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MBB | Bennett Announces Signing of Five Gaels For Next Season
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Originally posted by Zagdawg View Post
The entire WCC is starting to look up. Santa Clara has added some transfers, Markusson is coming back with LMU, Pepperdine should be strong if Colby Ross returns, St Marys, with their strong recruiting class, will not be as bad as some think (Jabe Mullins, player of the year in Washington, will be a key addition), San Diego should be improved, San Francisco will be solid, the only team that will still be at the bottom of the barrel will be Portland.
It looks like BYU could be a significant force next year with the addition of Haarms. They will be absolutely loaded in the front court with five players at 6-9 or taller (more than the Zags) and at least two of them that can connect from outside.
They probably can use another ball handler in addition to Barcello but Jesse Wade should be fully healthy this year. Connor Harding was dealing with some injuries last year so we haven't seen his best and Gavin Baxter was just barely getting back
into shape after a severe injury (Baxter's potential is really high, good movement, great wing span, able to score from all 3 levels). I think one key piece was just added this month, Gideon George. At 6-6 with a 7-1 wing span, great muscle development, aggressive offensive rebounder, shot blocker, tireless work ethic and high level character, they have a player that will be a key glue guy and outperform expectations. Mark Pope says that George can guard 1-5 (take a few looks at his physique) and play 3-4 on offense. He really has an incredible story that demonstrates how unselfish he is. To give you an idea of his work ethic, he went from shooting less than 10% on 3 pt shots his freshman year in JC to 35% his second year.Comment
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Big Round of Applause for SMC & BYU
Thanks for posting SMC and BYU recruiting info, Zagdawg. This fan's really excited for those two schools. Haarms is a huge surprise. Gotta feeling Coach Pope is going to turn BYU into what their fans expected when the Cougars joined the WCC -- an annually potent opponent. They were good under Rose, but never thought they quite played up to their talent. If Pope's early success with BYU is indicative of upcoming success, look out. The WCC could have two yearly Top-25 teams.Originally posted by Zagdawg View Post
As for SMC, looks like Coach Bennett's recruits show solid potential/talent. I like their size (particularly at guard). Too bad Van Komen isn't immediately available. Now if Stoudamire can further boost Pacific (last year was his first with a full roster), and if USF's talent/wins continues to grow -- all's well for the conference.
:]Yeah, we're "The Champs," uh-huh!Comment
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I like what the Gaels added, they're not five stars, but they look like smart players, some that can really shoot, and should fit into their system perfectly.Originally posted by Zagdawg View Post
I'm excited to see what BYU can do this year. Pope walked into a good situation with BYU having some very good seniors last year. I've been impressed with how they've replaced all the losses. They won't have a superstar but they should be very solid 1-13.Comment
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Did GU ever make a run at recruiting him? I presume that he was not considered as a target because Dom committed so early. Is that a fair characterization of what happened?Originally posted by CPkZagFan View Post
Regardless, I imagine he’ll have the Zag game circled on his calendar in heavier ink than most.Comment
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Originally posted by Gonzagit View Post
Oh yes, those 6’6 point guards who shoot 40% from 3 and 95% (44-46) from the FT line are a dime a dozen in HS basketball.
As far as coaching goes, I would just say consider the origin stories of Few and Bennett and their surrounding circumstances.
If you gave RB the reigns of a stable NIT caliber Fitzgerald cultivated program, returning the core of a Monson inspired elite 8 team, in a sports starved town ready to jump on the band wagon, could he coach well enough to keep the momentum going and create a mid major transcending monster? No doubt, albeit he might not have taken it to the current elite level. But making the big dance every year in the WCC and scoring some upsets in the tournament? Virtually certain.
On the flip side, if you gave Few the reigns to the undisputed worst team in college basketball (0-25 the previous season v D1 competition), with no tradition, in a sports saturated environment where consistent Top 25 rankings and NCCA appearances will not even even garner passing non alumni interest or support, could he create the program SMC currently has? Maybe, but I’m not so sure.
No disrespect to Few, but there’s a big difference in the early days from maintaining momentum and poaching Pacific Northwest talent by virtue of being the hot local team and creating a program from absolute scratch by creating an Aussie pipeline, finding unheralded local recruits like Diamond Simpson & Paul Marigney, etc. I’m not sure you can just look at NCAA wins and determine who is a better coach between the lines. It’s like comparing a self-made entrepreneur who came from nothing to the trust fund kid who has made smart investments and ended up richer than his already wealthy father.
Oh and Goshzagit, be sure to ask your elders who Monson and Fitzgerald are...throw in Dan Dickau and Blake Stepp too. I saw all of them in McKeon back in the day. Hard not to root for that era’s Gonzaga teams.Comment
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Roundup - gonzagit went too far and I’d guess most on the board would agree with that including me. But No need to make your point by putting down what every expert agrees will be a hall of fame coach when all is said and done. You say “no disrespect to few”, but that’s how it comes across. Trust fund kid? If you are talking origin stories you can’t downplay the hard work Few has put in to make GU one of the top programs in the nation. You can’t not mention that he was an assistant coach at GU for 10 years and a significant part of the early era of the current run. To insinuate he’s done nothing and just rested on the laurels of the head coaches who preceded him comes across as ignorant. SMC has a nice basketball program and I think it’s great that they were able to win the conference 3 times in the last 20 or so years (twice shared) but there is no way anyone can say that RB would virtually certainly have been able to do what Few’s done. You’re right that tourney wins don’t necessarily show who is the better coach but they don’t count for nothing. While what RB has done is respectable, it will take a little more success on a non-wCC, nationwide and, yes, big dance level for him to get more of the respect level you seem to think is owed.Comment
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The reading comprehension is just not there. I didn’t say RB could do what Few has done, as far as an NC contender, signing burger boys / one and dones, etc. I basically conceded that. I said he could have won the auto bid most years and occasionally upset teams in the dance enough to make him the god of Spokane and the king of the WCC.
Truly mean no disrespect to Few. But Few literally had the most ideal conceivable situation taking over a mid major program and RB literally had the worst. That’s not hyperbole. That is fact. In that sense, Few had the trust fund. He made great investments, and is now more successful than his dad ever was (or ever could have imagined), but he still had that money to work with. Im not saying Few rested on the laurels of the previous coaches or failed to build the program. Not at all. But compared to RB, he was born on third base.
How many of the other dozens of head coaches in the WCC have had a WCC title in the last 20 years?Did you catch the metric from 3 man weave saying SMC got the most out of their program with the smallest budget of any D1 team? The average Gonzaga fan understands very little about mid major basketball.Comment
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I might disagree with that last statement. A lot of us remember days when Gonzaga University was the second smallest Division I college in the country and when we had the smallest athletics department budget.Originally posted by roundup View Post
Coach Bennett has done a remarkable job at SMC. I think he is one of the ten best coaches in the country. Nobody should be able to recruit as well as he does with the limited resources that his college provides. He finds smart players with good work habits and develops them into better players. His players are well-coached and play excellent team basketball. They are very skilled in the basic fundamentals of the game. I like watching the Gaels play. I appreciate what a remarkable program you have.
I am glad that the WCC has been able to retain both of these amazing coaches for so long.“No team in the country has a better winning percentage against power conference teams since 2017 than Gonzaga... the Zags are playing above average teams in the best leagues in the country and winning 78% of the time.”
-Ken Pomeroy-
https://www.ksl.com/article/50342950...in-perspectiveComment
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LOL. I'm sure he's a really nice kid, but I don't care what his stats were in whatever Estonian B league he played in. I watched the film, and he doesn't look very good. In fact, he looks exactly like Krebs, Ducas, Zoriks, and Kuhse....The 4 guards that had a combined 38 points against us in 3 games this year. That is fact. Although I'm sure they are great kids.Originally posted by roundup View Post
I also do love that you had to create a completely alternate world to tell us how good of a coach Randy Bennett is. He has 4 tournament wins in 19 years. 2 in the same year. Again, not hyperbole, that is fact.
I apologize if I'm not one of the Gonzaga contingent who feels the need to praise SMC at every turn just because we've dropped 4 of our last 18 (2 in the same year) against you. You've made the NCAA tournament 7 times in the last 20 years. Congrats! If you didn't have that ENORMOUS disadvantage of being located in one of the wealthiest/coolest/most beautiful parts of the country, maybe you could have made it 8....Comment
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Gonzaga has indeed drug the WCC slowly and painfully up into a conference where nothing is a given... lot's of incoming talent with one goal in common... BEAT GONZAGA ... not bad for a little Jesuit school tucked way in Eastern WA... Fewie was here long before success arrived... when the only edict was not to finish last in conference... he has been a key cog since the beginning of this ride we've all been enjoying for decades now... he was given nothing but an opportunity to continue what he helped launch... a journey that continues to this day with the best still yet to come... Gotta Love it...
Go!! Zags!!!"Learn from the past, Plan for the future, Live in the Now!"Comment
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Lost me right here...... "The average Gonzaga fan understands very little about mid major basketball." ---do not take anything you said before with any seriousness......Comment
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Sounds like we're both happy with our own coach and where our respective programs are at. Good luck this upcoming season. The better SMC is, the better it is for the zags.Originally posted by roundup View PostComment
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The best thing Bennett could do for SMC, at this point, is leave the program and go to a Pac 12 program that will take him. He's taken the program as far as it can go under the current agenda of the SMC Athletic Department. The program needs to be forced to make decisions: do we let the program slowly fall apart now that Bennett has left or do we hire wisely, invest, recruit and build?Comment
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