Dave Boling: Flexing old-school approach, Braden Huff bided time and embraced ‘the Gonzaga way’

WICHITA, Kan. – Of all the highly coveted basketball prospects recruited over the past several years, Gonzaga’s Braden Huff might lead the nation in one critical attribute.

Patience.

His talents are rare, but his patience truly unique.

The willingness to wait his turn, to serve an old-school apprenticeship without disruption or protest or portal escapes, makes him a unicorn among contemporary college athletes – often transient, mercenary, and, almost always, impatient.

His dues paid in full through a year as a redshirt and 66 games coming off the bench the past two seasons, Huff is getting his chance to start games, now, as Gonzaga makes its annual advancement into the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

And, man, was he ready to make a more emphatic impact.

Following his team-high 18 points while starting in the West Coast Conference Tournament title game against Saint Mary’s, he put in 18 more in the NCAA first-round win over Georgia, making 8 of 11 field goals (one 3-pointer) with eight rebounds and three assists.

“His ability to score the basketball is really something else,” GU assistant coach Brian Michaelson.

Mostly, the 6-foot-10 Huff has been used as a backup to starting post Graham Ike, but is now starting alongside him , giving the Zags a potent tandem in the lane and on the baseline.

A four-star recruit, Huff was named Mr. Basketball of Illinois as a senior.

Arriving at Gonzaga before the 2022-23 season, Huff joined a talented and veteran team with an established frontcourt of Drew Timme and Anton Watson, a team that would make it to the Elite Eight.

Some would find the prospect of sitting out the year frustrating. Huff welcomed it, seeing the wisdom of the plan the Zags had for him.

“It was great for me,” Huff said Friday as the Zags prepared for the Saturday round-of-32 game against top-seeded Houston. “I learned a lot from those guys, especially during the redshirt year. They were huge in my growth.”

Some of it was physical, battling with Timme and Watson every day. “But a lot of it was mental, understanding what it takes to play at this level and deal with the physicality of it,” he said.

There were no rude awakenings at the idea of redshirting. “I just understood the history here and how they’ve had success with guys who redshirted,” he said. “They had a blueprint, a plan for me, and that was pretty encouraging.”

Since arriving, Huff has put on 25 pounds, and his repertoire of moves in some ways reflects the influence of Timme, GU’s all-time leading scorer.

“Braden was mature enough and understanding enough to take lessons from them on what high-level college basketball was all about,” Michaelson said. “When you have a kid redshirting and you see the kind of diligence and patience he has, you have a good feeling how that’s going to work.”

Frustrations over not getting more playing time? Human nature, right?

“Obviously, as a competitor, you want to play as much as you can,” he said. “At the same time, you just have to be ready and stay ready, and have the mindset that whatever the team needs out of me, I want to be the best at that I can possibly be.”

It is a sign of Huff’s maturity that he understands the parts of his game that needed to improve over the past three years, Michaelson said. Guarding and rebounding, for instance.

Such patience and self-awareness “is not common, and some might say it is missing in the college game these days,” Michaelson said, as Huff reminds him of earlier GU players who prospered by doing things “the Gonzaga way.”

“He comes to work hard every day whether he scored zero points or 20 points, because of the type of person he is and the diligence he has.”

Huff is the master of what Michaelson calls “the little knuckle top-spin floater.”

“It’s a real weapon,” Michaelson said.

That ability to creatively score in the post seems to have been passed down from Timme to Huff. But he can also hone some of Timme’s confidence and aggressiveness.

“One of Drew’s greatest gifts was the ability to just let it rip (on offense),” Michaelson said. “I’ve talked to ‘BHuff’ about that. You’ve got the game, you need to let it go, just like Drew used to.”

Huff is showing he might be developing some of those similar rare qualities.

To go along with his All-American patience.