(05-17-2021 05:41 AM)schmolik Wrote:  Also think about the fact that a starting basketball team has 5 players and a starting football team (offense and defense) is 22 players. It's a lot easier to build a top basketball program than it is a top football program. You bring Jalen Suggs to Gonzaga and you're in the title game. You bring Jalen Brunson to Villanova and you win the national championship. You bring one of them to UCF and even if he's the quarterback you still need receivers, running backs, blockers, and defense. Sure, Suggs and Brunson needed teammates too but a lot fewer. It's easier for one big star to lift a team in basketball (men's or women's) than football.

This. Larry Bird alone was the reason for Indiana State’s championship run (and 3 years of relevant basketball). In basketball, one great player can change the entire program’s reputation. Few has now built the foundation at Gonzaga.

Gonzaga is now a program where the best players can thrive...even if they are only going to play one year of college ball.

(05-16-2021 08:13 AM)schmolik Wrote:  Gonzaga also took advantage of a relatively weak Pac-12 for a long time (one Final Four team for entire decade of 2010's) and very little competition in the Pacific Northwest. Other "mid-majors" in other areas have to compete with power conferences. Even in California, you're still second choice to the four California Pac-12 schools if not out of state schools (when does Loyola Marymount or Long Beach State get any top LA recruits?) Gonzaga doesn't have that problem.

The top Seattle area talent would probably rather go to Gonzaga than Washington (who would go to Washington now?) The only one of the four Pac-12 schools in the Pacific Northwest that's any threat to Gonzaga is Oregon. Why would you go to VCU when you can go to Virginia? Why would you go to Wichita State when you can go to Kansas? Gonzaga is the #1 school in Washington now. How many non Power 6 schools can say that (and don't include schools in states that don't have P6's like Vermont)?

Where do I start. Under Mark Few, Gonzaga has developed a great mid-major basketball program, one that does not operate or act like a "mid-major." Gonzaga did not break the top 25 in basketball recruiting until 2016 with the Zach Collins class. The had 7 players picked in the NBA draft from 2011 through 2020. As a comparison, Duke had 29 players selected in this period. Gonzaga has been a great coaching job and getting the most out of the team's talent.

The Pac-12 had no effect on Gonzaga and Gonzaga has no effect on the Pac-12. They are in different leagues and the Pac-12 is not losing recruits to Gonzaga. That Pac-12 has not had a problem attracting talent, but they have had a problem attracting quality coaches. That has for the most part been resolved.

The Zags have broken through the past three seasons in recruiting. They ended up No. 13 in 247sports basketball recruiting rankings in 2019, No. 6 in 2020 and No. 3 in 2021. They are going nationwide. In 2021, they had a five star recruit out of Minnesota and a five star recruit out of Nebraska. Big Ten Country.

The priorities of Washington and Gonzaga are not the same in athletics. Washington is a football school. In 2018, Washington had a football budget of $40.4 million and revenue of $84 million. They made $43.6 million on football. One-third of their $116 million dollar budget is spent on football. Gonzaga spent one-third of their $30 million dollar budget on men's basketball. Their priority is men's basketball. The Huskies spend almost the same on men's basketball and had two-first round picks in the 2020 NBA draft and a first and second round pick in the 2019 NBA draft. There is no lack of talent at Washington. The difference between the two schools in basketball is Mark Few.

The No. 2 ranked player in the country in basketball, power forward Paolo Banchero, is from Seattle. He decided to attend Duke, passing up on Washington and Gonzaga. The struggles of the Huskies probably did not help. UW did pick up a 4 star recruit out of the Seattle area and Gonzaga also got a four star recruit out of the Seattle area. No one owns the talent in Seattle for basketball or football, but if you want to recruit Seattle and the surrounding area it is probably better to be in the City of Seattle.