Gonzaga Coach Mark Few Answers Questions

We had a chance to speak directly to Mark Few yesterday and ask him some questions about the upcoming NCAA Tourney, their first opponent, and more.

To start with, when Coach Few was asked about “broad-stroke” thoughts regarding their first opponent, the North Dakota State Bisons, he had this to say- “I am impressed with North Dakota State. They won their league and conference tourney. That’s a really difficult thing to do. It shows some toughness. Another thing that is impressive about them is that they were in this thing last year and won a game. They will not be wowed by anything. We know from being in this thing so many times, we will have to play very well to move on.”

Assuming Coach Few was somewhat familiar with NDS, as former assistant Coach Ray Giacoletti was from there, Few was asked about the connection. He had this to say “Ray is as good a friend as I have out there. I remember when Ray was out there in Fargo ND. He played an important part here recently. Some of the guys he helped recruit and develop are still here. I remember when Ray was out in Fargo that their current coach used to work for him.”

Coach Few went on to say that “NDS is a really good team. They have a heck of a player in Alexander. They shoot well from the three line and want to keep the score down.” He also said that “at this point they’ll start watching film on them and that’s where they are at right now.” 

He was asked about the process of preparing and scouting NDS and also for a potential team you might face should you advance. Few said “We have 5 veteran guys watching, assimilating game tape. One guy would be responsible for NDS, one for Davidson, and one for Iowa. They are now at it as we speak and we’ll be ready to practice and go tomorrow for NDS.

When asked about the long gap between the end of the WCC Tourney and the start of this one’s impact, as to if it was good, or better to rest, he replied “I don’t know. It’s the only way we’ve done it so I can’t compare. From a coaching standpoint anytime you can get your guys rest, it’s a pretty good thing especially after a long year.”

He added that they were trying to stay competitive by having hard practices, and going at it 5 on 5. He spoke about the fact that NDS plays the type of style that we’ve been used to playing in the WCC Conference. Teams such as San Diego, Pepperdine, and Santa Clara all tend to play that “possession by possession, slow tempo style." They’ve seen it some in the preseason and a lot in the WCC.

When asked to give a sense of how he thought the team was playing right now he felt that although they had not played real well for a couple weeks, they played much better in the Tourney down in Vegas, especially the past couple of games. He clarified by adding “We shook the dust off and got back to playing the way we like to play and doing the things we like to do, being aggressive.”

He also spoke about the season’s overall play describing how “sometimes it’s week by week. Starting out the season they had an experienced team that jumped out early and were gelling.” “You’re never going to play great all year long, there are bouts of mediocrity. But, the most important thing is that they are healthy” and “the guys feel good about how they played the last couple of games down in Vegas.”

Lastly, he said BYU must have felt some angst being pretty much the last team called, but that he was happy for them that they made it in.