The Field of 68's Rob Dauster joins Gonzaga Nation to discuss Gonzaga's keys to victory against reigning national champion UConn
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00:00 And now let me welcome on to the show Dan Dickow, who is the host of Gonzaga Nation,
00:07 part of the Sports Illustrated Podcast Network.
00:10 We're going to have a little cross branding here, Dan.
00:12 We were going to talk about this Yukon Gonzaga game that is being played on Friday night,
00:17 10 o'clock in Seattle.
00:18 It is in so it's in the NBA arena out there.
00:21 I can't remember the name of the arena, right?
00:22 I'm at pledge.
00:23 I've yet to be there.
00:25 But once the Seattle got the NHL expansion crack and they redid the arena, I've heard
00:31 it's one of the nicest in the country now.
00:34 So I want you on here because I think, you know, the Gonzaga basketball program better
00:39 than anyone, specifically how to pronounce Gonzaga.
00:42 It's not Gonzaga, right?
00:43 It's Gonzaga.
00:44 Yeah, right.
00:45 I'm going to get there.
00:47 You know, one of the interesting kind of ways to describe it was you don't Zog, you zag.
00:53 So zigzag Gonzaga.
00:55 So that's that's been one that's always been frustrating for some people.
01:00 Like why can't East Coast people pronounce it right?
01:02 I think it's funny still to this day, like Gonzaga has been so good for so long.
01:07 Do you just not pay attention or do you just kind of, you know, have your own little kind
01:11 of cadence with how you speak and just it is what it is.
01:14 But there's there's words that I don't pronounce correctly, too.
01:18 So I guess, you know, we'll call it a wash.
01:21 It's hard, man.
01:22 Because it's just so ingrained that it's Gonzaga.
01:24 And, you know, that's just kind of the way I see his coaster speak, man.
01:27 All right.
01:28 So we had the the Dan Dickhouse Super Bowl last week.
01:31 It was did not go great for your Zags.
01:34 But what have you made from this this team, this program to start to the season?
01:38 You know, obviously, the little bit of bad injury luck before the year got going.
01:42 But where where do you see this group right now?
01:45 Well, it was a disappointing loss for sure against you.
01:49 I think the Huskies of UDUB brought a lot of energy throughout the game, and that's
01:54 to be expected.
01:55 It was a big home game for them.
01:57 I think when you look at Gonzaga's roster with their newcomers, their young guys in
02:01 particular, they haven't played in a road environment like that yet.
02:06 All the big games they've played so far have been neutral site games.
02:08 So it was probably a shock to the system about, you know, the energy and the kind of focus
02:16 on beating Gonzaga because it is a quote unquote rivalry game.
02:20 But, you know, big picture wise, I thought they played well for about 30 minutes ish.
02:26 I don't think they ever played great in any stretches to where they could extend the lead.
02:30 I think they were up 10 or 11 at some point.
02:32 But, you know, when you play college basketball against an experienced team these days, 10
02:37 or 11 points isn't much.
02:38 And so when you don't distance yourself more than that against UDUB, who's got some good
02:42 players in Keon Brooks, Saavir Wheeler has been a nice addition, Paul Mulcahy from Rutgers
02:49 has been a nice addition as well.
02:51 When you're playing against a team with experience that just kind of keeps going and going and
02:54 isn't going to back down and give in, you're going to have some issues down the stretch
02:59 when you don't execute the way that Gonzaga wanted to down the stretch.
03:03 I mean, I think they missed 11 of their last 12 shots.
03:06 They had a couple of guys that had some looks that they probably could have taken.
03:09 They were hesitant to take them.
03:11 So then the shot became either they passed the shot up or they were rushed or hurried
03:17 or contested.
03:18 So they didn't execute great down the stretch.
03:22 But again, this is still a new team.
03:25 The thing that concerns me at times is the depth in the backcourt.
03:30 They're going to have to figure out a way to get Nembhardt and Hickman off the floor
03:35 for a couple minute stretches here or there so that they can be fresh down the stretch.
03:39 Because I think that might have had something to do with not playing great the last 10 minutes
03:45 of the game or so.
03:46 Now these are 19, 20, 22 year old guys.
03:49 They should be able to play 40 minutes.
03:50 But you don't necessarily want them to.
03:52 Because I think down the stretch of the season you're also going to need Jun Yeo as well
03:57 as Luka Kranjic to give you something as far as a 10 to 12 minute stretch during games
04:05 where you can count on or rely on them.
04:07 And I don't think that either one of them has jumped forward and taken that opportunity
04:13 yet.
04:14 That was going to be my question to you.
04:18 I think that the pieces are there.
04:19 When I look at a Mark Few program, I think what you want is a really good experience
04:24 point guard, a really good experience five man that knows how to duck in and seal and
04:29 score with his back to the basket.
04:31 And you want shooters and playmakers around them.
04:34 And I think if you look at their starting five, you have like the roster construction
04:39 makes sense.
04:41 Without steel venters there, I just, when you bring somebody off the bench, you're kind
04:45 of forced into a situation where you got to move Anton down to the three, right?
04:48 You don't really have someone at this point that I think is comfortable coming in and
04:54 playing on the perimeter.
04:56 And I just, I don't know where that comes from.
04:58 It just feels like that, that piece is not quite there on this roster.
05:02 Am I reading that right?
05:03 And where do you think you get that backcourt depth coming from?
05:06 No, you're right.
05:07 I mean, the, the loss of ventures is bigger than a lot of people really realize.
05:12 I mean, look, he was the big sky player of the year, a season ago, he's six, seven, he's
05:16 long, he's got a high release.
05:18 He's a guy that, you know, when you watch him play at Eastern year over year, because
05:24 he started as a walk on red shirt.
05:25 I don't know if you knew that.
05:26 So he started as a walk on red shirt, earned his way to a scholarship, became a starter.
05:30 Then he's the big sky player there.
05:31 So he's a guy that continuously progressed in his career.
05:35 And I saw him a little bit over the summer.
05:38 And I saw another progression in his game, where I think he would have really helped
05:42 expand Gonzaga's offense.
05:44 You know, because they don't have a true knockdown shooter this year, like a Kispert, like what
05:49 ventures would have been, you can kind of pack the pain in at times and dig or double
05:54 down on the big threats with EK and Braden Huff a little bit now when he's getting going
05:59 on the interior.
06:01 Because ventures, you can step six, seven feet behind the line, you got to respect it.
06:05 Defensively, he wasn't great.
06:08 But I don't think that that was ever going to be, you know, his calling card.
06:11 He was shoot three, stretch the floor, create driving angles for Nemhart and Hickman, and
06:17 then create space for interior post play with the guys that I mentioned.
06:20 So that was a big loss.
06:23 But you kind of touched on it, roster construction with Coach Fu.
06:27 He's a master at putting parts together, putting pieces together.
06:30 There's been games where Watson's been at the three.
06:33 He doesn't shoot it as well as you would want for a three, but he does so many other little
06:37 things.
06:38 And Coach Fu makes all these little adjustments that I think you can do that in stretches
06:42 and not worry too much about shooting.
06:44 But the three point shooting has been a bit of a concern for Gonzaga this year.
06:48 I think they've only got one game this season where they've hit double digits from the three
06:52 point line.
06:53 Yeah, and it does help that Braden Huff and Ben Gray can both kind of shoot it a little
06:58 bit.
06:59 Right.
07:00 And it kind of gets them crowded in the paint and it creates a little room for Graham Eke
07:03 to be able to.
07:04 He's so much fun, by the way.
07:06 There's something about lefty post guys that is just fun to watch.
07:09 He's a lot of fun.
07:10 I've enjoyed seeing him.
07:12 Yeah.
07:13 No, he's been terrific because, I mean, everybody knew about Nemhart just because he had a big
07:17 game in the NCAA tournament.
07:18 Andrew obviously was at Gonzaga first.
07:21 And so you kind of had a good idea of what you were going to get there.
07:25 But Eke was kind of the unknown unless you really watched a lot of college basketball.
07:28 I mean, you're a college hoops junkie, so you know how good Eke was.
07:32 He was like the he was like the forgotten guy in the transfer portal because he didn't
07:36 play.
07:37 But two years ago, he was 19 and a half and nine and a half at Wyoming in a good Mountain
07:41 West League.
07:42 His numbers are going to be that this year at Gonzaga.
07:45 But he is very good and he's providing kind of exactly what Gonzaga was hoping for, I
07:48 think.
07:49 So I think that there are two matchups here that are going to be what determines who wins
07:56 this game on Friday night.
07:57 The first one is the point guard matchup, Tristan Newton against Ryan Newton.
08:02 Tristan's like a bigger guard.
08:03 He can kind of overwhelm players that are a little bit smaller than him.
08:06 Nemhart, I think he's listed at six foot.
08:09 I think that might be a little bit generous.
08:11 So how Ryan is able to deal with the size and physicality of Tristan Newton, who's playing
08:15 like he's averaging 17, seven and six right now, he's playing like an All-American.
08:19 To me, that's one of them.
08:20 The other one is the four spot, the way that you can kind of attack UConn's defense and
08:26 what you've seen teams over and over do is go right at Alex Caravan at the four spot.
08:31 And Anton Watson, I think he is underrated nationally in terms of how good he is.
08:36 I don't think people appreciate like the progression that he's made year over year.
08:40 I don't think people realize that like part of the reason he wasn't a big score the last
08:44 two years is there was a guy on that team by the name of Drew Timmy, who some people
08:48 might have heard of.
08:49 He was he was OK at this whole basketball game.
08:53 So to me, it's how does UConn slow down Anton Watson at the four and how does Gonzaga you
08:59 see I got it there, Gonzaga slow down Tristan Newton at the point?
09:03 Well, I think those are two great questions and you beat me to it.
09:06 I was kind of going to ask you, how do you think they should should attack Caravan?
09:10 But I think one of the ways Gonzaga is unique and they can attack a four at times is because
09:15 Anton has the freedom to rebound and push in transition.
09:18 Gonzaga play wants to play as fast as anybody in the country.
09:23 And one of the ways they can do that is when you have a four who gets a rebound, he just
09:26 pushes it in transition himself.
09:28 Ben Gregg can do that at times as well.
09:31 Braden Huff actually has the freedom to do that at times as well.
09:34 So pretty much anybody except EK can get it and go off the glass, which really kind of
09:39 speeds your offense up, whether you're looking for initial throw aheads or you're just looking
09:43 to get in a secondary offense, it speeds everything up.
09:46 So I think that's a good point.
09:47 I do think and agree with you that Anton is undervalued nationally.
09:51 And I think a lot of it's just because he's not a scorer.
09:55 You just look at box scores other than the UCLA game where he went off for 32 points
10:00 and he was 14 to 15 from the field.
10:03 Unbelievable in that game.
10:04 Yes, believable.
10:05 I mean, he looked like Gonzaga prep high school Anton Watson days.
10:10 That's how good he looked.
10:11 But you know, if you're just looking at box scores, he doesn't jump out at you.
10:15 But if you watch the game, which I know you watch way too much college basketball, it's
10:18 like plugging holes defensively, it's deflections, it's spacing, it's cutting at the right time.
10:24 He does so many of those little things that don't show up.
10:27 And then in regards to the point guard matchup, you know, the clips in the stretches I've
10:32 watched of UConn this year, you're exactly right.
10:34 Newton looks like he's made that next level jump that you saw glimpses and flashes a season
10:40 ago.
10:41 But with the roster construction that UConn had, you know, you had to get Jordan Hawkins
10:46 the ball, you had to I think it was Jackson, right?
10:50 He was going to ball in his hands a fair amount.
10:52 But you saw that, hey, this kid's pretty dang good when it's his team to really run it and
10:58 kind of have more freedom.
11:00 He's going to be a monster.
11:01 And I think that's what you're seeing.
11:03 So with being a bigger guard, that does pose some problems for Nembhard, you know, because
11:09 he's still balancing that push in transition, look for myself, look for others.
11:14 Oh, we don't have anything.
11:15 Let's get it back out top and let's let's get into our offensive flow, whatever we want
11:20 to get into, whether it's high, low looks, whether it's pick and roll.
11:23 So he can get sped up at times.
11:26 And I think that's something that the staff has been working with him on.
11:30 But you know, for someone who is always an attack, go, go mentality, like I think Nembhard
11:35 is, it can be a work in progress.
11:38 There's been games he's been really good at it.
11:40 And then there's been a couple of games where it's like, you know, you see somebody who
11:45 just kind of go, go, oh, no, I got to pull it back a little bit.
11:50 So he's still figuring that out.
11:52 But coach few does such a good job of of teaching point guards what he wants and how he wants
11:57 it done.
11:58 All right, last thing I got for you is I don't think that there's as much star power on this
12:05 Gonzaga team as we've seen in recent years, but it feels like they are kind of figuring
12:10 it out and at that same level.
12:12 Right.
12:13 I mean, they're not quite there as good as the the twenty twenty one team or the twenty
12:17 seventeen team or some of those teams like in the late twenty tens that were ranked number
12:22 one.
12:23 I'm not sure they're quite there, but this is still a second weekend team that has a
12:27 chance to make a run.
12:28 Do you do you agree with that?
12:30 What do you like?
12:31 Kind of big picture about where this program is right now.
12:33 No, I do agree with it.
12:35 I don't think they have the NBA level talent that some of the Gonzaga teams have had in
12:39 the past.
12:40 And again, that's there's nothing wrong with that if you want to be a good college basketball
12:44 team.
12:45 You know, you look at Purdue is Zack Eadie an NBA talent?
12:50 Probably not.
12:51 You know, Drew Timmy, as good as he was at the college level, you're seeing him scrap
12:56 and claw and trying to find ways to impact the game in the G League so he can get that
13:00 shot at the NBA.
13:02 So college talent doesn't always match up to pro talent.
13:06 So it's a matter of how you kind of combine the talent that you currently have on your
13:10 roster to be successful.
13:12 And Coach View's done in a number of different ways.
13:14 He's had success with just great college players.
13:17 He's had success with guys that have pro potential.
13:20 And I think when you look at this year's team, it's a group of college players that are very
13:25 good that if they continue to come together collectively, they will be a second level
13:29 or second weekend team.
13:30 Now, with the way college basketball is this year, we said it last year.
13:36 I think you and I and Goodman were on at a point last year was there was a lot of parody.
13:40 I think that's the exact same thing this year.
13:42 I think there's a ton of parody.
13:44 You know, Purdue has looked really good at times and then they lose.
13:47 Kansas has looked really good at times and they lose.
13:49 So I think there's opportunities.
13:51 I think it's going to be very similar to last year with, you know, UConn was great early.
13:55 They went through some stretches middle of the year where they were so-so, but then they
13:58 got right and they were they were clearly the best team in the NCAA tournament.
14:02 I think we might see something similar from a team this year of a team getting hot at
14:07 the right time.
14:08 And maybe that pairing and seating in the tournament opens up just perfectly for them.
14:14 And that team makes a big run.
14:16 So I think this team, you know, is still learning their way.
14:21 I do think that with them sitting at eight and two right now, and I don't say this lightly,
14:27 they could be 10 and 0 because that Purdue game, they had a stretch in the second half
14:34 where they missed 16 threes in a row and they had a couple turnovers where it led to runouts.
14:39 You clean it, you hit two of those threes, you clean up one of those turnovers and all
14:43 of a sudden it's one possession game in the final minute, as opposed to I think where
14:46 they lost by nine, I want to say.
14:49 So they were right there in the UW game, you know, no different.
14:52 They lost by five, but they missed 11 of their last 12 shots.
14:56 You know, they could easily be sitting at 10 and 0 and instead of being ranked 10th
14:59 in the AP, you could be top three, maybe four.
15:03 But it's one of those things where you're just splitting hairs at this point in the
15:07 season.
15:08 So that's kind of what I see.
15:10 Question for you on the UConn side, with all the turnover in college basketball, you know,
15:17 I think Danny Hurley did as quiet and good a job as anybody of keeping the guys that
15:22 had potential to be impactful next year on their roster.
15:25 Did you agree with that?
15:26 Yeah, there were a couple of guys that were considering transferring or considering looking
15:32 at the NBA level, like Tristan Newton took a long look at whether or not he should head
15:39 to the professional ranks.
15:40 He's a fifth year senior.
15:41 He just won a national championship.
15:42 He was the best player in the national title game.
15:44 Like there's an argument to be made that what else are you going to do in college?
15:48 Right?
15:49 Like that might be as good of a time as any to go start your professional life.
15:52 And I totally get that.
15:54 Right.
15:55 And then he ended up coming back.
15:56 Donovan Klingon ended up coming back when he had a chance to be a first round pick.
15:59 And then a guy like, you know, Samson Johnson off the bench, he's back for another year
16:03 when he very easily could have entered the portal.
16:05 You're a junior and you're playing behind Donovan Klingon, like you're not going to
16:08 get a ton of minutes doing that.
16:10 So keeping some of those role players to come back and be able to do a job on your roster,
16:15 I think is I mean, look, you lose three guys that are pros that were all league players
16:21 that were borderline all Americans and Jordan Hawkins, Andre Jackson, Adamo Sanogo, and
16:25 being able to stay as good as you are.
16:27 You got to have some level of continuity.
16:29 You can't just completely reload and do that.
16:33 And I think what they've they've gotten really good at is figuring out guys that they can
16:39 bring in that will fit within the culture and fit within the way that they want to play
16:43 and then figuring out how to be able to utilize them.
16:46 And specifically, it's Cam Spencer to me.
16:48 Right.
16:49 He was a really good player at Rutgers.
16:50 He was not a guy that was averaging 15 points, four boards and four assists while shooting
16:54 44 percent from three, which is what he's doing right now.
16:56 Like he is he's all big east level.
16:58 And I don't know if anybody thought that he was going to be that coming in.
17:02 And he really has been the difference between UConn being just good and UConn being like
17:09 people are actually talking about them having a chance to repeat.
17:12 It's been it's not just the retention.
17:14 It's being able to get guys to come in and have that level of immediate impact.
17:17 Right.
17:18 And that's just I mean, Dan, you've been around basketball long enough.
17:21 That's not easy to do.
17:22 It's not easy to do to identify the personalities that fit.
17:28 So let me ask you this, then, for Gonzaga to to to win against UConn in Seattle.
17:34 Granted, that's a cross-country venture.
17:36 That's tough travel for college kids because they're not used to that six hours.
17:41 You got probably a quick shoot around the night before shoot around morning of and it
17:45 plays on college guys more than it does pros like the travel.
17:48 And it also plays on coaches minds, too, which is unfortunately why you don't see as many
17:53 of these, you know, East versus West matchups, as I'm sure we all would like to see.
17:59 But how does Gonzaga need to attack UConn to come out with a victory?
18:04 I think there's two things.
18:07 One is being able to to get easy baskets in transition, right.
18:12 Being able to that's what they do better than anyone.
18:15 It's get a rebound run, get an easy layup or be able to get something quick where you
18:19 get like a quick ball screen or a quick duck in for Grammy or you get, you know, Ryan Emhard
18:24 get into his right hand, hit one of those like little 12 foot pull ups that he loves.
18:28 I think being able to beat UConn's defense on the floor because you don't have to deal
18:31 with the great wall of Bristol at the five spot like he takes Donovan Clingon is so good
18:36 at taking away anything within like eight feet of the bucket.
18:40 It makes it very difficult to score down there.
18:42 I think that's one of them.
18:43 And the other thing is you have to be able to attack some of their their weak spots defensively.
18:48 Like if there is a knock on this UConn team, it is at the point guard spot and at the four
18:54 spot they are not they don't have the level of athleticism that you would expect.
18:59 Like Eric Alex Kerbin does a lot of things really, really well.
19:02 He's a really good shooter.
19:03 He's a really good scorer.
19:04 He could put the ball on the floor better than people realize.
19:06 He makes the right pass when the ball is moving around the perimeter.
19:10 It doesn't stick.
19:12 But he's not a guy that you're going to look at him and say, OK, he can stop the best form
19:16 in a college basketball and shut them down.
19:18 We've seen other teams be able to kind of take advantage of that.
19:22 Tristan Newton, as good as he is offensively, he's not someone that is going to be at his
19:26 best trying to stay in front of smaller, quicker point guards.
19:29 It's just not what he does.
19:31 Great.
19:32 Right.
19:33 And I think that Ryan Emhart is a guy that might be able to take a little bit of advantage
19:35 of that.
19:36 So it's being able to win those two matchups to me and being able to get easy buckets in
19:40 transition so you don't have to worry about, you know, what are we going to do with this
19:44 seven foot three monster at the five spot?
19:46 Gotcha.
19:47 And that's one of the things Gonzaga has always done so well, take advantage of the pace with
19:53 which they play at, because everybody says they want to play fast in the college world,
19:58 you know, when they're recruiting players, because high school players say, oh, I want
20:02 to play fast.
20:03 I want to get up and down.
20:04 But they don't realize the level of dedication to conditioning and skill work and then, you
20:09 know, staying with that plan, it takes to really be good at it.
20:13 But Gonzaga has done that and they've taken advantage of many teams because they play
20:17 fast and they get guys out of their comfort zone.
20:19 And if they can get Klingen out of his comfort zone and getting them up and down the floor
20:23 quickly and not allowing him to get set defensively in the middle where they're putting them in
20:29 transition runs and they're putting them in quick ball screens, that could be key, because
20:33 I think that's another way that, you know, Gonzaga has tried to attack Zach Giede when
20:37 they played them last two years.
20:39 And I'm sure you've seen that prepared for it.
20:42 And they've seen that from a number of teams as well.
20:44 Yeah.
20:45 And the big thing with Klingen is he had a he had a foot issue in the preseason where
20:50 he was he was out for a month during practices.
20:52 I didn't miss any game time, but it's hard to get in shape when all you do is you sit
20:56 there and you ride the bike.
20:57 And now on the other foot, he's dealing with I think it's like a turf toe injury.
21:00 They haven't been very specific about it, but he he hasn't been able to.
21:06 Look, when you have problems with your feet and your seven foot three, you don't want
21:11 to push that too much.
21:12 So he hasn't quite been able to get into the level of shape that you would want him to
21:17 be in.
21:18 And it just it's it's a fact of when you're dealing with injuries, that's just what happens.
21:21 So combine all that with the fact that it's going to be a 10 o'clock Eastern time tip.
21:26 I'm going to be tired when that thing's tipping off.
21:28 I don't know if these college kids are going to be feeling it, but I'm definitely going
21:30 to be feeling it then.
21:31 Awesome.
21:32 Well, I unfortunately, I won't be at the game.
21:34 I'm going to be at my high school son's game that night, but I'll be I'll probably be staying
21:39 up late my time Pacific coach watching the reruns on DVR.
21:43 Yeah.
21:44 All right.
21:45 So I won't spoil the game for you.
21:46 But as soon as it's done, I promise you on Saturday morning, whatever happens, you'll
21:50 be hearing from me.
21:51 Hopefully it'll be to talk a little bit of shit.
21:54 Vice versa.
21:55 There you go.
21:56 So awesome.
21:57 Always good catching up with you, Dan.
21:59 And hopefully this is this is a series that will go on for a long time because I just
22:04 I think there's a lot of history between these two programs.
22:06 And it's always fun to play somebody that is not you know, you love these in-conference
22:10 rivalries.
22:11 It's just fun to play these other blue blood powerhouse top 10 programs in college basketball
22:16 and turn that into a thing.
22:17 So appreciate you having on.
22:19 Appreciate you coming on my part.
22:21 And I appreciate you having me on Gonzaga Nation.
22:23 Yeah, it was like a dual dual episode, dual show for us today.
22:27 So we'll definitely have to do it again.
22:29 Who knows?
22:30 Maybe there's another rematch.
22:31 But I think on Gonzaga and NCAA tournament, they've provided some good games over the
22:35 years, that's for sure.
22:36 They certainly have.
22:37 Dan, it's been a pleasure, man.
22:38 All right, perfect.