Gonzaga assistant coach Brian Michaelson discusses Gonzaga's 2-0 start to WCC play ahead of a road game at Santa Clara
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00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03 Gonzaga Nation, we are joined by assistant coach Brian
00:08 Michelson.
00:09 Kind of a week into WCC play, give us
00:12 a little bit of recap on the non-conference, a little bit
00:14 of a preview of what's to come.
00:16 So first off, Brian, appreciate the time.
00:18 Thanks, Tim.
00:19 Always great to have you.
00:21 The insight-- when I don't get to the games
00:24 myself because I've got different broadcast
00:26 assignments, or if I'm driving home from a broadcast
00:29 assignment, I'll turn on Huddie and Mo and listen
00:32 to the postgame.
00:33 And usually you have that assignment.
00:35 And so you have tremendous insight.
00:38 How much do you enjoy or not enjoy those postgames?
00:42 Because you haven't necessarily had time to kind of digest
00:45 everything that's just happened.
00:47 Those guys are great.
00:48 I love Huddie.
00:49 He does a great job.
00:50 And obviously, Adam was a teammate of mine
00:52 and someone I really respect.
00:53 So it's easy to go on there and help those guys out.
00:57 And it is pretty quick after.
01:00 But they do a good job.
01:01 And they make it easy on us.
01:02 I had to ask that because there's
01:04 times with my broadcasting that I'll
01:07 have to do a postgame hit.
01:09 And I just looked at the box score.
01:11 I've just called the game.
01:12 My mind starts veering off in different situations
01:14 and different things.
01:15 And I'm sure it's the same for a coach.
01:17 You've got a million things going.
01:19 You're glad you got the win or maybe frustrated
01:21 with the occasional loss.
01:23 And you have to kind of recap and rehash in a hurry.
01:27 It's different.
01:27 Yeah, it is different.
01:28 And yeah, the ones after losses are a lot more difficult
01:31 than the ones after wins.
01:33 Well, you guys bounce back after the loss to San Diego State.
01:38 First off, let's touch on that game really quick
01:40 because I saw a lot of positives.
01:43 But I saw a team in San Diego State
01:46 that, quite frankly, I think is undervalued nationally
01:48 this year.
01:49 They lost a lot of pieces, as did you guys.
01:51 But they're better than what their non-ranking truly
01:57 is showing their respect nationally.
01:59 Yeah, I think it was interesting.
02:01 They dropped a couple games to good opponents.
02:03 And it was interesting to me what
02:05 happened in the public rankings.
02:08 Their metrics remain good, top 20,
02:10 Ken Palm-type team approaching that top 15, which is probably
02:13 about where I think they are.
02:15 And being part of a really good Mountain West is going to help.
02:17 That's going to be a multi-bid league.
02:19 And I think they'll be right there at the very top of that.
02:22 And they did a good job.
02:24 D'Lee's been as good as anyone this year
02:26 with the double-doubles, the 20 and 10 games.
02:28 I was really, really impressed with him.
02:31 Butler is a returning kid that's a winner.
02:34 Trammell, I think, got off to a little bit of a slow start.
02:37 And he flipped that on us.
02:38 And I know he's had a couple games since.
02:40 And then the pickup of Dixon Waters, Reese from USC,
02:45 was huge.
02:46 I was really impressed with him.
02:47 I thought he would be a good player.
02:49 And he was great.
02:50 And he hit some big shots.
02:51 And I think from our standpoint, it was a little bit--
02:55 and hopefully this weekend, we broke out of it a little bit.
02:58 But kind of where we've been, I thought
03:00 we had some really, really good stretches where we competed,
03:03 especially defensively and on the glass.
03:05 But the turnovers continued to be a problem.
03:07 The outside shooting was sporadic.
03:09 And then just we had probably three really, really
03:12 bad defensive breakdowns.
03:14 And to their credit, Bird hit a big shot.
03:18 Waters hit a huge shot.
03:19 And D'Lee kind of got us ISOed and did what he does.
03:22 So just trying to cut out those couple little stretches
03:26 that you just can't have against teams like that.
03:29 So you learned from an unfortunate loss
03:32 against a good team.
03:33 You get yourselves ready for WCC play.
03:36 You're at the arena.
03:37 You beat Pepperdine pretty handily
03:39 in front of what looked like a great crowd.
03:41 Then you, I thought, played really well
03:43 and really consistent against USD,
03:45 had production across the board.
03:47 How nice was that to see the bounce back
03:50 of what I would imagine guys taking emphasis points
03:53 from teaching and coaching and running with it
03:56 and really showing that they were locked in?
03:58 Yeah, I mean, obviously, good weekend overall.
04:00 Won both games handily.
04:04 The arena crowd was awesome.
04:05 To be able to go down there to that building on a weeknight
04:09 and no students at all, obviously
04:11 with the students still on break, and sell it out and have
04:14 that type of atmosphere was really special.
04:16 Again, part of what makes this place so great.
04:18 But that night, I thought our offense was solid.
04:22 And we shot the ball better from the perimeter,
04:24 but we still had some choppiness.
04:26 We still had some turnovers.
04:27 But I loved our defense that night.
04:29 And that was something we had talked a lot about.
04:31 After San Diego State, we had a couple breakdowns early.
04:35 But boy, we had a stretch of about 34,
04:38 35 minutes that was really good.
04:40 Because Pepperdine has some offensive ability.
04:43 And the job that we did on those main three guys,
04:47 the type of shots we made them take, the way we rebounded,
04:49 the way we rotated, I was really, really happy
04:52 with our defense that night.
04:54 And I thought our offense took a step.
04:56 Then San Diego, I thought was kind of the opposite.
04:59 I thought our offense took another huge step.
05:01 I actually thought that was probably as good
05:03 as we've been offensively.
05:05 We really took care of the ball.
05:06 We obviously shot it great.
05:08 I thought we had balance.
05:09 We had that stretch where Graham really went to work.
05:12 And they changed some defenses.
05:13 And I thought we handled that well.
05:14 So offensively, I was really, really happy.
05:17 And sometimes you played.
05:19 And you know how this goes.
05:20 When the offense is coming that well,
05:23 you might lose a little focus on the other end.
05:26 And I thought that happened.
05:27 I thought we just had a lot of breakdowns
05:30 that we did not have against Pepperdine.
05:32 Watching the difference on film between the two
05:34 defensive efforts is pretty significant.
05:36 But huge positive with the way we scored the ball,
05:39 how many guys made shots, the balance of the perimeter
05:42 shooting with the inside play was awesome.
05:46 Well, we've talked about it, about the shooting
05:50 capability of this team.
05:52 They've been fairly inconsistent throughout the early part
05:55 of the season.
05:55 But everybody looked locked in on the catch.
05:58 They were ready.
05:59 If they were open, they shot it with confidence.
06:01 It just seemed to flow better offensively
06:03 when you knock down a couple threes early by different guys.
06:08 You've been around it a long time.
06:10 Nothing different.
06:10 Just getting your reps in.
06:11 Is that right?
06:12 Yeah, getting your reps in and staying confident.
06:13 We've talked about that.
06:15 Nolan's been our most consistent by far.
06:18 He's been in that upper 30s.
06:20 And he's led us in volume.
06:21 I thought he got off to a great start to that game.
06:24 I love how he's been shooting the ball.
06:26 But I thought he continued that.
06:28 Dusty's numbers are slowly but surely coming up.
06:32 And I thought the first shot he took
06:33 was great with a lot of confidence.
06:35 I thought that got us off to a start.
06:37 Ben obviously had a career game.
06:40 But he's been more and more aggressive looking
06:42 for his three, which we need.
06:44 And then obviously the big one was Ryan.
06:45 And you and I have been around enough
06:47 to know a player of his caliber is going to make them.
06:51 Everybody has slumps at some point,
06:52 whether that's two games, five games.
06:55 His, unfortunately, was into the low teens.
06:58 But we knew that was coming.
06:59 And he made the two against Pepperdine.
07:01 But the way that the ball came off his hand,
07:04 the pop that he had going into his shot--
07:06 you mentioned what it looked like-- was huge.
07:08 And now all of a sudden you got those guards making them.
07:11 Ben and Anton have been making them now.
07:12 It's like you and I have talked about.
07:14 We got six or seven guys that are able to hunt threes.
07:18 Let's talk a little more about Ben Gregg, because he's
07:21 been a spark at different points in his career.
07:23 But you see this year, he's done the same energy,
07:28 impactful plays that he has in years past.
07:30 But over maybe the last 10 games,
07:31 you see more and more, just a little bit more comfort level,
07:35 I think a little bit maybe more trust from the staff.
07:39 But you see the growth in his game.
07:40 And it was evidenced.
07:41 I think he had 22 points, a career high against USD.
07:44 Yeah, Ben's-- you touched on it.
07:46 Ben brings energy.
07:48 And that's what he brings that's different,
07:51 that can get us going.
07:52 And that's his main job, is to bring that effort,
07:55 that physicality, be that punch off the bench.
07:58 And against San Diego, he obviously made shots.
08:01 But most importantly, he brought that energy from the jump.
08:04 Literally, the first possession, he got the steal.
08:06 I think he might have got a steal second possession.
08:09 He flew around defensively.
08:11 He was great in rotations.
08:12 He was great in switches.
08:14 He protected the rim.
08:15 And then that led to the offensive end,
08:17 where we did get to see his versatility.
08:19 He got some runouts on those steals.
08:20 He hit the two threes.
08:22 He's shooting the ball great at the free throw line.
08:24 And he gets a lot of those opportunities
08:26 off his offensive rebounding.
08:27 They played the zone.
08:28 He's good in the high post of that zone.
08:30 He hit some little floaters.
08:31 He then was able to showcase his whole offensive package, which,
08:36 again, has continued to grow.
08:38 So I've been really proud of Ben, because in the past,
08:42 you touched on it.
08:43 That energy would be there a game or two,
08:45 and maybe not quite as much in the next.
08:47 And this year, it's been much, much more consistent,
08:49 especially, I think, if you look--
08:52 starting with that USC game, where he was fantastic.
08:55 I mean, relative to opponent, maybe his best game,
08:58 along with San Diego the other night.
09:00 And he's been bringing that every day.
09:02 And I think he's become comfortable in that role.
09:04 And I think he's realized what an important role that is.
09:07 Now you're in league play, you pretty much have a familiar
09:10 cadence--
09:10 Thursday, Saturday, except for the one week
09:12 where it's a Wednesday, Portland, Saturday, Kentucky.
09:15 But it's a regular cadence now.
09:17 So you know the practice plans, for the most part.
09:20 You know and understand where guys' injury is at, maybe,
09:25 maybe where their conditioning is at,
09:27 how you can get guys a few extra minutes.
09:30 Still, Luka Krinevich, he's not quite back
09:34 after that injured hand.
09:35 How close is he?
09:36 Are you able to share how close he is,
09:37 and then how helpful that will be?
09:40 Because I don't imagine you want 38 to 40 minutes for Nemhart
09:44 and Hickman, the whole WCC play.
09:46 Yeah, I hope he's close.
09:48 I know he has another checkup this week.
09:50 So that should give us more direction.
09:53 You know, we're just over four weeks away.
09:55 And we know it's going to be longer than four weeks.
09:57 But yeah, obviously, we still being done for the year.
10:01 Luka is the guy that can hopefully
10:03 get this thing healed up and help provide that depth.
10:07 Because there are days that we can't.
10:10 We can't play Ryan and Nolan as many minutes as they are.
10:14 You know, really, Dusty and Anton
10:16 are playing a lot of minutes, too.
10:18 So the more guys we can get on and get up to speed
10:22 to help provide that depth would be really important.
10:25 You know, because, for example, this weekend, really,
10:27 June was only kind of that next one up.
10:29 And it would be really nice to have another guard that we
10:31 could hopefully get some minutes for
10:34 and hopefully rest some of those other guys.
10:36 We haven't had to worry about front court rotations,
10:39 because you've got four unbelievably talented bigs.
10:43 Braden Huff, we've talked about it a little bit, Adam and I,
10:46 on our show.
10:48 I hate to use the word inconsistent,
10:49 but it's almost as if he's getting
10:51 more comfortable playing against the better competition.
10:55 He's dominated against the lesser competition.
10:59 He looked good this last two games.
11:02 What's the learning curve in your eyes for a young big
11:05 when they're playing at that kind of up, down, up, down,
11:09 versus the competition they're facing?
11:11 It's part of being a freshman.
11:13 You know, he obviously redshirted last year,
11:15 but it's his first year playing games.
11:17 You know, it's part of rotationally where he is.
11:19 He's not playing 30 minutes a night,
11:21 regardless of opponent.
11:22 So he has a small window that he needs
11:24 to come in and contribute.
11:26 And I think it's just him learning.
11:29 You know, how can he attack different coverages?
11:32 How can he attack guys of varying levels of size,
11:35 physicality, athleticism?
11:37 And for him, it's a different--
11:41 he's still learning.
11:43 In high school, he was so perimeter-based.
11:46 And so him finding the balance of playing on the perimeter,
11:50 playing in the post, when do I have
11:52 an advantage on the perimeter, when do I
11:54 have an advantage on the post?
11:55 That takes time for everyone.
11:57 And again, with the minutes that he's playing,
11:59 I think it's been a little bit inconsistent
12:02 with his feel on that.
12:03 But he has a gift for scoring.
12:04 Yes, he does.
12:05 And we need that.
12:06 And then he also has a gift for finding the ball.
12:08 He gets the ball, especially offensive rebounding-wise.
12:11 I think his defensive rebounding's improved.
12:13 But he's a great kid.
12:15 He's a great worker.
12:17 And he wants to do the right thing.
12:18 So I really feel that his progression's
12:20 going to continue throughout this year.
12:22 I think he's one of the guys that will be even better in two
12:25 months than he is now.
12:27 And long run, he's just so diligent and wants to--
12:30 he cares about doing the right thing.
12:32 I think he's a guy that's going to have a lot of success here.
12:35 You turn the page into the new year.
12:37 You're still ranked.
12:40 You're going to be ranked for the unforeseeable--
12:42 excuse me, for the foreseeable future.
12:44 But now you've had 11, 12, 13 games under your belt.
12:48 You can really see where the Ken Palm analytics rank you.
12:51 And you can start seeing where you need to improve,
12:53 and where your strengths lie, and where you want
12:55 to take advantage of opponents.
12:56 But the net ranking starts becoming the talked-about
12:59 analytic at this point.
13:01 And they break it down-- quad one, two, three, four wins
13:03 for the NCAA tournament resume.
13:06 At what point in the season do you guys as a staff
13:09 look at that?
13:10 Or does it really just handle business as is,
13:12 and you look more towards the Ken Palm?
13:14 Because that tells you what your team's doing on the floor.
13:17 Where the net is more of a metric
13:20 to help gauge where you maybe are seated.
13:23 At least that's how I see it.
13:24 What do you guys look at?
13:25 Yeah, I'm not concerned about the net at all,
13:28 especially at this point.
13:29 We have to take care of what we can.
13:31 And that, obviously, first of all, is winning games.
13:35 That's by far the most important,
13:36 and really all our focus needs to be on.
13:39 And then getting better, right?
13:41 We have to continue to get better every week.
13:43 We're going to have to be a lot better to win at Santa Clara
13:46 than we were this weekend.
13:48 And so that's where I do find the Ken Palm tool much more
13:54 useful.
13:54 Obviously, there's what anybody can click on the website
13:57 and see, and it gives you your ranking,
13:58 your offensive ranking, and your defensive ranking.
14:00 But with the membership, as you drill down,
14:04 you can see everything.
14:06 And that's where you touch on where
14:08 are we at defensively and offensively, but even more so.
14:10 Where are the rebounding numbers?
14:11 Where are the turnover numbers?
14:13 2 point, 3 point, all those things.
14:15 And that can help guide a little bit of game prep
14:19 and a little bit of improvement.
14:20 So I'm definitely very partial to that.
14:23 And that would be the only analytical tool, ranking
14:27 system, that I would look at.
14:29 Again, even right now, I'm a little bit less worried
14:31 about where the total ranking is on that
14:35 versus what are the defensive and offensive numbers doing
14:38 once we're able to open that up and drill down.
14:40 Yeah.
14:41 And you face Santa Clara in the next few days.
14:46 They're a unique team because they've
14:48 knocked on the door of the NCAA tournament
14:49 the last couple of years because they've had such good talent,
14:52 but they've had injuries at the wrong times.
14:54 This year, they've had a couple key guys out
14:56 for a couple of game stretches here, and they're with injuries.
14:59 But they're talented.
15:00 They're good.
15:01 They've got good size.
15:02 What are some of the focal points in prepping for them?
15:05 Yeah, I think, obviously, they deserve a ton of credit.
15:08 I mean, we lost a ton.
15:09 We lost a crazy amount from last year.
15:11 They lost every starter.
15:13 And for them to be able to go out and recruit
15:15 as many good transfers as they got,
15:17 continue to develop guys from within their staff,
15:20 I respect a ton for the way that they've rebuilt.
15:23 I mean, even going back to last year,
15:24 they lost Jalen Williams, who's starting
15:26 on one of the best teams in the NBA,
15:28 was obviously a great player.
15:29 And it's kind of like, well, how do they recover from that?
15:31 And there they were.
15:33 And they had pods, and now he's starting for the Warriors.
15:37 And again, how do you respond to that?
15:38 And they're right there.
15:39 They've done a great job.
15:41 I think the biggest difference that we'll see with them
15:45 is that size you touched on.
15:46 I mean, the transfers they brought in are big guys.
15:49 The guys they return have significant size.
15:52 So that positional size, one through five, I think,
15:55 is going to be the biggest difference
15:58 that we're going to see from this weekend, where
16:00 we saw some smaller guards, not as much interior depth
16:04 as Santa Clara has, much like us.
16:06 They can roll three, four, five bigs off the bench,
16:10 because they have some guys that can play both perimeter
16:12 and inside.
16:13 And then the other huge thing is, obviously,
16:16 it's going to be our first league game on the road.
16:18 And that is up there with the best league environments,
16:21 by far, that we go into, in terms of the crowd
16:24 and difficulty to play Santa Clara, St. Mary's.
16:27 Obviously, previous to this year, BYU
16:29 was in that conversation.
16:30 So it's going to be a challenge for us
16:33 just to be on the road for the first time, too.
16:36 Take a step back and reminisce about the last two games,
16:40 because it was alumni weekend for the basketball program.
16:44 The program, the school, the community
16:46 did an unbelievable job, from what
16:48 I saw, of honoring that first 99 team that
16:50 kicked off this unbelievable run.
16:52 They honored the 94, 95 team.
16:54 And players from all years were back in town.
16:57 What's that like for the program to have those guys there,
17:00 but also for you individually?
17:02 Because you played.
17:03 So you have a different relationship
17:05 with some of those guys as players.
17:06 And now you have a different relationship
17:08 with the program as a coach.
17:10 It was awesome.
17:11 It's part of what makes this place so special,
17:13 is that family and that culture, and to see
17:16 how far back that reaches.
17:18 I mean, you had some guys from the '60s and '70s
17:22 that are really important, that helped build this thing,
17:26 and are so loyal to this day.
17:28 It's really cool to see their investment in the program
17:31 and how much they care 50 years later.
17:34 So to have them around, and then you
17:37 get some of the stocks and J. Sierra from the '80s.
17:39 And obviously, those guys helped continue to build it.
17:43 And obviously, John's the gold standard
17:45 for what this program is.
17:46 And then you got into the '90s.
17:48 And I thought that was one of the cool things.
17:50 And the event Friday night was obviously--
17:52 the 99 team was the primary focus.
17:54 But the buildup of that, and starting
17:57 with McPhee in the early '90s.
17:59 And then you got into that 93, 94 group.
18:02 And to see how much that group meant to the 99 group,
18:07 and how much those guys set the foundation for them.
18:10 And then you get into the '95, '97 teams
18:12 that really built the 99 group.
18:16 To see the respect that that 99 group had for those was so cool.
18:21 And then the 99 team is very deserving of the recognition
18:24 they got.
18:25 Obviously, they were the one that really
18:27 got this to where it is today.
18:29 Influenced someone like me wanting to be part of this,
18:32 I'm sure.
18:32 Did the same for you, because you were right
18:35 in the midst of it.
18:36 I was still in high school.
18:37 And that was cool, because that's the first group.
18:40 Zach Gord was on that team.
18:41 We went on to be teammates.
18:43 Casey Calvary, Mark Spank were on those teams.
18:46 Those were the three guys that I ended up being here
18:48 with that were veterans when I got here.
18:50 And that was really cool to see those guys honored,
18:53 to see that whole group together.
18:54 Again, a lot of those guys are still in Spokane that we see.
18:57 To see them get that public recognition.
18:59 And then just good to catch up.
19:00 I hadn't seen Mark Spank much.
19:02 I don't think I've seen him since he left campus.
19:05 And that was the first guy I saw after the game Thursday.
19:07 And it was kind of cool.
19:08 And him and I got to sit down.
19:10 He was such a great mentor to me my first year here
19:13 when he was a senior and I was red shirting.
19:15 So it was really cool personally for that.
19:17 And then to see that continue.
19:19 There was guys from my time in the early 2000s,
19:22 but all the way to we had Eric McClellan, and Mike Hart,
19:26 and Angel Nunez.
19:27 Guys that are 16, 17 grads.
19:32 So it was really, really cool to see everyone back
19:35 from that '99 team.
19:36 But then to get guys all the way from the '60s to Eric and Angel
19:40 are 17, 18 years behind that '99 group.
19:44 So to see the whole gamut was really cool.
19:46 And to see the interaction amongst different generations,
19:49 it was really special.
19:50 Awesome.
19:50 Well, good stuff.
19:51 Thanks again for joining, Brian.
19:52 Thanks, Tim.
19:53 For Gonzaga Nation, another appearance
19:56 from assistant Brian Michelson.
19:58 Thanks for joining.
20:00 See you again real soon.
20:02 (upbeat music)