Karnowski looms,
GLENDALE, ARIZ . When Przemek Karnowski gets the ball and turns toward the basket, Ryan Edwards braces. Literally, he holds his breath, because he knows what’s coming — a 7-1, 300-pound man mountain who wants to occupy his space — and it’s about all he can do.
“It’s gonna hurt,” Edwards said of those moments in Gonzaga practices. “And it’s not like you’re going to stop him. He’s just going to keep moving.”
Understand this: Edwards, a fourth-year junior reserve, is 7-1 and 295 pounds, which makes him the rare human who can almost hold his own with Karnowski. But then he lists the bruises: arms, knees, shoulders, elbows.
“I’ve got them everywhere because of him,” Edwards said. “I can’t even imagine not being his size and going against him. If I was 6-10 or 6-9 — he hurts. He hurts your body. You’d have broken ribs after the game or something.”
If you’re looking for a matchup that could define Gonzaga vs. North Carolina, start with the largest human. Karnowski is Gonzaga’s No. 2 scorer and the backstop to what is statistically the nation’s best defense. He figures to trade bruises, again and again, with the Tar Heels’ big guys, especially Kennedy Meeks.
“A very big low-post matchup,” North Carolina coach Roy Williams said, adding of Karnowski, “He’s a big fellow.”
So is Meeks. At 6-10 and 260, he was a load for a smaller Oregon bunch in the semifinals, scoring 25 points on 11-for-13 shooting — from very close range — and pulling down 14 rebounds, including the clincher, an offensive board after a missed free throw with four seconds left. He pushed the Ducks’ Jordan Bell beneath the basket, then outmuscled him for the ball and the win.
“He’s a great player, one of those real old school basketball guys, back to the basket,” Karnowski said. “He’s strong. He’s a really good rebounder.”
But Meeks’ task figures to be more challenging Monday. Nobody pushes Karnowski around. Not many enjoy the experience.
“I hate guarding him,” Gonzaga forward Johnathan Williams, who’s 6-9 and 228 pounds, said of practicing against him.
And it’s not just the physical abuse. It’s, well, the sweat.
“It’s like a waterfall,” Williams said. “I need to go take a shower. He’s really big.”
And the burly guy with a long beard has become a bit of a cult figure during the tournament (the beard has a Twitter handle, postmodern evidence of a cult following). And if you did not know Karnowski was from Torun, Poland, it would be easy to figure him for some mythic figure from the Pacific Northwest. Put him in red-and-black plaid (or, in a nod to the Zags’ school colors, red and blue). Give him an ax. That beard. You get the picture.
“He looks like he’s from the woods, cutting down trees and all that,” said Edwards, who should know — he’s from Kalispell, Mont. “I think that’s definitely given him a more intimidating look — not that he needs it.”
As Gonzaga has advanced through the bracket, Karnowski has been a hot interview topic. Sunday, he was asked to describe his hometown.
“I don’t know what you want to know,” he said. “I can tell you some facts about Torun” — and then he rattled off the population (about 200,000), that it has a professional basketball team (Polski Cukier Torun) and a speedway (MotoArena Torun) for motorcycle racing. And he noted, “I would say the NCAA is not really a big deal in Poland, I’m not gonna lie.” And while he said he knew “most of the bigger” college basketball programs as a youngster, he knew nothing of Gonzaga until the school began recruiting him.
He also claimed: “When I was younger, I played the 3 (small forward) — honest to God.”
And if it sounds like a tall tale, consider: “He can definitely shoot it,” Edwards said. “I’ve seen him stroke it a few times. It’s a sight to see, honestly.”
When Gonzaga landed Karnowski five years ago, he was hailed as potentially the missing piece in the program’s quest to reach the Final Four and win a national title. But this time last year, no one was sure if he would ever play basketball again.
He was incapacitated by a bulging disk after a fall in practice — the pain was so bad he couldn’t get out of bed — and the situation became grave when a staph infection in his left leg popped up in the disk, too. An MRI scan found the infection was eating away the disk. He had surgery and began a long recovery process, but at one point it was uncertain whether he would keep his left leg.
Karnowski was medically cleared in early October. As a precaution, he never practiced more than two days in a row this season. Other than a scary moment last fall when he suffered through back spasms, there have been no issues.
Instead, he has been the force the Zags anticipated, averaging 12.3 points and 5.8 rebounds.
The Bulldogs took questions Sunday about how they would deal with North Carolina’s size, which is something they rarely if ever encountered this season. But that goes the other way, too.
“Reverse it,” Edwards said. “I don’t think Meeks has played against anybody Shemmy’s size. He’s been bullying people for the entire year. Now he’s going to have to battle against someone who weighs more than him and is taller than him.”