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Help me understand Gonzaga's success.
Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2021 11:29 am
by karlhungis
I don't watch enough basketball to really understand and I guess I approach it from a football perspective. Basically what I see is that they are a small school, so they should have fewer resources, which should lead to recruiting difficulties and less talent on the team. Aren't they almost always at a perpetual talent disadvantage in the tournament, or are they generally pretty talented?
Re: Help me understand Gonzaga's success.
Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2021 11:35 am
by greenyellow
Gonzaga is no longer the underdog team with hidden gems for players; they're getting legit 4* and 5* signees along with some really talented transfers. Gonzaga makes a boatload off their basketball program and they've got a rather small athletic department so it's not like they're having to support a football program.
Re: Help me understand Gonzaga's success.
Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2021 11:37 am
by StevensTechU
In the early years of Mark Few's tenure, they were able to get under-the-radar point guards who were fantastic shooters and/or passers, and paired them with big men who were in their 3rd/4th/5th years and had developed quite a solid skillset by that point. That led to a lot of wins versus other small schools, but the lack of athleticism always got them in the tournament.
Next, they took a page out of St. Mary's (CA) playbook by being early to the international recruiting party. They got guys out of Canada and Europe, especially. They continued to rack up wins, getting deeper into the NCAA Tournament, and this translated to then beginning to recruit higher profile recruits. In recent years, they're now able to recruit players who are top 10 or so in their classes, especially among big men as they've developed quite the history of putting 6'10+ players into the NBA (Zach Collins, Kelly Olynyk, Domantas Sabonis, Killian Tiller's currently, with many others historically). With wings like Brandon Clarke and Rui Hachimora going high in the draft, they're able to recruit with the big boys and sell success. Jalen Suggs*, the Zags' all-everything freshman PG, was ranked #11 in last year's recruiting class.
So in summary, great coaching led to success, opportunistic recruiting led to improving the roster talent, and all that combined has led to being one of the premier programs in the country. Remember, Duke wasn't Duke before Coach K. One coach who opts to stick around can become a brand by himself, and Few has done just that.
Re: Help me understand Gonzaga's success.
Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2021 11:39 am
by karlhungis
StevensTechU wrote:In the early years of Mark Few's tenure, they were able to get under-the-radar point guards who were fantastic shooters and/or passers, and paired them with big men who were in their 3rd/4th/5th years and had developed quite a solid skillset by that point. That led to a lot of wins versus other small schools, but the lack of athleticism always got them in the tournament.
Next, they took a page out of St. Mary's (CA) playbook by being early to the international recruiting party. They got guys out of Canada and Europe, especially. They continued to rack up wins, getting deeper into the NCAA Tournament, and this translated to then beginning to recruit higher profile recruits. In recent years, they're now able to recruit players who are top 10 or so in their classes, especially among big men as they've developed quite the history of putting 6'10+ players into the NBA (Zach Collins, Kelly Olynyk, Domantas Sabonis, Killian Tiller's currently, with many others historically). With wings like Brandon Clarke and Rui Hachimora going high in the draft, they're able to recruit with the big boys and sell success. Jalen Scruggs, the Zags' all-everything freshman PG, was ranked #11 in last year's recruiting class.
So in summary, great coaching led to success, opportunistic recruiting led to improving the roster talent, and all that combined has led to being one of the premier programs in the country. Remember, Duke wasn't Duke before Coach K. One coach who opts to stick around can become a brand by himself, and Few has done just that.
Thanks for taking the time to break that down for me.
Re: Help me understand Gonzaga's success.
Posted: Sun Mar 28, 2021 5:06 pm
by Boom
This year is unique with the addition of Jalen Suggs. I believe he's the first one and done prospect that they've signed.