Gonzaga assistant coach R-Jay Barsh shares the connections he's built with the players in his first season on the staff and much more.
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Welcome to the Coaches Show, Gonzaga Nation.
00:08 I'm your host, Dan Dickow, with today's guest.
00:12 First year coach at Gonzaga,
00:14 but he's been a tremendous coach at the college level
00:17 for many years, a Pacific Northwest native,
00:20 which I can't wait to get into a little bit
00:22 and hear his West side perspective of the Gonzaga program
00:25 before he became a huge part of it.
00:27 None other than RJ Barsh.
00:29 Coach, thanks for joining.
00:30 - Dan Dickow, man, it's great to be here.
00:33 - Yeah, well, we've known each other for a bit of time.
00:37 We really kind of started to get to know each other
00:38 when you were at Boise State.
00:40 Another former Zag, Leon Rice is the head coach there.
00:44 Your kind of coaching mentor is a very good friend
00:48 of Coach Fuse and Carl Howell.
00:50 It's so weird and so funny how the basketball relationships
00:53 and the circles are so small.
00:56 I guess to start, tell us a little bit
00:58 about your first perception of Gonzaga
01:02 having grown up on the West side.
01:04 - So my first perception of Gonzaga was
01:07 a dynamic team that had Casey Calvary.
01:12 - Fellow Tacoma guy.
01:14 - Yeah, yeah, so you always knew that there was a team,
01:19 it felt far away from Tacoma,
01:20 even though it was about five hours.
01:22 It felt like a long, long ways away,
01:26 but you always knew in the back of your mind
01:28 that one of the top programs in the country
01:31 was in your backyard.
01:33 I think Casey Calvary really set that tone for us.
01:36 And then another time it came to the periphery
01:39 a little more was Earl Knight, right?
01:41 He transferred over there, he had some success,
01:45 and then it was just so consistent, man,
01:48 that you would look up, if you're at a coaching clinic,
01:50 you heard about Gonzaga's offense.
01:52 And so it was something you couldn't escape
01:54 and something that you took notes of
01:56 when you were a basketball coach.
01:58 - Yeah, you throw the name Casey Calvary out,
02:00 that brings a smile to my face
02:01 'cause we were AAU teammates, we were teammates at Gonzaga,
02:05 he always used to say, "You don't mess with T-Town."
02:07 - You don't mess with T-Town.
02:09 - Yeah, that's for sure.
02:11 So let's get into, how did you get into coaching?
02:14 'Cause I know you played a little bit growing up
02:17 and some guys don't want anything to do
02:20 with the coaching thing,
02:21 but from our conversations in the past,
02:23 that was your passion,
02:24 that's what you wanted to get into from the start.
02:26 - Yeah, people are my passion.
02:28 Like I get energized by crowds,
02:31 I get energized by young people.
02:33 And so I figured that out early on doing NBC camps,
02:36 which originated from- - Frank Crowe originated here.
02:39 - So I used to do eight weeks a summer when I was 12, 13,
02:43 you know, all the way up until I was in college.
02:45 I was at Central Washington,
02:47 had a career-ending back injury.
02:49 And at a young age, I had to decide
02:51 where basketball was taking me and where it was not.
02:54 And as I was injured on the sideline,
02:56 I realized I got just as much joy
02:59 coaching the game with my players,
03:01 who were my teammates at the time, as I did playing.
03:05 And so I made a hard pivot to,
03:08 "I'm gonna try this coaching thing full-time."
03:10 And so moved back to Tacoma.
03:12 And I always say this, by the grace of God,
03:14 it was a tipping point in Tacoma of extreme talent.
03:18 You had Abdul Gadi, Isaiah Thomas,
03:20 you had all these guys who were coming up,
03:24 who were younger,
03:25 that needed somebody to open the gym 24 hours a day.
03:28 So here I was, you know, 21 years old, back in Tacoma,
03:32 and I had the gym open.
03:34 And so the gym open got me into training
03:36 those young fellas, started running the camps,
03:38 and then one thing led to another.
03:40 Like you said before, the Pacific Northwest,
03:43 the ties in basketball are very tight.
03:46 And my mentors told me how to walk into the game,
03:51 and to take my time, and to learn how to coach.
03:54 And so starting at the Division III level,
03:57 and then one year of high school at Lincoln High School,
04:00 and then four years at Tacoma Community College
04:02 with Carl Howe, set me up to learn the ins and outs
04:07 of being a college basketball coach, on and off the floor.
04:11 - So you talk about some of those early stages,
04:13 Tacoma Community College, the Division III level,
04:16 the high school level.
04:18 Your first opportunity as a head coach,
04:20 if I'm not mistaken,
04:21 Southeastern in the NAIA school,
04:23 all the way out in Florida.
04:25 You told me the story before in the past
04:26 about your drive from the Northwest,
04:29 and what you did on that couple day journey,
04:33 and kind of set yourself up
04:35 for another opportunity down the road.
04:37 Tell us a little bit about that first opportunity
04:39 as a head coach.
04:39 - So before I say that,
04:40 I have to say my first head coaching job
04:44 was the Tacoma Red Hots,
04:46 which was a fifth and sixth grade girls team.
04:49 And I know some of them may be watching,
04:51 so you always say your first head coaching job
04:53 was Southeastern.
04:54 But I did have a young girls team,
04:56 and I also got to coach in Jamal Crawford's pro-am,
05:00 and I got to coach one of his teams for two years.
05:03 And that's what excited me to, man,
05:05 want to be a head coach.
05:06 It called those timeouts,
05:08 to be able to organize the troops.
05:10 And so when the opportunity of Southeastern came up
05:12 in Lakeland, Florida,
05:14 you always hear about people who do,
05:17 you know, special things in their life
05:18 that they had to take a leap of faith.
05:21 And I hadn't been confronted with the leap yet.
05:23 And I'm sitting in Tacoma,
05:25 I'm in the office getting ready for summer league,
05:27 and this opportunity comes across my desk.
05:30 And so it felt like that leap.
05:32 So I go to Southeastern,
05:33 getting a Acura MDX drive,
05:36 3,000 something miles.
05:38 And on the way there,
05:39 I didn't know many coaches.
05:40 Actually, I knew about one.
05:42 And so by the time I got there,
05:44 I knew a few because I just called every Division I
05:47 assistant coach,
05:48 every Division II head coach,
05:49 staff in the state of Florida.
05:52 I accidentally called a couple coaches in my own league.
05:54 (laughing)
05:56 That shows you how rookie mode I was in.
06:00 But in those phone calls,
06:02 I developed some relationships.
06:03 That's how I developed a relationship
06:05 with Florida State,
06:06 Stan Jones, CY, and Coach Hamilton.
06:09 And so that set me up because I'm a relationships guy.
06:12 I think we all say that we're those things,
06:14 but like I said earlier,
06:15 I get energized by being around people.
06:18 So that trip and that drive
06:20 and those phone calls set me up for success.
06:23 - Yeah, I remember that when you had told me
06:25 that first time,
06:26 'cause it's so impressive.
06:27 Like, you know,
06:28 you could be doing a lot of different things,
06:30 driving by yourself,
06:31 listening to music, podcasts,
06:32 this now is popular.
06:34 But to take that chance
06:37 to call as many coaches as possible
06:39 and it sets your network up
06:40 to build into new opportunities.
06:43 - And I had a sales pitch now.
06:45 - So what was the sales pitch?
06:47 - I said, this is Coach Barnes
06:48 from Southeastern University.
06:49 If you have someone on your roster
06:52 from spot eight to 12
06:54 that is looking to transfer
06:56 and you believe in the young fella
06:58 and you wanna have a bridge to another place,
07:00 I have a partial scholarship.
07:01 So that's the message I was leaving
07:03 for D1 coaches.
07:04 So I was basically being the transfer portal.
07:06 - Yeah, transfer portal before it really pops.
07:09 - In seven years,
07:10 I had 18 Division I, Division II transfers
07:12 at the NAI level.
07:13 And those phone calls were good
07:15 'cause there's a lot of head coaches
07:17 at that time
07:18 who had young guys who wanted more opportunity,
07:20 wanted to play.
07:21 And that phone call,
07:22 hey, let me call a Southeastern guy.
07:24 And I got a couple of players out of that.
07:27 - That's tremendous foresight
07:28 to approach it in that way.
07:30 - I have a sales background.
07:32 So it was like, you know what?
07:33 I'm about to at least throw this out there
07:37 and see 'cause I need some players.
07:39 - So you go from Southeastern
07:41 where you kind of turn a program around,
07:43 you got to the NCA,
07:44 the NAI Championship Final Four.
07:48 - Final Four, yeah.
07:49 - One year or twice?
07:50 - We got there my second year.
07:52 - Okay.
07:53 The opportunity comes back to get to the Northwest.
07:56 Granted, it's not Tacoma,
07:57 it's not the state of Washington,
07:58 but it's Boise.
07:59 Boise State, Leon Rice,
08:02 fellow Gonzaga assistant coach at one point.
08:05 How easy a decision was that?
08:07 'Cause some people,
08:09 once you're a head coach,
08:10 you don't want to go in the other direction.
08:12 What was it like for you?
08:12 - So for me,
08:13 I had kind of made a decision
08:15 that I would only go work for
08:18 and with someone I can learn from again,
08:22 and someone that was 10 years my senior,
08:24 so I could see how they lived their life
08:26 at a certain pace.
08:27 And someone that needed what I brought
08:30 beyond recruiting.
08:32 Because like you said,
08:33 when you're a head coach,
08:34 you're on the floor,
08:35 you have strategy schemes,
08:37 and I didn't want to lose that part
08:38 of going to the Division I level,
08:41 where recruiting is the lifeblood of things.
08:44 And so in that first phone call with Coach Rice,
08:48 it was absolutely phenomenal.
08:50 Because obviously I knew about him,
08:52 we had talked before.
08:53 His son was playing on my brother's AAU team,
08:57 so I had seen their family a few times
09:00 on the road just in passing.
09:02 So that phone call to me was eye-opening
09:05 because it wasn't so much that it was in
09:07 back to the Northwest or back to this side,
09:10 it was who I was going to go work for.
09:12 And then Coach Burns,
09:13 who recruited me when I was in junior college.
09:16 And Coach Burns,
09:17 me and him were quite similar
09:18 as far as how we look at the game of basketball.
09:20 So I said,
09:21 "Man, if I can go to Boise State
09:23 and learn from Coach Burns."
09:25 And then they had Coach Duryea,
09:27 I said, "I'm gonna put myself in position
09:30 and I know I can bring value
09:32 of what Coach Rice is looking for in that program."
09:35 And I like college towns.
09:37 I like situations where the college is the emphasis
09:41 and the energy of the community.
09:43 And so Boise State is just that.
09:46 - So tell me about,
09:47 you mentioned the phone conversation with Leon,
09:51 you talk about Duryea,
09:52 who I think is a great coach.
09:54 Coach Burns is a great coach.
09:55 But as you're kind of navigating your own career,
09:59 you find different things that your eye focuses on.
10:02 Where and how have the changes
10:04 in your basketball philosophy changed over the years?
10:07 And then also now,
10:09 how Gonzaga has altered that in some way maybe?
10:12 - Yeah, I think first thing I learned
10:14 is your league kind of dictates a little bit
10:16 of how you play
10:17 and how your top teams play,
10:21 how they defend
10:22 and making sure you're always preparing yourself
10:24 to win those games.
10:26 You recruit to your style of play.
10:29 I think that's very, very, very important.
10:31 I learned in my first year,
10:32 my second year as a head coach,
10:35 at the NAIA level,
10:36 you gotta win five games in seven days.
10:38 And here I am,
10:39 super high energy with my team
10:41 was pressing and trapping the whole game.
10:43 So we get to the final four
10:44 and my boys is looking at me like,
10:45 "Coach, man, we tired."
10:47 So I also learned the different types of offenses
10:51 that work in those scenarios.
10:54 And one thing in my philosophy that has changed
10:57 is defensively.
10:59 You know, I used to just play one way
11:02 and make that the Bible of how we're gonna play.
11:04 And we gotta figure it out.
11:06 We're not making adjustments.
11:07 This is who we are.
11:09 And what I've learned from Florida State,
11:11 Boise State,
11:12 and then here at Gonzaga
11:14 is being able to morph your defense
11:16 to assinuate the strengths of your players.
11:19 And the transfer portal makes you,
11:21 puts you in situations
11:22 where you may have to morph year to year,
11:24 which I feel like is a strength of mine.
11:26 - Relationships are important in recruiting,
11:30 but with the transfer portal as active
11:32 as it is gonna be in another month or so,
11:36 you know, how helpful is that,
11:39 that you have relationships
11:41 in the Mountain West Conference
11:42 if there's a player that wants to transfer?
11:43 Or, you know, maybe in the Southeast,
11:46 in the Florida area,
11:49 because I know you're not talking to players,
11:52 now, but you're aware of what might be there
11:54 because of those relationships.
11:56 - Yeah, what I'm seeing the most now
11:58 is coaches wanting to help.
12:02 Like, "Hey, Barsh, I know this young fella
12:03 may be thinking about leaving.
12:04 He fits you guys."
12:06 "Hey, Barsh, I'm looking for this."
12:07 Like, I mean, I'll get five or six of those phone calls
12:10 or text messages a day.
12:12 And those are coaches and former players
12:16 who know who I am,
12:18 know how I coach.
12:18 And when a player, when a person or a coach calls me
12:21 and say, "He fits you,"
12:23 then I know what that scout or that player looks like.
12:25 So you start creating your lists very, very early.
12:29 And then another thing is being able to understand
12:33 the leagues, being in the ACC,
12:35 being in the Mountain West,
12:36 and now being in the West Coast Conference,
12:38 I can tell pretty quickly, you know,
12:41 if someone will translate
12:43 based on film and based on their production.
12:47 So the phone right now is absolutely in fuego.
12:51 (laughing)
12:52 I think my phone's tired,
12:55 but I'm not.
12:57 - Yeah, you keep your phone charger with you at all times.
12:59 - No, sometimes it's okay to let it die.
13:02 You want to see if someone's going to call three times
13:04 and you know.
13:05 - Yeah, absolutely.
13:06 Well, you mentioned obviously being in the Mountain West
13:10 and kind of learning what players may translate.
13:14 Graham Eka, you had a chance to coach against him
13:16 when he was at Wyoming.
13:18 I broadcast games and obviously I thought
13:20 he was a tremendous player,
13:21 but he's been even better than advertised.
13:23 Everyone was like, how are we going to replace Drew Timmy?
13:25 You can't replace Drew Timmy,
13:27 but Graham Eka has done an amazing job
13:30 in particular in recent games.
13:32 You look at the last three games,
13:33 nine of nine from the field, nine of 14, nine of 13.
13:36 That efficiency is like off the charts.
13:39 - Perhaps we should shoot more.
13:40 - Yeah, yeah, give him the ball more, right?
13:42 - Better than advertised, here's what I'll say.
13:47 What people didn't know about Graham
13:49 was how cerebral and how well he takes coaching.
13:52 And then also pairing him with a coach few
13:58 and how detailed he is on what he's looking for
14:02 out of that position.
14:04 And the speed of trust based on what that position
14:06 has done at Gonzaga, it took no time for Graham
14:10 to understand this is what's required of me.
14:13 And me and Graham had a relationship
14:15 'cause obviously I was at Florida State
14:17 and I was one of the first phone calls
14:18 and we were developing a great rapport.
14:20 And I remember talking to him on one of those phone calls
14:23 and said, "Hey, jump on Synergy
14:25 and see who the highest usage teams are
14:28 that play your style of play
14:30 as you pick out where you think you should be."
14:33 And we both chuckled 'cause we both said Gonzaga
14:36 on the phone and then two weeks later, here I am,
14:38 he's on campus, he's visiting.
14:40 - It's foresight.
14:41 - Yeah, it's foresight.
14:42 And for some reason, God's always looking out for me.
14:46 And I think he did by having Graham come to Gonzaga.
14:51 - Well, he's been tremendous,
14:52 but let's talk a little bit about Coach Few
14:54 because you mentioned how he's gotten Graham
14:58 to understand how integral he is
15:00 to the success of the program.
15:02 I think one of the greatest things about Coach Few,
15:05 both playing for him and now watching him coach
15:08 over the last 20 some years since I've been gone as a player
15:11 is he gets guys to maximize what they can be
15:15 within the system, whatever that system is,
15:18 'cause it's changed over the years,
15:20 to maximize the potential of the team.
15:23 What are the biggest eye-opening things
15:26 about working with Coach Few since you've been here?
15:29 - Is that every possession in practice
15:31 is its own possession.
15:33 So if you do something well, possession one,
15:36 and then you get possession two,
15:38 he's not lowering his bar of excellence
15:41 because possession one was good.
15:43 And so he's going to coach every detail of that possession.
15:47 And then he has brainiacs like Gentry on the side
15:52 who can say, "Hey, your foot should be this way."
15:54 And when you have young men with high integrity and character
15:58 they follow those instructions much quickly.
16:00 And that's what Graham does.
16:02 I would say another thing Coach Few does
16:05 is he has a keen sense of making practice
16:08 a learning environment.
16:10 So there's a lot of pressure to perform,
16:13 but the mistakes are not mistakes
16:15 that make you want to stop playing.
16:17 So the mistake is not something that puts you
16:19 on the sideline, it's, "Hey, why did that happen?
16:23 "Let's run it back."
16:24 The script is not, "Let's just get through practice,"
16:27 it's, "Let's get better in practice."
16:29 I think the small-sided games that we do every single day
16:32 where guys are getting high volume of reps
16:35 and then having guys like Jorge, B. Mike, and JP
16:39 who understand the details of the program.
16:43 I would say the last thing is you can't walk in the gym
16:47 or in the practice facility
16:48 and not see success stories on the wall.
16:51 So if you're a young man and you see that,
16:53 you'd be wise to listen to the instruction
16:55 of the person who's helped put those young men on that wall.
17:02 The last thing I would say is
17:04 the way he empowers assistants to work,
17:08 the way he empowers us to coach every single day,
17:12 to prepare in a way as we were head coaches,
17:15 I think gives our players more respect for our positions.
17:19 I've seen places where there is not that,
17:22 and the head coach has to be the guy
17:24 who does all these details.
17:25 It's not that way here,
17:27 and I think that's what makes it special.
17:29 - You kind of beat me to what I was going to allude to,
17:32 is how long did it take you to find your voice
17:36 as a coach at Gonzaga?
17:37 'Cause I'm sure there's a learning curve
17:40 to terminology, philosophy,
17:42 understanding the dynamics between each staff member
17:47 as well as dynamics between players on the roster.
17:49 - It didn't take me long, and I'll tell you why.
17:53 Because of the roster turnover.
17:55 So we had so many new faces, players-wise, coming in,
17:59 that we were all learning the players,
18:03 and we were all trying to figure out,
18:04 okay, how do we put these things together?
18:06 And I felt like with coach being at Team USA,
18:09 that I couldn't tiptoe into a street fight.
18:11 So I had to throw myself all the way in there.
18:14 And so it didn't take long.
18:16 I think based on my reputation,
18:20 there was a little more respect
18:23 when I walked through the door.
18:24 And I think those are some things that are earned,
18:27 and I'm grateful that at that point in my career,
18:30 I had the ears of others because of the things I had done.
18:35 And so it did not take long.
18:37 Once we got into the regular season,
18:39 you move a little slower, more methodical,
18:42 because you wanna understand the way of Gonzaga
18:44 and how we break things down.
18:46 I'm a high-energy guy that sometimes
18:48 can cause a little bit of chaos,
18:51 and every single day don't need that.
18:53 So that's where I've had to sometimes,
18:56 not mute my voice, but use it in other ways.
19:00 - Yeah, I'm gonna pull up a screenshot
19:02 of some analytic numbers that I came across
19:04 just the other day when I was looking at some stuff.
19:06 And I wanna get your take on
19:08 kinda how you guys have really improved.
19:11 Now, everybody talks about the non-conference.
19:14 You guys play a difficult non-conference every single year.
19:17 You were in basically every game,
19:19 had a chance to win except for the UConn game.
19:21 But the St. Mary's game,
19:23 obviously that's a big one every single year in the league.
19:27 Since the St. Mary's game, your points per possession,
19:30 Portland, 1.35, Kentucky, 1.25,
19:34 LMU, 1.49 points per possession,
19:36 Pacific, 1.42, Portland, 1.32,
19:40 Santa Clara, 1.32.
19:42 Those are off the charts offensive numbers.
19:45 Do you guys go in with a game goal
19:48 for points per possession with your offense efficiency?
19:51 - As coaches, we have our goal.
19:53 I don't think you wanna give the players a ceiling.
19:56 - Yeah, I mean, well, 1.49,
19:58 I don't think I have ever seen that at any level.
20:01 I would say this,
20:02 when you start with a team of transfers and new pieces,
20:08 and the first thing in our offense
20:10 that is very vital is our pace.
20:13 It's hard to play against us because our pace is different.
20:17 So therefore, the players have to learn that pace.
20:19 As a coach, I had to learn to coach
20:21 within that pace of offense.
20:23 And now you can see that pace now.
20:26 You know, the old Gonzaga heads,
20:28 guys like you probably watched early on,
20:30 like it's not moving as swiftly.
20:32 And that's because the relationship
20:34 of all these parts were brand new.
20:37 And at this point now, Ryan knows where guys are gonna be,
20:42 and he puts the ball ahead of them.
20:44 He doesn't have to look three or four times.
20:45 He knows that if he drives this way and swivel back,
20:48 say, big Graham is going to duck in.
20:50 Those are learned behaviors
20:52 that come from the small-sided games.
20:56 That LMU points per possession,
20:58 I really, really liked that.
20:59 I would like to duplicate that.
21:01 (laughing)
21:02 - You guys duplicate that a number of times.
21:04 It's gonna be a very fun march.
21:06 - And I also would say this too.
21:08 Nolan Hickman's ability to coach his teammates on the side,
21:13 to help them learn from his previous mistakes,
21:18 I think has really, really helped.
21:20 And then just the way in which those,
21:22 him and Ryan have been in the gym,
21:25 been those guys getting the shots up.
21:28 So those guys hitting from the three-point line
21:30 and then are big, sprinting so fast
21:34 to that front of the rim.
21:35 Coach Hamm used to call it halo to halo.
21:38 And so going from the front of the rim
21:39 to the other front of the rim,
21:40 and Coach Hugh wants them to get there as fast as they can.
21:44 And Graham's taking advantage of that right now.
21:46 - Well, you talk about kind of some of the intricacies
21:49 on the improvement for some of the guys.
21:51 You touched on Nolan Hickman.
21:53 I mean, he's been spectacular in league play.
21:56 You look at the LMU games,
21:58 I thought both games he was awesome in pick and rolls.
22:01 Making the right read nearly every single time.
22:03 He's been shooting it over 40% from three in league.
22:07 And it's great to see, 'cause he's a Northwest guy.
22:09 The expectations for him were so high
22:12 because he initially committed to Kentucky.
22:15 And then what people don't realize is,
22:18 he had to replace Andrew Nembhard,
22:20 who was essentially an NBA player.
22:23 There's a learning curve to being that first guy.
22:26 And now bringing in another point guard
22:28 where you share duties,
22:29 it's really freed him up to be the best version of himself,
22:33 I think.
22:34 - Yeah, I also would say too, for Nolan Hickman,
22:36 nobody has higher expectations of him than himself.
22:39 And so his attention to detail and his work ethic,
22:43 like I told him, it's going to pay off.
22:45 You may not see it right now, but it's going to pay off.
22:48 And so we would always talk about,
22:49 just keep stacking the days.
22:51 Keep stacking the days and you'll look up
22:53 and the good days are going to be running into each other.
22:56 Another thing is too, is in the relationship with him
22:59 and Ryan and Graham and Anton,
23:03 like, you know, being a point guard and a shooter,
23:06 if you can catch that ball on time and on target,
23:09 it makes it a lot easier for that shot to get up.
23:12 We had to get hand and feet ready earlier in the season.
23:14 He didn't know when that ball was coming now.
23:17 You know, that thing is snapping off his hand
23:19 with extreme confidence.
23:21 And I think that's something that you can see
23:23 if you watch him on Coach Feud during the game
23:25 and just see their body language
23:26 towards each other is very high.
23:29 And I think that also bodes well
23:30 for the way he's been playing.
23:32 Yeah, I would agree.
23:33 There's becoming a level of trust
23:35 that you can see when they communicate.
23:36 And I see it from the broadcaster table
23:39 because I'm watching a lot of those little things
23:40 that maybe you can't see when you're watching on TV.
23:44 Last guy I want to touch on before we talk
23:47 about this big upcoming week, Anton Watson.
23:51 It was kind of -- it was nice in the fact
23:53 that he had senior night all to himself
23:55 because he's meant so much to this program.
23:57 Fifth-year guy, came in so highly acclaimed,
24:00 battled some injuries early, you know, was overshadowed
24:03 because of some of the big personalities
24:05 and first-round draft picks.
24:08 But he is a tremendous player.
24:09 I think he embodies so much
24:11 of what being a player at Gonzaga is.
24:14 Is he -- what were you expecting from Anton when you got here,
24:18 and what do you see now that you've been around him
24:21 for a number of months?
24:22 What was -- well, I was expecting a pro,
24:26 and that's what I got, a pro in how he shows up,
24:30 a pro in how he does his work.
24:32 Because he was one of the guys when I got here
24:33 and I wrote down, "How do I help make Watson 10% better?"
24:37 And I'm trying to find a way.
24:39 And he does everything so well, you're trying to find a way.
24:42 And the way in which he understands what we're about
24:47 and what being a Zag looks like,
24:51 that spirit goes into being Greg,
24:53 goes into Braden Hough, goes into June.
24:56 That's what's impressed me about Anton.
24:59 I mean, when they did the starting lineups
25:01 and he was coming down from the gates of heaven,
25:04 it made a lot of sense to me.
25:07 Oh, okay. That's what it is.
25:09 Just he hunts perfectionism,
25:12 which that's one thing I would like him to work on,
25:14 is to not do that, be more aggressive,
25:16 and just play the game.
25:18 But he's such a guy that plays the right way.
25:20 And as a coach, you love that.
25:23 You love that.
25:24 And as a first-year assistant coach here,
25:27 I'm blessed to be able to have an Anton Watson
25:31 because he's connected me to what it looks like
25:35 to get in the gym, play at your pace,
25:39 be in the community, and represent that G on your chest.
25:44 Yeah, awesome.
25:45 So this week is a big week,
25:47 obviously to tie for a league title,
25:51 you need some help in regards to Pepperdine
25:53 beating St. Mary's.
25:54 But you got a big one on Thursday.
25:56 San Francisco's a good team.
25:58 Jonathan Lobo's a problem on the interior.
25:59 Marcus Williams, a really good perimeter player.
26:02 It must be hard.
26:06 How hard is it to impress upon the guys
26:11 not to overlook San Francisco?
26:12 As good as they are, because everybody on the outside
26:15 talks St. Mary's.
26:16 So I guess talk about the dynamic of both games
26:19 and the importance of both games,
26:22 because that's one thing that I've always appreciated
26:24 about Coach Few.
26:24 It's always been task at hand.
26:26 When a lot of times the outside noise
26:29 tells you about something else
26:30 that they feel is more important.
26:32 I think one thing we've learned as competitors
26:35 that if you throw yourself into the work,
26:36 you can't hear the noise.
26:38 And so if you're hearing the noise,
26:40 then that means you're distracted.
26:42 And so we always are right here, right now.
26:45 And the prep is the prep.
26:47 And San Francisco's so good in their style of play
26:51 and the way their guards can get downhill.
26:53 And then they got a five man who can step out
26:56 and rebounds the ball like Kenneth Fareed.
26:58 They present enough problems
27:01 for you not to think past that.
27:02 And we know where we are in the scopes of our season.
27:07 We know it's a one game tournament for us
27:10 every single time we touch that floor.
27:13 And that starts in practice today.
27:15 And that starts then on Tuesday.
27:17 And then on Wednesday, how we travel.
27:19 And then on Thursday,
27:20 how we go out there and take care of business.
27:22 Our guys understand the task at hand,
27:26 like you alluded to,
27:27 because Coach Few does a really good job
27:30 not giving the pressures of the moments to the players,
27:32 because they're preparing
27:33 for what the moment's gonna look like.
27:35 And then at the end of the day,
27:38 when you got Gonzaga on your chest,
27:40 there's an expectation.
27:42 And I think in that expectation comes confidence.
27:44 And I think our guys are starting to walk around
27:46 with that true Zach swagger right now.
27:48 And that's important.
27:50 - What's been the biggest surprise
27:52 about being a part of Gonzaga's program?
27:55 Is it the community support?
27:56 Is it truly,
27:59 is it maybe how good the overall person is
28:03 that comes to be a part of this program?
28:05 Is it Coach Few?
28:07 What might be the most surprising thing?
28:10 - That's the level of a brand that Gonzaga is,
28:14 but also how intimate the culture has stayed, right?
28:19 So it's like this mom and pop store that's in every city.
28:23 And everybody knows,
28:25 but it still has its core values.
28:29 And the people that are part of that
28:32 still have the same values.
28:35 And so you get enough of those people in the same room,
28:38 it protects the brand.
28:39 The thing that surprised me the most
28:42 is what the alumni are doing once they leave.
28:45 Like these young men, I mean, are world changers
28:48 that happen to be very good basketball players.
28:51 So I say the second thing is
28:54 there's not a lot of places in the world
28:56 that on a Tuesday night or a Wednesday night
28:59 can have a feel like the Kennel.
29:02 So being in that gym and getting that feeling
29:06 is special every single time.
29:08 What this program has created,
29:10 what our fans have created,
29:11 what administration has supported,
29:14 what podcasts and things like this have done,
29:18 the fans and the family have something
29:20 to look forward to every single day.
29:23 And so that's the thing that's impressive to me.
29:25 It's like this long movie that we don't ever want to end.
29:29 - Well, myself as a former player speaking,
29:32 hopefully I would imagine by half of all players,
29:35 we don't want it to end either.
29:36 And the progression of the last month and a half
29:39 has been fun to watch this team improve.
29:42 And I'm looking forward to this last week
29:45 and what I think is gonna be a very interesting
29:48 and fulfilling March
29:50 because of the improvement that's happened.
29:53 So RJ, I appreciate you joining.
29:55 Thanks for sharing a little bit more.
29:56 Any last messages,
29:57 either messages or stories you want to share
30:01 with Gonzaga fans?
30:03 - Here's what I would say if you're a Gonzaga fan
30:06 is understand that if you're a fan of Gonzaga,
30:10 that probably means you live your life
30:11 at a very high level.
30:13 That probably means you're competitive as heck at work.
30:16 That probably means you love your family.
30:18 So that's what being a Zag is all about.
30:21 So let's all like starting today,
30:23 let's all raise our game
30:25 so we can have all that spirit and juice with us as we go.
30:30 I think that is so amazing when we walk into a gym
30:33 when we see that.
30:35 So if we all raise our game, fans, family,
30:37 anybody who represents Gonzaga,
30:39 just 1% every single day up until game day,
30:43 I think we'll have enough juice to get it done.
30:45 - Great message.
30:46 RJ Barsh, our guest today on the Coaches Show.
30:49 Thanks for checking out Gonzaga Nation.
30:52 (upbeat music)
30:54 (upbeat music)