At some point, what do you say?

Not that we’ve ever really found it hard to keep on talking here at Free Ira Brown, but sometimes you do worry about Gonzaga being so good saying anything becomes superfluous.

So to break up the monotony of the FIB crew praising Gonzaga, we asked KREM2 Sports Director Brenna Greene to help us…uh…praise Gonzaga.

We do start, of course, with the vanquishing of Virginia. What was billed as a clash of styles quickly became another notch on Gonzaga’s hit list as the Bulldogs outraced and outpaced the Cavaliers.

After the Virginia game came the story which seemed to come out of nowhere prior to the Northern Arizona and Dixie State games: the injury to Jalen Suggs. We don’t know much more at the time of recording, but we ran through how the team did without their prized recruit (unsurprisingly, it was just fine).

The turn of the calendar year, of course, means we can turn our attention to West Coast Conference play. How have the other teams done? (Meh) Anyone impress or disappoint? (Rooooooommmmaarrr) Will anyone give us any sort of challenge? (Not o n your life).

And finally, with the new year comes another visit from the seer of all things: Karnoac the Zagnificent.

All that and more on the latest episode of Free Ira Brown, THE Gonzaga Hoops Podcast. Do come ring in the new year with us, won’t you?

On this, a very special Christmas edition of Free Ira Brown! THE Gonzaga Hoops Podcast, we discuss how Marty is directly responsible for GU's three point barrage on Iowa, the dangers of a feisty Deamon team and give out some Christmas presents.

Also featuring, yet ANOTHER amazing holiday song from Mard and his worst guest ever.

All that and much, much more on this episode of Free Ira Brown!

Support the show at patreon.com/freeirabrown

What promised to be a busy, exciting week turned into about as quiet a week as could be: all four of Gonzaga’s games canceled and quite a hole left in the schedule.

But if you feared we here at Free Ira Brown wouldn’t have anything to talk about, we both congratulate you on not having much to worry about in your life and also say: fret not! Gonzaga may not have played any of their four scheduled games last week, but that won’t stop us from reviewing them.

Of course, we spend much of our time examining Gonzaga’s next major opponent, the third-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes and their star center Luka Garza. Among the nation’s statistical leaders in several categories, the senior will be a nightmare to defend (and, if you’re Chris, pronounce). We’ll run through Gonzaga’s options on both ends of the floor (will Strawther and Harris be back?) and how we might go about slowing down the most productive player we’ve seen since Zion.

And finally, before we have a little fun by re-casting some of the most well-known holiday TV and movie roles with WCC personalities, we are lucky enough to get a new holiday tune: A visit from the patron saint of Gonzaga Christmas.

All that and more on the latest episode of Free Ira Brown, THE Gonzaga Hoops Podcast. Do come kill some time with us, won’t you?

We know what you were thinking. We thought the same thing.

Less than 13 minutes into the first game of a Big 12 double-header, Gonzaga’s star recruit injures his…well…we weren’t really sure what Jalen Suggs injured, but we here at Free Ira Brown feared the same thing as everyone else.

Which made the energy drop immediately after understandable and his return to play in the second half equal parts remarkable and terrifying (come to think of it, equal parts remarkable and terrifying is a pretty good tagline for the podcast.

Not surprisingly, Suggs and his health dominated much of the conversation in our latest episode, but we still found time to discuss Nembhard’s brilliant performance (Nemb-V-P! Nemb-V-P!), Ayayi’s penchant for making just the right play at just the right time (#a11aboard!) and Timme now being required to play with a headband.

Then we turn our attention to the other big story from the weekend: the Baylor game getting postponed after more positive tests in the Gonzaga program. We discuss when the game might get rescheduled and what it means for us going forward.

We also take a brief look at the four games originally scheduled for this week (we recorded before it was announced the games were canceled).

All that and more on the latest episode of Free Ira Brown, THE Gonzaga Hoops Podcast. Do come breathe a sigh of relief with us, won’t you?    

What a wild few days in the world of Gonzaga basketball.

A comfortable win over Kansas -- where the Bulldogs casually dropped a 100(!) points – and a demolition of SEC stalwart Auburn highlight the positive while reports of positive tests for COVID-19 in and around the Gonzaga program raise questions about the school’s actions and whether two monster games this week should be played.

Sound like a lot to get through?

Don’t worry, Free Ira Brown is here to help navigate you through the tidal wave of information. In our latest episode, we’ll go deep into the swamps of Florida, where we’ll find incredible performances from Jalen Suggs (welcome to college basketball!), Drew Timme, Corey Kispert and Joel Ayayi as the Bulldogs brush aside those pesky upstarts from Lawrence. We’ll also discuss the drubbing of Auburn and a weirdly bearded Bruce Pearl.

Once we’ve finished exulting and not overreacting at all, we’ll turn our attentions to South Dakota, as the Gonzaga women fought valiantly against the nation’s top team in South Carolina.

Then we’ll look toward Indianapolis (we think…we hope) as the men prepare for a huge game against Tennessee West Virginia before the titanic clash against No. 2 ranked Baylor. We’ll walk you through the Mountaineers and Bears match up.

And finally, we’ll finish with some more positive thoughts: some things we’re looking forward to as the holiday season has officially begun.

All that and more on the latest episode of Free Ira Brown, THE Gonzaga Hoops Podcast. Do join in the roasted Jayhawk with us, won’t you?

It’s the time of year when we all give thanks: for family, friends, health, a comfy couch and a tryptophan-induced nap.

This year, in the year to end all years, we get to give thanks not just for Gonzaga basketball, but while watching Gonzaga basketball. And what better way to prepare yourself for some mid-morning holiday hoops than the latest episode of Free Ira Brown?

Yes, the FIB crew is back, and we thought given the excitement around the game with Kansas (Kansas!) we’d bring in someone smarter than us to lend a hand. Enter: Steven Karr from The Slipper Still Fits. Karr helps us break down how Gonzaga matched up with the Jayhawks and what we can expect from a team which lost two second-team All Americans and is still ranked in the top 5 (a note: we recorded this before the news broke about Tennessee and Andrew Nembhard).

We’ll also turn our attention to a re-tooling Auburn team, Gonzaga’s second matchup in Fort Myers, and look ahead to the Gonzaga women taking on the nation’s top-ranked team, the South Carolina Gamecocks.

And finally, we’ll share a few things we’re thankful for as we edge ever closer to piles of mashed potatoes, spoonfuls of gravy and hopefully some roasted Jayhawk.

All that and more on the latest episode of Free Ira Brown, THE Gonzaga Hoops Podcast. Do come give thanks with us, won’t you?

It’s out with the old(er) players and with the new on the latest episode of Free Ira Brown.

The guys are back to complete the season preview of Gonzaga’s players, focusing on player transfers and the incoming freshmen. Is Cook the latest in the long line of impact grad transfers? How much will Strawther play (please don’t be really hurt)? Will Dominick dominate? Who is Colby Brooks?

We also got a chance to see real, honest-to-goodness basketball! Well, sort of: we had Kraziness in the Kennel, which gave us our first glimpse at the players, new and old alike. We’ll glean what we can from the first 16 minutes of the season and definitely not overreact in any way.

And finally, we’ll have a little fun, setting up a 3-on-3, Hoopfest style draft with this year’s team and leave it to you to decide which team of four is best-suited to win a 3 v 3 tournament.

Oh yeah, there’s the small matter of our schedule, too.

All that and more on the latest episode of Free Ira Brown, THE Gonzaga Hoops Podcast. Do come quarantine with us, won’t you?

You ready for the best news you’ve heard in months? Something about which no one could possibly have any reservations?

Marty’s back with a brand-new song.

No, it’s true.

And oh yeah, Free Ira Brown is back!

That’s right, dear friends, after months of turmoil and frustration, indecision and uncertainty, claustrophobia and exasperation, the FIB crew is here to provide our normal dose of aural pleasure. And we’ll talk about basketball. A lot. No, really: actual, honest-to-goodness basketball.

And Marty has a new song. And it’s great.

We’ll touch on some other news here and there (uniforms, preseason award lists, and the like), but the heart of kick-off pod is a deep-dive into our returning players. Kispert, Timme, Ayayi, Watson, we spare no one (except in this abbreviated list here). Who is going to get major minutes? Who is going to have to make the most of their limited time? Can Ballo channel his inner Tsang Tsung?

Oh yeah, did we mention Marty has his best song to date?

And one more treat: in an attempt to reach out to our younger listeners, we bring in a group of mystical sages, magical seers, huge visionaries to help gather information and knowledge from around the college basketball world.

All that and more on the latest episode of Free Ira Brown, THE Gonzaga Hoops Podcast. Let’s have some fun, shall we?

@freeirabrown

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In this, the longest of Summers, we here at Free Ira Brown masterly debated long and hard about when we should release our annual bundle of summertime love. Then Petrusev dropped his bomb and we realized Ayayi (who since announced his return) and Kispert's decisions were just around the corner. There is no time then, like the present (or the present as it was nearly a week ago when we recorded this, big whoop wanna fight about it?) for Adam, Chris and Marty to come together and regale you with our COVID summer tales. Who gained weight? Who lost it? Who looks like an extra on the "Boogie Nights" set? (it's Chris). The answers to all these questions and more await you on this episode of Free Ira Brown: THE Gonzaga Hoops Podcast!

College basketball always has the most abrupt ends to its season, but this…this is something else entirely.

One of the weirdest, gut-punching-est 24 hours in sports history culminated with the cancellation of the men’s and women’s NCAA Tournaments. The most fun weekend of the year, the weekend Free Ira Brown actually gets to see each other in person, the most fun annual sporting event just…gone.

And thus, dear FIBber, the tone in our final episode of the season starts out expectantly somber. But with the help of each other, a little perspective and quite a large amount of alcohol, our heroes find the energy to discuss the first time (some of us) haven’t been in a bar watching games together in over a decade, give tribute to our seniors and whether this season finishes as a success.

Those stories, plus we have a mailbag! You had questions! We had answers! Some of them even applied to the questions! Well…ish. It was late in the pod and we, uh, may have had a few.

We also decided, since we simply couldn’t go without breaking down ANY bracket, to take Joe Lunardi’s final bracketology of the season and run our own foolproof simulation to determine who won the national title. You may be surprised who won (or you may not…yeah, you probably won’t be).

And finally, since sports are all theoretical at this point, our final Top 3 of the season involves historical sports matchups we’d love to see.

All this and more on Free Ira Brown, THE Gonzaga Hoops Podcast. Do come hang out with us one last time this season, won’t you? 

This one is . . .Very Long. So here are some (Approximate) landmarks:
News: 15:00
Season Eulogy Montage: 19:07
Lamentations: 26:35
Senior Tribute: 47:20
Hypothetical Tourney: 1:05:28
Mailbag: 1:32:15
Song - The Day The Madness Died: 2:06:20
Top Three: 2:12:02

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The numbers are staggering: 17 titles 22 years, 23 straight WCC Tournament final appearances and now 22 straight NCAA Tournament appearances.

And yet, beating Saint Mary’s in the final never ceases to be fun. Good, ol’ fashioned, virus-free fun.

You could see what it meant to the players in their celebrations after, and you can hear what it means to (at least some) Gonzaga fans on the latest offering from Free Ira Brown!

In our latest episode, our heroes welcome Jack Ferris from the Sac and Jack podcast to help us break down the WCC Tournament, from the closer than was comfortable victory over USF to the weirdness that was BYU vs. Saint Mary’s, finishing with a little bit of revenge for last year’s WCC final.

Those stories, plus we discuss what might be the best number in Gonzaga history, we go into the background of Sac and Jack got off the ground, we look ahead to Selection Sunday and go over some of the teams we would like to play and would like to avoid.

And finally, a couple weeks ago we ran through some things we were randomly good at. Now it’s only fair we go over some things we are randomly not so good at (like timing, considering this podcast was recorded before the NCAA came out with the news there would be no fans at the NCAA Tournament games).

All that and more on the latest episode of Free Ira Brown, THE Gonzaga Hoops Podcast. Do come enjoy some numbers with us, won’t you?

It was a Senior Night properly celebrated, as Gonzaga honored five seniors before beating Saint Mary’s en route to its eighth straight WCC regular season title.

Wait, I can hear you asking, five seniors? Aren’t there only three? There are three ON the court, but the Bulldogs pulled a pair of spectacular surprises, brining student manager Mac Graff out for celebration before bringing out NBA lottery pick and former Bulldog Rui Hachimura (WE HAVE A RUI!!) to enjoy what would have been his senior night.

Yes, dear FIBber, by that point, the game was a formality but we here at Free Ira Brown won’t let that stop us. And in our latest episode, our heroes react to the Senior Night festivities before breaking down the win over the Gaels (and all was right with the world).

Those stories, plus with the end of the regular season we turn our attention to Vegas and the WCC Tournament. To help us, we brought in someone who has some experience (and expertise) in postseason tournaments: Kerry Keating! The former Santa Clara coach makes his return to the pod to (in theory) help us understand how teams prepare for conference tournaments before things, well, drifted ever so slightly.

And finally, with the retirement of Adam Morrison’s jersey, we wonder what else might be worth putting on the North Wall of The Kennel.

All that and more on the latest episode of Free Ira Brown, THE Gonzaga Hoops Podcast. Do come celebrate another WCC title with us, won’t you?

@freeirabrown

freeirabrown@gmail.com

The world is clearly ending. Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together - mass hysteria. Gonzaga has lost a conference road game!

Well, OK, so it’s obviously not that bad, and we here at Free Ira Brown try to take Saturday’s loss to BYU in stride and focus on the positives: the loss doesn’t affect our seeding much if at all, it wasn’t in March and we still have a chance to get a bit of revenge in the WCC Tournament.

We also run through Thursday’s win over USF, which featured one of the worst first halves in quite a long time but it’s pretty safe to say a solid second half.

Those stories, plus: it’s Senior Night! Or, it will be on Saturday against those mugs from Moraga. To help us prepare for that and Thursday’s game against USD we welcome FIB Patreon Ryan Lambert. Ryan also helps answer some questions from Chris, there are derps galore and we’ll have an extensive investigation into just who Brook Steppe is.

And finally, we run through some things at which we’re randomly good, much of which resorts to old video games and dad skills.

All this and more in the latest episode of Free Ira Brown, THE Gonzaga Hoops Podcast. Do come see the world’s end with us, won’t you?

The Pepperdine student section was loud and proud last week, but ultimately waved goodbye to their upset chances when Filip Petrusev showed his mettle, dominating the home team inside. This being the only game last week you might think this will be a quick show, but nay sir, do not underestimate your humble heroes’ ability to wax on about Filip’s continued improvement, Corey’s samurai like assassination skills and the Houston Asstrholes. We also mention the NBA All-Star game (Behold the Thickening) and dig deep into the upcoming match-ups against USF and BYU.

Speaking of BYU, they’re ranked in the top 25 this week and Ding-Dong! Hello! This is a massive match-up between two top 25 heavyweights. Marty introduces us to our formidable opponent the only way he knows best, through song.

All this and a discussion of those sports figures who, well, who may be compensating for something. This week on Free Ira Brown! THE Gonzaga Hoops Podcast.

@freeirabrown

freeirabrown@gmail.com

patreon.com/freeirabrown

Laughing. Guffawing. Chortling. ROFL…uh…ing.

Schadenfreude is rarely so much freude as when it’s Saint Mary’s on the schaden end.

And it just so happens, dear FIBbers, we here at Free Ira Brown are all about the schadenfreude.

So in our latest episode, our heroes bring in a reinforcement to help us soak in all the joy of that mauling in Moraga. Free Ira Brown fan Connor Coombs joins us as we shower Drew Timme with love, bathe in that glorious first half and  give Randy Bennett some good, clean advice.

Those stories, plus, apparently we also played against LMU? We’ll investigate that, take a look ahead to  Peck…uh…Pepperdine and review the NCAA’s mid-season bracket release which has us (perhaps surprisingly) as a 1 seed in the West region, ahead of undefeated San Diego State.

And finally, we finish by sharing some of our own unpopular opinions.

All this and more on the latest episode of Free Ira Brown, THE Gonzaga Hoops Podcast. Do come share the schadenfreude with us, won’t you?

You ever wonder why something is called jam-packed? Is jam have an unusually dense packing? Why is it not peanut butter packed? Or ice cream packed?

Mmm, ice cream. It might be time to head to your local grocery store, pick up a pint and throw on the latest offering from Free Ira Brown!

Our latest episode is ice cream packed as our heroes take a look back at the more-competitive win over Santa Clara and the nail-biting win over San Francisco. We’ll run through the after-effects of Tillie’s injury, what it means for the lineup going forward and … it’s Saint Mary’s Week!

Those stories, pus we take our first real deep-dive into Bracketology, it’s Saint Mary’s Week!, we have a mini-segment of Crazy/Not Crazy, we take a trip into the wonderful world of derps and it’s Saint Mary’s Week!

And finally, we finish up with a Top 3 full of love and hate and bits of love-hate.

All that and more on the latest episode of Free Ira Brown, THE Gonzaga Hoops Podcast. Do come share some ice cream with us, won’t you?

You ever imagine what a soundtrack to a Gonzaga game would sound like?

It would start with Zombie Nation (obviously), but then what? Something more tense, more dramatic (like Filip going down with an ankle injury)? How about something more joyous (like Filip starting the next game)? Or just a straight energy boost (like Tillie throwing one down on the break)?

Well, dear FIBber, we here at Free Ira Brown imagine – at least in WCC play – it would be a little something like this: Zombie Nation, followed by It’s The Same Old Song and finishing up with DJ Khaled (All I do is winwinwin, no matter what…). Yeah, that sounds about right.

And in our latest episode, our heroes welcome another guest (Lissa Tripp, you may know her as ZagsChick on Twitter) to help us examine the same old story, the same old song and dance as Gonzaga trounces the (paper) Tigers of Pacific.

Those stories, plus we extend a tribute Brandon Clarke (and Matt Bouldin), we lament someone other than Heister announcing our game and we touch upon the loss of NBA legend Kobe Bryant.

And finally, we return to Top 3 with our top three movie soundtracks, a wide-ranging set of choices sure to leave out your favorite.

All that and more on the latest episode of Free Ira Brown, THE Gonzaga Hoops Podcast. Do come push play with us, won’t you?

Do you have any eligibility left? A spare season or two from your collegiate days? Maybe you’re still in school and feel like lending a hand (or ankle)?
It feels like that’s what is needed after yet another injury, this time to Gonzaga’s leading scorer and rebounder.

Unfortunately, dear FIBber, we have exhausted all our athletic eligibility. All we can give is the newest episode of Free Ira Brown, in which our heroes discuss the ankle injury to Filip Petrusev, why this was the best time for it to happen (not that there’s ever a good time) and what it means going forward.

Those stories, plus we welcome FIB super fan David Jenne to help us enjoy the thumping of BYU, we make fun of Marty relentlessly for believing in Santa Clara and we revel in Killian Tillie’s defense, Ryan Woolridge’s speed and Joel Ayayi’s all-around excellence.

And finally, we finish up with a fun discussion of which TV personalities we like and which ones drive us nuts.

All that and more on the latest episode of Free Ira Brown, THE Gonzaga Hoops Podcast. Do come spend your remaining eligibility with us, won’ you?

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It’s sort of like finding your favorite pair of slippers, right? Maybe they had been lost under the bed, or the dog used one as a chew toy and it was lost for a few weeks.

But once you find it, you slip it on and it’s as comfortable as you remember. So it was, watching Gonzaga regain its form in a pair of blow-out conference road wins.

A savaging of San Diego? Slipping the right foot in. A mauling of Marymount? Your left foot sliding into an ocean of comfort.

It’s nice to see the slippers still fit, isn’t it?

And – no surprise here -- with a pair of games comes the latest offering from Free Ira Brown. In our latest episode, our heroes exalt in Ayayi’s excellence, Woolridge’s brilliance and at least one game of moderately passable free throw shooting.

Those stories, plus there’s a heated(ish) discussion of the best #13 in Gonzaga history, we have the largest amount discussion of Santa Clara in the history of the pod and we look ahead to a matchup with a dangerous BYU team who will likely be without star forward Yoeli Childs.

And finally, we have some fun with some accurate and not-so-accurate movie plot summaries.

All this and more on the latest episode of Free Ira Brown, THE Gonzaga Hoops Podcast. Do kick back, put your slippers on and join us, won’t you?

@freeirabrown

FreeIraBrown@gmail.com

After about six-and-a-half years of putting out the podcast, one thing has become unassailably clear: We have no idea what we’re talking about.

So in order to help, we brought in the best possible option, the one person who has the combination of basketball smarts, access to the program and killer, killer hair.

That’s right, dear FIBbers, Free Ira Brown is back, and on our latest episode, our heroes interview Dan Dickau! Yes, that Dan Dickau. No, we’re not sure how it happened, either. But he’s here and there’s audio evidence to prove it.

We ask the Gonzaga legend his thoughts on this year’s team, what his time was like working as a player development coach with the Portland Trailblazers and who wore the #21 best?

Those stories, plus: did you guys hear about this Minnesota kid who committed to Gonzaga? Someone named Jalen Suggs…of course you heard, we all heard and we do a poor job of hiding our excitement about the highest-rated recruit Gonzaga has, uh, recruited (Dickau has some typically intelligent thoughts on Suggs, too).

But just when you thought there couldn’t possibly be more, we also evaluate the West Coast Conference’s non-conference schedule, review Gonzaga’s first two WCC games and take a look ahead to San Diego and Loyola Marymount.

And finally, we see the return of some crazy (and not-so-crazy) predictions. It’s an episode packed to the brim with goodness on Free Ira Brown, THE Gonzaga Hoops Podcast. Do come enjoy a chat with a legend with us, won’t you?

The holiday season means a much-needed break for the Gonzaga players, giving a chance to rest, heal up some injuries and enjoy some high-quality Christmas music (see our last episode).

But fret not, dear FIBbers, we are still here to help you through this most festive of periods. That’s right, Free Ira Brown is back, and in our latest episode, our heroes fight through colds, Disney and whiskey to bring you a brief (well, for us) New Year’s pod.

There isn’t too much to cover, but we will review the win over Detroit Mercy, the Gonzaga women roaring back from a 20-point deficit to get a big win and some absolute gold from Greg Heister.

Those stories, plus with the new year comes the start of the West Coast Conference season, and we’ll take you through the conference openers against Portland and Pepperdine (ROMAAAARRR!!).

And finally, we would like to take a moment to wish you a wonderful, happy and healthy New Year. We wish nothing but the best in the new decade.

@freeirabrown    Freeirabrown@gmail.com