SPOKANE, Wash.-- Expectations for the Zags are at a place they've never been before with talks about title contention many months before the Kraziness typically arrives.
The hype hinged on two Bulldogs who began to blossom in their second season.
Killian Tillie and Rui Hachimura put off the NBA, returning to campus to raise their games and elevate their program's title hopes.
“I really want to get the best I can and give the best I can to Gonzaga and win a championship because I think we’re going to have a good team and winning a championship is going to be our goal this year,” said forward Killian Tillie.
“They could’ve left and made money if they wanted to or anything, but to come back and put us in a good spot and good chance to win a National Championship--I’m really looking forward to it,” said guard Zach Norvell.
The uncertainty extended beyond their status.
“It’s getting better every day,” said senior guard Josh Perkins.
Josh Perkins addressed a lingering issue that has plagued him since high school and slowed him last season--undergoing shoulder surgery in the spring.
“I never make any excuses, but I definitely felt it throughout the season. Not even this season, but my entire college career I felt it,” said Perkins. “There’s a couple times this year that it popped out and I felt it and like I said, it’s getting better every day so I’m feeling good about it.”
With the addition of former North Dakota lead guard Geno Crandall, the burden of running the show no longer falls squarely on Perkins. While also allowing Zach Norvell to focus on doing what he does best, Mark Few will have plenty of options this year, one of which spent the last season on the bench. San Jose State transfer Brandon Clarke joins Rui and Tillie as a third athletic versatile big, with enormous highlight potential.
“I get hyped thinking about going down on the fast breaks and doing dunks like Rui and Perkins and all of them. I feel like the telling level is very high, so it’ll be some very fun games to watch,” said forward Brandon Clarke.
“We’re going to get up and down, we’re going to play fast and a lot of guys are going to score the ball. I think it will be a little bit of a new look for us,” said forward Corey Kispert.
A look that has brought one word to mind---scary.
“It’s a scary group,” said Perkins.
But the same could be said about those expectations which have made an already enormous target even bigger.
“One of the things coach Few has told us over and over this summer is that we have to work out like we’re at the bottom of the food chain. We can’t expect anything to be given to us,” said Kispert. “We have to wake up with the attitude that people are working harder than us and we need to match that because come March, come February, nothing’s given.”
There's another reason the bar is so high for this Gonzaga team--it's the fact that they've been there before. Broken through the barrier not just to a Final Four, but to the title game. That history, mixed with this talent has brought one accomplishment in clear focus.
“We got close a couple times, but we haven’t really held that trophy above our head and that’s our goal. We’re going to do everything in our power to get back there,” said Perkins. “If we all buy in and do all the little stuff that we always do, the sky’s the limit. This is a special group and I think this is a special for us. I can feel it.”