I just looked at USF’s roster. I didn’t realize that they’ll be losing pretty much all of their firepower. Bouyea, Shabazz, Massalski, Tape, and Stefannini are all seniors. Not sure if they have bonus eligibility due to COVID.
Wonder how many offers Golden will get? Seems like this would be the time for him to jump.
I was wondering the same thing…but didn’t he sign a multi-year contract? I doubt that he had enough negotiating power to get an out-clause.
Shabazz and Tape can return but they are not exactly Bouyea and Massalski. It is a no brainer for Golden to leave unless he is like Randy Bennett and is one of the “don’t mess with happy” guys. I saw he makes around 450k now at USF. Good money for sure but you aren’t living like a king in San Fran at that rate. I think the only way they keep him is if there is a USF donor that wants to and can multiply Golden’s current salary by 5.
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I like to think that Golden can learn from Few and Bennett, who drew some good lessons from the plenitude of other coaches before them (like Monson) who DID make the jump to P5 teams and washed out.
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I think he’ll leave somehow/way. Its in the overall DNA (from Kyle Smith). Hit and run artistry, leave before things hit the fan. Just my opinion.
Speaking of USF donors, looks like Sobrato is helping them out by styling out their gym…meaning one of their biggest donors is a Bronco. Crazy.
I believe Sobrato made a ton of his money as a developer/builder in San Francisco…not surprising he’d leave some $ behind in SF, he has no shortage of it.
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i also believe that some family went there, lots of cross-jesuit pollination on the peninsula. I still haven’t forgiven my sister for becoming a Don (not that she cares)
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My worries/skepticism on SMC was clearly unfounded.
buckets ‘meatgrinder’ comment is spot-on. Methodical/patient offense combined with their staunch D is formidable. That said, I do still think they are going to run in to a team that simply out athletes them. May or may not be UCLA but Baylor looms after that.
USF…bad luck missing Massalski at this critical time, IMO he was the biggest reason for their improvement from last year. On the future for them, as others have noted I’m sure he’ll take note of Bennett and Few who stayed. If I’m Golden and/or his agent I wouldn’t leave simply for money…it’d have to be a place that isn’t a rebuild, where they are already winning. Otherwise, you end up like Monson and the short term bump in $$$ doesn’t last long and your long term career trajectory is stunted. Might depend on what kind of team he thinks he can put together next year; 'Bob is right, Tape and Shabazz both technically have another year due to the free COVID 20/21 season but they’d be 6th year guys so who knows if they want to stick around or move on with life/career.
A few years ago I read an unbelievable fact about the Gonzaga Dan Monson thing. The most Gonzaga could come up with for his annual salary after the Elite Eight run is
105,000 per year. Minnesota gave him 490k per year, guaranteed over 7 years. He had to take it. Amazing how much more money there is in the sport today. Even adjusted for inflation, that 105k would only be around 170k today.
I think it is a bit over-the-top (clickbait?) to say that he “built” Gonzaga. I’d say he led the construction of a great foundation, but Few, as a key assistant, was a big part of it as well. It’s not like Few came in from elsewhere and illegitimately or unfairly enjoyed the fruits of Monson’s labor. And I understand WHY he did it: $3.5mm guaranteed is life changing money for someone who toiled in the mid-major soup of D1 coaching. But, I’ve also learned that (1) money isn’t everything (and definitely cannot buy happiness*); and (2) I think it is better to be a big fish in a small pond than a small fish in a big pond. Few has become a home town hero. Think about the coaches who have to follow in the steps of Coach K, Dean Smith (hell, Tubby and Roy, both elite coaches, didn’t really get the love in NC), and probably soon to happen at Syracuse.
*while it is true that money can’t buy happiness, it is certainly more comfortable to cry in a Mercedes-Benz than on the public bus. Money can make unhappiness a fair bit more bearable.
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Also, I want to say (repeat?) that Legans is gonna be a fine coach. Seems to be a good strategist and tactician (though that might be his assistants), and he seems to connect and inspire his players (think about the kids who followed him to Portland). Having coached at Eastern Washington, he may have had a nearby view (18 miles away from Spokane) of what it means to be a hometown hero. If he can do that in Portland, especially after the mess left by former NBA great Terry Porter, he could earn similar acclaim (though Portland is a much bigger market than Spokane).
92bronc, I stumbled across something that made me chuckle and double-think…I did my brackets Thursday morning, on a few different sites. The last one that I did was on ESPN, and it was getting very close to first tip-off, so I looked at some of the shortcut options that they offered (higher seeds only, betting favorites, etc.). The last shortcut on the list was based purely on ESPN’s BPI. Whichever team, at each pairing, had the higher BPI, that team was picked to win.
The ESPN BPI showed SMC WINNING THE CHAMPIONSHIP, in a final matchup against a Big East team (I think it was Villanova, but I might have misremembered). It would give me quite a chuckle if Bennett and the Gaels actually won a championship before Few. It would also probably be great for the WCC overall, and more than counter the loss of BYU.
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I’ll sell my house and donate it all to SMC if they win championship.
I’ve complimented Bennett a ton this season. I think what he’s doing with the talent level on that squad is remarkable. But I still firmly believe the talent is simply not that impressive…Logan Johnson is a good athlete and slasher but not much of perimeter shooter, beyond that there’s no one who is a + athlete. But a bunch of guys who know their role, what the can/can’t do. They execute their scheme and style extremely well and it all adds up to the whole being much better than the sum of the parts. And they’re peaking at the right time…everyone is healthy, Kuhse playing about as well as you can imagine him playing and it’s all kicking.
But it’s still a team we beat once and played relatively close the two other games while playing just so-so. So I have a hard time seeing them survive both UCLA and Baylor to get to an Elite 8, let alone win another 3 games beyond that for the title…regardless of ESPN’s BPI says. Just shows that analytics are far less than perfect.
On GU/Monson/Few…I’ll go a step further…while Monson certainly contributed to their rise, I still firmly believe that Fitzgerald deserves more credit. I think there’s a bit of revisionist history and hyperbole in that article. Even the supposed story about Fitzgerald not believing they could win the league doesn’t really add up as they in fact did so under Fitzgerald…1st place in '95 and I believe a couple of 2nd’s in the 90’s. Under Fitzgerald they had a four 20 win seasons (plus a 19-9) in the early/mid 90’s at a time when teams played fewer games (high 20’s) so 20 wins actually meant something. And from '94 through '96 they went NIT, NCAA, NIT including 1st round wins in each of the NIT’s. Fitzgerald laid the groundwork for future success IMO. Then Monson took over in 97/98.
Reports Golden will be coaching Florida Gators. Maybe that will help SCU move up another notch next year.
March 1995 flashback: I can remember taking a Southwest flight with a stopover in Salt Lake. A Gonzaga student/band member came aboard and sat next to my buddy and I. They had just lost to Maryland in the NCAA first round. We chatted and traded stories (Sitting in that row where the aisles faced each other back in the day). We landed again and it was our turn to get off: Boise. We faced Mississippi State the following day…of course, that evening the Bronco Faithful found themselves scorching downtown Boise in party mode.
At any rate, I look back at that random encounter with the Zags fan as the point in time that our programs started to head in very different directions…
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Yep, we did follow up the '95 at-large bid with another at-large bid in '96 after again winning league but faltering in the WCC tourney, then beat the same Maryland program you mention in the 1st round before losing to #4 Kansas. Good times.
Lot’s of mediocrity since then with the occasional blip of an NIT-ish type season ('07, this year, some might say a few others).
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Trey Wertz’s Notre Dame squad just tipped off.
From a basketball perspective, Wertz’s transfer hasn’t really panned out…not starting, playing 19mins/game, averaging 4pts, 2assists.
He has one more season thanks to the 20/21 free COVID year…will be interesting to see if he sticks around or transfers to insure some PT and bigger role. Assuming he’s on track to graduate, he could leave with a ND degree, and transfer to a mid-major or low-major with a hole to feel and maybe guaranteed PT.