Chet Holmgren to Gonzaga
Good for Mark Few and the Zags. By all accounts he was never coming here, so I'd rather him go to Gonzaga than somewhere else...
Cool I hope he has fun sleepwalking through the regular season and then getting bitch slapped in the tourney
If it's in the national title game is it really a B slap?! Rough times, those losses in the championship game. I'm certain we'd take that every year*.
*"If we make the 2nd weekend and get to the Elite 8, everything after that is house money"...is a popular and yet very sensible take on March Madness every season.
I'd much rather win it all occasionally than come in 2nd every year.
I disagree. The ride is part of the fun.
Yeah, because pistol whipping Pepperdine game in and game out is soooo much fun /s
Getting there is half the battle...Only will be a matter of time before they kick the door in.
coming in second place isn't bad.......
I mean say what you will about that championship game, but if you're a one and done type you could do a lot worse than Gonzaga. You get to play for the team in a college basketball obsessed town, improve your draft stock all season by beating up on lesser talent, draw a top seed in the tournament all but guaranteeing a deep run, and then get drafted in the top 10 and ride off into the sunset.
That's pretty awesome for an 18 year old. I bet he will have fun!
Considering 2014 was the last time they didn't make the Sweet 16 and 2008 was the last time they didn't win their first-round game, this take seems wrong.
So then the calendar should read, "January, February, 'Zaga...."
This.
If anything, Gonzaga gives me some hope that, with the right coach, a team like Eastern could become a power. I figured playing in a lackluster conference would be a tough obstacle to overcome for a program, but it’s clearly not the case.
Is Spokane absolutely incredible or something? Not taking anything away from Few, who has obviously done an incredible job, but I cannot figure out the allure of Gonzaga relative to other storied programs in better leagues and beautiful places.
Gonzaga exploited an inefficiency (foreign born players who want to use basketball to get a degree) to become a power. And now that they are a power they've become a name brand and a destination for kids.
Spokane is beautiful and right across the ID border is Couer d’Alene which is even prettier. North of Spokane is really pretty country as well and you’re only a couple hours in most directions from mountains.
Hmm, I've never been there, but I've always heard Spokane's a pretty dumpy city.
Look, I think Couer d'Alene and Spokane are pretty too, but that's not going to allure the top talent in basketball. It's also an area that is traditionally racist as fuck, so that's not a great start. I'm not saying Gonzaga won't get recruits like this from time to time off of their recent run, but I don't expect them to beat out top teams for top recruits on the regular.
I would disagree. It's a pretty out-there place and very very very whitebread.
Based on my limited experience with Spokane, user jmstranger is on-target about the area.
Still, I agree that their ascent is improbable. Gonzaga wasn't much to look at and it was easy to get the sense that it wasn't a super-prosperous school. (Loyola-Chicago, which is very prosperous-looking, is a reasonable comparison.) I'd swear the name has something to do with its appeal and I remember making the same point in another comment.
How much would a nice surrounding area mean to a college student? I'd think it would be a minor factor. AFAIK Gonzaga is nothing special academically and getting there would always require a puddle-jumper flight. It's not near any hoops hotbeds.
I 100% agree with you that Gonzaga's name has been an asset in their ascent.
Look at Xavier. Same sort of situation (private Jesuit school), except better - they're a tad better academically and they are in a major American city in the Eastern Time Zone. They were playing in the mid-tier MCC in the early-to-mid 1990s, not that different than the WCC.
But Gonzaga has made it to the elite, while Xavier is still below.
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If one could go back 25 years and say "a current WCC team is going to make the jump and be among college basketball's elite by 2020. Guess who?", Gonzaga arguably would have been among the last choices. Why suspect a school in then-sleepy Spokane with 1 NCAA tourney game (a loss) played all-time?
I imagine the rank order of guesses in 1996 would have been something like "LMU, Pepperdine, Santa Clara, USF, St. Mary's, Gonzaga, USD, Portland."
As it is, LMU still hasn't played a tourney game since 1990, and Pepperdine & Santa Clara have only played a combined 3 in the last 25 years.
April 19th, 2021 at 10:29 PM ^
I think Xavier is a weird comparison here. They worked up from the MCC (now the Horizon League, a low-major) to the A-10 and now to the Big East. In terms of on-court success, Gonzaga is ahead, but I'm sure that the Big East money is worth more in the long term. Also, Xavier had a 1 seed back in 2018 (in Michigan's region, you may remember). Maybe they're not a perennial Final Four contender like Gonzaga, but if you asked the athletic department 25 years ago whether they would prefer a successful men's basketball team stuck in a bad conference, or a basketball team that can leverage their brand to move up a few levels into a major conference, I think most would pick the latter.
I cannot figure out the allure of Gonzaga relative to other storied programs in better leagues and beautiful places
Oh come on, it's not rocket science. Gonzaga is a cakewalk for 2/3 the season and 5-stars are starting to realize that they can all play there and have a guaranteed tournament spot
Few just seems to understand that money isn’t everything. He has created a well oiled machine up there. Constant success in a crappy league, a shot at the NCAA every year, etc. Relatively low pressure for him as he will never get fired. Longevity is the answer....although I’m sure he could squeeze a few million more out of them.
Well, since you asked:
Live in Spokane. It is beautiful here, get to enjoy all four seasons. If you're into outdoor activities and craft beer, there might not be a better spot in the country (Bend Oregon is probably better, but more expensive). Cost of living is relatively low and we have one of the hottest real estate markets in the country. And mountains!
I've traveled quite a bit and always look forward to coming home.
Cheers!
Not a lot of the things you mention here are huge selling points to an 18 year old hoops star. If you're a 45 year old dad, sounds like a great place to visit. Different demographic though.
Ha! You're not wrong. And you pretty much nailed my profile.
But what are 18yr olds into? Their phones? Hot chicks? Hot chicks on their phones?
Cheers!
I live not too far away, and see Zags gear around town quite often, and I'm here to tell you: Spokane is far from incredible
If six sweet sixteens, four Elite 8's and two championship games in the last 6 tournaments is getting "bitch slapped in the tourney" I think most teams would be happy to get bitch slapped in the tourney . . .
They were supposed to make it that far in the tournament though. In those 6 years, they were a 1 seed 3 of those years, a 2 seed in another year, a 4 seed another year, and an 11 seed one of the years. That is why everyone complains that they get seeded so high by beating up on a bunch of nobody’s. They have made it to the final four twice in the history of their program
2 final fours(2 national title appearances to boot) in that time span...and you’re saying it like that’s bad! They also have more tournament wins than any team in the country during that period too. Regardless of their regular season resume, they perform pretty well in the tournament.
They have more tournament wins than anyone in that time span because they play no one during the regular season and more often than not get a 1seed or a 2 seed. Then they play a 16 seed and an 8 or 9 seed and surprise...they get 2 games against shitty teams. What if Michigan got to play as a 1 seed in 4 of the last 8 tournaments because we beat up on a bunch of shitty teams in our shitty conference? Gonzaga plays well in the tournament because they beat up on shitty teams in the regular season, not separate from that fact
The amount this gets posted by Michigan fans about Gonzaga is weird. The big ten hasn't won a national championship since 2000, how's that gauntlet working out?
I think people still don't want to take Gonzaga seriously and are always looking for ways to knock them down a level. They've proven themselves. That Baylor team was gonna stuff most anyone in a locker
Based on that picture, he could have definitely used some Camp Sanderson!
Pictures don't always tell the full story but this lad is unhealthy skinny. He would get cranked in the Big Ten.
Great decision by all accounts, young man. Best wishes.
He needs to up his mustache game, because Timme's set the bar pretty high.
Seriously, who names their kid Chet?
The Holmgrens and the Steadmans.
Chet's Mom and Dad.
Mr. and Mrs. Lemon, that's who.
Actually, Chet Lemon was born Chester Earl Lemon. He was part of the first Tigers teams I paid attention to, with Lou, Tram, Jason Thompson, and Aurelio Rodriguez. I looked him up on Google and one of the suggested questions was, "is Chet Lemon in the Hall of Fame?" I never would've considered that, but he has a career 55.6 WAR, which is a borderline HofF number. Like most players from that era, if he had played for the Yankees, he'd probably be in the Hall of Fame.
It's a crime that Lou Whitaker isn't in the hall. If I'm Trammel, I tell the writers to go fuck themselves -- "I ain't going in without Lou".
Lou Whitaker's career WAR is 75.1. Seesh.
This had a full post last year, I believe and all I say to you, brother, is PREACH.
Love me some Sweet Lou.
Sorry I missed it. :(
I guess not a full post but plenty of like minded believers out there with you.
https://mgoblog.com/mgoboard/ot-joe-morgan-hof-second-baseman-big-red-machine-has-passed
I’m happy he went to Gonzaga as opposed to Duke/UNC/Kansas/Kentucky.
Though I do wonder just how good he can be. He gets favorable comparisons to KD coming out of high school but I don’t see it. KD is wayyyyy more athletic (even as a rookie in 2007, only LeBron/Rudy Gay were more athletic SFs than him). And, though skinny AF, KD was still more filled out than Chet back at UT...looking at Chet, I think he’ll struggle to put on real muscle with that frame of his, and if he does put on a good amount of muscle and weight, what is to say he doesn’t lose a lot of explosiveness?
Im just thinking there is no way he is a 1 and done player, and that he needs to add a good 30-40 pounds ASAP.
Chet is what happens when Gonzaga and BYU have a baby.
April 19th, 2021 at 10:56 PM ^
The question is with which wife?
Saw Chet on TV in a high school game. Your first impression is Dang is this guy skinny. And think that someone like Kofi Cockburn would break him in half with a good swat.
But I was amazed at what a great dribbler he is for as tall as he is. He was sometimes bringing the ball up the court instead of the PG. He is a very good player but like everyone else I think he needs to put on a lot of weight and muscle. Don't think he's a one and done.
I watched him play in a game against Emoni Bates and Holmgren was the better player in that game. Fantastic shot blocker and shot alterer, can shoot, handle the ball, 7'1". I'm curious how his game will translate to the NBA after next season, but I was real impressed.
"I'm just thinking there is no way he is a 1 and done player"
Would you like to put money on that?