Gonzaga Basketball: Takeaways from Round of 32 win over Kansas Jayhawks

Role Definition

Earlier in the season the biggest problem for Gonzaga was their lack of role definition. There were too many guys who were trying to be the star and the roles were not clearly defined. As the season has gone along Coach Few has done a fantastic job of helping everyone figure out their roles. Every player on this team has filled their role wonderfully and all are contributing to winning games.

Graham Ike and Ryan Nembhard are the stars and that did take awhile to figure out for the Bulldogs but now that those two players know their roles they have been able to thrive. Anton Watson has been asked to do a lot more this year than he has in the past and he has thrived in that role. Some nights his role is to score a ton of points other nights his role is to defend and rebound. He is one of the most versatile players in the country and has thrived in that role for the 4th year in a row. Nolan Hickman and Dusty Stromer shoot a lot of threes and Hickman is the one with the most diverse offensive game and he is asked to utilize that a lot. The starters and bench players all have great chemistry and trust each other to get the job done.

Earlier in the season Gonzaga didn’t look like they knew their roles and that makes sense considering what the Bulldogs lost at the end of last year. Drew Timme who was the mainstay in the Gonzaga offense for a long time left, Julian Strawther who was the scorer went to the NBA. Those two guys were tough to replace for the Bulldogs and then Gonzaga lost a player who they expected to be the star heading into the season in Steele Venters. Venters tore his ACL in the preseason and his injury forced coach Few to put in some Freshman who were not expecting to play much. It is fairly evident that as the season has worn on the freshman have gotten a lot better. The role definition has been one of the biggest reasons for the Gonzaga turnaround.