Nick Collison

Sonics rookie Nick Collison knows a thing or two about NCAA basketball, having played in the NCAA title game last spring and having had his jersey retired by Kansas University last week. Collison shares his thoughts on his former teammates – now ranked #1 in the nation – and his old coach, Roy Williams, now at the helm of the North Carolina Tar Heels.

You watched the Jayhawks play last week when your jersey was retired. How do they look?
They’re doing real well. They’re in a little bit of a transition, with coaches, but they’ve got some talented players, some experienced players. They’ve got as good a shot as anybody. But it’s really a wide-open year, so a lot of teams have a chance.

Who are some of those other teams?
UConn, I think, is very talented. Missouri is tough, although they haven’t played real well early. Who else? Syracuse will be tough again when the tournament rolls around, they’re a tough matchup in the tournament. There will probably be two or three sleepers that show up throughout the year, there always seem to be, that make some noise at tournament time.

UNC’s already playing well, 4-0 and ranked in the top ten. How much of that is Williams?
A little bit. They’ve got some talented players. Any team he coaches is going to play real hard and be real unselfish. I think a lot of that has to do with his influence. They would have been alright without him, but they’re going to be a lot better with him.

Who goes further in March – Carolina or Kansas?
Oh, easy, Kansas. Definitely Kansas. They’ve got more experience, and I’m a Jayhawk, so I’ve got to go with the Hawks.

Richie Frahm

Richie Frahm was part of the group that started it all at Gonzaga, helping lead the Bulldogs to the Elite Eight in 1999. Now, Gonzaga is a legitimate championship contender, having been picked third overall by Sports Illustrated in its preview issue. Gonzaga blew out the University of Washington in Seattle on Wednesday, and will be back next Saturday at KeyArena for “The Battle in Seattle” with #5 Missouri, coached by Mercer Island native Quin Snyder (tickets). Frahm gives fans getting their first look at the Zags up close an idea of what to expect.

Have you seen Gonzaga play this season?
No, I haven’t. I haven’t had a chance to watch. I’ve been busy with training camp and all that stuff. I’m looking forward to seeing them play when they play against Missouri. That’s the only game they really have on the schedule I can make it to. They have a good team, I’ve been reading about them, and they have a lot of expectations on them this year. That’s something that different than when I was there – no one expected us to do anything. We did, but now they’re in the national spotlight year in and year out, and they way they respond to it is great. I just hope they have a great year this year, and I know it doesn’t matter how you’re rated at the beginning, but it’s how you finish, and I know that’s how they’re thinking. It’s a long season and hopefully they can make it to the tournament, make some noise.

Frahm says the difference between today’s Zags and the teams he played for is ‘night and day’. Kent Horner/NBAE/Getty

Do those expectations make things more difficult?
I would imagine. I don’t know. I wasn’t there when they had expectations. The only expectations we had were the ones we put on ourselves, so that was easy. Now that you have the spotlight, you know, looking down on you and saying you’re overrated after every loss, that can be tough for a college basketball player. You don’t have a lot of opportunities. You’re only playing 35 games, whereas in the NBA you’re playing 82 and you can make up for a bad game the next night by winning. So I think the expectations make it a lot tougher.

How do the Gonzaga teams you played for compare to more recent ones?
It’s night and day. I think when I was there, we had a lot of local guys, we were all pretty much from the state of Washington with the exception of a few guys, and it seemed more family-oriented than it does right now. I know the guys are really close, but I don’t think that anything can match what we had when we were there. It was like five best friends out there playing basketball. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I know they have something special there as well. They’re a very talented bunch of guys, and maybe that’s where they have the edge on us. Most of those guys were high-school All-Americans, whereas we weren’t in high school. We got in the system and overachieved, I think, when we were together. The guys there are great individual athletes, and Coach (Mark) Few is doing a good job of bringing them together as a team. Nothing has changed from the coaching staff point of view, but the talent level has definitely gotten better.

What can fans expect to see from Gonzaga against Missouri?
What can they expect to see? Guys playing hard. Very fundamentally sound team. From what I’ve seen this year, read in the newspapers, they have a balanced attack. They play good, old-fashioned team basketball, where they don’t have one guy taking all the shots. It’s a team effort, and that’s going to be very successful for them. That’s what I expect to see.

Can fans replicate the frenzied atmosphere of the Kennel in KeyArena?
No, because everybody has to pay to come watch these games. At the Kennel, you’ve got that student membership, you get in for free. So it’s never going to be the same as it is on campus.

Rashard Lewis

While most of the Sonics are biased by where they played their college ball, Rashard Lewis, who entered the NBA Draft out of high school, has no ties. As a result, SUPERSONICS.COM turned to him for an unbiased opinion - but Lewis still showed some bias towards his home state, Texas.

What teams do you follow?
I don’t know. I think I’ll wait until midseason to see what players are good out there, see who the spotlight players are to look at this year.

What teams’ chances do you like this year?
Connecticut. UConn. I think UConn is a powerhouse right now. Who else? Duke always has a good team. I think North Carolina will make some noise. Not necessarily go real, real far, but I think they’ll make some noise this year. Kansas. I’m still sticking with Texas too.