A Tribute to the Seniors, Gonzaga Edition: Mike Hart and Guy Landry Edi

In the eyes of the national media, the loss of Kelly Olynyk and Elias Harris is enormous, and could potentially set the Gonzaga program back exponentially. But in the eyes of Mark Few and Co., the losses of Mike Hart and Guy Landry Edi will be just as significant, if not more so.

Mike Hart came to Gonzaga with no intentions of playing on the basketball team. He chose Gonzaga for their business program, but in the back of his mind, he thought he could be a part of the schools basketball program.

In high school, Hart played for Jesuit High School in Portland, Oregon,  averaged 8 points per game as a senior, and was named to second-team all league. He only lettered in his last two seasons at Jesuit, but was named the captain of the team, as well as being named the teams most valuable player in his senior season.

“He’s unbelievable, man. I’ve never had anybody like him in all my years of coaching,” said coach Few about Hart. To be honest, he probably never will see anything like him. His skill set is rare, and unique. Hart is not the type of player that will jump out on a stat sheet, but his value to the Bulldogs was unprecedented over the past two years. According to Luke Winn of Sports Illustrated, Mike Hart has the second least offensive output of all the starters in college basketball. Yet, Hart was possibly the most important player for the Gonzaga Bulldogs last season. “How could this be?” you ask.

Hart did the dirty work for the Zags: diving for loose balls, playing his heart out on defense, etc. This is the kind of stuff that the highly talented players simply are not willing to do, but Hart did it game in and game out.

His signature moment of this season was his defensive play against Matthew Dellavedova and the Saint Mary’s Gaels. Hart gave ‘Delly’ fits in all three games, part in due to his height and his relentless defense. Hart is significantly taller than most of the defenders that Dellavedova faced all season at 6’6″. Dellavedova, who is 6’4″, took advantage of the smaller guards that guarded him the whole season. However, Hart’s height combined with his stern defense took away a mismatch that Dellavedova was so accustomed to.

Hart might not have the accolades that some of the other Gonzaga players do, but he certainly was just as important to the Bulldogs success as any player on the roster. No stats were mentioned in this article on purpose; because Hart’s true value is not as conspicuous as just looking at a box score.

Mike Hart’s career as a Bulldog saw an upward trend in performance and minutes, however that was not the case for Guy Landry Edi.

Landry Edi came to Gonzaga with visions of success after being extremely prosperous at the junior college level. At Midland Junior College, Edi averaged 16.3 points and 7.0 rebounds per game in the NJCAA tournament. His excellence in just about every facet of the game earned him a great deal of scholarship offers, and he chose to come to Gonzaga.

Guy Landry Edi served a 8 game suspension at the start of his first season with the Zags after violating the NCAA’s amateurism rules (played for a French pro team). Edi found himself in the Zags starting lineup very quickly after serving his suspension. He averaged 5.5 points and 2.3 rebounds per game in his junior season.

In his second and last season with the Bulldogs, Edi’s playing time and production significantly dropped. His minutes per game dropped from 17.3 in his junior season, to a 10.7 in his senior season. Edi started 14 games for the Zags this season, but most of those came in the beginning of the season. At the latter end of the season, he was on the end of Mark Few’s bench, and generally only played in garbage time.

Edi’s time at Gonzaga was a bit of dissapointment, but he was still a worthwhile piece of this team. His athleticism on the wing will certainly be missed in the future.

Seeing these two players leave Spokane is going tug on the heartstrings of the Gonzaga faithful. Congratulations on great Bulldog careers!