Drew Timme reacts to Gonzaga's Graham Ike being snubbed for WCC Player of the Year
Much like the rest of Gonzaga men's basketball fandom, Drew Timme was somewhat confused by the West Coast Conference yearly awards list released Tuesday.
The program's all-time leading scorer was particularly puzzled why Bulldogs center Graham Ike was not selected as the WCC's Player of the Year over Augustas Marciulionis or Newcomer of the Year over Jonathan Mogbo. Timme also vouched for his old teammate Anton Watson as the league's Defensive Player of the Year instead of Saint Mary's forward Mitchell Saxen.
Timme, a two-time WCC Player of the Year recipient during his four-year career at Gonzaga, has reason to ponder the exclusion of the Bulldogs' frontcourt from the league's individual awards.
In conference play, Ike led the WCC in scoring at 18.1 points per game while shooting a league-high 64.0% from the field. He's just the sixth player in conference history to lead in both categories and just the second player since the 1980-81 season to pull off that feat. Four of the previous five players on that exclusive list won the WCC Player of the Year award for their efforts, with the only exception being Bill Russell in the 1953-54 campaign because the league did not select a Player of the Year award that season.
Overall, Ike averaged 16.9 points (second in the WCC), 7.3 rebounds (fourth) and shot 62.0% from the field (second) for the entire regular season.
Ike stepped up down the stretch to lead Gonzaga (24-6, 14-2 WCC) on an eight-game winning streak that included three Quad 1 road wins and a triple-bye in the WCC Tournament as the No. 2 seed. The 6-foot-9 post has scored 20 or more points in seven-straight games, the first Gonzaga player to do that since Adam Morrison in the 2005-06 campaign, including 26 points twice against Santa Clara and San Francisco and a 24-point, 10-rebound outing on the road at Saint Mary's in the WCC regular-season finale.
In total, Ike led the WCC with at least 20 points in 16 games this season, which matched Timme's total of 20-point games he had in the 2022-23 regular season. It's also the most such games since Rui Hachimura scored at least 20 in 19 games during his All-American campaign in the 2018-19 regular season.
Not only has Ike put up monster numbers, but he's done so efficiently as the focal point of Gonzaga's offense. Per KenPom, Ike was featured in 28.6% of his team's possessions, the second-highest for any player in the WCC, and attempted 29.9% of the Zags' field goal attempts (also second-highest) while still posting the league's best true shooting percentage at 67.7%. Ike also led the conference in player efficiency rating and was third in win shares.
Ike also outperformed Marciulionis and Mogbo in games against top-level competition. Ike averaged 17.8 points and 7.8 rebounds in Gonzaga's eight Quad 1 games this season, while Mogbo and Marciulionis didn't average over 11 points and attempted fewer shots per game against superior teams.
Against the WCC's other three teams in the top four of the standings (Saint Mary's, San Francisco and Santa Clara), Ike averaged 19.1 points. Mogbo averaged 10.8 points against the Gaels, Broncos and Bulldogs. Marculionis put up 10.5 points against the second, third and fourth-place teams in the WCC. No matter which way it's cut, Ike had better counting stats on equal or better efficiency than the two players who beat him out for awards.
The dominant season from the Wyoming transfer was certainly what the Bulldogs coaching staff had envisioned when Ike committed to Gonzaga back in April. It took some time for Mark Few to unlock Ike's true potential down low as he got on him to be more aggressive as the season went along, and much like the rest of the team, Ike has settled into his role to lead the Zags back to the NCAA Tournament.
Regarding the Defensive Player of the Year race, Watson and Saxen each had a major impact on keeping opponents off the scoreboard. Saxen bested Watson in rebounds, blocks, defensive win shares and defensive rating. Still, Watson was second in the league in steals per game with 1.6, just behind Mogbo at 1.7, and was fourth in defensive box plus/minus on the season while Saxen ranked seventh in that category.
Watson also committed fewer personal fouls in more minutes played than Saxen. The Spokane native has a case as the more all-around defender who can guard the opponent's best offensive player no matter the position or height difference.
Perhaps the lack of individual awards for Gonzaga adds fuel to its fire heading into the WCC Tournament in Las Vegas, where it'll likely face San Francisco in the semifinals with a chance to play Saint Mary's again for the championship.
