In recognition of past players.

[YukonJack]

I get emotional looking at past players over the last twenty years. I thought for this thread for each of us to choose a player from this magical era and say something about that player. One player per poster if that is okay. I'll start it off randomly, and keep in mind this player does not have to be a starter. Hopefully we can get eveyone mentioned. My pick is Derek Raivio. Derek always amazed me with his toughness and he was a great FT shooter. The best ever at GU. I wish he could have had better in the UCLA loss. I rarely saw him smile that year but he had a great sr season. He reminds me of the Professor in those trick You Tube videos. He has been very succesful and has had a great pro career. Thank you Derek for being such a blessing and continuing the tradition of having great Zag guards throughout.

Btw ..I could say so much more but its so hard on this phone.

[sittingon50]

Raivio is my 1B, Yukon.

1A is Casey Calvary. Until Shem came along, Casey (& Mark Spink) won more NCAA Tourney games than any Zag.

Casey was just so hyper-competitive that he willed his team to a lot of victories. The most telling thing I've ever heard in that regard came from former Asst. Coach Bill Grier. To paraphrase he said "Casey was a scary dude. Even the coaching staff was afraid of him." Love it.

[basketballzag]

Sean Mallon bc without him m the Zags wouldn't have program progressed

[NEC26]

J.P. Batista is one of my all time favorite players but I love them all really. Each have their own place and memories.

[MJ777]

Since Raivio has been taken I will mention one of the other Vancouver area Zags. Zach Gourde; he wasn't the most talented big on the team, but like Mallon did in his time, he did his part to help move the GU program forward. He played on the same Prairie HS team as DD.

[229SintoZag]

J.P. Batista is one of my all time favorite players but I love them all really. Each have their own place and memories.

Frank Burgess. He put Gonzaga on the map before Stockton.

Just really too bad he left us too soon, nobody would have enjoyed today's Zag victory more...

[CdAZagFan]

I'd have to say Mike Hart... He epitomizes what this "team" has been over the last two decades. Find your role, and excel in that role - put your personal stats aside and just do whatever it takes to get the job done.

[caduceus]

So many to name, but Errol frickin' Knight comes first to mind. Great hops and Zag spirit.

One thing to note about the Zags of the late '80s and '90s. Those guys are pretty much unheralded, but the Fitz years were great for GU basketball. The teams in the '90s, including the great '99 team, had I think eight seasons of 20+ wins.

The most peculiar memory I have is the first few years of real success, when CBS and ESPN didn't even have a logo image for the Zags for their on-screen graphics. Just "Gonzaga Bulldogs" in text fashion. That actually went on for a couple of years, if I recall.

[Spike94]

I know its not a player and you can delete this post if you want, but I want to put Father Tony in this thread. His contributions to GU Basketball may not have been seen on the court, but he was a grounding influence to our young men. To remind them what it was to be a Zag. To work hard for a goal, and keep working when the odds were against them. I look at that chair every time I have ever been to the MAC and I think that is just as much about the success of GU basketball as any player.

[ProVeeZag]

Corey Violette...the big man from Boise area. Was lucky enough to have my picture taken with Corey in the old Kennel. Corey was so tough ... he played through sprained ankles on several occasions. There was no quit in Corey.

[ZionZag]

Matty.......Just think, as a 18 yo freshman going into Madison Square Garden and slapping around the NC Tarheels....Geez, what a night and then having most of the offense go through him for several years. I remember the first few games the year after he left and the noticeable adjustment we had to make!!!!

[ProVeeZag]

Matty.......Just think, as a 18 yo freshman going into Madison Square Garden and slapping around the NC Tarheels....Geez, what a night and then having most of the offense go through him for several years. I remember the first few games the year after he left and the noticeable adjustment we had to make!!!!

Matt Bouldin is at the top of my list of all-time favorite Zags (along with the already mentioned Errol Knight). Matty had a great all-around game - passing, shooting, rebounding, and toughness.

[fedwayzag]

What about Jeff Brown. Was he not one of the first UW transfers? We have had quite a few and Nigel is up there with the best of them. Without the transfers this year we do not make the final four. Congrats

[gonzagafan62]

My favorite Steven Gray

[demian]

Calvary would have been my guy to comment on but somebody already did a great job of listing him here earlier. So I will go with Morrison. I think Morrison made Gonzaga really really cool. He took Gonzaga to a whole nother level. Morrison was a transcendent player. even non basketball fans knew who Morrison was. I loved that guy. always rose to the moment and had good performances when the lights were brightest. I will never forget hearing Kobe Bryant speak of Adam Morrison once when Kobe Bryant was on a late night tv show (it was david letterman show or Jimmy Kimmel show or Jimmy Fallon show something like that). The host was saying to Kobe basically what a joke it is to have Adam Morrison on there NBA title team roster. Kobe said, man you just don't know, Adam is a great player, he can score, he tears it up in practice, he just doesn't get to play much on this team etc etc. High praise from Kobe. Mount Rushmore of GU hoops for me is Stockton, Calvary, Morrison, and then you can pick #4