The story goes something like this: One of Gonzaga’s present and future bigs, Ryan Spangler, an Oklahoma State and Gatorade Player of the Year, who averaged 29.8 points and 17.4 rebounds his senior year at Bridge Creek High School, leaves the basketball program after only one year…because he is supposedly homesick. Did Ryan Spangler really leave because he was homesick? Or rather, did the staff bungle this situation, and the homesick part is only window dressing for why he really left. Should some of the blame be put on Ryan, or is Gonzaga’s coaching staff solely to blame?

Perhaps Ryan left because he felt like he was not being used properly, and that this misuse would continue. Could he have been worried that if he stayed he might end up like a Marquise Carter, who ended his career with a whimper after coming on so strong at the end of his junior season winning WCC Newcomer of the Year, only to find himself polishing the pine?

In Oklahoma Spangler was used to being the man. An All State QB and a POY in basketball, he came to Gonzaga thinking he would light it up. While he was idling on the bench, his best buddy, Kevin Pangos, was a starting freshman, running the show and becoming a star, yet all he was doing was sitting, watching, and contemplating his decision to even come here. Meanwhile, the coaching staff was looking to bring in more bigs. He wanted to play, and star, with his buddies and the class of recruits he came in with. Surely, in his mind, he was good enough. Then the staff may have asked him to red shirt, which I believe he should have done his freshman season, and now he suddenly becomes homesick. That’s odd.

From all outward appearances, other than playing time, he seemed to be having a blast at Gonzaga. He visited the campus several times before committing. He met with the staff many times and had a lot of time to make his decision to come here. So, he knew what he was getting into. He has a great relationship with his teammates. They went bowling, to the mall, and the movies, there was even a recent trip to Gary Bell’s hometown. He admittedly loved it here. If he thought he had a chance to do good things on the court why on earth would he consider leaving?

Part of it was probably pride, impatience, and youth. He could not bear to watch my best friend Pangos trending on Twitter worldwide, becoming an All American and super star, while he sat on the bench and then, surprisingly be asked to red shirt. This must have been too much. So, he conveniently becomes homesick.

Let’s talk about that. To be sure, it’s hard leaving your hometown where you walk on water, and are adored by fans. But we all grow up and finding your path is usually part of it. You move. It’s part of life. Unlike the old days, there are many ways to keep in contact with loved ones. Face book, Twitter, email, planes, trains & automobiles too. So it should not have come to this. It comes down to leaving because of pride, expectations, lack of playing time, and immaturity. All of which can be, and should be things coaches can overcome.

So, this one is on the coaching staff. They are supposed to be mature, trained coaches, and adults, responsible for development. You are supposed to have the skills to navigate and keep your kids content with their situation and have relationships with players where trust is developed. Coaches are often thought of as father figures, and mentors. Communication is key. It is squarely on their shoulders to help shape a player into being able to accept his role. I believe coach Few did not have Spangler’s trust. What kind of signal does it send when you are asked to red shirt for the second year in a row, {remember, the staff asked him to red shirt his first year too} all the while the staff is actively trying to recruit more bigs. I believe Ryan felt like the writing was on the wall. He was going nowhere, in a hurry.

IMO, this was nothing more than a whiff in communication, trust and development by the staff. So, it is Few’s fault. Remember, the buck stops at the top.

Is Ryan homesick? Sure, everyone gets homesick…but I am not buying the excuse that he had to transfer because of it and waste one year of his life. I do wish Ryan well and hopefully the staff learns something beneficial from this. It’s sad that Zag fans will never get to see "Spangs" evolve into the versatile 4/5 that he could have become, and witness this rebounding machine reach his full potential.

This guy Victor Robbins is from Compton. According to ESPN he wants to go to either GU or Washington but has no Scholarship offers. ESPN recruiting nation has him as a 3 star recruit with an overall score of 89 out of 100. I'm not sure if we need another 3 guard but if Trent Lockett doesn't come that would be an option. And hey, if he's unrecruited I bet he would not be able to transfer even if he wanted to! Either way he looks pretty good, look him up on youtube (I couldn't get the link to work)

First of all, and least importantly, Spangler's departure is coming at a time when the sun is shining and casting damn clouds over my good weather. You know what I am talking about right? Those clouds that are pitch black, and instead of being filled with precipitation they are filled with hornets and vinegar. Can hornets survive in a cloud full of vinegar? If that is possible we should be frightened about the possibility of this new super species, I digress...

Let me address you Spangler, could you not have waited until the consistently variable Spokane weather changed from sunny spring to a light snow shower? I get that you are homesick and all, but you are really making me weather sick, and now I might have to go check and see if I have a Vitamin D deficiency. Your education and basketball career aside, I want to enjoy this beautiful sun! Ryan Spangler, you really should think about the consequences of making a perfectly rational decision about important topics such as education and basketball careers.

I think it is time to leave this introduction behind and start thinking about some substantial costs to the departure of one such Ryan Spangler. I want to do a player comparison, so I am going to do a player comparison. Try and stop me from doing a player comparison, you can't.

Player A: eFG% - 56.0 / OR% - 17.6 / DR% - 24.5 / A% - 5.9
Player B: eFG% - 54.6 / OR% - 9.4 / DR% - 24.4 / A% - 9.4
Player C: eFG% - 55.8 / OR% - 7.8 / DR% - 16.0 / A% - 7.1

These stat lines represent Harris, Spangler, and Dower. Spangler is A, Harris is B, and Dower is C. Really they aren't letters of the alphabet but well you get it. Spangler is far and away the best rebounder of the 3 and surprisingly enough, not as bad offensively as many people think, including myself. I mean lets be real can anyone think of a standout offensive play from him this year, you sneaky Spangler, deception is another one of your many tools!

What I am trying, and questionably succeeding, on conveying in this post is that the loss of Spangler is indeed a big deal. I am talking to you, you comments that dared question the value of this player to our team. This trend by the coaching staff is indeed a problem and is starting to affect influential players to our success.

Time to address Few, go take a page out of Boeheim's coaching bible and learn how to keep an entire basketball team happy!

After reading all of the comments, concerns, gripes and bitches about this program, my first thought was to jump back in (yes, I have complaind too) and add more fuel to the fire. Instead I am going to take more of a realistic approach to the problem. Since GU stormed onto the scene in the late 90's people have been jumping on the bandwagon. Why? It wasn't winning National Championships or making it to the Final 4. It was the underdog small school that very few people heard about, making it to the NCAA tourney and winning a couple of games. Having the hope that some way they could pull off another upset. These guys that put us on the map were the "Zag Material" kind of guys that everyone talks about today. Guys that stuck around for 4 years. They were not ALL blue chippers or Parade All-Americans. Most of these guys were ignored by major conferences. Guys that wanted to prove something. They were team players that worked hard and paid their dues. Guys that we could relate to. They had unity and were damn proud to be a Zag.

So what then has changed that has us all up in arms? I will give you my two cents worth. GU has gotten to big. We are sort of in this in between phase, and have been for a few years now, where we are not considered a mid-major and never will be a high-major. We now attract a different class of recruit. One that has interest from high-majors. It then puts us in a dilemma of having to go after these guys only to repeatedly loose out in the end. The guys we do get expect to play right away and if they do not, they want to leave. You can't blame coaches for going after the best kids. Except for the first year of "The Run", Coach few has been in charge. Nobody hated him 10 years ago. The problem is not the program, it's the fan. We win the same amount of games and go to the "Big Dance" as often as we did ten years ago. We are not NC, Duke or Kansas. Never will be. We simply cannot compete with them off the court. Except it! Let the recruits leave that do not want to be here because nothing we say or do is going to change that. Love your favorite Zag for better or worse and enjoy the program. If you have not seen GU's "Decade of Excellence" DVD, watch it. it may renew your spirits. If you can't except winning 20-plus games a year, going to the NCAA tourney and winning a game or two, maybe you should trade in your GU hat for a NC hat. I'm sure they have a Blog too.

For those of you who do not already know, Trent Lockett is a 6'4" 210lb junior looking to transfer from ASU. His stated reason for transferring is he wants to be closer to his ailing mom. An indirect reason is ASU is simply not competitive right now with tons of transfers and team issues (I have found nothing with Lockett saying this is even a factor, so it is entirely my own thoughts). Normally transfers have to wait a season on the sidelines, but the Slipper retweeted a source saying Lockett may get his requested a waiver. In effect, he could play immediately where ever he ends up. If Gonzaga picked him up, and he learned the system, he would certainly start in the 3 spot as he adds a good combination of rebounding, efficient outside shooting, assists, and experience. (He beats out KD largely because of his experience at the D-I level and GLE because of his outside shooting ability). The addition of Lockett would arguably make Gonzaga's backcourt one of the best in the nation, or at the very least, the absolute best in the WCC. While Gonzaga is in the mix and apparently pushing hard, I do not think we will see Locket on campus in the fall despite all Gonzaga has to offer. His mom lives in Minnesota and the Marquette Golden Eagles as well as other respected programs in the region are fighting for Lockett's services. While Gonzaga is obviously the best program and has the best fans, programs closer to Minnesota like the Marguette would better satisfy his desire to be closer to home. Looking at this from an NCAA wavier request standpoint, if he chose to go to a program in the Minnesota region it would better support his request. Gonzaga's distance to Minnesota is unfortunately the biggest hurdle to overcome and there is little that can be done about it. If his mom's health improves, he may not even transfer, because he has said he may stay at ASU to finish out his career. Whatever happens, here is to hoping his mom gets better.

Link to stats: http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/player/_/id/45856/trent-lockett

Link to transfer reasons: http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/7721136/trent-lockett-weighing-transfer-arizona-state-sun-devils

Sources are telling me that Ryan Spangler intends to transfer to Oklahoma for next year and will redshirt. Apparently Ryan spent the whole season homesick and the staff at GU had mentioned the idea of redshirting Ryan next year and that was the tipping point. If he was going to have to redshirt anyways it was in his best interest to do so by going home. On behalf of all the GU fans out there, Ryan you will be missed!

I was looking at the Slipper Still Fits twitter feed and saw the question: "Can anyone explain the high expectations for Arizona next year?" Living in Arizona and hearing about the team nearly every time I turn on the radio, I may be able to offer some insight.

Now a large source of the high expectations for next year is the recruiting class. As of now it is number 1 according to ESPN. ( I do not know what other sources are saying, but it is one of the top classes in the nation). While a number 1 recruiting class is always great, I am not of the mind that this incoming class will immediately provide the means necessary to win it all. The incoming big man is a 7'0", has a decent frame, some skills, and is receptive to coaching. He is expected at least to come in and provide meaningful minutes and may be even start towards the middle of season as Arizona lacks a skilled or even consistent big man. Brandon Ashley is another highly touted recruit but has fallen off as of late. The reason being is he has hit his ceiling as far as athleticism will take him. There are also questions about his intensity, effort, and focus. Still the guy can flat out play. Gabe York and Grant Jarrett are two other highly rank recruits coming in adding size and athleticism which Arizona needs after losing both to graduation this year. The last recruit listed and that I know of is a JC player expected to redshirt a year to develop and add strength. According to talking head I heard last night, the team and the player were both seeking this option.

Besides recruiting Arizona has dealt with its fair share of off the court issues. Three instances immediately come to mind. First, Arizona lost its PG and expected leader when Momo Jones transferred for personal reasons. Second, Kevin Parrom was shot while in New York visiting family. He was expected to have a stellar season but could not consistently put it together as he was playing catch up from the get go. Lastly, Josiah Turner is apparently not getting with the program and was suspended for several games this year for failing to follow team rules.

During games, Arizona just ran up and down the court forgetting they were playing basketball. It was common for them to go 5-8 minutes at least once a game with out a field goal. The lack of a true PG may be the issue here, but no one stepped-up to make a play. Arizona was also notoriously undersized. Their bigs except for the undersized Perry hardly did anything this season (except foul). You have to travel a long ways down the stats sheet before they appear even in the rebounding category.

Next year, Arizona returns several key players notably Nick Johnson, Solomon Hill and Kevin Parrom. It is true they lose some offensive power and leadership due to graduation but Solomon Hill and Kevin Parrom should be able to fill the role. The biggest question this off season is what happens with Josiah Turner. He was supposed to be a gamer this season at the PG spot but it never came together. People are hoping he gets his act together and starts taking over as this would allow Nick Johnson to play his natural position at the SG spot. Nick Johnson, a freshman, is supposed to make strides this off-season to help share the scoring load. He is capable of scoring in bunches from different areas on the floor., but ultimately fails to get himself into the games at certain times. He would be a ghost for long stretches or simply not make shots. (FG% of 37.2%) In his defense, he was asked to do a lot this season and much of it out of his natural position.

Right now people are generally excited about next year, or at least more so than they were last year. There are still a couple big question marks about this team namely in the PG spot and Center position. Even with these unresolved issues, Arizona is looking good in a down PAC12.

Some nice recognition for KP. There were a lot of good freshman this season and its always nice to get noticed by a national media outlet. Should be an excellent backcourt next season especially after GBJ's great tournament play.

Link here.

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Should college basketball players be allowed to declare for the NBA draft after after one year in the NCAA's? Should they be required to go to college at all? Should they be required to stay for two or three years before declaring for the draft? All these questions have been asked a million times and everyone seems to have their own opinion. There's a pretty solid discussion on ESPN here: http://espn.go.com/dallas/nba/story/_/id/7778070/dallas-mavericks-mark-cuban-make-players-stay-3-years-ncaa if you want to update yourself on some of the perspectives. My question, however, has to do with Gonzaga.

Do you believe that if college basketball athletes were required to stay in college for 2-3 years before going to the NBA, Gonzaga would benefit from that decision? We've never lost a player to the draft before their Jr. year (Morrison and Daye both left their after their Jr. year, right?) so we gain no benefit there. However, other teams around the NCAA would be full of solid NBA prospects and it might help our recruiting. Think of Kyle Wiltjer; I doubt he would have picked Kentucky if all of the '10/'11 and '11/'12 players were required to stay on the team. Infact, I don't think Kentucky would have had so many stars in the past couple years. Would this spread out the top talent? Would this be the end of GU as we know it because the top tier schools just got 10x better? Would there be 5-10 super teams that completely destroy anyone outside the top circle and reverse some of the parity that has been achieved in the past decade?

I know some people don't like theoretical sports questions, but I love them. And honestly, I would like to see what the Slipper community thinks about this. In my opinion, things might get really bad for GU if super stars keep deciding to stick with the UNC's, Duke's, and Kentucky's of the world AND have to stay for 2-3 years. One of the great equalizers in college basketball right now, is that teams like GU keep most of our players for next year, and some of the best teams have to try and reload.

Anyway, what are you're thoughts? Go Zags!

Just saw an updated article on the recruitment for Alex Oriakhi out of UCONN. Looks like he wont be coming to Spokane. He has narrowed his list to four currently: UNC,DUKE,KENTUCKY and MISSOURI are the four he is set up to visit; some other possible suitors include: Xavier,Ohio St and UNC Charlotte but no visits have been set up. I had a feeling we were a long shot to land Alex more based on the location, why come to GU when there are a vast number of programs in your back yard that want your services. Honestly I am a bit relieved. We have a minor log jam right now with our bigs. Dower,KO,Harris,Spangs and possibly the BIG Polish dude...we have a variety of different talents with our bigs lets hope we can figure a way to use them most effective! will be interesting to see next year.