Rebounding and overall energy dictated the outcome of Gonzaga's loss to Washington, according to former Gonzaga All-American Dan Dickau
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00:00 Hey everybody, it's Christian Pedersen joined by Dan Dickow as always back for another episode of the Gonzaga Nation podcast.
00:06 Thank you everybody for joining us.
00:08 This is going to be nothing but a like this is going to be rough seas for the next 15 to 20 minutes of podcasting because we have to talk about the loss that Gonzaga took to the University of Washington.
00:20 And Dan, I am all for moral victories and silver linings. You're going to try and spin this one in a way that is delicate and kind to the team and the fans, but I ride the roller coaster like a fan does I am of like the Jack Ferris type of journalism where I do it Gonzo style I get in hard and I ride the ups and downs while reporting on the team.
00:41 So I took that loss hard. We also have to continue our conversation on net rankings from last week because the more we dug into it and if you want to go back we're not going to rehash the whole podcast but the summary of it is this has not been a fantastic year for the WCC and it is trending bad and it is not like that they bottomed out early after two bad weeks and are going good.
01:01 So a lot of strength of schedule components and tournament implications already happening early in the season. Let's get into it then. Let's talk about this. The loss to the University of Washington and your reactions, your thoughts, your takeaways, however you want to start. Let's talk.
01:17 Well, I mean, here's the deal is they just didn't play very well in that second half. Very similar but a little different than the Purdue game where, you know, they missed 16 threes I think in a row in the second half against Purdue against University of Washington.
01:32 I want to say they missed 12 of their last 13 shots and some of the shots were taken with hesitancy. Some passed up shots in the last minute or two that, you know, you would like to see guys step up and shoot with a little bit more urgency or confidence.
01:50 But, you know, a lot of the game came down to energy and activity on the glass. I mean, Washington beat U-Dub or U-Dub beat Gonzaga I want to say by plus eight on the glass. I can pull that number up here in a second.
02:06 But they were more active to a lot of loose balls. Frank Kepnong was a difference maker. He had career high five blocks. And so, you know, there was a couple deficiencies that came out there.
02:19 So I've got the box here now and yeah plus eight for University of Washington on the glass. You know, Gonzaga is typically flipped of that. They're like plus 11 plus 12 per game on the season against their opponents. That wasn't the case.
02:36 So, you know, that's one of those things where Gonzaga has got to get that cleaned up when they go against bigger, more athletic teams. Now, granted, they don't see all that much length, all that much athleticism compared to Kepnong and Braxton Mia who didn't play a whole lot in that game.
02:54 They've got to get that cleaned up. But, you know, hesitancy to make plays down the stretch, a little bit of energy at times, execution on the offensive end. But at the end of the day, you've got to give U-Dub a lot of credit.
03:07 I thought U-Dub played well. They made big shots. They played with energy. They played with enthusiasm. And that's to be expected on their home court.
03:15 You also have to look at the fact, and I know I'm bouncing around here a little bit, but you know, it might spark another question for you. That was Gonzaga's young players, their freshmen, Brayden Huff, Dusty Stromer.
03:27 True first road game. I mean, up till now, everything against a big opponent, a quality opponent has been a neutral site game. So that's the first time they've really had to kind of go into the lion's den and perform.
03:41 And they both, I thought, were a little bit hesitant. You can see Huff, you know, I don't think necessarily he can score the heck out of it when the matchups are right.
03:52 But when it's not, you can see there's a little bit of, you know, foul prone issues, a little bit of keep your man in front issues.
04:00 Kepnogh went around him on the baseline one time for a heck of a dunk and won. But all things I think that are correctable, all things that I think will be addressed.
04:11 And look, they're going to have a cakewalk Monday against Mississippi Valley State, and then they're going to have another good test in Seattle against UConn.
04:19 I love a good cakewalk, any type of cake, always good. It's interesting you bring up, because I had not thought about that context of first road game.
04:27 And yes, it's in the lion's den. And yes, it's fans cheering. But it's also, you know, as you were talking, my brain was kind of going, it's first time for them using a road locker somewhere, you know, that's not their comfortable environment.
04:41 And it's like, it's the first time, just like so much of that day has changed that it puts it into a different context for me that that's why we have you, you provide this silver lining.
04:52 And I'm curious now thinking back, do you remember your first road game, if you will?
04:59 I don't remember that way back. I don't necessarily remember the first one when I was at U-Dub.
05:05 Let me ask you then differently. Do you remember your first real like road experience, one early in your career that stands out that you say like, yeah, oh, like the time.
05:15 Yeah, when I was a U-Dub as a freshman, we played at Oklahoma State at the old Galgariba Arena.
05:22 And that was the first time experience to be 10, 12 plus thousand right on top of you screaming fans.
05:30 You have to enjoy it. You have to embrace it. You have to want to be.
05:35 I mean, we weren't good enough to be the villain at the time, like Gonzaga is now, but you got to enjoy that kind of underdog mentality and go out and just be loose and let it let it let it fly and play free.
05:48 So definitely, I was trying to look at filibuster for the exact stats, definitely something I'm going to find.
05:53 I mean, we're going to find Dan's very first road minutes that he ever played in college and see that. But Dan, the other thing we discussed last week that we wanted to carry over into this week and Washington, I will look up where they fall in the net rankings.
06:06 Q1 through Q4, but we sort of sounded the alarm or at least we discussed last week the premise of this has not been a great season for the WCC versus the Pac-12.
06:16 And that kind of got us thinking that most of those games were Q1 games, Q1 for the uninitiated being the best quality games, Q4 being the lowest quality games in terms of how you are ranked and scored for the postseason.
06:29 Right now, as of us recording this Gonzaga through December 11th, I don't know if I'm supposed to say dates or not, but through December 11th, the WCC is two and 11 against Q1 opponents.
06:42 There are three and seven against Q2 opponents. They are nine and 12 against Q3 opponents and then 30 and six against Q4 opponents.
06:52 Granted, that is for the totality of the WCC and everyone's schedules and is different. And so not saying that this is directly impacting Gonzaga, but this is impacting Gonzaga because it is trending that this will not be a three team year for the WCC in the NCAA tournament.
07:10 I'm curious, since we have more sample size and it is trending in this direction, your thoughts on the totality of the WCC this week and this year?
07:18 Well, they haven't performed the way that I was expecting them to. I know they're not performing the way that the league and their coaches and the powers in the WCC were hoping or encouraging them to schedule up.
07:33 They scheduled up, they just haven't come away with the amount of wins that they need. You know, St. Mary's has struggled, although they finally got a good win on the road against Colorado State.
07:45 So that's a quad one win for the league right there. Arizona State went to San Diego, which is not normal. And San Diego got a good win against Pac-12 team.
07:52 Now, granted, Arizona State is not Arizona, USC, UCLA, etc. But that's a good win, I think, as the season goes on, just because Arizona State, they're going to play enough games in those higher quads where their net rankings will bump up and increase.
08:12 It's so crazy that the net comes out so early these days and people focus on it. I think it's important to focus on it, be aware of it, but not be overly enamored with it.
08:23 Because Gonzaga is, I think, what, 33 in the net, but they're still 12 in Ken Palm. So they've got lots of opportunities in front of them to continue to improve.
08:34 You know, the net is the biggest metrics in regards to selection show, or selection Sunday and the committee and how they pick teams and how they seed them.
08:43 So you got to be aware of that and mindful of that. But I think Ken Palm is a good indicator at this time of the year of how you look on the floor based on your numbers, your adjusted metrics on the offensive as well as the defensive end of the floor.
08:59 I mean, Gonzaga is one of only a few teams that's still in the top 25 in both of those categories. So, you know, that's good. They clean up a few things, you start creeping into the top.
09:11 Granted, they will be top 10 offense by the time WCC rolls back around. But if they can get that defense shored up, and it's not bad by any stretch, but if they can become a top 15-ish defensive team,
09:26 you're clearly looking at a team that statistically, with how the numbers look, are primed for a potential long run in the NCAA tournament.
09:34 So the longer I am around college basketball in the current format, it is, I've kind of come to separate everything out to Ken Palm equates to how good you actually are devoid of any emotion.
09:47 The AP or the coaches poll is how good you pass the visual and sniff and hype test and all while those two are battling for, you know, fan passion and whatever.
09:58 There's this third one over here, the net, which is like, well, this is actually what matters in terms of where you're going to play in the postseason.
10:03 So it's confusing that you kind of have to care about all of them. But like you said, you have to care about them at different times for different reasons.
10:11 And so maybe not as doom and gloom as a sub 500 in this portion of the season. I also think it's interesting as I scroll up and down these a lot of schools that I would have said, just if you threw it out me devoid of any knowing, hey, is this a Q1 through 14?
10:27 I would have said heavier on Q1 and two. So on some of this, maybe it's not entirely WCC's fault that these games are falling into Q4.
10:35 Like maybe they should be. 22 and 15 in Q3 or something like that, if the rest of the schedules that they had had been playing up to their strengths.
10:45 So, yeah, an interesting permutation. I'm getting the sense, though, that you are telling me between the U-Dub game and the net rankings.
10:52 Just chill like this is not like no reason to hit a panic button. All is good in Gonzaga Kingdom. Yes.
10:59 Yeah, you know, I think you touched on that extremely well, is that, you know, those are three very important rankings, metrics, analytics, ideas to look at.
11:09 But at different times of the year, they hold different values. But at the end of the day, there are all three things that fans love to look at and love to prognosticate on.
11:20 Is there one that you would say is the northern star? Hey, fans, let's let's weather this season by following Ken Palm, I'm assuming is what you're going to say.
11:31 Yeah, I mean, I would say, honestly, you know, projected out would be Ken Palm just because, you know, it goes back and takes a little bit of a historical look about what you've done in the past.
11:42 It also factors in your pace of play, your your defensive metrics in regards to how many turnovers you force per possessions, how many block shots per possessions, how many threes you give up per possession.
11:55 You know, what's the effective field goal percentage of you on the offensive end as well as defensive and what you give up.
12:01 It takes into account probabilities of your opponents and how that's going to potentially play out.
12:09 So I think Ken Palm is really the most likely indicator of a team's strength.
12:15 All right, so Gonzaga in the next coming up stretch, they've got UConn, San Diego State over the next two ish plus weeks.
12:24 There's going to be a ton of Gonzaga coverage coming out. Dan, I'm sure we'll have all sorts of cool things with Brian Michelson and other coaches and analysts and everything coming in and out of the studio.
12:34 So make sure you search and subscribe to Zag Nation where we get your podcasts, check out everything with the Zags collective that they have going on.
12:40 Dan, is there anything else that you need to get to before we say adios?
12:45 No, that UConn game is going to be interesting. They're good. Tristan Newton is good. Donovan Klingin looks to be back healthy.
12:52 Obviously, they're the defending champions. They're the quiet blue blood in college basketball.
12:58 Five championships, I believe, over the last 25 years. So, you know, that ranks that program among the best in the country.
13:06 You know, and Gonzaga obviously lost them in the tournament a season ago, where when you look back at it, it wasn't a surprise because UConn dominated everybody in that tournament.
13:17 So not necessarily a payback game, but a good barometer and a good chance for Gonzaga to see how they fare against one of the elite teams in the country again.
13:27 And I think it'll be, you know, a fun atmosphere as well in Seattle at Climate Pledge Arena.
13:33 It's going to be awesome. I'm going to get my Jim Calhoun voodoo doll out and start poking it with needles.
13:37 I know that he's not the head coach there anymore, but he will forever be synonymous with UConn basketball for me and my era of college basketball.
13:44 So, yes, I will get my Jim Calhoun voodoo doll out and see if we can't help Will Gonzaga to another big win.
13:50 Check out everything that Dan is doing. Check out everything that Gonzaga Nation, Colfords, and all of our writers, all of our staff are producing.
13:55 we've got you covered for all of these big games and more coming up. Until then, we'll talk to you guys soon.