While Gonzaga’s coach was helping Team USA, Mark Few’s oldest son also struck gold last summer in Paris

LAS VEGAS – The Zags were on the verge of taking a knockout blow from Houston and in no position to turn down ideas that could help them reel in the top-seeded Cougars during the second half of an NCAA Tournament Round of 32 game in Wichita, Kansas.

Facing a 14-point deficit midway through the second half, the Zags were officially in scramble mode, not only running out of ways to score against Houston’s imposing defensive lineup but also struggling to come up with stops against the Cougars and hot-shooting L.J. Cryer.

There was still time to make up a double-digit deficit with 11 minutes, 27 seconds remaining, but one more mini run from Kelvin Sampson’s team also could’ve been the death knell on Gonzaga’s season.

It’s a spot where Hall of Fame-bound coach Mark Few would normally cook up an idea to turn things around or solicit advice from one of his highly qualified assistants. Maybe one of the team’s veteran starters – each with 130 games of college experience – would have some thoughts during a break in the action.

Instead, the second row of GU’s bench chimed in.

A 25-year-old video coordinator who went to college for accounting and finance noticed something that could help the Zags in their moment of desperation. It was a member of the Few family who hatched one of the best mid-game adjustments at Intrust Bank Arena, just not the one with 742 coaching wins and two national championship appearances on his resume.

“In the heat of the moment against Houston, he had one of the better suggestions of the afternoon,” Mark Few said.

Gonzaga’s coach declined to disclose the specific tip that oldest son AJ provided – perhaps it’ll help the Zags out of a similar jam down the road – but indicated it played at least some role in Gonzaga’s late run against Houston, a surge that helped the Zags trim the deficit to one point with 21 seconds left in their eventual 81-76 loss.

The input itself was one thing, but equally impressive was one of GU’s youngest staffers summoning the courage to deliver it in a tense moment where more experienced coaches might be hesitant to speak up.

“He was great, he was really, really good,” Mark Few said. “It was unbelievable. … So he’s got a great feel and then obviously it was more having the assistants kind of mentor him. He worked really well with B-Mike (Brian Michaelson) on the defensive stuff.”

AJ never envisioned himself in his father’s line of work. A former high school state champion who played with former GU standout and current New York Knick Anton Watson at Gonzaga Prep, he’d more or less been around the game since birth and had little interest in spending adulthood in a basketball-centric job.

Through high school and four years of college, AJ had warmed to the idea of something completely different, pursuing a major in accounting. But at some point in the last two years, there was a change of heart and a subsequent pivot back to basketball.

Now he’s looking to pursue coaching at the highest level and will have an impressive NBA apprenticeship on his resume as he tries to secure his first full-time job outside of Gonzaga.

“It’ll be weird not having him and Joe (Few) around, actually,” said Mark, whose second-oldest son was a walk-on guard at Gonzaga the last four years.

Last summer, AJ was enjoying the sights and sounds of the Paris Olympics with his dad, a Team USA assistant, when a unique networking opportunity materialized. Erik Spoelstra, a two-time NBA champion coach with the Miami Heat, grew close with Mark Few while serving on Steve Kerr’s Team USA staff last summer in Paris and the year prior at the FIBA World Cup.

By virtue of his father’s relationship, AJ also got to know Spoelstra last summer in Paris, and relayed that he was hoping to pursue an entry-level job in the NBA after his time at Gonzaga ended.

“The goal is NBA,” AJ said.

Spoelstra encouraged AJ to let him know if there was any way he could help. About a year later, and after receiving the necessary clearance from his father, AJ messaged the Miami coach to see if the offer still stood.

In June, Spoelstra connected him with Miami’s head video coordinator, Mario Casamajor, who also has history with USA Basketball. Looking to get a foot in the door, AJ was offered a spot on the team’s Summer League coaching staff.

No different than former GU players Ryan Nembhard, Khalif Battle, Nolan Hickman and Ben Gregg, AJ went to Summer League looking to make an impression, prove his worth and lock down a role in the NBA.

“So I just kind of jumped on and found out last minute, like a couple days before the draft,” he said before one of Miami’s games at Las Vegas’ Cox Pavilion. “It’s been great so far.”

AJ’s role fluctuated throughout Miami’s two-week stay at Summer League, but he primarily worked with the team’s video staff, charting information on an iPad during games, processing video clips and compiling scouting reports.

It’s more or less everything he did at Gonzaga last season, just at a higher level with significantly more nuance and detail.

“Just all their points of emphasis on what they chart during games, kind of the analytics that goes with that,” AJ said. “It is similar though, they have a great culture similar to GU. That’s what’s cool about them is no one’s bigger than that. So that’s been really cool to see. Then the former players that come to practice and watch and things like that.”

AJ’s seen Gonzaga’s program from almost every angle the last 25 years and spent seven years working different jobs on his father’s staff, initially volunteering as a student manager before taking on a graduate assistant role from 2022-24 and serving as video coordinator in 2024-25.

After more than two decades around Gonzaga’s basketball program, he was open to other career paths and thought accounting would be a natural fit. AJ received his Master of Accountancy, but started to reconsider his future when Gonzaga’s video coordinator, Kurt Bambauer, became the program’s general manager, opening up an intriguing position on his dad’s staff.

“I just kind of always had the idea I was going to be an accountant after those two years (in grad school),” AJ said. “Then last year, I loved the basketball side obviously and after I graduated from grad school the video spot opened up.”

It’s still not clear what his first full-time NBA opportunity will look like, but AJ can now add a line of experience to his resume after spending Summer League with Miami, and he shouldn’t have any trouble creating an impressive list of work references given the various coaching figures in the association who have ties to Gonzaga.

Riccardo Fois, formerly the director of analytics at Gonzaga, has spent time in different capacities with the Phoenix Suns, Sacramento Kings and now New York Knicks. Ex-Zag walk-on Connor Griffin is now an assistant coach with the Brooklyn Nets after working as an assistant video coordinator with the Denver Nuggets. Brendan Sabean, a student manager at GU from 2012-14 and the son of former San Francisco Giants GM Brian Sabean, is now a GM for the Phoenix Suns’ G League affiliate, the Valley Suns.

And if all else fails, AJ’s dad, one of the most respected college coaches in the country, wouldn’t hesitate to put in a good word.

“He did a great job for our staff,” Mark Few said. “He’s done Zag stuff for 25 years, so he wanted to get out and try something different.”

Even if he felt it was time for a new work environment and a new boss, AJ described the time in his father’s program as “a dream come true.”

“I’ve seen it my whole life,” AJ said. “I was probably willing to approach him on some stuff more than people because I wasn’t scared of him telling me to shut up or something.”

By the end of his time with Gonzaga, and in the dire stages of an NCAA Tournament game against Houston, the insight was more than welcome.