Gonzaga men's basketball assistant coach Brian Michaelson previews the Zags' season-opener vs. Yale
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00:00 quick recap of the L.C. State exhibition win
00:03 and look forward to the season opener
00:07 against a big time Yale team out of the Ivy League.
00:10 Normally you don't use those terms big time
00:13 for a team out of the Ivy League, but they are really good.
00:16 So Brian, thanks for joining.
00:17 First, let's chat about L.C. State,
00:21 the positives, the negatives that you and the staff
00:24 kind of took from that game.
00:26 - I thought there was quite a few positives.
00:28 I thought we continued to make progress as a team.
00:32 Got a chance to look at a bunch of different lineups.
00:34 And I thought we had some really good stretches
00:36 on both ends of the floor.
00:37 Some stretches we were getting stops
00:39 and some stretches that our offense was pretty efficient
00:42 and obviously good to get some of those new guys.
00:45 We're gonna be playing a ton of new guys this year
00:48 out in front of the fans for the first time,
00:50 which is always important to see how they're gonna react
00:53 and kind of I think good for them
00:55 to get that out of their system.
00:56 So overall happy with kind of how it went.
01:00 - Yeah, you talk about newcomers with a good experience
01:04 for their first time in the general.
01:06 Graham E.K., unbelievable stat line.
01:08 Braden Huff, unbelievable stat line.
01:10 Dusty Stromer, it didn't necessarily show up
01:13 in the stat line, but I thought he was tremendously active.
01:16 He was good on the glass.
01:18 Defensively, he was really good.
01:21 That's not easy to do in your first real game experience,
01:24 is it?
01:24 - No, it's not.
01:25 And obviously, Dusty being a freshman, a true freshman,
01:29 I was really, really happy with his effort,
01:31 the plays he made both on and off the ball.
01:34 His ability to get on the glass, I think, showed.
01:36 So I saw a real step from him.
01:38 And then Braden and Graham haven't played in a real game
01:41 in a long time.
01:42 I mean, probably 20 months for both of them.
01:45 So for them to get back out there in live action
01:47 in front of a crowd, I thought was really good.
01:49 Obviously, Graham has some college experience,
01:51 but I was really, really happy
01:54 with how he looked physically.
01:56 And I didn't think there was much rust.
01:59 And then Braden's had a good fall.
02:01 And Braden has some, a real offensive skill set,
02:05 has great size.
02:06 And I think he was able to show that
02:08 and to continue to build on some of the positives
02:10 that he's had this fall.
02:12 And even a guy like Ryan Nimhardt,
02:14 who's obviously played a ton of college games,
02:15 Steel, their first games,
02:18 obviously first games for Luka in June.
02:20 I mean, there's really only three guys
02:23 that have put on a Gonzaga uniform.
02:24 So it was good to get all those guys out there.
02:27 - You kind of go down the list.
02:28 And it's one of those things that this year,
02:30 it's like in years past,
02:32 you kind of could know who was going to be slotted
02:36 for an approximate amount of minutes
02:38 and who was going to start.
02:39 That's not the case this year.
02:41 I think it's for an outsider,
02:43 it's a fun kind of discussion debate to have with people.
02:47 I'm sure you guys as a staff enjoyed at times,
02:50 but also are frustrated at times
02:52 because it's not kind of plug and play
02:55 like it has been in the past at the start of the season.
02:58 Let's talk about Yale now, season opener.
03:02 You guys didn't play on opening night
03:03 of the college basketball season.
03:05 Could be a good thing, could be a difficult thing
03:08 for players who want to just get the season started.
03:10 But Yale's a really good basketball team.
03:13 They had a big win in their opener
03:15 against the non-division one.
03:16 But when you look at the box score,
03:19 they have production at seemingly every position.
03:22 They've got interior size, rebounding,
03:24 and they've got some tremendous shooters as well.
03:27 When you guys break down the film,
03:29 what are the focal points?
03:30 - You touched on a lot right there.
03:33 I think experience sticks out to you right away.
03:36 I mean, a team that won the Ivy last year,
03:39 and then obviously everybody knows
03:40 that Princeton made the tournament
03:41 and knows the run that Princeton had,
03:43 got a chance to see just how good Princeton was.
03:45 So the fact that Yale was a lead champion against that
03:50 is obviously impressive.
03:52 The experience, I mean, all of those guys are back.
03:56 You look at their box scores from last year,
03:58 and all those guys that led them are back.
04:01 It looks like some of the guys
04:02 that maybe had slightly smaller roles last year
04:04 have taken a nice jump.
04:06 Some of the other things that you touched on
04:09 is I think their size across the board is really impressive.
04:14 You're talking six-four plus guards,
04:16 six-six, six-seven at the wing, and multiple big bodies.
04:20 I mean, a footer at the center position,
04:23 but multiple fours and fives that have legitimate size.
04:28 Where again, on some of these season openers,
04:30 you might get some guards that are sub-six foot,
04:32 you might get some bigs that are six-five, six-six,
04:36 and that is not the case here.
04:38 And the depth of it as well.
04:41 It's not, oh, they got one or two guys.
04:43 They go eight, nine deep easy.
04:46 And the production of those guys, I think.
04:48 I mean, the starting five speaks for itself.
04:51 You got multiple Ivy League type guys
04:54 that are proven commodities.
04:55 But in that exhibition, like you said,
04:58 the bench came in and really, really put up numbers as well.
05:01 So definitely, I see how they won their league.
05:06 I see the strength behind their analytics.
05:11 Analytically last year, they were a very, very strong team
05:14 on both ends of the floor.
05:15 And I do see that balance on film.
05:17 It's not a team like, oh boy, they can score,
05:19 but they can't stop you.
05:20 Or man, they have some real offensive deficiencies.
05:23 It's a really, really balanced unit.
05:26 - You guys, as mentioned, didn't play
05:28 on opening night of college basketball.
05:30 That hasn't been the case for as long as I can remember.
05:34 What did you do as a coach that night?
05:36 Were you channel surfing,
05:37 watching as many games as you could?
05:39 Or was it an unexpected break for you and your family?
05:44 - Yeah, get some family time,
05:45 try and watch a couple of the games.
05:47 But take some family time.
05:49 Obviously work on some scouting stuff.
05:51 So it's unique not to play on opening night,
05:56 but obviously you're gonna end up
05:57 with the same number of games.
05:59 So we're gonna have some stacking up here later on.
06:03 But yeah, it was unique.
06:04 'Cause like you said, I don't recall that before.
06:07 - Last question, Brian.
06:09 When you talk about scheduling,
06:12 you and I have had different conversations.
06:15 This is a unique team in Yale.
06:17 And the fact that most Ivy League teams
06:19 don't travel out of the East Coast.
06:22 They're coming all the way here to play you guys.
06:24 Then they follow that up by playing at LMU.
06:26 You guys always like to play a unique schedule
06:30 as far as playing teams that will challenge
06:32 for their league titles
06:33 and hopefully be in the NCAA tournament.
06:35 'Cause as the season goes along,
06:37 that improves and helps your RPI,
06:39 your KenPOM, your net rankings.
06:41 Is that a lot of why this game was put on the schedule?
06:45 - Yeah, obviously Yale presents
06:46 some really, really significant challenges
06:49 with their ability, again, their size,
06:51 their experience, their intelligence.
06:53 A lot of challenges that they present.
06:56 That's good for us to face.
07:00 Again, some of the analytical stuff
07:02 will be very, very strong for them as the year progresses.
07:06 And then part of this becoming the opener this year
07:09 is at one point this game was scheduled for last year.
07:13 And when that Kentucky series came about,
07:15 there had to be some changes in dates.
07:17 And so that's kind of how it ended up landing here.
07:20 So the plan was to always play them.
07:22 And the dates just kind of got moved around
07:24 once that really cool opportunity
07:26 with Kentucky came about.
07:27 And obviously, Yale being generous enough
07:29 to be flexible and move some dates
07:31 to allow that series was really nice as well.
07:34 - Awesome.
07:35 Well, always appreciate the time.
07:37 Best of luck as you guys gear up for Yale.
07:39 And I'm sure we'll be talking soon
07:42 because right around the corner is the Maui Invitational.
07:45 That's gonna be a heck of a tournament.
07:46 - Thanks, Dan.