Some thoughts on the Zags, after watching them toy with Idaho State in the season opener the other night:

- Remember, these thoughts were formed after watching them play a team picked to finish eighth in the Big Sky.

- Forward Rui Hachimura, who has been mentioned as a potential lottery pick in next year’s NBA Draft, has developed into a man playing against boys. Few teams the Zags play will have anybody who can stop him physically — maybe the elite teams will be able to do it with numbers. The 6-foot-8, 230-pound Hachimura can hit the mid-range jumper, so you can’t just sag off of him.

- Redshirt sophomore Brandon Clarke, the 6-8, 215-pound forward who transferred from San Jose State after his freshman season, looks like a junior version of Hachimura. He, too, will eat up most teams on Gonzaga’s schedule.

- The Zags should wear those turquoise uniforms more often. Rather see them in those as an alternate jersey than the black ZAGS jerseys.

- Sophomore Corey Kispert and redshirt sophomore Zach Norvell Jr. are both snipers from 3-point range. When Kispert gets it lined up, you’re shocked when he misses. Norvell is deadly as well, even though the ball looks like it comes out of his left ear.

Against ISU, they were on the floor often together, so the Bengals couldn’t play off them, which opened up the area inside the 3-point arc for Hachimura, Clarke and Filip Petrusev. Petrusev, a 6-11, 235-pound true freshman from Serbia, already appears to be a load inside.

- Imagine what Killian Tillie will add to this bunch — inside and outside — when he returns in a couple of months following ankle surgery. The 6-10, 220-pound Tillie can shoot the 3, but can also play inside and block shots.

- Remember, these thoughts were formed after watching them play a team picked to finish eighth in the Big Sky.

- The Zags’ ball movement was pretty to watch. Players passed up good shots for better, wide-open shots. These Zags seem like the other Zag teams — unselfish, not caring who scores the points.

- How nice is it that the Zags were able to acquire another experienced ballhandler — Geno Crandall, the graduate transfer from North Dakota, to go along with Josh Perkins a fifth-year senior who seems like he’s been around even longer than that.

- The only “problem” for the Zags is not enough playing time for everyone. Again, that’s a good “problem” to have, in an era in college basketball where teams are usually decimated by players leaving school too early. Hachimura, Clarke, Tillie and Petrusev give the Zags a wealth of bigs, and Gonzaga is deep at guard with Perkins, Crandall, Norvell and Kispert.

Again, the Zags don’t seem to be too concerned who’s getting the minutes, as long as they’re winning.

- Remember, these thoughts were formed after watching them play a team picked to finish eighth in the Big Sky.

A better measuring stick will be when the Zags face the better teams on their nonconference schedule, like Texas A&M next Thursday, then Illinois and Arizona or Iowa State in Maui, as well as Tennessee, North Carolina, and even Washington.

The Zags have way too much talent to be bothered much in West Coast Conference games, or in their other nonconference games — except if boredom sets in, and that shouldn’t happen because there is too much competition for minutes.

- Remember, the Zags’ season has ended the past two seasons at the hands of pretty good, but really fairly pedestrian, ACC teams — North Carolina (in the 2017 NCAA title game) and Florida State (in the 2018 Sweet 16).

All you can do is contruct a roster, construct a program, that at least gives you a chance year in and year out.

And that’s what Gonzaga, two decades into this NCAA tournament run, has finally done in recent years.

- Did we say those turquoise uniforms look pretty cool?

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.