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His pride stems from knowing that he and his assistant coaches have assembled -- on paper, at least -- the most talented group of players to ever wear the Bulldogs uniform.
So does his apprehension.
Because for the first time since taking over the program four years ago, Few must deal with the potential problem of trying to find enough minutes and enough touches of the basketball to keep 10 considerably talented young men happy.
"You can't look out there and not see that there's a ton of ability," he said recently, nodding toward the floor, where the Bulldogs -- ranked No. 10 in the Associated Press' preseason Top 25 poll -- were practicing. "Now the challenge for us is to have that same type of chemistry we've always had, because there are going to be a lot of minutes that are going to have to be shared.
"We have a lot of good players at every position who are going to be battling for playing time." It's simply a way of life these days at GU, where Few has welcomed back eight letterwinners -- including four starters -- from a team that finished 24-9 last season after losing 96-95 to top-seeded Arizona in the second round of the NCAA West Regional in Albuquerque, N.M.
The Zags' roster, which includes returning West Coast Conference player of the year Blake Stepp and fellow first-team all-WCC selections Cory Violette and Ronny Turiaf, goes 10 deep before any kind of a talent dropoff becomes noticeable.
The Bulldogs five seniors -- Stepp, Violette, Tony Skinner, Richard Fox and Kyle Bankhead -- have experienced unprecedented success since joining the GU program, as evidenced by the Bulldogs' brassy 105-29 record over the past four seasons.
Last year's team won its third consecutive regular-season WCC title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the fifth year in a row, earning an at-large berth after losing to host San Diego in the finals of the WCC tournament.
The top six scorers, who accounted for more than 88 percent of the Bulldogs' points, are back. And they are joined by four newcomers, including three freshmen, who are expected to play key roles and carve deeply into the available supply of minutes.
"We've definitely got a lot of weapons," said Stepp, who led the WCC in scoring (18.0 ppg) and assists (6.0 apg) as a junior. "Everybody can come off the bench and do something, and everybody can do different stuff, too.
"We don't have a lot of the same kind of guys."
Such versatility gives Few a seemingly endless number of combinations to work with. He can go big, with a front line of Fox, Turiaf and Violette. Or he can go small with a three-guard offense built around Stepp, Skinner and newcomer Erroll Knight, an immensely athletic sophomore wing who redshirted last season after transferring from the University of Washington.
And all combinations can be tweaked by inserting Bankhead, a former walk-on and 3-point specialist who started 14 games as a junior last season, and any of the three freshmen, Sean Mallon, Adam Morrison and Derek Raivio.
"On paper, we're definitely as talented as any of the teams that we've had here," said Fox, a 6-foot11, 275-pounder who averaged 6.6 points and 5.0 rebounds last season after transferring from Colorado the year before. "They've had some great teams here, so to say we're better than them right now would be a premature statement.
"But I think we have a chance of being one the best-ranked Gonzaga teams ever come (NCAA) tournament time." Violette and Turiaf combined to average 27 points and 14.2 rebounds last winter, while Skinner averaged 9.2 points and developed into one of the team's top perimeter threats just a year after transferring from Northeastern (Colo.) Junior College.
Knight, who started 19 games as a freshman at UW two years ago, is the most highly touted of the newcomers and gives the Bulldogs a muchneeded defensive stopper on the wing.
But Few has warned GU fans against harboring unrealistic expectations about the 6-6 Knight.
"Everybody needs to back off a little and let Erroll play," he said. "Erroll is a tremendous athlete who is still learning the game. He can run the floor and get to the basket better than anyone we've had in awhile, and he has a bright future.
"But I think it's way too early -- and crazy -- for people to expect him to come in and take over a game."
Mallon, a redshirt freshman, can bang inside and shoot the 3, as well. Morrison is just as versatile with, perhaps, a slightly better touch from the perimeter, while Raivio is quick, flashy and already penciled in as the Bulldogs point guard of the future.
Early season injuries have slowed the Bulldogs' progress. Turiaf practiced only once in the preseason because of a stress fracture in his lower leg, and Knight, Skinner, Fox and Stepp all missed valuable practice time because of various injuries.