Color Scheme

Subscribe now
Gonzaga Basketball

Geno Crandall says on podcast he’ll enroll at Gonzaga in October

North Dakota’s Geno Crandall communicates with his teammates in front of Gonzaga guard Josh Perkins during a Dec. 16 game at the McCarthey Athletic Center. (Young Kwak / Associated Press)
By Jim Meehan jimm@spokesman.com(509) 459-5585

Geno Crandall said on a podcast that he expects to enroll at Gonzaga in October, presumably with the intention of being in a Zags uniform for the upcoming season.

Crandall, a second-team All-Big Sky Conference selection last year as a junior at North Dakota, announced in July his plans to join Gonzaga’s program and become immediately eligible as a graduate transfer.

He hasn’t completed degree requirements and wasn’t enrolled at GU when fall semester classes began in late August. The Grand Forks Herald reported last week that Crandall was still enrolled at North Dakota.

Crandall said in the 11:11 podcast posted on Twitter late Tuesday night that he needed 19 credits over the summer to finish his degree.

The link to the podcast was taken down Wednesday morning.

“Which taking those (19 credits) over the course of the summer my school wouldn’t even let me take that many credits without getting it signed off by the Dean,” Crandall said. “When I tell people I’m busy, I’m doing school. I’ve had a crazy amount of school work I had to do over the summer.”

Later in the lengthy podcast, Crandall said he expects to arrive on GU’s campus in the first week of October to begin grad school and work toward a master’s degree.

Online graduate classes for the B session begin Oct. 23 and conclude Dec. 14. The A session courses run from Aug. 28 to Oct. 19.

A Gonzaga official declined to comment Wednesday. The school’s only statement regarding Crandall was released by sports information director Barrett Henderson on Aug. 29: “Geno is continuing to work on his NCAA transfer requirements and we are excited for him to become a Zag.”

Crandall scored 28 points as visiting North Dakota nearly pulled off an upset over Gonzaga last December. The Zags are hoping the 6-foot-4 guard can bolster GU’s backcourt, which is short on experience and depth after senior point guard Josh Perkins and sophomore wing Zach Norvell Jr.

“They’ve stated they need another ball-handling guard,” Crandall said in a July interview, “so Zach and Corey (Kispert) can play the wing and not have to focus on being secondary ball-handlers.”

The Zags open practice later this month with their annual Kraziness in the Kennel scheduled for Oct. 6. Gonzaga has a Nov. 1 exhibition game against Central Washington before opening the regular season against visiting Idaho State on Nov. 6.