Garage to Gonzaga: North Kitsap basketball star Cade Orness commits to his dream school

As a young basketball player, North Kitsap senior Cade Orness made a habit of creating practice plans focusing on personal improvement. He'd tape these plans, handwritten on notebook paper, onto the refrigerator inside his garage.

This didn't begin three or four years ago. This was when Orness was in the first grade and dreaming of reaching great heights on the hardwood.

It's that type of drive that helped Orness eventually land a preferred walk-on opportunity at his dream school: Gonzaga University. The 2024 Kitsap Sun boys basketball player of the year announced his commitment to the Bulldogs on Monday night.

"It's a surreal feeling," said Orness, who'll be joining a Gonzaga program that has qualified for the NCAA Tournament each year since 1999 and played in the title game in 2017 and 2021. "I've been a fan of them my whole life."

Orness will be following in the footsteps of another former Kitsap Sun boys basketball player of the year, Steven Gray, who starred at Bainbridge High School before competing at Gonzaga from 2007-11. North Kitsap boys basketball coach Scott Orness, Cade's father, coached Gray in high school and now gets to see his son prepare to make the collegiate jump.

"It's pretty awesome," Scott Orness said. "I'm super proud of him."

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Over the winter, Cade Orness earned Olympic League most valuable player, league defensive MVP honors and all-state tournament first-team honors after leading the Vikings to a 23-5 record and a third-place trophy at the Class 2A state tournament Yakima. The athletic 6-foot-5 guard averaged 22.1 points per game, 7.1 rebounds per game, 6.1 assists per game and 3.0 steals per game. He concluded his career in Poulsbo with a school-record 1,821 points — third-most all-time in West Sound — and a school-record 635 assists.

Gonzaga's interest in Orness heated up during the summer before his junior year when the Vikings attended team camp at the university. After playing six games in a tournament at Bellevue College, Orness caught a flight to Spokane in order to suit up for a late-night game North Kitsap had scheduled at the McCarthey Athletic Center, Gonzaga's 6,000-seat home facility.

With some members of Gonzaga's coaching staff in attendance, Orness knew he had the chance to make an impression. He ended up scoring 42 points in the contest, his six 3-pointers and driving dunk in the lane among the highlights that attracted the attention of Gonzaga assistant Stephen Gentry.

"That's kind of how it all started," Orness said.

By the time team camp ended, Orness earned a preferred walk-on offer. Nearly two years later, Gonzaga's offer ended up winning out. Although there is no scholarship headed his way now, Orness could eventually earn one if he continues to impress the Bulldogs once he arrives on campus and works toward earning playing time.

"I kind of just think of it as betting on myself," Orness said, "and seeing what I can reach."

Growing up the son of one of West Sound's most successful high school coaches, Orness said he's always maintained a gym-rat mentality from an early age. He's trained for years with George Hill, a former standout player at Kingston who competed collegiately at Washington State University, and used the word "joy" to describe the effort he puts in every day to improve, in-season and out-of-season.

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"He really made himself into a great player," Scott Orness said.

Looking forward to high school graduation and his eventual move to Spokane, Cade Orness doesn't know what his freshman season with Gonzaga may entail, but that won't stop him for creating new plans for himself and his new team.

"Whatever they need me to do to win," he said.

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: North Kitsap basketball star Cade Orness planning to play at Gonzaga