Winning formula

For a lot of years the Gonzaga men’s basketball team was criticized for playing in a weak league. So the Zags scheduled a tough nonconference slate against quality teams in early tournaments or at neutral sites near to where the big name team played. After defeating a lot of these big name teams some of them decided it would make for must see basketball by playing a home and home series.

These games have been good for college basketball and allowed for other teams around the country to do the same. The matchups have been fun to see and now that conference play is in full swing the teams that scheduled tough nonconference games have had good success and benefitted from those games. Most athletic recruits attend a school to play against the best in high profile games. Of course, the players that don’t do so well against tough competition usually become spectators on the team’s bench.

The West Coast Conference coaches at one time recruited a good team to impress other programs to hire them after having that one or two year run that turned around a lower tier program into a tournament team. The coach leaves for greener pastures without really making the program better. Gonzaga men’s coach Mark Few made a decision to do everything he could to bring a consistent winner to Spokane and he has succeeded. Amazingly enough there are coaches that have done their best to do the same at the school that hired them. You can build a winner quickly with good recruits but to build a program you need to develop youthful talent and bring them along to win in three or four years not just one or two. That’s not easy especially with an alumni that wants to start winning yesterday.

So all of the people that keep saying that the Zags play in a weak conference should take note that the conference has improved and the Bulldogs are in a fight to the finish most every night. Now I know that there are a bunch of you that want to see the Zags blow out every opponent by 20 or 30. But there is nothing like a close game decided by the last 2 or 3 possessions. That is when the teams need to limit turnovers and work hard for rebounds and take the best shot possible. But these players are 18-22 usually playing against very motivated athletes that want notoriety as well and the intensity and pressure can lead to mistakes.

Since COVID eliminated the 2020 NCAA basketball tournament and the 2021 season was played in front of cardboard cutouts and piped in noise we have seen a bunch of changes to hopefully benefit the college athlete. Players that were playing when this pandemic hit are allowed another season of play if they wish and this has helped many kids grow and develop. Another one is the transfer portal which allows a player to transfer to another school without having to sit out a season. Transfer and play. One more is the NIL, Name, Image and Likeness that allow players to make money selling their name via commercials and other things which can keep them in school for another year of two.

On Saturday Gonzaga played the University of the Pacific Tigers in Stockton, California. The announcers talked about the Tiger team and where at least 10 had been a year or two ago. So the Pacific coach did most of his recruiting via transfer portal to build his team. When you take over a program that has taken its lumps over the years and you need to rebuild there is no better way than to pick up players with college experience. This group of Tigers played the Zags tough for 40 minutes and it wasn’t until there were a couple of minutes left before Bulldog fans felt comfortable enough to believe that victory was secured.

It isn’t just the WCC but the basketball landscape has changed all over the country due to the COVID rule changes. Teams are getting older with the extra playing year; newer with the transfer portal and players aren’t as eager to leave school if they can make some money which allows them to develop their game.

We can argue until we are blue in the face but I think we are stuck with these new rules. They will certainly help some teams and can hurt others but hopefully the winner is the conferences getting stronger. We’ll have to wait how that turns out.