Gonzaga players, coaches on Mark Few and Team USA: ‘The excitement level is amazing’

Few embarks on a gold medal quest as an assistant coach with USA Basketball in the Paris Games

Photo by Erik Smith, Myk Crawford

As Mark Few prepared for Team USA’s first exhibition game against Team Canada in Las Vegas, a small group of his Gonzaga players had gathered at the Few household to watch the anticipated matchup between medal contenders.

The rooting interests in the room were a bit split — Ryan Nembhard, an Ontario native, pulled for his older brother and former Zag Andrew Nembhard with the Canadians. Team Canada, loaded from top to bottom with NBA talent, is led by co-captain Kelly Olynyk, just as it was last summer at the FIBA World Cup in Manila where Few and Olynyk crossed paths as the U.S. and Canada squared off in the bronze medal game. Few described having to coach against his former player as weird, as if he was both rooting for and against Olynyk at the same time.

“It was strange last year when we played Kelly [in the bronze medal game at the FIBA World Cup],” Few said during media availability in June. “It was strange, you know, you’re rooting for him but then obviously you want to win the game really really bad.”

Few will have to deal with that conflicted feeling when Team USA begins its quest for a fifth straight gold medal on Sunday in the Group C opener against Team Serbia and Filip Petrusev. The U.S. thumped the Serbs, 105-79, in a friendly earlier this month in Abu Dhabi.

Game No. 2 of group stage is another matchup with South Sudan, which nearly pulled off a historic upset if not for LeBron James’ layup that saved the Americans in a 101-100 thriller of an exhibition match. The rematch is on July 31 at noon. The U.S. finishes Group C play against Puerto Rico on Aug. 3 at 8:15 a.m.

Few’s crew back home will be following their coach’s journey, with some added spice given the Canada representation.

“There’s been a lot of trash talk between me and A.J. [Few], me and Joe," Ryan said. "Not as much me and [coach] Few but, me and those guys are talking a little.”

Here’s more of what Gonzaga’s players and coaches had to say about Few and his impact on USA Basketball: 

Graham Ike: “I feel like it’s an honor for us to even like see our coach in this light or be there around these types of guys. And then the gems he brings back, to even learn more from those guys at [that] level because ultimately that’s where we want to be. He brings back great insight. Definitely got to watch a little bit last week [Team USA’s exhibition vs. South Sudan]. That was a nail-biter, to say the least, but, just picking up little things from those guys like [shot block] timing — that’s the thing I want to grow on this year. Just watching [Anthony Davis], as we can sit in the paint and so can [Team USA] now in FIBA, that’s one of the little things I’m looking at.”

Ryan Nembhard: “It’s just amazing to see both [Few and Andrew Nembhard with Team Canada] at such a high level. Obviously, it’s an honor for coach Few to represent his country. Not a lot of college coaches get that opportunity so, it’s just super great to have him out there. He’s gonna learn a lot from those guys, he’s gonna be able to bring it back here for us and I think that’s the main thing that he always told me. He was like ‘I’m gonna go there, talk to those guys, come back and give you everything they tell me.’ So I think that’s great.”

Ben Gregg: “I watched the first [exhibition] against Canada actually at coach Few’s house with a couple buddies and teammates. That’s just an awesome experience for him to be able to coach with the best players in the world. I’ve seen some clips of him in practice you know, giving some drills that we do in our practices so, it was pretty cool to see the best players in the world do what we do.”

Zach Norvell Jr.: “Coach Few, he just expects excellence out of everybody, every day. And you would hear the same about LeBron and Steph. You could walk into a practice and you’d probably see those guys in there 3-4 hours before you even get there because they know, everybody in the gym is watching them. Coach Few knows when he walks into the gym, everybody’s watching him so you know how he carries himself, just kind of reflects on the whole program.”

Brian Michaelson: “The excitement level is amazing. Obviously, he’s earned it with his hall-of-fame career but to be the only college coach associated with a U.S. Olympic team is really specially and a really unique opportunity. I think you and I being basketball people know how hard the world championships are, know how much other countries outside of the U.S. value that and the U.S. does not at that same level. So what they did last year [at the FIBA World Cup] was really a really big deal. But the Olympics is even bigger, especially with the United States, especially with the roster they’re gonna take this year. I mean he’s gonna get to coach the best players in the game today. Future hall-of-famers, I mean, some guys you could argue are up there with the greatest players of all time. Just an incredible opportunity and really really cool for him and cool for our program.”

R-Jay Barsh: “What I’m most excited about is, for them to have coach Few. So they can understand what makes Spokane so special. So they can understand why Gonzaga can consistently produce at the rate it produces. And you gotta be with coach Few for a set period of time to see how it all works, and they’re gonna be able to see that. It’s not this one-trick-pony where he comes in and he has this cool offense or has this cool defensive drill, like you’re going to see him and that’s gonna rub on them. It’s gonna make them better parents, it’s gonna make them better players, it’s gonna make them better decision makers.”