Zags open post-Turiaf era with first practice
Gonzaga University’s men’s basketball team officially opened its post-Ronny Turiaf era at McCarthey Athletic Center on Friday evening, even though the reigning West Coast Conference player of the year and second-round NBA draft choice of the Los Angeles Lakers was in the building.
Turiaf, who is staying in Spokane while he recovers from a late-July surgery to repair an enlarged aortic root, was bouncing around the arena, dribbing, shooting and dunking a basketball just prior to the Bulldogs’ first practice of the 2005-06 season.
And while coach Mark Few and his players seemed pleased to have him around, they made it clear that this is the start of a new season that won’t include the effervescent Turiaf, who averaged 15.9 points and a team-high 9.5 rebounds last winter as the Zags finished 26-5 after losing to Texas Tech in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
“This is a new season and new group,” said Few, who welcomed 12 scholarship players, including four returning starters, to Friday’s initial practice. “You see a lot of familiar faces out here, but the dynamics have changed.
“Without Ronny around, and without the Brian’s (Michaelson) leadership, we’re going to have to establish a new identity. And we’re going to have to get everybody, including our new guys, up to speed.”
Among the new faces at Friday’s workout were junior college transfer Mamery Diallo, a 6-foot-9 junior center, and freshmen guards Larry Gurganious and Jeremy Pargo, the most high-profile recruit to ever sign with the Zags.
According to Few, all three could contribute this winter, despite the abundance of proven players returning.
“Mamery is going to have to give us some minutes,” Few said of the muscular 235-pounder, who averaged 4.6 points and 3.9 rebounds a game for Midland (Texas) Junior College last year. “We need his athleticism. Hopefully, he can become a good rebounder and defender for us.
“And obviously, Pargo is a real player.”
The 6-2 Pargo is considered the plum of this year’s recruiting class, having averaged 25 points, eight rebounds and six assists per game for Chicago’s Robeson High School last winter.
He is considered to be a different kind of athlete than the Bulldogs have been able to recruit in the past.
“And yet he really isn’t different,” Few said. “He’s been in here shooting every night since he got on campus – I mean every night, almost like (Derek) Raivio. He loves to pass, and he has no issues whatsoever with his own scoring.”
Still, the key player on this year’s roster is junior forward Adam Morrison, who passed up a chance to enter last year’s NBA draft after averaging a team-high 19 points last season.
“Honestly, I just couldn’t leave this group of guys after only playing with them for a couple of years,” Morrison said of his decision to remain a Bulldog.