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Zags Insiders Podcast: Predicting Gonzaga's rotation, record and March Madness fate
Nov. 4—The basketball season is just getting started but we're already setting records on the Zags Insiders Podcast with former Gonzaga center and current TV analyst Richard Fox and yours truly.
Off the top of my head, Monday's pod was our longest (1 hour, 1 minute , 7 seconds). No extra charge.
The show covered many of the Zags' hot-button topics: Tyon Grant-Foster's eligibility saga, Saturday's showdown with Oklahoma, starting lineups and rotations. We also made our annual predictions on GU's leading scorer, final record and length of stay in March Madness.
You can listen or watch the entire pod on YouTube under The Spokesman-Review's channel and at The Spokesman-Review website. New shows are posted every Monday throughout the season.
Here are some highlights from Monday's pod (edited for space considerations):
How deep will the rotation go?
Fox: It's just the first time I can remember going into a year I have no real feel for, outside the top two or three, what the rest of the rotation is going to look like. I think we're on to something that it's going to vary quite a bit for a period of time, but you're going to get to a point where you want to start establishing roles, establishing rotations.
The other thing is, the team's identity is going to have an impact on what that rotation looks like. And that's a question I have for the group: What is the identity of this team? That's not a criticism. When you have this much turnover, six guys are gone, five transfers, and you've got two freshmen and I look at (Ismaila) Diagne, who played sparingly last year so really let's count him as a new guy. So you have eight new players. I don't know what their identity is. I don't know if they're going to be a high-level defensive team, a dominant rebounding team, are they going to be a team that shoots a bunch of 3s, are they going to play fast?
An example: If they are a top 10 defensive team in the country that would indicate (Jalen) Warley plays a lot, him and Emmanuel (Innocenti), because those guys are high-end defensive players. If they're solid defensively but one of the best scoring teams in the country, which is what they've always been, then we might be seeing a whole lot more of Mario (Saint-Supery).
Meehan: That rotation doesn't go beyond 7.5 or 8 very often. Warley is going to find a way. He's going to be the first '4' into the game, they're going to rotate him in and get rest for (Graham) Ike or (Braden) Huff. They can use Warley to spell the '4' spot and he's going to get minutes at '3.' He can get minutes at the '2.' The 2 and 3 is pretty much interchangeable to me. You could play Steele (Venters) at the 2, Tyon at the 2. It's what they bring that's the difference.
You can throw the ball to (Grant-Foster), he can go score it. They don't have a ton of guys like that this year, other than the two bigs. If you need a 3 (pointer) and that inside game is really working and Ike and Huff are drawing attention, that kick-out to Steele should be lethal. That kick-out to (Adam) Miller should be lethal. They're going to get open looks.
They almost always play their way into more minutes or play their way out of more minutes. It will become clear. It may not be clear in November and December, but by January and February you will look and go, 'That's why they're playing eight because that's what we saw for a month and saw them in different situations against great teams.' But I do think there's a chance that rotation could go to nine.
Do the Zags win the WCC in their final year?
Fox: I think the bottom half of this league is really bad. San Francisco has legitimate perimeter play. They have real length and athleticism on the perimeter that I think can match Gonzaga better than anybody else in the league. That's not to say they're going to beat (Gonzaga). GU is going to win the league.
Meehan: I have them winning it. I have San Francisco second, which I thought was going to be a hot take but apparently you're of the same mind. I've got Saint Mary's and Santa Clara behind them.
Record, March Madness outcome
Meehan: I have them losing one conference game, three nonconference games, winning the WCC Tournament and going to the Elite Eight. They have a mix that's going to be hard to deal with because they can play different ways. They can play more defensive-minded, more offensive-minded. They can mix it up so they're not vulnerable in either spot. Five losses total.
Fox: I'm going to say they lose four in the nonconference, one in league, one in the NCAAs. I think if they lose four nonconference games and the weakness of the WCC, I have a tough time seeing them being a top four seed. So that means they're going to be somewhere between five and eight. I'm going to say they make it to the Sweet 16 and lose there.
Everybody just heard me think about it for the first time out loud, so let's be kind.
