Something that was hinted, but now confirmed

[SageOfZagville]

SPOKANE, Wash. – Gonzaga University head men’s basketball coach Mark Few said Wednesday the Bulldogs have entered into home-and-home series with Pacific-12 Conference foes UCLA and the University of Arizona beginning this coming season.

The Zags will play the Bruins Dec. 13 in famed Pauley Pavilion on the UCLA campus and host the Bruins the following year in a game tentatively scheduled for Dec. 12, 2015. The Gonzaga-Arizona series will start in Tucson this coming Dec. 6, with no date set yet for the return game.

“Obviously, we are excited about the opportunity to play both UCLA and Arizona home-and-home,” Few said. “It’s great for our fans, our program and for all college basketball fans, especially the ones out West that get to see the three of us playing home-and-home.”

Few also said West Coast Conference expansion has meant more conference games and fewer home-and-home non-conference opportunities.

“With our limited home-and-home situations we have with our league expanding this is a real neat opportunity,” Few noted.

The WCC has added two teams over the past three seasons which means the WCC is now an 18-game regular-season schedule rather than a 14-game slate.

Gonzaga and Arizona met this past March in a NCAA Tournament Third Round game at San Diego State University, the top-seeded Wildcats taking an 84-61 verdict.

Prior to this year’s NCAA matchup the Bulldogs and Wildcats had played four other times. Arizona claimed a home victory over the Zags Nov. 29, 2000; a March 23, 2003, NCAA Tournament meeting in Salt Lake City, and a Dec. 14, 2008, verdict in The Duel in the Desert showcase event in Phoenix. Gonzaga’s lone win in the series came in the Dec. 17, 2011, Battle in Seattle at KeyArena.

The 2003 meeting was a memorable 96-95 double-overtime victory for the Wildcats in a NCAA Tournament game that still ranks as one of the all-time best and was dubbed an “instant classic” by ESPN.

Gonzaga and UCLA will be meeting for the third time. The Zags took a 59-43 victory in Pauley Pavilion Dec. 11, 1999, in a game that set a then-Pauley Pavilion record for fewest points allowed by an opponent. The second meeting came March 23, 2006, in the NCAA Sweet Sixteen in Oakland, Calif., the Bruins coming from behind for the 73-71 win.

[hooter73]

Heard it teased on the news last night but fell asleep before the story. I love the idea and honestly still shake my head at the conference expansion as it doesnt help anybody, including the fans that get tired of seeing the same teams play each other three times a season.

[sittingon50]

Couple of killer road games. 2 W's would be pretty sweet.

[Nevada Don]

Outstanding. The elite meet.
Wish the Gaels could do the same with Cal and Stanford. I guess our "facility" will always be a concern, remodeled or not. Or, maybe the new Cal coach will see things differently.
Regardless, I think this is a great move by the Zags.

[gonzagafan62]

Outstanding. The elite meet.
Wish the Gaels could do the same with Cal and Stanford. I guess our "facility" will always be a concern, remodeled or not. Or, maybe the new Cal coach will see things differently.
Regardless, I think this is a great move by the Zags.

That's the one reason why I don't like the Gaels. They never schedule good OOC. I have much respect for their players outside of Samhan, and I loved watching Delly play. I really wish their OOC will bolster. Who knows maybe a few more years and I can actually go back to a level head on this one.

Oh, and one more thing, NevadaDon.... this is a serious question: How are you guys going to determine who is on your team next year with the solid recruits you guys have coming in? Aren't you over the limit? Just curious.

Shaken, not shteered.

[exclusivelee]

Speculation on GIAG is that the 2 graduate transfers (Aaron Bright and Desmond Simmons) may be awarded academic scholarships.

Don't know how it will work out or if that is allowed. Dunno

Gaels currently sit at 13 scholarship players for the 2014-15 season, but the sanctions only allow the Gaels to have 11 basketball scholarships for the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons

[ZagNut08]

Speculation on GIAG is that the 2 graduate transfers (Aaron Bright and Desmond Simmons) may be awarded academic scholarships.

Don't know how it will work out or if that is allowed. Dunno

Gaels currently sit at 13 scholarship players for the 2014-15 season, but the sanctions only allow the Gaels to have 11 basketball scholarships for the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons

That would be a shady way to try to get around an NCAA sanction, and I would assume the NCAA would heavily scrutinize such a move.

[exclusivelee]

My thought would be that former walk-on Jordan Giusti would come off scholarship

His stats seem to be quite poor for playing 18.4 min per game: http://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/...-giusti-1.html

[Nevada Don]

That's the one reason why I don't like the Gaels. They never schedule good OOC. I have much respect for their players outside of Samhan, and I loved watching Delly play. I really wish their OOC will bolster. Who knows maybe a few more years and I can actually go back to a level head on this one.

Oh, and one more thing, NevadaDon.... this is a serious question: How are you guys going to determine who is on your team next year with the solid recruits you guys have coming in? Aren't you over the limit? Just curious.

Shaken, not shteered.

Many do not want to schedule the Gaels home and away. It's been this way for years. The biggest pansies of note would be Cal and Stanford. I guess they feel they have nothing to gain in playing us. We've had the overall best record in the Bay Area for quite awhile IMO. Bennett could probably schedule a better "away" games but he obviously wants the return home game. The schedule is looking better for next year I believe. We will suffer though as due to the sanctions we cannot participate in the early tournements for two years. Normally we would catch a good opponent.

As far as past years scheduling, it's really not as bad as portrayed. I'll go out on a limb here and say that I think the SMC SOS in the early part of last season was higher rated than GU. I may be wrong about this. Certainly, many of our OOC opponents went on to have good records and vied for the Dance. But regardless, it's obviously difficult for the Gaels to schedule the better teams for a variety of reasons some of which are out of our control.

We believe we currently have 11 scholarship players and we "signed" two more for 2014/2015. Our sanction limit is 11 so we have a problem. From what we hear, we aren't losing any current players or red-shirts or transfers. The speculation is that perhaps one current scholarship will be resended if that's doable. We don't know where the other one will come from but we assume that Bennett does . Obviously this is all speculation as none of us knows crap.

I will mention though that the new transfers, red-shirts and a couple of LOI's are getting the faithful a little excited and hopeful.

[gonzagafan62]

Many do not want to schedule the Gaels home and away. It's been this way for years. The biggest pansies of note would be Cal and Stanford. I guess they feel they have nothing to gain in playing us. We've had the overall best record in the Bay Area for quite awhile IMO. Bennett could probably schedule a better "away" games but he obviously wants the return home game. The schedule is looking better for next year I believe. We will suffer though as due to the sanctions we cannot participate in the early tournements for two years. Normally we would catch a good opponent.

As far as past years scheduling, it's really not as bad as portrayed. I'll go out on a limb here and say that I think the SMC SOS in the early part of last season was higher rated than GU. I may be wrong about this. Certainly, many of our OOC opponents went on to have good records and vied for the Dance. But regardless, it's obviously difficult for the Gaels to schedule the better teams for a variety of reasons some of which are out of our control.

We believe we currently have 11 scholarship players and we "signed" two more for 2014/2015. Our sanction limit is 11 so we have a problem. From what we hear, we aren't losing any current players or red-shirts or transfers. The speculation is that perhaps one current scholarship will be resended if that's doable. We don't know where the other one will come from but we assume that Bennett does . Obviously this is all speculation as none of us knows crap.

I will mention though that the new transfers, red-shirts and a couple of LOI's are getting the faithful a little excited and hopeful.

Getting me pretty happy too, I like when the SMCs, USF, and BYUs have good seasons, and I know the WCC is continuously getting stronger. I really hope you guys figure it out and have a great season outside of GU.

[Nevada Don]

That would be a shady way to try to get around an NCAA sanction, and I would assume the NCAA would heavily scrutinize such a move.

There was speculation about academic scholarships being awarded, but just speculation. No one knows if it's possible but the prevailing thought was that it wasn't. I really don't think SMC, being on probation (albeit not secret, double probation) would run the risk if not having received a blessing from the NCAA.

Personally, I never thought that SMC would "pull a scholarship" for arbitrary reasons. Apparently it is done often at many institutions?

[seacatfan]

GU went thru (and still does to some degree) the scheduling difficulties. They played a lot of good teams on the road without return games in years gone by. They finally turned a corner and started getting some good teams to come to Spokane, but it's still an uphill battle. Maybe SMC thinks they've "earned" home and homes with top teams but it doesn't seem to me like they've paid their dues the way GU has.

I can understand Gaels' fans frustration if Stanford and Cal refuse to play them. That scenario gets played out all too often, team from a bigger conference plays the "nothing to gain" card probably because they're scared of losing the matchup.

[Nevada Don]

[QUOTE=seacatfan;1016468]GU went thru (and still does to some degree) the scheduling difficulties. They played a lot of good teams on the road without return games in years gone by. They finally turned a corner and started getting some good teams to come to Spokane, but it's still an uphill battle. Maybe SMC thinks they've "earned" home and homes with top teams but it doesn't seem to me like they've paid their dues the way GU has.

Agreed.

[roxdoc]

In the early days of "the Run" home and home with anybody significant was non-existant. Still, Monson started and Few continued scheduling some pretty fair teams on just an away basis. Too lazy to look them up, but I distinctly remember loosing on the road, in a respectful fashion, to Perdue who was ranked. One of the Perdue players was quoted as saying after the game, "we'll see you in the dance". Guess what, he was right!