It takes a lot to win a national championship in college basketball, seemingly sometimes equal parts luck and equal parts having all of the pieces of the puzzle.
For the Gonzaga Bulldogs this year, they appear to have all the pieces of the puzzle, with the final piece coming from graduate senior Khalif Battle. Battle, a 6’5 scoring machine, is a player Gonzaga has rarely seen the likes of, and he might be the difference in the team cutting down the nets this season.
Battle is a walking (or running) bucket, that is the easiest way to describe him. People will point out he led Temple in points per game his senior year despite coming off the bench, but considering he averaged 32.2 minutes per game, it loses a bit of the luster.
Rather, we can take what he did at Arkansas as a prime indicator of what he brings to the table. Eric Musselman used Battle flawlessly, and the offensive output reflects that — 14.8 ppg (second on the squad) in just 24.8 mpg.
Specifically, however, it is Battle’s ability to get to the free throw line that sets him apart from everyone else in college. Last season, Battle drew 7.4 fouls per 40 minutes, good for the eighth-highest mark in the country. His free throw rate (FTr – number of FTA per FGA) was 0.727. The owner of Gonzaga’s highest FTr last season was Little Ben Gregg at 0.434. Battle’s 213 total FTA would’ve ranked first on the Zags by a mile. Graham Ike led Gonzaga with just 134.
Why this is important is because Battle is able to convert at the line with ruthless efficiency. He is a career 85.7 percent free throw shooter, topping out at 89.8 percent his final year at Temple.
The Zags have had some stellar foul-generating machines in their time, but you need to go way down the list to find one that wasn’t either a forward or a center. Demetri Goodson, back in the 2009-10 season, had a FTr of 0.583, the highest mark by a guard. Goodson also only averaged 6.4 ppg that season.
Battle’s FTr of 0.727 would land at No. 12 in Gonzaga’s all-time list since the 1977-78 season. Above him are the likes of Big Rob Sacre, Przemek Karnowski, and the ever delightful Ronny Turiaf. Big men usually grind out fouls–it is part of the job of pounding it out down low. Hence, the rarity to see a guard landing that high up.
Granted, there will always be a little bit of a learning curve when it comes to incorporating into new offenses, but graduate seniors are able to do that much more cleanly than freshman. Battle will be coming from a team in Arkansas that loved to run the ball, and tempo push has usually been one of the trademarks of most Gonzaga offenses.
It will be interesting to see how Battle is utilized by the coaching staff, especially considering the awful season-ending-before-it-started injury to Steele Venters for the second-straight year. Battle played in 59 games over the past two seasons but only started in 21 of them.
With Gonzaga returning literally the entire offense minus Anton Watson, inserting Battle into the starting lineup means you are taking a team that was a top 5 offense to close out the year and making it even better.
Whether he begins the year in the rotation or continues his seemingly lifelong role of sixth-man weapon, Battle’s unique talents very well could be the x-factor for the Zags this season. That isn’t to say that the team’s hopes to finally cut down the nets rest on his point totals each night. But one of the most dangerous offenses in the country last season just got better with the addition of one player, not even counting the others that are entering the fold. That is only a good thing.