Zags Insiders Podcast: Previewing Santa Clara and tweaking starters, rotations

5 days ago 2

Jan. 6—Gonzaga, coming off four wins in eight days, plays just once this week. Santa Clara, which shares first in the West Coast Conference with Saint Mary's and GU, visits Thursday.

Richard Fox, former Gonzaga center and current analyst on Zags' telecasts on KHQ and SWX, and yours truly broke down what could be a high-scoring contest at the McCarthey Athletic Center.

We also discussed Gonzaga's ever-changing starting lineups and rotations in the latest Zags Insiders Podcast.

Here are some highlights, edited for space considerations. Find the entire podcast on YouTube or visit https://www.spokesman.com/podcasts/zags-basketball-insiders/.

Points aplenty in GU-SCU matchup?

Fox: They're very good offensively with a better scoring differential than even Gonzaga (in WCC games) at 23 points per game. (Herb) Sendek is a very good coach. They play a free style, they have skill all over the floor, a lot like Gonzaga with real depth.

Only two guys in double digits but they have a number of guys that score off the bench. They've had success up here (last year's 103-99 victory). I don't think this group is going to come up and be worried about who they're playing.

If Gonzaga guards the way they guarded against (Loyola Marymount in Sunday's 82-47 win), I don't think it matters. You can apply that to anybody in the country. They have high-major athletes, size. So this isn't a situation where Gonzaga is the best of the rest and now they go play Arizona and Duke and they don't have the athletes. That is what you dealt with in my era. This is, all these guys that play for (Gonzaga) can play for those teams, too.

Meehan: Santa Clara is coming to town 4-0, doing what Herb Sendek teams do. They score it at a pretty good clip, pretty efficient offensively. Christian Hammond and (Elijah) Mahi, a 6-8 wing that was there last year that has really stepped up his game, they're kind of (Gonzaga's Braden) Huff and (Graham) Ike. They're about 33 points a game combined and really good behind the 3-point line.

They sort of find scorers behind that. Like the Zags do, it might be a different guy each night. If you look at their assist totals it's kind of by committee (six between 34 and 52 assists).

This is a team that can score. The Zags saw it up close last year. Very much a Santa Clara team, very much going to challenge Gonzaga defensively, maybe in a way they haven't seen in conference with the ability to throw up 80 or 90 points in a hurry.

Rotations and starting fives

Meehan: (Davis) Fogle is the 10th different Zag to start. I have to believe that's some kind of record (under coach Mark Few). The last four games, they've had four different starting lineups.

They go with Tyon Grant-Foster and Adam Miller in the second half to start (against the Lions), Fogle and (Steele) Venters come out. Things we haven't seen very often with Mark's teams. They're usually settled into a rotation and roles identified.

It's very motivating for those guys outside of Huff and Ike that you know are going to play 25, 30 minutes a night. I know I'd better practice well, I'd better bring it when I come on the floor because when I do that, they're going to find time for you. If I don't do that, this guy next to me on the bench is going to do it and he's going to get the time that night.

It keeps them all engaged into everything — practices, the first run they get and the scouting report. If I come out and blow a rotation and they drill two 3s, I'm going to come out and sit next to Mark for a while and they're going to turn to another body.

Fox: I've never seen it before from Mark. I don't think it's all that common in basketball. You can only do it if you have 1). A lot of really good players, and 2). The way they play allows for a lot of mixing and matching. There's versatility.

It's not easy as a player to not understand on a night-to-night basis A). What my role is, B). How much I should generally expect to play, and C). When I'm going to play in that game.

They have these four guys coming in for the first substitution of the game, we've seen that now for a while, but (after that) it doesn't feel there's a distinct pattern. They have the ability to ready what's happening in the game, who is playing well, who is good for this matchup and they kind of ride it out.

They clearly have a group that have accepted this reality and guys stay ready. Nobody seems to have hurt feelings or be moping. It's a real testament to the program and more importantly to the players because they're all thinking about March.

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