Newcomer-heavy Gonzaga hopes off-court chemistry leads to on-court success
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — At the same time most teams were hard at work in practice just over a week ago, Gonzaga players spent two days far away from a basketball court.
They piled into a cabin about 45 miles outside Spokane for an overnight retreat designed to build trust and give the Zags a chance to get to know one-another better. No access to cell phones, TV or wireless Internet meant players had to devote most of their time to chatting, cooking meals for each other or participating in team-building exercises that forced them to work together to solve puzzles or tackle other challenges.
"We thought it was really valuable because that stuff translates on the court big time," senior point guard Kevin Pangos said Monday at the WCC's tip-off luncheon. "Having to work together and work through obstacles to achieve a goal, that's similar to what we'll have to do during the season. Everything won't go smoothly during the season, so we'll be able to look back on this.
Two days of team building is especially valuable for Gonzaga this season because the Zags welcome seven important newcomers. Transfers Byron Wesley (USC) and Kyle Wiltjer (Kentucky) are likely to begin the year in the starting lineup, while highly touted freshmen Domantas Sabonis, Josh Perkins and Silas Melson are expected to contribute heavily off the bench.
Whereas Gonzaga coach Mark Few normally begins a season with concerns about his team's depth at a position of weakness or its prowess in a certain aspect of the game, he doesn't hide that he likes his roster a lot entering this season. He calls this the deepest and perhaps the most talented team he has coached but acknowledges that one of the keys to translating that into victories will be fast-forwarding the chemistry-building process.
"The retreat was just about getting all of us together with no distractions," Few said. "With as many new guys as we have, I've spent less time on Xs and Os and game film stuff and more time on team building than we have in the past."
Assuming Gonzaga's team building translates into on-court chemistry, the Zags could be poised for one of their best seasons under Few. Between five returning rotation players and an array of promising newcomers, Gonzaga goes at least two-deep at every position.
What makes Gonzaga's frontcourt formidable is that each member's skill set complements one-another.
Preseason All-WCC center Przemek Karnowski is a mammoth 7-footer who seldom ventures outside the paint at either end of the floor, protecting the rim defensively and scoring with his back to the basket on offense. The 6-foot-10 Wiltjer is a classic stretch four who is deadly from behind the arc yet has spent his redshirt year getting stronger and more comfortable playing with his back to the basket. And Sabonis, the son of longtime NBA center Arvydas Saboins, is a polished, skilled forward with high-level experience, having played in Spain's top division last season.
The new additions to Gonzaga's backcourt also promise to bolster a perimeter corps that already was a strength for the Zags.
Wesley, USC's leading scorer last season, is a prototypical high-major small forward who provides the size, athleticism and slashing ability Gonzaga has traditionally lacked at that position. Perkins, a consensus top 100 recruit, is a pass-first point guard whose ball handling and court vision should enable Pangos to slide off ball when they're on the floor together.
And don't forget Pangos and shooting guard Gary Bell, the two four-year starters who enter the season fully healthy after nagging injuries hampered them most of last season. An ankle and toe injury prevented Pangos from either changing speed or direction the way he typically would have last season, but he spent a tedious three months recuperating this offseason and now pronounces himself pain-free.
"Playing through slight pain would have kept it from healing as fast, so I had to shut it all down," Pangos said. "I tell people I think I was pretty grumpy those three months. Basketball is relaxing for me, so when I wasn't able to play, I didn't know what to do with my time. I spent a lot of time with my family. I saw some friends. I tried reading books. I don't think I completed a full book. I tried but I couldn't sit still. It was tough, but I think it was the mental and physical break I needed."
So how good can Gonzaga be? Can the Zags approach the level of regular season success they had two years ago when Kelly Olynyk and Elias Harris led them to a 32-3 record and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament? Is this the year the Zags finally shed the postseason underachiever label brought on by advancing past the opening weekend only twice in their past 12 trips? Though Gonzaga begins the season in the top 15 nationally and as the unanimous pick to win the WCC, Few isn't ready to say that yet.
"I told my team the other day that it would be so much easier for this to be our worst team than our best team," Few said. "We really haven't had a bad team in 16 years. We really haven't even had an average team in 16 years. So it will be way, way more difficult for this to be the best team we've ever had. It's certainly possible, but the bar has been set high."
One thing Few is certain about is that cohesiveness will be key with so many newcomers. It's too early to assess the results of all the team building the Zags have done so far, but both Few and Pangos are pleased with what they've seen in practice.
"Last year we had so many guys who had been here more than a year," Pangos said. "This year, we get along great, but we have to continue working on the court and figuring out everyone's roles. At this point we're doing OK, but it's still new. We'll continue to get better."
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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
