Former Gonzaga All-American Dan Dickau breaks down what he saw from the Bulldogs in their exhibition opener against the Lewis-Clark State.
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00:00 What's happening, everybody?
00:01 Christian Pedersen here, joined by Dan Dickow, welcoming you back to another episode of the
00:05 Gonzaga Nation podcast.
00:07 Ostensibly, what has become the backup Gonzaga Nation podcast now that Dan is basically driving
00:13 around in a new Ferrari of a studio, talking to Adam Morrison, having all these cool people.
00:19 What was like, we've gone from being the starting five to now our joint efforts podcasting is
00:26 somewhere down at like the eighth man in the rotation off the bench, which is cool.
00:30 I love it.
00:31 Bunch of five star recruit quality content.
00:33 We thank you though, for sharing a little bit of your week with us guys.
00:36 College basketball actually is finally back.
00:38 I know we sort of teased it show notes wise for a couple of months, but hey, it's coming.
00:43 It's right around the corner.
00:44 It's actually here.
00:45 Finally.
00:46 Now Gonzaga has an LC state scrimmage.
00:48 There are games as of the time of us recording this podcast that will be tipping off in the
00:52 next 12 or so hours to start the college basketball season for the WCC.
00:57 So Dan, let's start with the scrimmage.
00:59 Let's start with what you know about the Gonzaga team and from what you've seen and heard from
01:03 all the results.
01:04 And then we'll talk about the rest of the WCC as we go forward.
01:07 Yeah, I think for all intents and purposes, Gonzaga got exactly what they wanted out of
01:14 that exhibition game with Lewis Clark state.
01:17 You know, Lewis and Clark state is a really good NAA program.
01:21 Just a couple of years ago, they were in the national title game where they lost.
01:25 They play in the Cascade Conference and the winner of the NAA last year was from the Cascade
01:32 Conference College of South Idaho.
01:34 So they're a good program.
01:36 They had injuries last year, so they didn't compete the way they're used to, but they
01:41 should be really good at their level and in their league this year.
01:45 With that being said, I think they gave Gonzaga all the challenges that they needed.
01:52 Gonzaga overwhelmed them at the start, 10-0.
01:54 But then they crept back into the game.
01:56 It was 22-20.
01:58 Gonzaga from there slowly pulled away.
02:01 Yeah, they had one big run as well in the second half, which typically Gonzaga does
02:06 that against everybody.
02:07 But I thought for an NAA team to come in and have a bit of a lack of size compared to what
02:14 Gonzaga is going to play against, for example, in Maui or deep in the NCAA tournament, I
02:20 thought L.C.
02:21 State gave them exactly what they needed.
02:22 They were organized on the offensive end.
02:25 They had some shooters.
02:28 They went 9-of-23 from beyond the three-point line at L.C.
02:31 State.
02:32 And then defensively, other than Brayden Huff and Graham Eake kind of having their way on
02:39 the inside, which I'm sure we'll talk about, they did not make things easy on Gonzaga at
02:44 all.
02:45 I thought L.C.
02:46 State played really well.
02:47 Now I know this is a Gonzaga-centric podcast, which it always is, but I think when you look
02:52 at Gonzaga on that side of talking about it, it's just like rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat
02:59 for an exhibition game and getting used to what you're going to see again this year.
03:05 Unbelievably balanced attack, tremendous interior production from Eake and Huff, which is something
03:12 I'm sure a lot of people curious would be the case with Drew Timmy Gaughan.
03:16 Push the ball just like they always want to do in transition, maybe even a little bit
03:19 faster than in years past with Ryan and Emhart kind of at the controls.
03:25 But all in all, I thought they played a terrific first exhibition game.
03:31 I thought a lot of bright spots.
03:33 The only possible negative is the fact that Gonzaga was 5-of-21 from the three-point line,
03:38 but I don't think that's going to be a constant throughout the year because I do think they
03:41 have capable shooters from beyond the arc.
03:44 Let me ask you about the bad, then we'll transition back to the good because there's more of the
03:47 second rather than the first.
03:48 But you talk about that three-point shooting.
03:51 What do we need to watch for then in Maui?
03:55 Is it going to be the first game?
03:56 You're just like, "Hey, look, that first one was just a sample size of one game and that's
04:01 just not basketball."
04:02 You'll see over three or four games, or is this going to be like you're going to watch
04:04 it cautiously the first third of the season?
04:07 Or do you talk a little bit more about your maybe just underlying, if you had to nitpick,
04:13 the concern of the three-point shooting?
04:14 I mean, just the fact that they were 5-of-21, I think they were pretty much all good shots.
04:21 I can think of only maybe two during the course of calling the game alongside Greg Heister
04:27 that I was thinking to myself, "Maybe that was a little quick or that was a little deep."
04:32 But you had the right guys shooting threes.
04:35 Steele Venters was 0-for-2.
04:37 We know he shoots at nearly a 40% clip if you look at the basis of his college career
04:43 at Eastern.
04:45 Nolan Hickman was 1-of-4.
04:48 He's going to be around that 40% mark from three.
04:51 Ryan Nembhardt was 1-of-3.
04:53 They were all good shots.
04:55 Braden Huff was 1-of-4 from the three-point line as well.
04:59 Dusty Stromer actually didn't take any threes.
05:04 I don't buy into it or read into it too much other than they just didn't shoot it well
05:08 that particular night.
05:10 But I do think this team does have capable shooters from the perimeter.
05:14 Happy with the selection stuff just not falling.
05:16 Totally understand that.
05:18 How close does this come to the adrenaline?
05:22 Is this the same vibe as a game?
05:23 I get that this is not necessarily a March Sweet 16 vibe, but do players feel ostensibly
05:31 the same kind of amount of adrenaline and jitters, whatever the verb is that you want
05:35 to use on the court for this game as you do for three or four games from now?
05:40 I think so.
05:41 100%.
05:42 I mean, you know, outside of Anton Watson and Nolan Hickman, this and Ben Gregg, but
05:49 the first two in particular, Hickman and Watson, because they've started.
05:54 For everyone else, playing a real game, even though it wasn't a counter, it was an exhibition
05:59 game, is something new for all of these guys in front of the kennel.
06:04 And for many of these guys to have a successful first outing is just something to build upon.
06:10 I thought the excitement, the electricity, the energy in the building was phenomenal.
06:15 It didn't feel like a 35-point exhibition game win over an NAI opponent.
06:24 It felt like a WCC kind of crowd where fans were into it, the students were engaged.
06:30 I thought it was a really good atmosphere.
06:33 So to maybe, you know, to the simpler, newer, less initiated basketball fans that are joining
06:39 us for this season, this is not week four of the NFL preseason, where it's just backups.
06:46 It's a low-key vibe.
06:47 This is game ready.
06:48 So the results, like you said, you were happy with in the moments, kids were choosing the
06:51 right shots, kids were executing well.
06:56 Graham E.K. was pushing people around like your phone right now just got tossed.
07:00 So let's talk about that then.
07:02 You're happy with a lot of things.
07:03 You said that you liked and you listed off basically the starting five to seven rotation
07:09 that we've mostly been talking about now on this and other podcasts on this network for
07:14 a pretty big rotation for two plus weeks of, hey, there's these certain guys and you seemed
07:18 like you weren't unhappy with any of them.
07:20 You were rather pleasantly thrilled.
07:22 You feel like all the boxes got checked.
07:25 Are we no longer worried about Graham E.K.'s ankle?
07:27 Can we move on from that being content?
07:30 Give us maybe some of the more in-depth of what you really saw in the nitty gritty because
07:33 you were right there courtside.
07:36 I mean, you're exactly right.
07:38 And kind of, you know, the checklist of things that you just went over there, you know, E.K.
07:43 looked healthy.
07:44 You know, those are the reports that I've been getting when I've talked to coaches and
07:48 when I was at practice a couple of weeks back, not concerned there.
07:53 You know, guys kind of did what their reputation was coming into this game.
08:00 There's a couple kind of outlying, not mistakes, but outlying things that maybe like, I wonder
08:06 if that's going to get corrected.
08:08 For example, Ryan Nemar, two of eight from the field, that happens.
08:11 You know, you can't be upset with it.
08:12 He took good shots, but you kind of aren't too worried about it because he's proven it
08:18 at a higher stage at Creighton.
08:20 He had 10 assists with one turnover and three steals.
08:23 So what are you going to nitpick about his game?
08:25 I thought Nolan Hickman, you know, even though he was only one of four from three, I thought
08:31 he did a great job coming off pick and rolls, you know, making the right read, whether it
08:34 was a floater game in that situation or moving it, advancing it to the next guy.
08:39 He had a nice finisher two in transition.
08:41 I thought he played great.
08:42 Dusty Stromer was active on the offensive glass.
08:46 You know, he comes in as the reputation of a three-point shooter.
08:49 You know, he didn't get any good looks, so he didn't force it.
08:51 I thought he did some good things.
08:53 The only guy who really didn't maybe perform as well as some people would have thought
08:58 or would have hoped is Anton Watson.
09:00 But at the end of the day, that doesn't matter because you know what you're going to get
09:04 from Anton night in and night out.
09:08 And you know, the fact that he had a one for seven opening line on an exhibition night
09:13 doesn't concern me or give me any worries at all.
09:16 I guess it's good to know that the player you're most comfortable with is the one that
09:21 you can have a little bit of wiggle room at the gate and that you've gotten a pretty good
09:24 sample size from a lot of the new faces.
09:26 It seems like you are treading on actually being like, again, optimistic.
09:33 Not that we were like worried about this team, but you mentioned that the Drew Timmy, you
09:37 never want to be the guy that replaces the guy.
09:39 You always want to be the guy that replaces that guy.
09:40 You don't want to follow in a legend's footsteps.
09:43 But it seems like you're saying that, hey, this team is just going to recreate the success
09:47 in the aggregate.
09:48 It's going to look a little bit different.
09:50 Maybe there's going to be a little bit of a different flow, but you're confident that
09:53 this is going to be a team that's going to still produce at a really high level.
09:55 No, 100 percent.
09:57 They're going to produce at a really high level.
09:59 I have no doubts with that.
10:00 I think, you know, they're probably going to they've led the country and score in the
10:04 last five years.
10:05 They've been in the top five in pace over the last, you know, probably four to five
10:10 years.
10:11 So they want to play fast.
10:12 They did that with a low post interior dominant presence in Drew Timmy.
10:17 But when you look at this team, I think they're going to want to play even faster.
10:21 That's because of having two point guards again with Nemhart and Hickman.
10:25 But that's, you know, you have the two dominant bigs.
10:29 If they play like they did in the exhibition in the Huff and EK, you're not going to slow
10:33 the game down just to give them post touches.
10:36 You're going to get them to speed themselves up and get down the floor earlier and create
10:40 those opportunities against opponents, bigs who can't keep up.
10:44 So all in all, you know, I like what I see.
10:48 You mentioned the Drew Timmy kind of how do you replace it in the aggregate?
10:52 And that's something that's been talked about over and over again.
10:56 I liken it to a little bit of kush lash.
10:59 Right.
11:00 You've seen Jerry Maguire, kush lash, kush lash.
11:03 People have been talking about Drew Timmy for three years and unfortunately in college
11:08 sports, guys move on.
11:11 Right.
11:12 And the fact is Gonzaga's program is so solid and they recruit and attract high level guys
11:19 that unless you were a true insider and have seen Graham EK play before or you've been
11:25 at practice and seen things that Braden Huff has flashed potentials of, you would be concerned.
11:32 But once, you know, a lot of fans probably saw those two in action, probably ease their
11:39 fears a little bit of having no Drew Timmy.
11:41 You're saying the truth is coming.
11:43 People will people will soon get the footage.
11:46 They will know that Gonzaga is in good hands.
11:49 Let's talk about the rest of the WCC because that's who Gonzaga is going to play against
11:54 throughout the year.
11:55 It's their conference opponents.
11:56 So you guys need to start getting used to and educated on some of the names and plot
12:00 lines to pay attention to the rest of the season around the conference.
12:04 There's a first slate of games kicking off today as of us recording this podcast, but
12:09 also throughout the rest of the week.
12:10 So just give people maybe a quick primer of, you know, I'm not going to say, hey, Monday
12:16 3 p.m.
12:18 Watch this tip off, but just, hey, what are some basic facts that people need to know
12:21 and that they can check out if they're, you know, being a real college basketball junkie
12:25 this week with some of these games?
12:26 Well, not to correct you too much, Christian, but through Monday 3 p.m., there are no games.
12:31 So I'll help you out there.
12:33 OK, fair enough.
12:34 I'm just giving you a hard time.
12:36 You throw scud missiles at me occasionally.
12:38 I'll return them right back.
12:39 But gone are the days that ESPN would do that 24 hour opening day where games would be on
12:45 the clock consistently for 20 hours, 24 straight hours.
12:49 I love that.
12:50 I wish ESPN or somebody would bring that back.
12:53 That was fascinating basketball watching for a fan like me.
12:57 But, you know, opening night of being Monday as we're recording this, you know, there's
13:02 only five WCC teams that are playing that first night, and that's Pacific hosting Division
13:07 One Sam Houston.
13:09 Pepperdine hosts a non D1 in Concordia, Irvine.
13:12 St. Mary's hosts a non D1 in Stanislaus State.
13:17 San Francisco hosts Bethesda, and the best opening night game for any WCC school is the
13:24 Pilots of Portland hosting Long Beach State.
13:27 That should be a really good game.
13:28 Out of the Big West, Long Beach State has been really good for quite some time.
13:32 If you follow college hoops closely, you know that their head coach is Dan Monson, who was
13:37 that coach before Coach Few that took them to their very first Elite Eight.
13:42 So, you know, Santa Clara doesn't play on opening night.
13:45 USD doesn't play opening night.
13:47 LMU doesn't play on opening night.
13:49 Neither does Gonzaga.
13:50 So, Gonzaga, oddly enough, doesn't play until the ninth, excuse me, the 10th being on Friday
13:57 against Yale.
13:59 And I'll say this right now.
14:01 Yale's a good basketball team.
14:03 They've been the tournament, I think, three of the last four years.
14:06 They've got four returning starters.
14:09 They're an experienced ball club.
14:11 You don't see a lot of transfers into and out of Ivy League schools.
14:16 And you know, they are getting a lot of buzz as a great mid-major team this upcoming year.
14:23 There's one of, and I know everybody has their own little polls, but one of the mid-major
14:28 polls has Yale, I believe, at number three in the mid-major ranking.
14:34 So should be a great initial test for Gonzaga right off the bat.
14:39 - Again, I think you can never understate and underscore the severity with which the
14:44 Ivy League's like cannot be overlooked.
14:47 They will always be, there's always one trap game every year of a Harvard or Princeton
14:51 or a Yale.
14:52 And so I couldn't agree with you more.
14:56 You talked to a lot of the coaches.
14:58 You are good friends and communicators with a lot of the people around the WCC.
15:02 Maybe just give the people briefly, are there some people that you've talked to this year
15:06 where you're like, hey, they have a real high level of confidence about this squad.
15:10 And I think we always know lately that Santa Clara is going to be a big test, but anybody
15:16 else this year that you're like, hey, they got a little something, because you've talked
15:19 about maybe San Francisco doing really well in the transfer portal.
15:22 I know LMU has gotten some guys from, there's a lot going on.
15:26 So anything out there just buzz-wise and hype-wise that people need to know about?
15:30 - Well, I think the same areas is a lot better nationally that people give them credit for.
15:36 You know, yes, they won the coaches poll in the preseason.
15:40 You know, Gonzaga may take that as a little bit of a slight.
15:43 It's 'cause they got their scoring firepower back in Mahaney and Saxon and Dukas came back.
15:49 Unfortunately for them, they lost Johnson and Bowen, are great defensive players.
15:55 But Gonzaga doesn't have the scoring punch returning in the same way that they had a
16:01 year ago.
16:02 Their scoring punch, or the majority of their scoring punches is newcomers.
16:07 EK, Nembhardt, looks like Huff's gonna be a scoring possibility throughout the year.
16:13 So that's interesting.
16:15 So I think those are two who are clearly head and shoulders above.
16:18 But that battle for three is gonna be interesting, 'cause I like Santa Clara.
16:23 Herb Sendak's a great coach.
16:25 I like what USF is doing.
16:26 I like the transfer portal action that they had.
16:29 LMU, I think Stan Johnson is a great coach.
16:32 And it's gonna be interesting.
16:34 They were active in the transfer portal.
16:35 They also got Kelly Leapepe back.
16:38 So they could surprise some people again.
16:41 And then when you look at Portland, they've been so hurt.
16:45 They were so hurt last year.
16:46 They missed one of their best players in Chris Austin throughout all of last year.
16:51 Tyler Robertson is back.
16:52 Could be interesting if he can push them over the edge to kind of creep up and fight for
16:59 that three spot.
17:00 USD is unbelievably young.
17:02 I think they have 10 freshmen.
17:05 And then Pacific kind of has been the unknown a little bit.
17:09 I thought they played a unique style last year.
17:12 I talked to Coach Perry a couple weeks back, and he really liked the pieces.
17:16 He thinks guys have bought in.
17:17 And then Pepperdine, they've always got talent, but they haven't been able to put it together
17:22 They had early entrance to the NBA in Maxwell Lewis.
17:26 They have a transfer in Mike Mitchell Jr.
17:30 But then Javon Porter, who has NBA level talent, is back.
17:34 Houston Millette is back.
17:35 They got some good transfers with experience in the portal.
17:38 So I still think Gonzaga St. Mary's are clearly one and two.
17:43 I think that battle for three is gonna be interesting.
17:46 But I think even the quote unquote bottom of the league has a lot of talent this year,
17:53 or maybe with USD, a lot of unknowns.
17:55 Fair enough.
17:56 Fair enough.
17:57 Well, everything will actually start to get answered now that college basketball is back.
18:01 Guys, thank you very much for checking in on another episode.
18:04 Make sure you search and subscribe to Gonzaga Nation wherever you get your podcasts and
18:07 follow along on all the socials at Fan Nation Zags or Dan Dickow's personal handles of Dan
18:12 Dickow 21 on all of the social media.
18:14 We will be having tons and tons and I mean more coverage than you ever thought possible.
18:19 More podcasts, more articles, full time writers.
18:22 Now like this has become a very not just Gonzaga centric thing, but a very like we are the
18:27 we are the best of the like there is nobody doing more and better Gonzaga coverage than
18:31 us.
18:32 So make sure you around all season long.
18:34 College basketball is finally back.
18:35 Talk to you guys soon.
18:35 Talk to you guys soon.
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