DAVE BOLING

Gonzaga remained third in the AP college basketball poll, but that could change by next week depending on how the Zags perform over three games at the Battle 4 Atlantis. GU gained some ground on No. 2 UConn in the rankings – and that was before the Huskies suffered their first loss, 99-97, to unranked Memphis in a Maui Invitational opener.

When the Battle 4 Atlantis tips off on Wednesday in The Bahamas, there's a good chance the Gonzaga men's basketball team will run into some old friends.

Claude Nembhard was on the phone recently with youngest son Ryan at the same time older son Andrew was chatting with mom Mary – a fairly regular occurrence for the family. “Andrew said he was just about to watch Ryan’s film,” the proud father said. “Ryan couldn’t have a better role model because Andrew has done this stuff at every level. When I watch them play, it’s like a mirror image.”

Gonzaga's commitment to the defensive side of the ball has yielded positive results through five games for the third-ranked team in the country.

Gonzaga and West Virginia have met five times since 2012, but the Bulldogs won’t be too familiar with the version of the Mountaineers they’ll see Wednesday in an opening-round game at the Battle 4 Atlantis.

Some three decades ago, Quentin Hall was a young Bahamian guard who turned out to be a gem that would play a key role in establishing the foundation for the basketball phenomenon that Gonzaga would become. And the coach that recruited him – Mark Few – would become the winningest active coach in college basketball.

A few weeks ago, longtime ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla was courtside at the Toyota Center for a nonconference matchup between top-10 heavyweights Auburn and Houston – teams that currently sit No. 4 and 7 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.

Kansas 7-foot-2 center Hunter Dickinson, Auburn’s 6-10 Johni Broome and 7-1 Ryan Kalkbrenner – GU point guard Ryan Nembhard’s former teammate at Creighton – receive the most publicity nationally, but few teams have a pair of bigs like Ike and Huff.

Here are three observations from No. 3 Gonzaga’s 84-41 win over Long Beach State Wednesday night at McCarthey Athletic Center.

Chris Acker made the most of the 48 hours between Gonzaga’s game against San Diego State on Monday evening and Wednesday’s matchup between his Long Beach State team and the Bulldogs at McCarthey Athletic Center.

The third-ranked Zags rolled to an 84-41 victory in its final tune-up before next week’s Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas.