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Gonzaga Basketball

Analyst Jay Bilas believes Gonzaga’s best basketball has yet to come

By Justin Reed The Spokesman-Review

Three losses in 2023 have many punching the panic button on this iteration of the Gonzaga men’s basketball program.

Social media is flush with complaints about decision making, shot selection and coaching.

ESPN college basketball insider Jay Bilas has heard the negativity surrounding the Bulldogs, but his panic meter is dictated on a more rational approach than emotional.

He has long been a champion of the Bulldog program, equating their success as one of the best sports stories of the past two-plus decades.

“They’re a good basketball team, I think they’re going to continue to get better,” Bilas said.

At this time a season ago, the Zags had two blowout losses to Texas and Purdue and a close affair to Baylor that was a loss.

Defense was the culprit in 2022 as assignments were missed and players were left wide open all over the court. The offense was making up for the lack of defensive pressure.

This year, GU is taking the 257th-most 3’s per game (20.3) and making 6.5 of those attempts (270th).

Their 3-point shooting will be something to monitor the rest of the season, especially because of the Steele Venters injury, Bilas said.

Where they have been solid is within the arc and grabbing board as their 2-point shooting and rebounding all rank within the top 30 in the country.

On the defensive end, their efficiency on Kenpom.com is 19th, which is dramatically better than they were a season ago, especially at the end of the year when they finished 73rd in that category.

If there is one place to watch closely, Bilas said, it will be the depth that he believes might be an issue, especially in the short term.

It has forced young players to be thrust into roles they may not have been in if the players above them on the depth chart were healthy.

That depth, specifically for the guards, will be tested to the extreme over the course of the next four to six weeks as Luka Krajnovic broke his hand during shootaround prior to the UConn game.

“They don’t have a lot of guard depth,” Bilas said.

The Bulldogs are running a seven-man rotation right now with Jun Seok Yeo being the eighth man off the bench seeing a few minutes here and there. Without Krajnovic, there is no guard coming off the bench.

He mentioned the battle against the University of Washington as the barometer for what the Zags don’t want to see.

Ryan Nembhard, Hickman and Anton Watson all played 40 minutes. Over the course of a 35-plus game season, that would be tough to swallow and rough on the players.

“That is a lot of time out there,” Bilas said. “When you do that, it is difficult to maintain defensive pressure because those guys can pick up fouls.”

Dusty Stromer, the freshman who was thrust into the starting lineup due to the Steele Venters ACL injury, and Seok Yeo – two bench guys who have had to play meaningful minutes – will continue to develop Bilas said.

Stromer has had his moments of magic, but no one was expecting the freshman out of Sherman Oaks, California, to play the third-most minutes (325) 11 games into the season.

Bilas has been up close and personal for the two Zag losses this year, as he has been on the call as they dropped the game to Purdue in Hawaii and then again on Friday for the UConn victory in Seattle.

“I think they need to get better, they played a great team, UConn is a great team,” Bilas said in Seattle. “You are going against one of the best teams in the country, so it’s not surprising that things were difficult.”

Their second- and third-leading scorers, Graham Ike and Nolan Hickman had five points and eight points respectively and the Huskies found plenty of space to operate on the perimeter while constricting the Bulldogs in their halfcourt offense.

“There are a bunch of teams that would struggle against UConn and we have seen that,” Bilas said. “They have lost one game and it was at Allen Fieldhouse (against Kansas). UConn is getting stronger now, they’re getting healthier, so they’re legit.”

GU has made eight-straight Sweet 16 trips, the third-longest in NCAA history. Bilas, at this point in the season, expects to see the Bulldogs fulfilling their expectations.

“Gonzaga is going to be there at the end, they’re very good,” Bilas said. “I don’t have any doubt they’re going to be a second weekend team (in the NCAA Tournament).”