Sam Funches on his recruitment: 'Gonzaga is really the obvious choice'

Funches will look to answer those questions for himself in time; first, a trip to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to see the Tigers is on the docket for this upcoming weekend. Then, a couple of weeks to ponder his potential destinations before making his college decision.

"All these schools, especially my last four, are all pretty good options to go to," Funches said. "And they all have different pros and cons and better things than the other."

For Gonzaga, its success on the court is one significant advantage it has in the race for Funches' commitment. The Zags have qualified for every NCAA Tournament that's been played since 1999, a streak of 26 consecutive postseason appearances that ranks behind only Michigan State's active run of 27 straight. Additionally, the Bulldogs hold one of the longest Sweet 16 streaks with nine trips in a row from 2015-2024, during which they made two national championship game appearances in 2017 and 2021.

When also considering how Mark Few and his staff have turned the program into an NBA factory in recent years, their recruiting pitch to a player of Funches' caliber becomes even simpler than you might think.

"To be honest, they didn't even need a pitch," Funches said. "The main thing was their fan base, play style and their development."

Graham Ike and Braden Huff's dominance during the Kraziness scrimmage indicated plenty to Funches about how the Zags go about utilizing their forwards and centers. The frontcourt tandem combined for 21 of their team's 38 shot attempts over the course of the 20-minute friendly, with Huff (17 points) nearly breaking his own Kraziness record of 19 points he set in 2023, while Ike (eight points, 11 rebounds) broke Joel Ayayi's rebounding benchmark of 10 boards he set in 2020.

Gonzaga's new point guard in charge, Braeden Smith, reached a milestone himself with five assists, tying Demetri Goodson and Rasir Bolton for the most in a Kraziness scrimmage.

"You can play in the pass and cut offense, screen and roll offense, pick and pop, dribble hand-offs, all that, moving the ball around," Funches said. "I remember talking to y'all's point guard, Braeden Smith, and he said, 'When we move the ball, it's a beautiful thing,' and I agree with him."

Outside of talking hoops, Funches was able to build a rapport with a few Zags on his visit over a couple of rounds of bowling; an activity he claimed he wasn't the best at, despite finishing third in his group behind Steele Venters and a graduate assistant with a score of 110.

"I was using a three-finger technique where you put your three fingers in the bowling ball, and I was doing terrible," Funches said. "And then I just switched to palming the ball, and I rolled a spare, and then I rolled two strikes in a row, so I started heating up. Once I rolled that spare and then when I rolled those two strikes in a row, I got hyped, and then Graham Ike started hyping me up a little bit."

The rest of Funches' exploration of Spokane included learning about how bike lanes operate — he doesn't see many of them in Mississippi — and a couple of dinners with Few and the coaching staff. He caught a peek at the foundation of Gonzaga's player development program while sitting in on some of the team's workout sessions in the Volkar Center, the $24 million exercise and nutrition complex that sits next to the McCarthey Athletic Center, and even found an eccentric abdominal machine that pushed his core strength to its limit.

"What you're supposed to do is like grab this bar, and there's this platform under you that's going to start shaking, and you have to keep it from shaking," Funches said. "So it embraces your core, your legs, your ankles, everything lower body. I honestly really liked that machine."

Regarding the fan base, the warm welcome from the Kennel Club pretty much told Funches everything he needed to know about the Gonzaga faithful.

"That is the best fan base that I've been at," Funches said of the Kennel. "I'm really just at a loss for words right now."

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