He won the award and then he red shirts a season ago, which, you know,
01:12 doesn't happen all that much now in college basketball, but big picture
01:16 wise, if you look at it, he wasn't going to play many minutes last
01:19 year because you had Drew Timmy ahead of him playing 34 minutes a
01:23 game.
01:24 So he took it as his developmental year.
01:26 And I think what you're seeing is two games in small sample size
01:31 fruits of his labor are paying off.
01:32 But I think, you know, he's showing a tremendous skill set, the ability
01:36 to score it inside, outside, the touch, the understanding, the IQ,
01:40 the spacing, all those things he brings are going to be beneficial
01:43 to Gonzaga.
01:44 Next question.
01:45 We had also, I will throw back that Dan is on the record in a previous
01:49 podcast saying that he thinks Braden Huff could be an NBA guy.
01:52 So let's let's let's we've got that tape clipped and marked.
01:55 Let's continue to follow that all season long.
01:57 Next question coming in.
01:58 You headed out to Maui.
01:59 People always just see you with a generic zoom background and you
02:02 are traveling all year long.
02:03 Got any of those games out there?
02:04 No, I do not.
02:06 I wish I did, but nope, I did not.
02:09 It's funny enough.
02:10 J Bill has texted me yesterday.
02:12 Are you doing Honolulu?
02:13 Because that's where the the tournament is this year and I laughed
02:17 and I text back.
02:18 No, actually, I woke up to snow in Spokane.
02:22 So he was on the beach getting ready to cover the tournament.
02:25 I was in Spokane with snow.
02:28 I've got a light week of my broadcast schedule this week and then I
02:32 pick up pretty busy neck beginning at the end of the week.
02:35 I start traveling quite a bit.
02:37 So I don't want to pick up that name you dropped there because to
02:41 just casually bring up.
02:42 Oh, yeah, J Bill has shot me a text saying where you at man.
02:44 Not many people live that life.
02:47 So congratulations on that.
02:49 So, all right, so you are based at home this week in the snow.
02:52 Some people want to know what do you cook Thanksgiving dinner?
02:55 What do you cook or are you just a consumer?
02:58 I'm a consumer first and foremost.
03:01 My wife's an unbelievable cook.
03:03 I will help if asked I will offer but usually, you know, I'm not
03:09 part of the preparation team.
03:11 So turkey stuffing green bean casserole sweet potatoes mashed
03:17 potatoes salad crescent rolls.
03:21 You know, that's the that's the typical cranberry sauce, you know,
03:26 but the lead-up is monumental.
03:29 It's this the cold cuts the salamis the cheese the dips the chips
03:33 the spinach and onion.
03:35 Jip the French onion dip the anything you want to name.
03:41 I'm booking a flight to Spokane.
03:43 You're coming up here.
03:43 Gotcha.
03:44 Yeah.
03:44 Yeah.
03:45 So, you know, there's a there's a big spread at our house.
03:48 I will say this the checkout line at the grocery store might be the
03:54 most difficult thing because it takes a long time and it's like by
04:00 the time you've gone through the grocery store, you've picked the
04:03 biggest turkey that you can find you do all this stuff.
04:05 It's like I just want to get my car but you got to get a bag then
04:10 you got to get in the cart and then it's like we should have just
04:13 ordered these groceries.
04:15 So that's where you're at.
04:15 That's the easy thing.
04:17 That's your major contribution is you're the one that's actually
04:19 slugging it out in the grocery store line.
04:21 That feels like you're doing the real dirty work.
04:24 You're the guy down in the post your Grammy K out there kicking
04:27 people around forcing things to happen.
04:29 Well, everyone else is just we're going to cook.
04:31 We're going to hang out at home and you're like, yeah, I had to
04:33 deal with people.
04:33 I'll say this Dan you say the lead-up to it.
04:37 I'm more of a the after it.
04:39 I like that next day.
04:41 Give me a great to yep.
04:43 You got a percent turkey sandwich and nothing else to do but watch
04:46 basketball.
04:47 That's why we fought the British rebelled against them to college
04:52 basketball and turkey sandwiches.
04:54 Nothing better than it Dan.
04:56 This is not a fan question or anything, but this is just a my
04:59 question.
04:59 I want to know does.
05:01 College basketball turn off ever at the Dick out household this
05:06 week or are you just like is there somewhere always a TV going
05:09 with a game or two in the background?
05:11 No, it gets turned off.
05:12 Unfortunately, my kids and the Macy's Day Parade have that is
05:17 become kind of a mainstay on Thanksgiving morning.
05:22 So I get over rid for a while with that.
05:27 I also I'll sneak a couple channel changes in here and there but
05:30 if it's getting close to when Santa's going to be making his
05:32 appearance.
05:33 And if I put the remote in my hand there becomes a World War
05:37 Three because the kids have got to see Santa come through with
05:42 with with the Macy's Day Parade.
05:43 Meanwhile, you're trying to explain that.
05:46 Hey number four Marquette is losing to so-and-so like we need
05:49 to check it out.
05:49 Maybe someday Dan once the empty nest happens.
05:53 He'll finally get your piece and quiet a little college basketball
05:56 until then.
05:57 How about you guys follow along with everything Dan's doing it
05:59 fan nation zags on all the social media at Dan Dick out 21 on all
06:03 the socials.
06:04 There's a lot of great content coming out.
06:06 Dan is now a YouTube live streamer.
06:09 If you watch the Purdue reaction, there's a look.
06:12 The interviews these doing in studios are amazing.
06:16 Go check out and support everything that they are doing with
06:19 the Zags collective and everything that this man is like best
06:23 Gonzaga content out there, which means it's the best college
06:25 basketball content out there and you'd be an idiot not to follow
06:28 along.
06:29 So thank you very much Dan for checking in with us.
06:31 We hope you guys submit some questions at fan nation zags on
06:34 like we said on all the social media so we can pick Dan's brain
06:37 next week.
06:37 And until then you guys enjoy your turkey week and we'll talk
06:39 to you soon.
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