Monday Night's Zags Around the Web

The basketball season officially began tonight with the Duke Blue Devils dismantling Presbyterian. What does this mean to the basketball fan? Basically that the first few weeks of college basketball are excruciatingly slow. Most high major schools like Gonzaga schedule some "ego-boosters" to get them ready for the non-conference schedule. The good part of this all means that the predictions and prognostications are all out the window soon and all that is left is some college basketball.

For now, we'll just humor you with some inklings from the college basketball world...

-- The digging for information on the Texas-Gonzaga scrimmage in Colorado continues. We are relatively sure about a few things and one of those is that the Zags came away victorious. We should have more information for you guys tomorrow from a first hand source but until then we will continue to wonder.

-- Some very happy news is on the way and that is the Early Signing Period for 2009 recruits. The signing period begins on November 12th and Sam Dower and Mangisto Arop are slated to be the first signatures received for Mark Few. There have been rumors about some mystery recruits floating around. TKR will keep you updated if these rumors turn into fact.

-- One rumor we are very happy to see is the status of Bol Kong. Kong has been battling a very difficult battle after committing to Gonzaga. Due to some Visa issues, Kong, a Sudanese native, has been unable to get into the country. The perfect scenario was to have him here at the start of the year but that has obviously been delayed. Kong is priority number one for the staff and they have been working very hard on his situation and it appears that the outcome may be positive and he may be a Bulldog very soon. Kong is rumored to be one of the most talented players to come along in quite some time. Many scouts have hinted that if Kong joined the Zags today, he would be one of the most talented players on the team from jump street.

-- The Internet is kind of a strange place and proof of that is this preseason rankings by Addicott Web. I'm not really sure what it's all about but they have the Zags at 11th to start the year...I hope he likes our new school website.

-- Yard Barker, a sports site, has broken down the West Coast Conference. No surprise that they have Gonzaga as the top-ranked team in the WCC but they peg USD as the second best team in the conference. Saint Mary's is barely on the outside of the top 25 so I was surprised that they had USD there but there can definitely be a debate for either team being there. Even more surprising is that they have Gonzaga as the only team from the WCC making the NCAA Tournament. Methinks that this site does not know too much about the Saint Mary's Gaels because I think the WCC will definitely be a two bid conference this year, if not three.

-- In one of my favorite preseason breakdowns, the Sporting News broke down the NCAA in a bunch of categories of superlatives. Gonzaga was a top-5 team in two of his categories including the fourth best offense in the nation and the second team with the most potential to improve upon. I think that both of these rankings are spot on. Led by Austin Daye, Gonzaga has tons of potential and if they maximize it, the results should be excellent. In his breakdown of best offenses, the authors writes that for the Zags to be as good as projected, Josh Heytvelt has to excel and once again he is correct. Heytvelt is the lynch pin of this offense and he must be dominant if Gonzaga is going to be a final four team.

-- I was able to dig up this video in case you were unable to make it out to Kraziness in the Kennel...ugh...can we please start playing some basketball?

Kraziness in the Kennel Video

One of the best parts of the entire Kraziness in the Kennel event was the opening video. This will surely become a staple in the library of Zag videos to get everyone fired up. So without further ado, here it is. Enjoy!!

College Basketball has ARRIVED!

The wait is officially over. Kennel Club shirts (above) have been distributed and it's time for some basketball.

It felt like it would never get here but October 17th and Kraziness in the Kennel is finally here. Gonzaga will take center stage this evening as they are one of the five teams involved in ESPNU's four hour coverage of midnight madness.

The four other schools on the docket for ESPNU are Davidson, Kansas, Georgetown, and Indiana. These five programs will proudly represent the beginning of college basketball and it should be one hell of a spectacle.

Gonzaga will be kicking off the event at 6:30 with doors opening at 5:30 (5:20 for students). Greg Heister and Steven Bardo will be calling the action in Spokane.

It is going to be a raucous environment tonight in the Kennel as I'm sure the athletics department will not be holding anything back for this occasion. Thanks to a great television contract, the Zags have received an immense amount of exposure over the past few years but this will be one of the biggest events the program has witnessed.

We've received word that their are multiple recruits on campus this weekend including Brett Kingma. Students have been waiting in line all day (below) for the just released Kennel Club shirts which will be white this year.


If you are attending the event, get there on time. The arena will be jam packed and from what we have heard, you will not want to miss one single second of the event. Make sure to set your DVR or VCR as this will probably be something you want to watch over and over again. Let's count it down, it's only SIX HOURS AWAY!

Everything You Need to Know About Kraziness:
Dana O'Neil Midnight Madness Article
TKR on Kraziness in the Kennel
ESPN's Live chat during Midnight Madness
Best YouTube Video Ever

Busy Day for Zag News

- Gonzaga recruit, Brandon Davies, verbally committed to BYU last night. This is not surprising news, as Davies attends Provo high school, which is across the street from the BYU campus. Davies did take an official visit to GU on September 26-28, but even at that point, it seemed there was little chance of Davies leaving the state of Utah for school. Davies will play two years at BYU, after which he will take his Mormon mission.

-I'm not going to pretend to understand the recruitment of Devonte Elliott. It seemed like Elliott was well on his way to becoming a Zag, as he was scheduled to visit during the first week of October. However, that visit was abruptly cancelled, and it appears that Elliott and GU may have parted ways. Elliott will not be attending Kraziness in the Kennel this weekend, and it seems that Coach Few and the rest of the staff have cooled on Elliott. This is a disappointing development for those fans like myself who marvelled over the incredible potential Elliott seems to possess. My guess is that Elliott ends up at Nevada, which he visited this past weekend, or George Washington.

- One recruit who will be attending Kraziness in the Kennel is Brett Kingma. Kingma, a member of the class of 2011, is a star PG from Mill Creek, Washington. Kingma sounds like the ideal recruit for Mark Few, as he is self-confessed gym rat and comes from a family of basketball players. From what I have read about Kingma, his game sounds very similar to Dan Dickau, who was an All-American at Gonzaga. In fact, Kingma scored 32 points in his first game for the Jackson high school basketball team. Despite his gaudy scoring numbers, Kingma is very smart with the ball, and has all the intangibles to be a high-level point guard.

Here are some highlights of Kingma....I am blown away by his jumper

- GU starts the season ranked #7 in Andy Katz's preseason top 25. Here is what Andy had to say about the Zags.

"Gonzaga

Update: Austin Daye didn't tear his ACL. That was originally the fear when Daye got hurt in July in Akron. Had that occurred, the Zags would surely have slid this season. But Daye is back and so is Jeremy Pargo at the point. So, too, are Josh Heytvelt in the middle and Matt Bouldin and Steven Gray making shots on the wings. The Zags are also hungrier after being stunned by Davidson in the first round of the NCAAs.

Concern: Daye and Heytvelt are back, but both are coming off summer injuries, so durability will be an issue.

Nonconference highlights: The Zags have always played games worth watching. Gonzaga plays in the loaded Old Spice Classic in Orlando; Connecticut in Seattle; Arizona in Phoenix; Tennessee in Knoxville; Washington State in Pullman; and an in-WCC game against Memphis in Spokane."

TKR's Take: Katz doesn't really provide GU fans with anything they didn't know before. Obviously durability will be an issue, but I think it is clear that if this team can stay healthy, then we will be watching the best team GU has ever had. What I found more interesting about Katz's top 25, was the inclusion of St.Mary's. If the Gaels and USD can live up to their preseason hype, then the WCC will not have such a negative effect on GU's RPI. This could have a huge impact on the Zags receiving the coveted 1 or 2 seed in the west bracket.

Final Details Set for Kraziness in the Kennel

The details for Kraziness in the Kennel have been finalized and it is going to be a great spectacle for Gonzaga University.

This event is completely based on first come, first serve. There will be 6,000 people let in to the McCarthey Athletic Center and it will be a free for all for the seats. The doors will be opening at 5:30 and the event will begin at 6:30.

There will be player autographs before the 6:30 start time as well as fan activities including fake tattoos, drawings and much more for the whole family.

The event will include a dunk contest and a scrimmage of some sort to finish off the night.

As we reporter earlier, the event will be televised on ESPNU so if you are a displaced Gonzaga fan, you will be able to see it.

The Zags will join Georgetown and Kansas who will also have a broadcasted "midnight madness" sort of event. ESPN is definitely ready for basketball and so are Gonzaga fans. It's only 10 days away!

Here's a little bit of what happened last year...

Kraziness in the Kennel to be Televised!

TKR has just learned the final details about Gonzaga's Kraziness in the Kennel.

The Gonzaga men's basketball team will be showing off their skills to the general public on Friday, October 17th at 7 p.m. Much like any other "midnight madness" type event, the guys will be getting the crowd fired up for the upcoming season. There will be a great deal of fan interaction activities as well as the usual scrimmage and dunk contest type things.

Even more exciting is that the Kraziness will be televised on ESPNU (thanks for the comment). Georgetown and Kansas will also be having their midnight madness televised on ESPNU.

As far as we know, the Kraziness in the Kennel will be free admission to those willing to wait.

In case you forgot about last season's Kraziness this should help you remember...