Weekly Zag Briefing

In galaxy news, the James Webb Space Telescope (meant to be NASA’s successor to the Hubble Telescope) completed its nearly million mile and month long journey, and arrived at its new home where it will spend the remainder of its life. Webb’s mission is to examine the first stars and galaxies by looking into the universe’s past...very cool stuff.

Now on to Gonzaga—through no fault of their own, the Zags dropped down to #2 in the AP Poll, though the Auburn Tigers did their absolute darndest to give up the #1 spot as soon as they got it before escaping middling Mizzou with a narrow one point victory on Tuesday night. We’ve already covered the big Gonzaga-related news and its most famous basketball alum here, so no need to rehash it further and we’ll just outline what else is out there for the week:

• Dick Vitale named Chet Holmgren as his Diaper Dandy of the Week for his performance against USF in which he produced perhaps his most comprehensive outing of the season. Vitale also announced that he was shutting down his broadcasting duties for the rest of the season as he embarks on another round of cancer treatment. We wish him all the best as he continues with his fight. Also, shoutout to the McCarthey family for their generous $100,000 donation to The V Foundation in honor of Dickie V. That is a wonderful gesture.

• Updated NBA Mock Draft time where ESPN’s draft gurus Jonathan Givony and Mike Schmitz project Chet to go #1 to the Orlando Magic where he would be reunited with Jalen Suggs. Wouldn’t that be fun? Drew Timme and Andrew Nembhard are also projected to be taken #50 and #52 respectively. That would be a great night for those guys and the entire program.
• Dana O’Neil gifted us with a great profile on the Nembhard brothers as they forged their respective paths in the basketball world. Take a few minutes to read it. It’s a great look into their relationship with one another.
• Brian Bennett takes a stab at making midseason picks in men’s college basketball, where Drew Timme is dropped to third in the Player of the Year rankings behind Wisconsin’s Johnny Davis (1) and Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe (2). Tommy Lloyd gets Coach of the Year honors for the job he’s done in the desert, followed by Bruce Pearl and Kelvin Sampson, while Chet Holmgren misses out on Freshman of the Year honors. Tough.
• Seth Davis takes a deeper dive into how he would rank the Player of the Year candidates so far, with Drew Timme again finishing behind Johnny Davis in Seth’s eyes, and Chet slotting in at No. 11.
• Gonzaga recruiting target Anthony Black was named to the McDonald’s All-American team. Black is the only MCDAA who is uncommitted.