Former Gonzaga All-American Dan Dickau breaks down Gonzaga's 2-0 start to league play and what he's seen from the rest of the WCC
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 Hey, everybody. It's Christian Pedersen joined by Dan Dick out. Welcome back to another episode
00:03 of the Gonzaga Nation podcast. And I guess we've hit rock bottom and we're rebounding
00:09 well. We've a good week of Gonzaga basketball in the books behind us. Big week ahead of
00:14 us. Lots to talk about. So, Dan, let's start with St. Mary's and they were a team that
00:20 was selected to win the WCC by the coaches at the beginning of the season. You got to
00:24 see them in person because you were broadcasting their game against San Diego. So give us a
00:29 what you saw there. Your first chance to see Aiden Mahaney in depth in season in WCC play.
00:35 Let's talk there. And then there's a lot to get to. So thanks for joining us. Yeah, absolutely.
00:39 Good to good to catch up as always. But when you talk about St. Mary's, I think the reason
00:44 they were preseason number one, they had three returning starters, including Mahaney, who
00:49 you mentioned, but more so probably because Gonzaga lost Drew Timmy, Julian Strother,
00:55 Roger Bolton. They lost Malachi Smith. And then you also talk about losing Dom Harris,
01:04 who's playing well at LMU. You lost Efton Reed. You lost Hunter Salas. So a lot of roster
01:08 turnover for Gonzaga and not as much from a good St. Mary's team. So I think that's
01:14 one of the reasons they were preseason number one. But after seeing them in person, you
01:19 know, I think they're missing Logan Johnson. His his aggressiveness on the defensive end
01:24 is the ability to disrupt things defensively is a little different than everyone they have
01:28 on their roster currently. We know St. Mary's is a great defensive team. They make life
01:34 difficult for you. They're great in their basic coverages. They're they keep it simple.
01:39 But with keeping it simple, they keep it very good. Meaning you don't get direct line drives.
01:46 You're pushed and fought through with every screen. You don't get open looks. Everything's
01:52 contested. They run you off the three point line. They finish with rebounds. So they're
01:55 a difficult team to play with. But they're missing that Logan Johnson factor, I believe,
02:00 on the interior. You know, offensively, Marsha Lunas has filled in a little bit. He's become
02:08 a more aggressive to create and to score himself in recent games. And I think that's going
02:15 to help Mahaney as well, because it's going to allow or make the defense pay more attention
02:22 to one of somebody else on the perimeter as well. So I see a team that scheduled up this
02:28 year as opposed to years past. They passed some of those tests, beating, you know, New
02:35 Mexico, but losing to Boise State, losing, unfortunately, at home to a couple of teams
02:42 that they should have beat, namely Weber State, Missouri State. You know, they scheduled up,
02:48 but they didn't get the one or two signature wins that maybe they really were hoping for.
02:53 But at this point in the season, one weekend of the league, you see the non-conference.
02:58 I definitely think that this is Gonzaga's league still, and I don't expect or anticipate
03:04 anything in regards to that to change. But I do think St. Mary's is still very good.
03:09 So let's talk about then what you saw from Gonzaga this past week behind us. They put
03:12 up 100 plus at a 101 against USD, and then they beat Pepperdine. They stay in the top
03:18 25. The last time that we connected, it was is this panic alert? And you said, no, it's
03:25 not that time. It's just chill. The sample size will play out. So are you happy with
03:29 what you saw? Are you ecstatic with what you saw? Are you just vaguely pleased with what
03:33 you saw the past week from Gonzaga? No, what I think what I think you saw was growth. I
03:38 mean, that San Diego State game, San Diego State just played better. You know, Gonzaga
03:43 had some untimely turnovers. They had some again, untimely missed shots. They didn't
03:47 shoot it great. But Gonzaga is just sticking with the formula, the formula that's been
03:52 successful all these years. You know, so I think, you know, they did look much better
03:57 both ends of the floor in their two opening conference games. Graham E.K. I thought was
04:02 spectacular again, kind of being that interior presence that they need. And then it's
04:08 clear, you know, everyone's going to look at the three point shooting numbers. It was
04:12 much better in those two games. I think it was eight made threes against Pepperdine.
04:16 I think it was 10 against San Diego. So all in all, you know, definitely trending in the
04:22 right direction. This game against Santa Clara on the road is going to be a huge early test.
04:27 And so it'll be nice when you look at it. This this week's WCC slate, Gonzaga goes at
04:33 Santa Clara on Thursday. St. Mary's is at San Francisco on Thursday as well. So two
04:39 of the top four teams in league are going to be, you know, in a driver's seat position
04:46 and two are now going to be playing catch up. So it'll be fun to see how it all plays
04:50 out on Thursday. That's kind of nuts how you spend some of this non-conference schedule
04:56 doing this weird tango of you're like saying, oh, it doesn't really play out. You know,
05:00 like the sample size. Once we get later in the season, we'll figure and then big hits
05:04 or conferences. And it's like three games in your right. You teams are way up here.
05:08 Two teams are way down there and everything figured out or is now in some sort of dramatic
05:12 fashion. So things are changing very quickly, but I'm glad to hear that you are happy with
05:17 the growth all kind of along that parallel. You talk about growth, growth of a player.
05:23 Dominic Harris is having a great year so far for LMU. He's shooting all really well from
05:27 beyond the three-point arc. Why didn't it work out in Spokane?
05:32 Well, I think it's disappointing and frustrating for him for sure. He came in in the same recruiting
05:38 class as Jalen Suggs, who was a one and done at the NBA, as well as Julian Strother. And
05:43 you know, he was very influential in regards to supporting them and recruiting them as
05:49 well because he was the first of all those three to commit to Gonzaga. I think for him,
05:54 it was just a matter of untimely injuries. And sometimes when you have an untimely injury,
06:00 you're behind the eight ball, like you're worried about getting healthy while somebody
06:05 else is worried about kind of improving their skill set and fine tuning what their role
06:10 might be on a team for a particular year. And so when he was finally healthy, he was
06:15 kind of playing catch up and he was never able to kind of really entrench himself in
06:20 any rotational spot. Now, I thought he was talented. I still think he's talented. He's
06:25 showing that this year with how he's playing with LMU. But many times as a young player,
06:29 you know, you go through so many injuries, you see other guys having success where you're
06:34 at. It kind of at times can be like, it's not going to happen for me here. I need to
06:39 go somewhere else. And so I think that's part of what it was for him. Who knows? I mean,
06:44 maybe had he stayed, he would have been that three-point threat that Gonzaga needs right
06:50 now, especially considering that, you know, Steel Ventures is out for the season. But
06:54 again, good for him. He's playing well, as is Hunter Salas and Efton Reed, both at Wake
07:00 Forest. Speaking of transferring and then playing a little bit better than before, BYU,
07:05 they leave their association with the WCC to go play in a different conference. And
07:10 I'm curious your thought at their success so far this season. A little surprised, very
07:17 similar roster makeup to a season ago. But last year, they didn't shoot the ball very
07:23 well. Last year, they didn't rebound the ball very well. This year, they're doing both
07:27 those things. So obviously, there has to have been a focus on the rebounding aspect. And
07:35 then three-point shooting percentage wise, it just has to be something where players
07:40 are a year older, a year more comfortable, a year more entrenched in the system and where
07:44 their shots are going to come. So they knock them down at a higher clip. But it's interesting
07:50 in the fact that they leave for the Big 12 and now they're having this monstrous run,
07:54 although they lost at home to Cincinnati in their Big 12 debut. So welcome to the Big
08:00 12 moment. There you go. But if they were in the WCC this year, it would give Gonzaga,
08:07 St. Mary's, San Francisco one more quad one type opportunity win on the road, you know,
08:13 had they been able to go into Provo and win, which we all know is a difficult place and
08:17 difficult ask.
08:18 Fair enough. Dan mentioned there's a big slate of WCC games coming up both for Gonzaga and
08:25 some of the other teams involved in that race with Gonzaga. So make sure you stay up to
08:29 date and everything through our website. We got great reactionary preview and everything
08:34 in between content from Cole Forsman. Dan, Dan has also been in the studio all morning
08:39 this morning recording a bunch of great podcasts. There is an insanely cool amount of stuff
08:44 coming out this year compared to what they've done in seasons previous with that awesome
08:48 studio that they've got going. Dan, anything that we missed or didn't get to yet this week
08:52 before we say goodbye to everybody?
08:54 No, the sky's not falling. I mean, you kind of hear from some Gonzaga fans here. There
08:58 you see it on social media like, oh, what's wrong with this team? Do that. No, he didn't.
09:03 But it's out there. And here's the thing is Gonzaga still has the longest AP ranked streak
09:09 in the country. I think it now sits at one hundred and forty three. As we record this,
09:14 the rankings have not come out yet, but they were at twenty four. A couple of teams lost.
09:18 I would expect they jumped to twenty when that comes out. But, you know, it's a process
09:26 and some teams take advantage of all those early season opportunities more so than others.
09:31 This year's team, you know, had you not lost the UW, had you not lost the San Diego State,
09:38 we may be looking at a top 10 team. And at this moment in time, that might be a little
09:43 bit out of skew for this team based on how they've played.
09:46 I believe that as of three minutes ago, per us recording, that the rankings have come
09:50 out. It looks like Gonzaga is twenty third this week.
09:53 So they move up one. At least you don't move down two and you're now out of the ranking.
09:58 So good to hear.
10:00 San Diego State at 19.
10:04 That's about right for them. Yeah, I mean, there that's a really good ballclub in the
10:07 Mountain West is unbelievably difficult right now. Five teams in the Mountain West are in
10:12 the top thirty five of the net. The only other conferences that can say that are the big
10:16 twelve and the SEC.
10:19 And I know that, you know, largely.
10:22 Seeing SDSU climb is only a symbolic you can hang your hat on it type of like, hey, that
10:27 was a solid team to lose to.
10:29 But that's also great in a year where we're short quad one opportunities to have SDSU
10:35 not fall apart later in the season, I think helps if Gonzaga can, like you said, continue
10:41 to mature and grow from that moment.
10:44 They can say to themselves, hey, we lost to a really good team and then we grew from it
10:47 like you are laying out.
10:48 It's not doom and gloom. It's the results happening and growing in real time. So hopefully
10:52 that means nothing but good things to come.
10:54 Make sure you're following Dan on social. Make sure you're following the show at Fan
10:57 Nation Zags. Dan, thank you very much, as always. Make sure you guys go check out everything
11:02 Cole Forsman is doing. We'll talk to you next time.