It’ll be alright

So I’m writing this column exactly two weeks after the heartbreaking National Championship game when Gonzaga was defeated by North Carolina in the last 90 seconds. The pride for how well this team played all season is remarkable.

The rallies this team was given and the outpouring of support for all things Zags will last a lifetime. The memories are truly unbelievable and for anyone that has ties to Gonzaga these past few weeks have been surreal.

But all good things have to come to an end don’t they?

Well, this team’s run is over and next year there will be new people ready to take that next step at another WCC championship and another berth in the NCAA tournament.

If we know anything about Gonzaga we should know it doesn’t rebuild it reloads.

For the last five years we’ve watched Przemek Karnowski become the NCAA player that has more wins than any one player before him in NCAA men’s basketball.

For all of the great players that sign a letter of intent that record will be hard to beat as most successful players will opt for a professional career before they get within 25 victories of the win total.

If you don’t appreciate what Karnowski has meant to Gonzaga basketball and what he went through to go where no other Zags team has gone to before then you don’t appreciate much.

Next year the Bulldogs basketball team will be a little different. They are losing seniors Karnowski, grad transfer Jordan Mathews and Rem Bakamus who was a positive man on the bench.

They will also lose Bryan Alberts who will transfer out of Gonzaga to find more playing time somewhere else.

Nigel Williams-Goss has not announced his decision for next year as of this writing, and hopefully he’ll stay, as another great year may make his stock as an NBA guard rise.

The biggest loss thus far was the announcement by Zach Collins that he will be turning pro. He has hired an agent, which means he has reached the point of no return to college basketball.

If you are like me then you’ve said that he needs to come back for one more year because “he needs to get stronger; he needs to learn how to improve his defense; he needs to be more consistent with his rebounding,” or “he needs to improve his shot!”

If you are like me then what you are really saying is, “I need him to play at least one more year in a Zags uniform! I like to watch him play because he is really good.”

If you put yourself in his shoes then you would do the same thing.

If you were a freshman in college and you were about to finish up your first year in good standing and someone offered you a high paying job with great benefits and the only thing you needed to do was to quit going to school when the semester was over and go to work in June and don’t worry about anything we will train you.

And yes this is a great company with unbelievable assets.

I don’t think you would say, “No I’m not ready for the work force just yet, I need some more education.” I think you would say, “Do I need to finish out the semester?”

Don’t blame Zach Collins or his family for this decision. Blame ESPN or the NBA for all of the accolades and talk about how high in the draft the NBA is willing to go to put this kid on their team.

Remember, Collins’ family has invested a lot of money into this kid so that he can have this great upside that NBA scouts are excited about.

Will Collins have a great NBA career? A lot of it depends on which team he goes to and the needs of a versatile 7-footer who can shoot the three and be a force inside.

If he goes to a bad team he will need to produce right away and his weaknesses may be a problem. If he goes to a pretty good team then he can learn and improve and get stronger.

I think he can be pretty good and this is a good time for him to go not knowing what scouts will think about his game in a year from now. Most believe he will benefit from pro coaching.

The cupboard is not bare at GU and the coaches have some great talent returning to the campus and having the taste of the big stage has to be a place these kids need to work toward.

So if you are feeling kind of down remember it’ll be alright.

Coach Few and the rest of the coaching staff will work their magic again.