What Gonzaga's Mark Few said ahead of Battle 4 Atlantis tournament

The Bulldogs expect to face a 'very athletic and handsy' West Virginia squad in The Bahamas

Gonzaga Bulldogs head coach Mark Few. / Photo by Erik Smith, Myk Crawford

After about an 11-hour flight, followed immediately by film study, walkthroughs and shootarounds, the Gonzaga men's basketball team is set to tip off the 2024 Battle 4 Atlantis on Wednesday against West Virginia from Paradise Island, The Bahamas.

The Bulldogs (5-0) enter Feast Week several days off from their last outing, an 84-41 thumping of Long Beach State back home in Spokane on Nov. 20. Graham Ike and Khalif Battle led the way with 15 points apiece, while Ryan Nembhard added 10 points and seven assists. Braden Huff and Dusty Stromer combined for 22 of the team's 32 points from the bench unit. The Zags held the Beach to 31.5% from the floor.

Since then, Mark Few and company have been on the go nonstop as they prepare for their first game against the Mountaineers (3-1) on Wednesday.

"I think some people can be a little confused," Few said in regard to his team's off-the-court schedule. "These are pretty busy days for us with our prep and our practices and our meetings and then events that we have to go to. So yesterday was pretty busy. It was pretty windy, but in the past, it's been great my kids and family have been able to come and enjoy the slides and dolphins and all the great things that they have."

Here's more from Gonzaga's head coach ahead of the Battle 4 Atlantis event.

On what he expects to see from West Virginia:

"Pressure defense, very athletic and handsy and good rim protection, and then very opportunistic on the offensive end. They got a great offensive player in DeVries, but they got some really nice shooters, so, kind of all the above."

On the state of multi-team events and NIL-driven events potentially becoming commonplace:

"I mean listen Atlantis and Maui, [event organizer and founder Lea Miller-Tooley] has done a great job of creating a must-go-to event, just very much like Maui and the fields they attract. So I think these two are pretty solid in, those of us at the highest level that kind of want to be involved in some and they're great places to go to. Obviously, it's a wonderful, beautiful resort and a great part of the world so much like Maui. But yeah, everybody's adapting. Programs are adapting. Coaches are adapting. Promoters are adapting. And it's a changing world. So we'll see."

On the value of roster depth heading into a three-game, three-day event:

"It's obviously a huge, huge luxury. We can kind of alter our style a little bit. And if somebody's struggling or not, maybe having one of their better nights, we have options where maybe in the past year or two, we've just had to kind of kind of suffer through it and just deal with it. So it's always nice. Obviously, there's a lot of stuff that happens over the course of a tournament like this — three games, three nights, course of a season, injuries or sickness, there's foul trouble, so all kinds of advantages."

MORE GONZAGA NEWS & ANALYSIS

• West Virginia coach calls Gonzaga matchup ‘a great challenge’ for his team

• Gonzaga lands Virginia transfer Jalen Warley

• Highlights from Gonzaga's win vs. Long Beach State

• Gonzaga's Ryan Nembhard rises to the challenge his senior year: 'It was time for a big jump'

• Mark Few praises Gonzaga's defense: ‘Guys are playing with great effort’

• Gonzaga bigs Graham Ike and Braden Huff are wearing out defenses: 'You're not getting a break'