Gonzaga looses three key players from last season. Dan Dickau, Anthony Reason, and Alex Hernanez. Dan and Anthony were starters with Alex being the 6th/7th man. Anthony was the defensive specialist, always holding the other teams best player in check. Alex was the offensive spark off the bench with incredible rebounding abilities for a guy 6'4'.Dan, obviously is a major loss to Gonzaga, but by no means does that mean Gonzaga wont be as good next season, if not better.

The Zags will have one of the most talented and deep frontcourts in the nation, quite possibly the best combination out there.

First theres Zach Gourde, Zach is the last link between the 99' team that made it to the Elite 8, Zach redshirted that year but with that redshirt year gained a lot of experience. He has great low post moves and is a bruiser on the inside, unfourtunately for the Zags and Zach durring the tournament he was one of the members of the team that had food poisining, he played in the game versus Wyoming but it was one of his worst as a Zag, Zach also has a sweet touch. 1st team all WCC. Zach will be a redshirt senior next season.

Then comes Cory Violette. Cory made huge strides from his freshman season to this past season, he thrives on physical play and wont back down to anyone. Not that this says anything about Cory in college but Paul Westphal believes he will have a longer NBA career than Dan Dickau, and thats not a knock on Dan. Cory can do it all, take the ball from the high post down low, hit the fadeaway, bang down low, and a weapon we saw Cory show off that will be utilized more next season is his three point ability. Another note on Cory is that he is a very good free throw shooter for a big man. With Cory's work ethic as big and strong as he is now he will only get bigger and stronger next season. Cory will be a junior next season.

Then theres Ronny Turiaf. Early on the season Ronny caught a lot of peoples attention, NBA scouts, Tom Creen, and many other coaches. Coming from Martineque via France Ronny got a lot of attention from guys like Brad Dougherty. Ronny is a great shot blocker and brought a ton of energy off the bench. Ronny has a lot of offensive ability as well, at 6'10' Ronny will continue to improve vastly next season. Ronny will be a sophmore next season.

Richard Fox is a transfer from Colorado. at 6'11' he is the teams only true center but all the guys mentioned above can play center as well. Richard had a double double while at Colorado against the Zags in a Colorado win. All reports are that Richard has impressed in physical practices and will be a force next season. Richard will be a Redshirt junior next season.

There is also Jay Sherell, Dustin Villepegue, and Sean Mallon.

When Jay played last season he provided a spark off the bench whenever the other guys were in foul trouble. Jay had very quality efforts against teams like Pepperdine and hit the halftime buzzer beater in the Wyoming game. jay will be a redshirt junior next season.

Dustin Villepeuge is another big strong physical player, before the signing of Ronny Turiaf in the late signing period Dustin would have played but instead used the time to go head to head in practice with the guys. Dustin was a prolific scorer in high school regularly gettiing 35 points a game. Dustin will be a redshirt fresman next season.

Sean Mallon was a consensus top 100 national recruit coming out of Spokane's Ferris High School, where he just led his team to the state championship game for the second consecutive season. He had offers from the Pac 10 and got plenty of other looks as well. Sean has a nice outside touch but needs to get a bit stronger if he expects to play next season. He will most likely redshirt with soo much depth. Sean will most likely redshirt next season.

                                                               
Season Outlook