THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: These Zags could break out, eventually

The date: March 22, 2018.

Gonzaga was matched up with a tall and rugged Florida State team in a Sweet Sixteen game at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

I was watching the game with a group of friends at the Bulldog Lounge in the Silver Lake Mall.

This wasn’t a normal practice.

Catching a game in a crowd often means you can’t hear the announcers, so you can miss something.

And it happened.

After the teams made maybe two or three trips down the floor, I said to anyone within earshot: “Where’s Killian Tillie?”

Nobody answered, if my voice even carried across the table.

But.

Tillie’s absence was surprising, since the 6-10 Frenchman had had played 32 minutes in a 90-84 second-round victory over Ohio State just five days earlier.

Killian had just seven points and four rebounds in that game, but he’d been in foul trouble at various points. 

Zach Norvell Jr. and Rui Hachimura picked up the slack against the Buckeyes with 28 and 25 points, respectively. 

Tillie did miss that entire game the night I watched at the Bulldog, and Florida State knocked the Zags out of the tournament.

WHY DOES that game stick in my mind?

Remember, the Zags were coming off an appearance in the 2017 national championship game.

No one expected a repeat of that success — Gonzaga was a No. 4 seed in ’18 — but I had a feeling as the season wore on that we were going to see something spectacular, even if it might be just a year LATER.

Hachimura, Norvell Jr., Tillie, point guard Josh Perkins and young sharpshooter Corey Kispert would all be coming back.

Plus, everyone on campus knew by then that San Jose State transfer Brandon Clarke (sitting out a year under the old rules) was lighting up practices with his high-wire, skill-in-the-paint game.

Quick and aggressive guard Geno Crandall was arriving from North Dakota as a grad transfer.

I was looking forward to the sheer athleticism of the 2018-19 team, and truly believed Gonzaga very well might be right back in a national title game.

We know, of course, that it didn’t happen, as the Zags were hacked and slapped in a crushing Elite Eight loss to Texas Tech — but a common thread once again was that Tillie had spent the season rehabbing and fighting just to get on the court.

He barely played in the Tech loss.

That 2019 team has been on my mind now for a couple of weeks.

I honestly think we might see the same sort of thrills from the current group that Mark Few is blending together.

The reason that night at the Bulldog Lounge sticks out is that, once again, I wonder if we’ll have to wait a year for the real explosion of the team we’re seeing right now.

With the exception of Anton Watson, they’ll all be eligible to return.

That includes wing Steele Venters, who’s missing this year after tearing his ACL.

(I know, you never want to say “will return” in this age of the transfer portal and NIL, but almost everyone we’re seeing now is at an age or skill level that suggests more games at Gonzaga beyond this season.)

If everyone comes back, the Zags could have that magic blend of exuberant youth, savvy experience and a wide variety of talents.

DON’T BE fooled if the current Zags take some lumps next week in Hawaii.

They’ll be playing three games in three days, and the only experienced backcourt goes exactly two deep — Ryan Nembhard and Nolan Hickman.

Nembhard played all but three seconds in the season-opening win over a very solid Yale team.

Freshman Dusty Stromer became an emergency starter at wing after Venters’ injury, but Few will need to find another guard he trusts from someplace — so Dusty may get minutes in the backcourt.

Then.

Next year?

This coaching staff will have reloaded at guard, believe me.

Meantime, Graham Ike is a load around the hoop, with Watson and Ben Gregg taking their turns bumping opposing big men.

That brings us to Braden Huff, the Illinois prep player of the year two seasons ago.

The 6-10, 240-pound Huff redshirted last year (exchanging elbows and such with Drew Timme), and he’s hit the court flying this year — 42 points in the first two games, with slick lefty moves in the post and a sweet 3-point shot.

Huff could be a breakout star THIS year, and heaven knows how good he’ll be as a sophomore.

Meantime, international players Jun Yeo (Korea), Luka Krajnovic (Croatia) and Pavle Stosic (Serbia) all have shown flashes of serious skill — but will take some time to find their way around in elite-level college hoops.

Trust me, though, this is a big-time gang.

Sure, the whole squad will be thrown in at the deep end at the Maui Invitational, with those three games in as many days, not to mention that scary opener against No. 2 Purdue.

Still.

They’re going to grow right in front of your eyes, boys and girls.

I’m seeing that 2018-19 group all over again.

Maybe we’ll get the spectacular finish that seemed so close back then.

Why not?

It’s time.

Email: scameron@cdapress.com

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press four times each week, normally Tuesday through Friday unless, you know, stuff happens.

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”