Who will replace Dickau at Gonzaga?FYI...

[dimes4life]

SPOKANE, Wash. -- Dan Dickau took 3-pointers, mid-range floating jumpers, or drove straight to the basket. He did so whenever he wanted, no matter how big the situation. The bigger the game, the better Dickau seemed to play.

And if he didn't make the shot? He wasn't afraid to take another on the next possession.

Few players in the country could do what he did over the course of 40 minutes. Or, in the case of the West Coast Conference title game, down the stretch. With Gonzaga trailing by 11 points in the second half against Pepperdine, Dickau scored 19 points in six minutes as the Zags took control of the game and clinched their fourth straight WCC title.

So, think the Zags might have a tough time replacing Dickau?

Ahh, yeah.

Dickau just might be the toughest player to replace in the country. Period.

Yes, Duke needs to find a replacement for the 2002 national player of the year and its leader, point guard Jay Williams. Cincinnati is searching for someone to take, and make, the big shots Steve Logan handled last year. And Final Four teams Indiana and Kansas lost their leading scorers in Jared Jeffries and Drew Gooden, respectively.

But Dickau was Mr. Everything for Gonzaga, a scoring point who was never too far from delivering the winning shot or a game-changing pass. He was, after all, Gonzaga's first and only first-team All-American.

"Dan provided so many things to this team,'' said fifth-year senior Zach Gourde. "He wasn't just a scorer or a point guard, but he was a big emotional influence. He was the leader, the social director. It's hard to replace someone who filled so many dimensions."

"Dan was very special here," Gonzaga coach Mark Few said of Dickau, who was also one of five Wooden Award finalists last season. "He had the ball in his hands a lot. We won't just miss his scoring but his decisions, too."

So, after all that praise and admiration for the NBA first-round pick and Atlanta Hawks rookie, how can Gonzaga actually believe it could be better this season without him? How can the Zags begin to replace him?

Collectively.

"Last year, if Dan went down we were done," Few said. "This year we've got the depth at every spot to actually absorb injuries, foul trouble or sickness, which has a tendency to hit you at some point during the year."

But who will take the shots when the game is on the line?

Apparently, junior guard Blake Stepp (35.6 percent on 3s, 9.2 ppg) is the first option. And junior sharp-shooter Kyle Bankhead (41.2 on 3s) is ready if Stepp is covered.

That was the trend at least in practice recently, with the ball being whipped around the perimeter to Stepp or Bankhead, or kicked back out to one of them on the perimeter after it went inside. But Stepp doesn't sound too convincing, even if his teammates are starting to believe that he'll be the first choice.

"I'll give it to Blake," sophomore forward Ronny Turiaf said. "I'll just get the rebound."

"Hopefully it will be me," said Stepp, who is healthy for the first time since his freshman year after struggling with a bum knee as a sophomore. "I've been working on my shooting for the first time in two summers and getting a lot of shots up. Hopefully (my teammates) will find out after I hit a couple of big ones that they can be confident in me shooting late in a game."

Stepp, however, is still more of a traditional system shooter, getting the ball off a skip pass or a screen out of the flex offense. He's not like Dickau, who could dribble down the lane, bounce the ball a few times to get open, and then hit a deep 3-pointer or create a little space for himself with a stutter step and pull-back jumper. Stepp will have to play the point, or at least get the ball over halfcourt to jump-start the offense. When he's not on the court, or when he's sharing time with senior Winston Brooks (out of the WCC last season with a wrist injury), Brooks will handle the ball.

-Andy Katz, ESPN senior writer

[Guest]

I'm trying to understand we are supposed to care.He

hasn't looked good at all in the time has played.He

hit two three's in a blowout game....but that is all.