Zags Insiders Podcast: Weighing in on Gonzaga’s Top 25 ranking and Graham Ike’s growth

Gonzaga’s fast start has propelled the Zags to No. 13 in the Associated Press poll, eight spots higher than their preseason ranking.

Graham Ike, a Wooden Award candidate averaging a team-leading 17 points and 9.2 rebounds, has been a driving force for the 5-0 Zags, who have generated some national buzz.

Richard Fox, former GU center and an analyst on Gonzaga telecasts, and yours truly covered a long list of topics, including GU’s impressive first two weeks of the season and Ike’s dominance in the paint in the latest Zags Insiders Podcast.

You can find the Zags Basketball Insiders wherever you download your podcasts, or at spokesman.com/sports, or on YouTube. Here are some highlights from Monday’s podcast (edited for space considerations):

GU underrated, overrated or just right?

Fox: Maybe a touch underranked. I think they’re a top 10 team. I’m not sure that anybody has established themselves in the same way Connecticut did for a couple years there as far as being the team to beat, Duke last year, Houston kind of set themselves apart, obviously Florida. I don’t know if there’s anybody like that.

But the way this team can defend, which I think is the big takeaway after four games, and they do a good job on the glass, this team belongs in that top 10. We’ll certainly continue to get a better feel. They’ve got some really good games coming up, Alabama (on Monday) comes to mind.

Certainly things are moving in the right direction. I think they were underranked to start the year, and nothing I’ve seen so far would indicate that they’re going to have some of the same struggles that they’ve had in the last couple years as far as getting wins against some top-end teams. I think they can do that this year.

Meehan: I’m not really going to overreact … for two reasons. One is you, Richard Edward Fox, you know how when your parents called you out, you get the full name. You’ve said a couple of times on the podcast that it’s just so difficult to figure out what everybody has with the transfer portal, player movement and you lose all your returning guys (the way) a lot of teams do.

And we saw that a year ago. Baylor came to Spokane, a top-10 matchup, 101-63, everybody went haywire, ‘The Zags did this and that.’ And they did, they were terrific in that game. But from then on for a month and a half, they really had some problems, they lost a bunch of close games, overtime games (to) all those better teams on their schedule. We don’t know what Creighton is going to be like at the end of the year. Picked third in the (Big East), they may very well finish third and be a top five seed. We’ll see.

The other part of it is, I was a little bit high on the Zags to begin with. I picked them to go to Elite Eight in our opening show when we step out on the limb and make our predictions. That’s only one more rung to get to the Final Four so they’re in that neighborhood right now. And they deserve to be in that neighborhood.

Reasons for Ike’s early success

Meehan: At Arizona State, the first 10 minutes was not his best stretch. He didn’t take a shot. In fact (Ike) and Huff were real quiet at the outset. He was getting double-teamed, but then he went for 11 points before the halftime buzzer, seven late in the half. He guarded (Massamba) Diop, a 7-foot mobile center. He’s a talented kid and you can see some ability in him but Ike did a nice job, leaned on him, used his muscle, his frame.

What I’m getting at, I don’t know if we would have seen this two years ago or even last year to some degree. Graham just never changed his demeanor, he stayed patient, didn’t force anything. He got in foul trouble, but he didn’t push it over the line, didn’t get the silly foul that maybe he had the past year or two. It was almost exactly what you want out of a fifth-year senior when you’re trying to handle a stressful situation.

It got tight in the second half and he was kind of the one that helped lead them out of that. I really thought it was a sign of his growth on the court and just his mindset to handle some adversity and come out the other side with 20 (points) and nine (rebounds).

Fox: Look, he has 119 career games. He’s been doing this a while. He does so much work on the front end, he scores a lot of his baskets before the ball ever gets there with sealing and position and deep catches. He has such great touch; you don’t expect it from a man his size. He’s got really soft hands.

I’m not sure we would have seen him last year be as calm about a slow start as we are this year. If I had to guess (the reason), this is so clearly his team versus a couple years ago it was really Anton Watson’s program, Spokane kid that’s been here a long time. And last year it was him and (Ryan) Nembhard, but that team had so many seniors, (Nolan) Hickman and (Ben) Gregg, I’m sure I’m missing a couple others. You bring in (Khalif) Battle, an exciting addition. Ike was critical but not necessarily front and center, at least not all the time. To me, there’s zero doubt this team is going to go as Graham goes. I used to say last year all the time that Nembhard was the straw that stirred the drink. Ike is the foundation; everything is about him. He’s played in every type of situation you can think of.

I think the hardest thing for players to get to is consistency. It’s not so much consistency in production, but in your approach. If your approach is consistent and you’re as talented as Graham, the numbers will be there. I’m on a mission to make sure he’s not underrated or forgotten when he leaves because I think he’s had as good a stretch as any player that’s come through GU since Mark (Few) has been here.