THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: Under construction at the Kennel, for now at least

For once, it will be living up to the name.

“Kraziness in the Kennel” springs to life Saturday night at the McCarthey Athletic Center.

And yes, it will be Krazy.

Uh, crazy.

Most years, this event is something like a family reunion, as students and folks from the general public get to shout and cheer for members of the Gonzaga men’s hoops gang.

They’re like your cousins and nephews, back for another visit and just a bunch of fun.

It’s a get-together where you notice that somebody’s put on a little weight — like a REAL family shindig, except the weight is muscle after months in the weight room.

Oh, and you check to see if there are any tattoos or mustaches that are new this year.

(Can you make a one-night appearance, Drew, just so the crowd isn’t TOO disoriented?)

See, the thing at this season’s Kraziness is that Gonzaga actually will not have a usual cast of characters.

For outsiders, this will be mostly a crowd of strangers.

Trail boss Mark Few will be introducing a whole new group (well, mostly new) that have pitched up on the banks of the Spokane River.

THEY’VE arrived from other schools and other countries.

Literally, from several unique corners of the world.

Plus, Phoenix.

That’s a universe removed from eastern Washington, no?

OK, you can argue that one, but Croatia, Serbia and Korea?

That ain’t Yakima, boys and girls.

This year’s team does have its own Uncle Anton (Watson), who’s been organizing layup lines and signing menus at Kraziness since the Bush Administration.

The first one.

Yes, I’ll confess to a slight exaggeration there, fair enough, but almost everyone you knew being gone (off in the transfer portal, or to the NBA) and the Kennel filled with newcomers is doggone serious.

There’s even a player who was ticketed for plenty of duty around the bucket (Kaden Perry) now just a student because of recurring and painful back issues.

Man, I can identify with Kaden.

Meanwhile, local and national media are used to joking about how Gonzaga reloads rather than rebuilds, but this time around, Few needs a full construction crew to work on a mostly abandoned plot of land.

When they do the introductions at Kraziness, they truly WILL be introductions in most cases.

Most.

Not quite all.

The previously mentioned Watson is back to take up various positions around the hoop, Nolan Hickman returns (but moves to new position, at least most of the time), and Ben Gregg will be available for some banging in the lane and launching some 3-pointers.

If we’re counting scholarship players who are likely to see action in close games, that’s about it.

The new gang arrives from everywhere.

I wasn’t kidding about that.

Well, there actually is some family — since you can find another Nembhard trotting into the spotlight.

Yep.

Andrew’s little brother, Ryan, has turned up after some fine work at Creighton to take over most of the Zags’ point guard duties.

You can never have too many Nembhards.

NOW, AS for the rest of the cast.

The coaches probably had everyone wear name tags for a couple of weeks, just to avoid confusion.

All kidding aside, there are a couple of experienced college-level scorers now on the roster — including wing shooter Steele Venters, who didn’t need to spend much time or money on relocation.

He’s arrived from Eastern Washington.

Not just the area, the actual university.

Post scorer Graham Ike has been lured from Wyoming, where he averaged a hair under 20 points and 10 rebounds per game two years ago.

Ike sat out last year to nurse a foot injury, but Gonzaga medics have given him 100 percent clearance.

No one is saying that Ike is Drew Timme, but he has some of the same skill set — which works perfectly in the Zags offense.

Redshirt soph Braden Huff, a former Mr. Basketball in Illinois, can play behind Ike or move to power forward.

Beyond this group, Few and his staff are excited about guard/forward Dusty Stromer, a 6-6 premier scorer from Notre Dame High in the Los Angeles area.

A true wild card, and perhaps a future star, is 6-8 Jun Seok Yeo, who has played for Korea’s senior national team and enrolled at Gonzaga last semester — so he has a head start in the program.

Then you have Luka Krajnovic, a shooting guard from Croatia, and a late arrival, 6-9 Serbian forward Pavle Stosic.

It’s a diverse group, to say the least, but Few and his staff have a solid history of blending talent from all over creation 7— although they’ll have to perform some magic soon to handle a schedule that features Purdue in the Maui Classic almost right off the bat.

You’re getting the meaning of this year’s Kraziness, yes?

So.

Tee it up on Saturday night, and let’s have a look.

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.”