Zags face L-C State in exhibition opener

Gonzaga University men’s basketball coach Mark Few remains lukewarm about last year’s NCAA rule change that prohibits Division I schools from scheduling exhibition games against non-collegiate competition.

No longer allowed are those forgettable preseason encounters against the likes of Brewster Packing, Northwest Sports, the Delta Jammers, the Seattle Stars or even the Old Dogs, for that matter.

The rule change was the NCAA’s way of cleaning up a bit of an exhibition mess that was created when certain coaches started buying preseason games against various club teams whose coaches were affiliated with some of the nation’s top high school recruits.

Some coaches felt obligated to buy exhibition games against those same club teams or risk losing a recruiting edge. Complaints were made, and the NCAA responded.

As a result, Few’s Bulldogs, who are ranked No. 7 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches preseason poll, will play the first of their two exhibition games against Lewis-Clark State College tonight at 5 in the McCarthey Athletic Center.

“It’s six of one, a half-dozen of another,” Few said when asked if he prefers playing a lower-level, four-year college instead of a club team. “There were some pretty well-organized and really talented club teams that we played before.

“But at least now, you get a well-coached team that is going to have offensive sets and show you different defenses. And they will be prepared.”

Few admits he knows little about L-C State, which is in its first season under Tim Walker.

“But that really doesn’t matter,” he added. “These exhibitions are all about us trying to figure out what we need to work on, and getting our young guys some reps under the lights.”

Adam Morrison, one of GU’s four returning starters and the leading scorer on last year’s 26-5 team that made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, said he doesn’t care who the Bulldogs play, as long as it’s not themselves.

“We’ve been playing against each other for seven or eight months now, and it’s getting real old – playing against the same guys every day,” said the 6-foot-8 junior, who averaged 19 points and 5.5 rebounds last year. “It’ll be nice to play against somebody who doesn’t know all of our plays. Or all of my moves.”

In L-C State, the Zags will face a young team that returns only two starters from last season when the Warriors finished 25-9 under longtime head coach George Pfeifer, who left to become an assistant on Leonard Perry’s staff at the University of Idaho.

Still, L-C State received 41 points and is ranked just outside the Top 25 in the NAIA Division I preseason ratings.