Let's get a couple things straight, Gonzaga is good; San Diego is not. Why did this happen then? Why did it take a Stockton runner to put us up and give us the win? Simple: Gonzaga gets everyone's best game.
If you look at San Diego's schedule it is littered with teams 90% of the college basketball world have never even heard of. The one ranked team that USD plays other than Gonzaga is San Diego State, so when you look at the schedule you see 2 games circled for USD; Gonzaga and Gonzaga.
San Diego was prepared for the Zags and took advantage of our recent weakness; defensive rebounding. Harris said it best after the game, "We really need to go back on Monday and go back to boxing out with more heart because that today was not acceptable."
Another thing that was not acceptable was Coach Few's untimely technical foul. He has to know that with the game on the line you have to keep your emotions in check. Ultimately, Gonzaga Buckled down and held on for the win, a win that helps mature this team with so much potential.
Check after the break for Gonzaga's Player Ratings.
Pangos- Pangos played solid basketball on both ends of the floor, and made smart decisions when he had the ball. His shot wasn't dropping, but he wasn't forcing shots either. He needs to look for the easy assist a little more and help his team get easy buckets. Overall Rating 6.
Harris- Came out strong early on and scored the first 9 points for the Zags. While he quieted down a bit after that he played strong defense all game. As he mentioned, his rebounding was lacking even though he led the team in boards. The start of the game we saw what happens when teams key in on Kelly. Overall Rating 8
Bell- It is nice to see Bell looking for his shot a little more and driving to the hoop where he finishes very well. This was one of his best games as a Zag and he really filled the stat sheet as well. Finished with 3 steals, 4 assists and shot 6-8 from the field. Could have done more on the defensive end limiting Dee's touches. Overall Rating 8.5
KO- This was one of the worst shooting games for KO this year, and defensive pressure wasn't the issue. The last couple games KO missed some easy baskets while finishing the difficult ones. This shows he needs to focus on every shot. You can see him looking away and being surprised his bucket didn't fall. Overall Rating 6.5
Hart- A ho-hum game for Hart, he needs to pick up the intensity level (never thought I'd say that about him) and get back to his fundamentals. Blocking out will be huge, and taking a second to calm down before he makes a move. He seems rushed and is forcing things. Let the game come to you. Overall Rating 6
Dower- While many will remember this game for the big block they had on Dower, I liked what I saw from him tonight. He consistently took the ball hard at the basket and didn't settle. What is completely unacceptable is being one of the biggest guys on the floor for 13 minutes and not getting a single rebound. Overall Rating 6
Barham- Nothing to rate, played just two minutes and didn't get an opportunity to stand out on either end.
Dranginis- Played great defense late and showed poise on his runner to tie the ballgame. Mark Few showed his confidence in him by allowing him to be on the floor late in a close game situation. Overall Rating 7
Stockton- Played a true point guard role and looked for his teammates first. Played a great two man game with Olynyk late in the game which was reminiscent of Malone/Stockton (although I understand neither of those are fair or accurate comparisons). Need to see him put a body on someone while rebounding instead of chasing the ball. Overall Rating 7.5
PK-Played 5 minutes and was quickly pulled to ride the pine. Didn't look like he belonged on the same court as the rest of the Zags. These are the kind of games he needs to make his size felt. We are seeing some growing pains from him right now. Let's hope they are gone before the tourney. Overall Rating 5.
Edi- Edi just hasn't been the player we thought he was going to be. In fact he hasn't been really anything. I still don't know who he is or what he can bring the team. Needs to find his niche and find a way to support the Zags. Only played 2 minutes today.
10 comments:
That was embarrassing. No reason the game should have been close. If we are a legit Top 10 team we sleep walk though that!
How about KO blowing that late dunk and missing the front end of that pivotal one and one near the end like that, in front of all those NBA scouts, showing his mettle in crunch time? Oh well, maybe we'll have him back next year after all.
All the talk from the announcers about how close Few & Grier are makes one hope that in homage to his dear friend we took it really easy on them.
Even if Grier knew what Few was going to do before he thought it, and so on, we have much better talent and should have won the game easily!
No excuses.
Nice post game by the way.
Stockton had a really great game... it's hard to quantify the negative effect he has on rebounding, but the team was so bad last night as a whole that it didn't really matter that DS was undersized. What was interesting to me is that Few had Stockton running the point in crunch time instead of Pangos, letting him run the offense so that KP could run around screens as a shooter. Stockton's pick and roll work with Olynyk (along with that massive floater) turned the game and USD had no answer for it.
Here's the problem for me: will this work against an elite team in the tournament? Stockton can be bullied by big defensive guards, meaning that we will need Pangos to be the floor general in March. Sometimes I worry that we rely on Stockton a little too much and that it lowers the ceiling of this team. Pangos has a pretty savvy feel for the game passing wise but he has devolved into a pure shooter with the rare runner tossed in. I might be nitpicking, but this is the sort of stuff you think about when you're trying to imagine your team in the final four.
I agree, i was hoping Pangos would make the next step passing after working with Nash. I do see some improvement and Nash qualities, but I want to see some more Point Guard qualities.
Totally no excuses!! Other High seeded teams will blow right on past Zags if they continue squeaking out wins against teams like this.. I did think there was some major biast with the refs.. I'm not one to call out refs but I felt it was rediculous .
Please let's be honest:
Harris is not a good defender. I would run pick and roll at him all day. He'll make a lazy hedge, watch the guard turn the corner, and slowly jog back into the lane, as the roll man finishes a layup.
St. Mary's plays us well because they know we have some of the worst pick-and-roll defense in the country. Unless this changes (either tactically or energy-wise or both) we are vulnerable.
Let's be honest:
Harris is not a good defender. Playing the zags, I would run a pick and roll at him all day.
He'll make a lazy hedge, allow the guard to turn the corner, and jog back into the lane as the roll man finishes a layup.
This is why St. Mary's plays us so well: they know we play some of the worst p-n-r defense in college ball. Until this changes (both tactically and with emphasis on energy) the zags are vulnerable.
A couple things at play:
1. Grier knows our system better than any other opposing coach in the nation. He knows Mark Few, and he knows our plays. They always play us close. You are right, they circle Gonzaga on the calendar and they know our recipe for success and they know our weaknesses and they show those weaknesses.
2. We played no defense...until the very last 8 seconds of the game where we decided to triple team that guy (thank goodness). It was just a lackluster performance.
I am so glad we pulled out the win. We could have easily lost, but now I think we will regroup like Harris said, work on rebounding, and boxing out and come out stronger again.
A note on Few's technical...that is such a rarity, it surprised me more than bothered me. He is always so calm and composed, that a T from him blows my mind and it won't happen again for a long time, so I won't blame him for it.
Draino - I thought he played great. He was attempting more shots (they weren't really falling), but he was being more aggressive on offense and defense, made a couple great plays that resulted in turnovers or steals (he did also lose one), but ultimately I thought this was his best overall game since he scored 30+ at the beginning of the season.
Harris was a beast - he made me so happy!
I disagree on Harris. Yes he has trouble on the Pick and Roll (his hedges are at best a bit slow and at worst dangerously lazy), but he has become an accomplished post defender. He bodied up Brandon Davies (probably the best pure post scorer in the WCC) and held him in check all game. We don't play many teams with elite post-up guys, but it's good to know Harris has improved in this regard.
Honestly, if we could just come up with a comprehensive pick and roll strategy as a team we would be in much better shape. As it is we come out hedging hard some games, switching every screen during others, and randomly going under/over screens regardless of our opponent. To me, this is a coaching issue as opposed to an individual one.
And yes, St. Mary's will punish us with the pick and roll all game. They know that it's only a matter of time before someone screws it up by ducking under a screen or switching when they weren't supposed to. If Few ever figures out how to clear that up we'll be in much better shape.
From what I saw, GU did sleepwalk through that game.
Offensive rebounds by SD a result of no attempt to gain position and not going up with two hands to secure the rebound...how may tipped rebounds to a SD player did you count? I think it was easily 9 or 10 of them in the second half.
You can't play 24 games and be awesome every time out. This is an example of such IMO.
Side note, I love the play of Dower as of late and I am happy to see GBJ get back to playing at the level at which he is capable.
kg-
Yes to everything on the p-n-r. It has to be a coaching thing- it happens year in, year out.
However, Harris is, to me, a mediocre defender at best. Yes, he's not too bad WHEN HIS MAN HAS THE BALL.
But if my math is right, there are 5 players, so all other things being equal you're only defending the ball 20% of the time defensively.
Harris has bad defensive rotations. When he plays the corner in the 2-3 zone, he constantly gets caught behind screens because he's ball watching, and gives up open threes.
His on-ball defense is improved, especially in the post. His off-ball D is very lacking.
As an aside, can someone get Mark Few and his staff a whole season of Butler basketball games? Let's get one of those sharp assistants to watch every minute and re-tool what we do defensively.
Mark Few is almost for sure the college version of Mike D'Antoni. Excellent offensive mind, thinks he's going to just outscore you.
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