Mark Few says Graham Ike should be ready for Gonzaga's opener

There's no doubt last season's preseason MWC Player of the Year will be a pivotal cog down low for the Bulldogs. But injury has been a concern, as the 6-foot-9 bruiser sat out all of the 2022-23 season with a lower leg injury. Ike did participate in offseason drills, and despite sitting out Kraziness in the Kennel, his coach assured everyone that the Wyoming transfer would be ready to go for Gonzaga's exhibition opener against Lewis-Clark State.

"That's the plan," Few said in an interview with The Field of 68. "I think he's good enough to be a 20-10 type of guy for us also. We're going to throw the ball in there and give him those touches and those opportunities. So he's going to be a big key."

Few noted Ike was "practicing hard in the summer," though he "tailed it off" at one point in the offseason before amping up his training again closer to the season.

Following reports earlier in the week that Gonzaga and the Big 12 resumed high-level discussions, Few and WCC commissioner Stu Jackson spent a lot of time fielding questions about the latest rumors. It was reported that a decision regarding the Bulldogs' potential move to the Big 12 could happen within the next week, though Few didn't seem concerned about his program's future beyond this season.

"This stuff (has) been going on a while ... when it happens it happens, if it happens it'll happen, if it doesn't it doesn't. I'm just dialed in on this (year)," Few said.

Talks between Gonzaga and the Big 12, which began in 2022, were renewed recently after commissioner Brett Yormark publicly declared that discussions had ended in August. Yormark pitched the Zags' inclusion as soon as the 2024-25 season to conference officials at meetings in Dallas nearly two weeks ago. Matt Norlander reported that it was a "long-shot" the Bulldogs join the league in the near future, but Yormark received "overwhelming support" to explore the addition further from some athletic directors and presidents, according to Front Office Sports. 

As Few noted, this isn't the first time Gonzaga has been courted by another conference. There have been five leagues that have discussed adding the Bulldogs since 2017, and while they're still in the WCC, Jackson noted the importance of improving the conference as a whole.

"For me as commissioner of this conference, again, control what you can control," Jackson said. "Perhaps we make it more attractive for a team like Gonzaga to stay by strengthening our own selves. We have them today. And I suspect we're going to have them tomorrow. What the future holds, we will deal with it."

No matter how much Few downplayed the importance of the coaches' preseason poll, the Bulldogs-Gaels rivalry will be among the best in college basketball in 2023.

Saint Mary's returns 12 players from a team that went to the second round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament, led by preseason all-conference members Aidan Mahaney, Alex Ducas and Mitchell Saxen. The Gaels finished 19th in the final Associated Press Top 25  poll and will likely be ranked to start the season for just the fourth time in program history. Randy Bennett's squad is deep, experienced and not afraid of anyone.

"We just need to have the mentality that we don't run. We're not running from any smoke," Mahaney said to The Field of 68 in response to a question about playing high-profile teams. "I think we're ready for it."

While the Gaels' All-WCC trio has had their share of battles in the rivalry, several Bulldogs will experience it for the first time.

"I'm super excited for that," Creighton transfer Ryan Nembhard said to The Field of 68. "I've heard those games are crazy out there at Saint Mary's and I know they're crazy in The Kennel and I kind of watched a couple of the games last year, especially towards the end of the year, so I can't wait for those games."

For years, the WCC hierarchy has been Gonzaga at the top, followed by Saint Mary's and BYU in a tier below. But with the Cougars in the Big 12, there's an opportunity for a program to climb the ladder and compete with the league's big boys.

With the Zags and Gaels sharing the top, it's arguably a three-team race for that No. 3 spot in the conference standings. San Francisco (45), Loyola Marymount (42) and Santa Clara (41) were all within four points of each other in the coaches' preseason poll after years of knocking on the door.

The Dons made the NCAA Tournament two seasons ago. The Lions have two top-four finishes under Stan Johnson. Herb Sendek at Santa Clara has produced back-to-back first-round NBA draft picks. The talent pool, coaching and resources across all member schools have improved greatly over the years, and now it's just a matter of which program takes advantage.

"You can't just say you want to be good. It doesn't just happen," Dons' head coach Chris Gerlufsen said to The Field of 68. "You need the resources to be able to charter, you need the resources to be able to open and grow. There's no secret formula. I just think you have to make a commitment to want to win."

"We've been sitting in that next neighborhood and it's now incumbent upon us to take that next step," Sendek said. "And I think credit Gonzaga — the rest of the league has been forced to up their game."

Regardless of the talks involving Gonzaga and the Big 12, it's not a matter of if but when the WCC adds to its nine-member league.

"We're at nine schools, and from the coaches to the athletic directors in our conference, all the way to the presidents, they all agreed nine's not a sustainable number because it makes you vulnerable," Jackson said to The Field of 68. "It makes you vulnerable to teams that are at the top of your conferences. It makes conferences vulnerable for teams at the bottom who just may throw their hands up in the air and say 'Listen I'm cutting sports.' So we need more members and identifying who those members are and their willingness to perhaps, partner with us. It's an everyday focus."

Jackson doesn't have a timetable for expansion. In regard to providing more exposure to his current members, he noted the importance of proper scheduling. 

"Sometimes our schools have difficulty scheduling other schools of our level and above," Jackson said. "And so we need to look at how we can correct that."

Jackson hinted at the idea that a "scheduling alliance" could bring more high-level competition to the league on a consistent basis. The fact of the matter is that Power 5 programs don't want to play in the smaller arenas out West, no matter the level of competition. Gonzaga is a great example. The Bulldogs have put together very difficult nonconference schedules year after year, but they've struggled to bring high-profile matchups to the McCarthey Athletic Center.