Where does Gonzaga’s backcourt duo rank among the best in the nation?

According to 247Sports, Gonzaga’s backcourt duo of Ryan Nembhard and Nolan Hickman will enter the 2024 season as the number 4-ranked backcourt in the nation. Other prognosticators have the tandem ranked as low as 16th in the nation, and in many conversations regarding NCAA guard play, the performance and promise of Hickman and Nembhard has been suspiciously downplayed. After a season proving to the world of college basketball that there may be no guard set in the country as efficient and deadly as that of the Gonzaga Bulldogs, how do they stack up against some of the other duos generating preseason excitement among commentators and journalists?

It’s important to consider Nembhard and Hickman’s competition for the “Best Backcourt Duo” spot. A few teams have been frequently mentioned as alternate contenders for the title including St. John’s, Baylor, Texas, and Kansas, all of whom will feature exciting and dynamic backcourts this season. By breaking down a few of the others mentioned by bloggers and journalists, we may get a better picture as to how Gonzaga’s backcourt stacks up against the best in the nation.

UConn: Aidan Mahaney and Hassan Diarra

Last year’s UConn team was one of the most punishing and relentless I’ve ever seen play college basketball. They did just about everything right, and their national championship bout against Purdue was one of the most one-sided bloodbaths in March Madness history (followed perhaps the Gonzaga/Baylor matchup, but I still pretend that game never happened). The combination of Stephon Castle and Tristen Newton proved just too much for their opponents. This year, in the absence of Castle and Newton, the Huskies will feature Hassan Diarra at shooting guard and Aidan Mahaney at the point. Diarra played admirably for the Huskies last year, coming off the bench to average 6 points and 3 rebounds per game. He was voted the Big East 6th Man of the Year and his stats don’t do justice to how integral he is to the team. He is familiar enough with Coach Hurley’s fast-paced offense to keep things running smoothly and his poise and experience will be invaluable to the Huskies in 2024.

The biggest offseason question mark for UConn surrounds St. Mary’s transfer, Aidan Mahaney. Mahaney’s decision to enter the transfer portal after two years under Randy Bennett came as a shock to many St. Mary’s fans who saw him as an extremely promising cornerstone of the squad. Mahaney, however, plays best when the game is fast paced and he has room to attack off the dribble or put up 3-pointers on a whim. For a talented point guard like Mahaney, there is perhaps no fate worse than to find oneself running the show at St. Mary’s; famously among the most plodding and joyless offenses in the nation, year after year. The St. Mary’s offense is unarguably efficient and effective, but with its reliance on using the whole shot clock on every possession and passing the ball 10-12 times before taking a shot must be soul-sucking for a dynamic player like Mahaney.

UConn is a much better fit for Mahaney’s style of play. That being said, the leap from St. Mary’s to UConn is maybe the greatest whiplash an NCAA point guard can endure. There will be growing pains to say the least. Mahaney is not without his deficiencies, as well. As a point guard he averaged only 2.6 assists per game last season while shooting 38.6% from the field. Those are concerning stats for a player set to helm a two-time National Championship-winning offense in his first year on the team. He’s a thrilling scorer and facilitator when he’s locked in and hot, but there were plenty of games last year in which he pulled a complete vanishing act. UConn fans are extremely high on Mahaney but may not realize the drop-off in skill and experience they will initially endure without Tristen Newton’s steady hand at the wheel.

With an unproven point guard learning a whole new offensive set and a shooting guard who barely qualified as a role player last year, the UConn Huskies look promising on paper, but their lack of chemistry may ultimately prove to be a weak spot for Coach Hurley.

UNC: RJ Davis and Elliot Cadeau

The Tar Heels are returning arguably the best guard in the nation in RJ Davis. Davis put together an incredible season last year, averaging 21.2 points per game on 42.8% shooting. Anyone who has watched Davis will attest to the fact that he has a pure winner’s mentality. He is a tenacious player who can take games over on his own with his strength, athleticism, and vision. He scores at all three levels and elevates the level of play of his teammates while controlling the game’s momentum on both sides of the ball. He is the X-Factor and the single most important member of the Tar Heels squad.

That being said, the Tar Heels are also returning one of the most bafflingly inefficient guards in the nation in Elliot Cadeau. Cadeau accounted for the bulk of the ‘Heels’ assists per game last year (a middling 4.1 per game) but he also shot 18.9% from three-point range and 65% from the free throw line. These are borderline acceptable percentages for a 7-foot center who’s new to the sport, but a shooting guard within an efficient offense simply must be a more reliable outside threat than Cadeau has been. When RJ Davis is running the show, your shooting guard doesn’t need to play spectacularly, but it’s a tough pill for some to swallow that RJ Davis alone can elevate the UNC backcourt to the status of “One of the Best in the Nation.”

Purdue: Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer

The combination of Braden Smith and Fletcher Loyer was ultimately the secret sauce that brought last year’s Purdue Boilermakers to the brink of a national championship. The offense ran through their big man, Zach Edey, but when Edey was not enough on his own, the Purdue backcourt stepped up to win games. When Loyer and Smith were locked in and controlling the pace of play from the perimeter, the Boilermakers very much looked the part of the “2nd Best Team in the Nation” (fittingly, behind UConn).

Both Loyer and Smith will return for Purdue in 2024. Zach Edey, however, has moved on to the NBA, and without the monstrous Canadian, it’s unclear if the Boilermakers will be even a shadow of their former selves. Smith put together a jaw-dropping stat line last year, averaging 12 points and 7.5 assists per game while shooting 43% from three-point range. As much as it pains me to admit it, he was one of the best point guards in the nation. In 28 minutes of game time, Fletcher Loyer similarly shot 44% from three and painfully stretched defenses preoccupied with stopping Edey down low. Zag fans got a glimpse of this during March Madness and perhaps need no reminding of how lethal the combination of Loyer and Smith were last season. Once again, when they were hot, the Boilermakers looked nearly unbeatable.

However, Purdue’s offensive attack came down to its inside-out play when defenses were forced to collapse onto Zach Edey in the low post. Loyer and Smith’s high shooting percentage from the perimeter was due to the fact that they got many more open looks than the average backcourt because Edey attracted so much attention from the defense. Without Edey, Purdue’s offense will feature true freshman Will Berg in his place, and while Berg is 7’2”, he is unlikely to win National Player of the Year two years in a row as his predecessor did. The Boilermaker guard combo will see fewer open looks this season, and how Matt Painter adjusts to life after Edey will largely determine how Loyer and Smith’s season ends up.

Gonzaga: Nolan Hickman and Ryan Nembhard

In addition to UConn, Purdue, and UNC, plenty of teams will have strong backcourt duos this season. Texas, Baylor, St. John’s, and Kansas will all feature extremely dynamic and exciting guard combos worthy of their praise and analysis.

That being said, there are few backcourt tandems in the nation with as much skill, experience, and proven chemistry as Nolan Hickman and Ryan Nembhard. The two combined last season for an average of 26.6 points and 9.6 assists per game and played an average of 36 minutes per game. No duo coming into this season has spent as much time on the court together and done so with such lethal efficiency as Hickman and Nembhard. What makes the combination of these two particularly thrilling for fans is that over the course of last season, they only got better. By tournament time, Hickman and Nembhard very much looked the part of the best guard duo in college basketball and there’s no reason to suspect that their progress will plateau heading into the 2024-2025 season.

The “fresh legs” aspect of the Hickman/Nembhard combo can also not be understated. Gonzaga now has real depth at the guard position. It’s not just the kind of depth that allows your guards to rest for a few minutes; it’s the kind of depth that comes with incredible scoring potential in incoming transfer Khalif Battle. With Battle coming in to give Hickman and/or Nembhard a breather, there’s simply no telling how effective Gonzaga’s backcourt can become. All three will get to play with fresher legs and more specialized roles in 2024 and between the three of them could prove to be simply impossible to slow down.

Towards the end of last season, Hickman and Nembhard looked simply unstoppable. In a particularly memorable WCC Tournament game against USF, the two combined for 36 points, 18 assists, and zero turnovers. This is the kind of tandem Hickman and Nembhard can be with maximum chemistry and game-script. This offseason, the Zags have added some key pieces to make Hickman and Nembhard’s lives even easier. The trajectory of the Gonzaga guard rotation places them comfortably in the conversation for the best in the NCAA, especially when considering some of the competition currently contending for the title. Backcourts do not win seasons on their own, but if you had to put the burden on the shoulders of two players alone, Hickman and Nembhard would be a wise choice.