Can someone explain to me how the heck a nobody college and program goes from almost shutting it down to turning into what they have become ....? It’s not like Spokane is all that great of a city and it’s 4 1/2 hrs from Seattle so it’s not like that’s a big draw. It’s a small and ok looking campus but nothing to brag about . Have they bought and cheated their way into building a program that is now considered a blue blood program? I get when you a private school it seems like you’re not under the same microscope as public schools. I still somewhat believe Baylor has cheated over the years too ..... Waco is a crap hole town .
Gonzaga and how they have become what they are?
- Thread starter cyfan4St8
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Same as Creighton and Marquette. Under the radar religious schools with no football team.
They made a great run in the tournament back years ago and instead of recruiting a bunch of bad players and having a terrible coach, they actually built off it and are good. The exact opposite of what we see in Ames.
This is years (decades) in the making with continuity throughout. My head doesn't go to cheating.
Just gotta have someone to lead them into finding some success.
Part of Fred getting ISU 'back' was because of what happened 20-30 years before he became a coach.
Gonzaga was .500ish before chipping away at it in the mid-late 90s when the bar was set.
Part of Fred getting ISU 'back' was because of what happened 20-30 years before he became a coach.
Gonzaga was .500ish before chipping away at it in the mid-late 90s when the bar was set.
They got a good coach that stayed when bigger names called. The reason other schools haven't been able to succeed is that once the bigger schools start calling, the coaches move up. Once you have a name brand coach, the recruits start coming.
There's a lot of schools that could've done the same if they didn't lose out to the big money schools. Take UNI for example. As tough a situation we has with McDermott, he's shown to be a good coach. What would've happened if he stayed at UNI?
There's a lot of schools that could've done the same if they didn't lose out to the big money schools. Take UNI for example. As tough a situation we has with McDermott, he's shown to be a good coach. What would've happened if he stayed at UNI?
But we have success is recent years in that same time span.... yes they have made it further in the tournament but it’s not like we have had nothing in a lot of those years . They play in a low level conference so they easily rule it. So why would anyone care about playing nobody teams from that conference it says nothing about who you are. Sure you can lock in win after win against cupcake teams but to me that says nothing about how great of a player you are playing against bad competition.
I really don’t think Gonzaga is dirty. Their coach seems about as opposite of that as it gets. St Mary’s has given the probably the most fits out that way for a while, and they play in a gym that is crappier than say for instance Drake.
What do both programs have? Coaching stability, private and religious, and they go to tournaments and aren’t afraid to play anybody.
What do both programs have? Coaching stability, private and religious, and they go to tournaments and aren’t afraid to play anybody.
I think people don't realize, it took them about 25 years to build the program to what it is today. The had success through player development and great, under the radar recruiting. Basically, long before they had 5* players, they had a 5* culture. Totally ignorant statement to accuse them of cheating, only someone who hasn't followed CBB the last 25 years would question how they've done what they've done.
The Pac 12 former powers like UCLA and USC have stunk recently so someone who wants to play on the coast and still get national attention is going to be drawn to Gonzaga. They also tend to attract that 4 year player or the really good transfer that feels underappreciated at the blue blood they initially started at. A huge factor as others have mentioned is the coaching stability.
I'd have to check, but at least the last few years Gonzaga has played good non-conference schedules and done well to show they're legit.
The better you are, the more TV time you get, the more a prospect is going to want to be a part of that. Especially in the NCAA tournament when even more TV sets are involved.
ISU was pretty bad before Orr and the bar was set for future success.
Yeah if a team explodes to be dominant for like 4 years and then fades then sure cheating could be thrown around but sustained success over 20+ years isn't exactly a 'Blue Chips' situation.
And since it seems like the non-traditional teams are the ones who actually get nailed for cheating, you'd think that would have happened long ago at Zaga.
As others said, Gonzaga becoming nationally prominent didn't happen overnight.
But even early in Few's tenure, GU did more than simply "dominate a 1-bid league." Two straight seasons advanced to Sweet 16 as a double-digit seed, showing signs it could compete beyond it's "level."
Eventually, GU was able to get power teams on the schedule (it became a low "risk" for big conference powers to play the Zags; a loss wouldn't hurt, a win was a true gain).
I don't know a lot about ins & outs of recruiting, but I think Few has built a lot on "creative" recruiting and finding overseas players. (Fans with more expertise than I have could set me straight or expand on that).
But even early in Few's tenure, GU did more than simply "dominate a 1-bid league." Two straight seasons advanced to Sweet 16 as a double-digit seed, showing signs it could compete beyond it's "level."
Eventually, GU was able to get power teams on the schedule (it became a low "risk" for big conference powers to play the Zags; a loss wouldn't hurt, a win was a true gain).
I don't know a lot about ins & outs of recruiting, but I think Few has built a lot on "creative" recruiting and finding overseas players. (Fans with more expertise than I have could set me straight or expand on that).
Gonzaga’s does a good job getting international players. And their team is BIG. I kept running into their team in Atlantis, they had 4 guys over 6’10.
At UNI, Jacobson took it to higher level, but despite coaching stability, hasn't been able to maintain even conference success, much less the national success Gonzaga has had. Wichita State has probably been the closest.
They were a broke college in 1998 and down to just a few thousand kids even going to school there . To consider they did something to make it more appealing to go to school there is not ignorant and bud I’m 41 and could have played basketball at some smaller colleges so saying I’m ignorant to college basketball was a pretty ignorant thing to say yourself ....
You do have a great point UCLA hasn’t been good in there terms since the 90’s and they had the O’bannon brothers. USC has been one issue after another . So beyond that Oregon and Washington has decent teams here and their but nothing that just dominate good basketball so I’m sure the west coast media really helps blow up Gonzaga.
Also for a small school like that to have an All-Star and Hall of Fame NBA player playing in the league for almost 20 years helped the school to stay on the radar for prospective athletes. It probably didn't hurt that it was a western team in the same region as the western school. You couldn't turn on two Jazz games in a row without hearing at least once that John Stockton went to Gonzaga.
Why do you have an axe to grind against the Zags?
