Zags have plans to get three talented bigs’ on court at same time

We didn’t verify it, but there’s a pretty good chance the two questions Gonzaga basketball coach Mark Few is hearing the most prior to the season:

1). How do you replace four-year starting guards Kevin Pangos and Gary Bell Jr.? And 2). Are you going to put three bigs on the court together?

And maybe not in that order. As virtually every college basketball preview magazine and every preseason article points out, 6-foot-10 Kyle Wiltjer, 6-11 Domas Sabonis and 7-1 Przemek Karnowski are going to play together at times, forming the “Spokane Skyline.”

“The simple answer is ‘Oh, you’re going to play the three bigs,’ ” Few said. “It’s something we put some thought in to, we’ll have a definitive plan for them offensively and defensively and then boom, all of a sudden something comes up, well, we didn’t think of that. It’s a challenge.

“As you get going up and down, basketball is a free-flowing game with a lot of different scenarios. It’s been funny some of the situations we’ve found ourselves in that we haven’t covered.”

Some of that has been out of the coaches’ control. All three played internationally this summer, with Sabonis’ stint with the Lithuanian national team and Karnowski’s with Poland stretching into the school year.

After returning to Spokane, Sabonis was given time off from practice to help his body recover from a busy summer. Karnowski returned feeling under the weather. It was later diagnosed as pneumonia, which has limited his practice minutes but he’s moving closer to full strength.

“We think there’s something there but we haven’t been able to do it much,” assistant coach Tommy Lloyd said. “We have some work to do, needless to say.”

Juggling playing time with talented bigs is nothing new for Few. Consider recent seasons. The 2011 roster included Robert Sacre, Elias Harris, Kelly Olynyk and Sam Dower. The following season featured Sacre, Harris, Dower and Ryan Spangler while Olynyk redshirted. In 2013, it was All-American Olynyk, Harris, Dower and Karnowski. Last year, Karnowski teamed with Wiltjer and Sabonis to form one of the nation’s top interior units.

Coaches tinkered with the idea of playing Harris at ‘3’, or small forward, when he was an underclassman but the thought quickly passed. He was simply far more effective at power forward.

How often GU goes with the super-sized lineup and more importantly its effectiveness will depend on countless matchup factors, beyond the obvious consideration of foul trouble. Power conference foes, such as Arizona, usually have the ability to employ bigger lineups. WCC foes tend to have fewer accomplished inside players and often use stretch ‘4s’, perhaps even a stretch ‘5’, with three guards.

Wiltjer, a 47-percent shooter beyond the 3-point arc last season, can space the floor and his interior moves continue to improve. Sabonis is a relentless rebounder and a force inside, but he’s rarely found on the perimeter. Karnowski is a low-post nightmare for opponents with a deft passing touch.

“We’re three players that pass the ball well, we’re smart,” Wiltjer said. “It’s definitely something we’ll experiment with. It doesn’t have to be a huge chunk of the game.

“If we can play together 10 minutes and create mismatches … In our system everything is so interchangeable. If you call me a ‘3’ and coach Few thinks I have a mismatch inside, he will work to exploit that. That’s why I love our offense.”

That’s at just one end of the court. How will the trio function when one is required to defend a swift, 6-5 wing 20 feet from the basket? Or an agile, 6-7 forward who can create off the dribble?

Sabonis spent time in the offseason developing his ball-handling and expanding his shooting range.

“I worked on face-up situations, not always back to the basket,” he said. “Dribbling and shooting. I think it’s growing.”

Can the three operate together?

“I hope so, but that’s the coaches’ decision,” Sabonis said. “It all depends on us. We have to make it work.”