Once again, Gonzaga Basketball is one of the top teams in NCAA Basketball this season. Ranked No. 2 in the AP poll for the 2022-23 campaign, the Bulldogs are a national title contender. But after losing by 20 points in a live exhibition game last week, they clearly have some things to work on.
This is an interesting roster filled with plenty of potential and promise but there are some questions to deal with as well. Here are the top five storylines to keep watch for this season.
1. Replacing Chet Holmgren on defense
It’s hard to take too much from an exhibition game, especially against a top-10 caliber roster in the Tennesee Volunteers. But 99 points and over 50% shooting from the field definitely showed the team has improvements to make on that end.
Last season, Gonzaga Basketball ranked 3rd nationally in opposing field goal shooting at 38%, including being No. 1 overall in shots defended below the arc in under 42% from the field. Chet Holmgren, the former No. 1 ranked prospect out of high school, played a major part in how good the team was on that end. He could defend inside and out and was an elite shot-blocker all game.
Without Holmgren, where are the quality defenders? Drew Timme isn’t an interior defender and the perimeter players got lost several times on switches and with finding the Vols on threes. They’ll get better of course and Coach Mark Few can use this as a teaching tool going forward. But there was an expected drop without Holmgren but Friday night showed it could be even bigger than originally thought.