Back from media day earlier Monday -- practice was at the Martin Centre because the floor is being re-finished at the McCarthey Athletic Center -- and I took a deeper look at Gonzaga's defense, which has been steadily improving.

Since getting torched on 3s in its first three games (29 by EWU, WSU and Hawaii) and giving up 82 points to Illinois and 75 to Michigan State in GU's back-to-back losses, the Bulldogs have been solid at the defensive end. They'll need that to continue if they want to be successful at Saint Mary's on Thursday and LMU on Saturday.

Here's a link to my article on the defense that will run in Tuesday's S-R.

Also, I mentioned last week that Gonzaga was on Pitt transfer Khem Birch's list, but the 6-foot-9 forward has opted to transfer to UNLV, according to Yahoo's Jeff Eisenberg and ESPN.com.