You would be excused from not knowing too much about this Gonzaga basketball team. Playing in the West Coast Conference, most of the teams games started anywhere between 9pm and 11pm on the east coast, where many of the media outlets for sports are located. This means that if you were lucky enough to catch a Gonzaga game this season, they were either playing at a neutral site or you have some extreme sleeping habits.
However, we are now about to enter the sweet 16 part of the NCAA men's basketball tournament, and Gonzaga is one of the last teams remaining. There are plenty of reasons why this team has advanced so far, as opposed to the many people on twitter saying the only reason their record is so good is the conference they played in. Spoiler alert, it's not. The Bulldogs rank 1st in the nation in field goal percentage, 1st in points per game, and 1st in blocks per game. They can get up and down the floor in a hurry, play amazing defense, and will shoot you out of the building if you don't play good enough on the defensive end.
However, every team needs a leader. Someone to be able to take them to the next level and lead them to the ultimate goal of an NCAA tournament championship. Kentucky has PJ Washington, Purdue is lead by Carson Edwards, and we all know the true impact that Zion Williamson has on the Duke Blue Devils. Gonzaga has one of those too, however, he might not come from the place you expect.
His name is Rui Hachimura, hailing from the land of the rising sun. He grew up in Japan as well, spending most of his childhood in the country before coming to America to play basketball for the Gonzaga Bulldogs. However, it wasn't always Hachimura's dream to play basketball, and in fact, didn't play much until a growth spurt when he was 12 years old. His dream, originally, was to follow in the great Ichiro Suzuki playing on the diamond. But once that growth spurt hit, Rui committed himself 100% to the sport on the court.
In 2014, Rui exploded onto the worldwide basketball scene with his amazing performance at the U-17 FIBA World Basketball Championship, where he would score an astounding 21.6ppg, the highest of any player in the tournament that year. Not only that, but he would also grab just under 10rpg, while also dishing out 1.5apg. Perhaps most impressive was his 25 point game against a USA team that included Jayson Tatum, Harry Giles, and Josh Jackson, all current NBA players. All of this was against some of best talent the world could offer at that age, and Rui ate it all for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Tommy Lloyd, best known for being the assistant coach on the Gonzaga men's team, and who has a been bringing international players to the Bulldogs for years now, was the first person to see the potential in Rui. He made sure to convince the head coach of the Bulldogs, Mark Few, to offer Rui a scholarship to come play for the team. The budding Japanese superstar accepted the offer, becoming just the 5th Japanese player to ever play in the NCAA.
The transition wasn't easy whatsoever for Rui. For starters, during his struggle of a freshman season, the language barrier between him and the coaches became an issue. “He was absorbing about 10 percent of what we were telling him,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. For anyone that has played a team sport, only understanding about 10 percent of what your head coach is saying is not a good thing. Struggles were only compounded by the faster pace of play of American basketball compared to the international scene. These struggles lead to Rui only scoring 2.6ppg in a measly 4 minutes a game.
The pace of play was something that would that would fix itself with more time on the floor, but the language barrier was something that had to be actively focused on as his time on the court. With the help of Gonzaga video coordinator Ken Nakagawa, his English rapidly improved. Ken's help, combined with Rui and teammate Josh Perkin's love of 21 savage and Drake, had Rui becoming much more relaxed and more understanding of his coach. This lead to uptick in playing time during his sophomore year, shooting up to over 20 minutes a game, where he would be a key cog in another Gonzaga offense in the 2017-2018 season.
This season, it's no secret that Rui has been the main power behind a Gonzaga team that was ranked 1st in the country for many weeks. His minutes have jumped up again, now playing over 30 minutes a game. He leads the team in ppg, second in bpg and rpg, and is shooting over 61% from inside the arc. These totals, as well as being the team's unquestioned leader, has lead to Rui winning the Player of the Year Award in the West Coast Conference. A far cry for the player that was swinging a bat in Japan just over 7 years ago.
This year's Gonzaga team has been an absolute joy for anyone that has had the chance to watch them play. They are one of the only team's this season to beat Zion Williamson and RJ Barrets' Duke Blue Devils team, ran through the West Coast Conference by winning by over 25 points in every conference game, and earned themselves the 1 seed in the West Region of the NCAA tournament. On Thursday, they will face a Florida State team anchored by 7 foot, 4 inches Christ Koumadje in the post, as well as their own budding superstar in Terrance Mann. This Seminoles team is extremely athletic and can run with anyone in the country for 40 minutes. However, the Bulldogs are lead by an extremely special player in Rui, who seeks to become just the third player to ever hail from Japan and make it to the NBA. The other two, Yuta Watanabe and Yuta Tabuse, didn't make much of an impact in their time in the league, but they still serve as an inspiration for Rui. A goal to achieve.
Perhaps, though, Rui Hachimora can still be as big to a sport as his childhood idol, Ichiro Suzuki, is to baseball. Ichiro's impact can not be overstated, and Rui, who has not only conquered his own speech struggles, but has also improved his game astronomically, has the goal of the NBA in his sights. Who knows, maybe it'll be Rui receiving thunderous applause as he walks off the court for the last time 20 years from now.
I, for one, can't wait to see. Good luck to Rui Hachimora, the baller from the land of the rising sun. You've got the whole world rooting for you now.
Cover image Courtesy of Gregory Bull - AP
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