Next up for the 3-0 Gonzaga Bulldogs is the mighty St. Thomas Aquarium.
Ok, it’s not really “Aquarium”, I stole the line from a
sports guy I heard on a local radio show. It’s actually the Division II St.
Thomas Aquinas.
On Saturday for another NIT Season Tip-Off game, the Zags take on the D2 Spartans in the Kennel.
They hail out of Sparkhill, New York, and are coached by an
experienced Tobin Anderson. He is in his second year as head coach, taking his
team to their first ever league Tournament Title game in his very first season
at the helm. Before landing the Spartans job, he had two successful years as
assistant Coach with D1 Sienna. They actually once posted an 11-4 home record
and made it to the semi-finals in the MAAC Tourney with only a 6 man player
rotation. Additionally, he had a record of 118-63 with D3 Hamilton College
where they reached the league tourney 5 out of his 7 seasons, as well as
winning 3 regular season titles.
Good coaching aside, so far they are a woeful 0-3 this
season, losing 97-71 to St. Johns, 92-80 to St. Michael’s, and 75-68 to Pace. So,
a D2 team that is win-less, having given up 90 plus points in two of their first
three games, now gets to face an unbeaten and #11th ranked Gonzaga
team that scores in the 100s & 90s against some pretty good D1 teams? Folks,
this could get ugly.
Is there any hope at all for these Spartans? Well, not
really. They lost their leading scorer and rebounder, Omar Kellman from last
season. But, they do bring back a core of returnees that include pg Marcus
Henderson who ave. 13.4 ppg and had 104 assists, Rookie of the Year Chaz Watler
who hit 13.3 ppg, and Aaron Craft, who tossed in a respectable 9.5 ppg.
This team also lacks size. Their above mentioned leading
scorer, Marcus Henderson, is only 5’7 and weights in at 140 lbs. As a matter of
fact, only two players on their entire team weight in over 200 lbs. One of which is their Freshman
Center Sam Berlin, who is 243 lbs.
These Spartans allow opponents to hit .540 from the field, as well as .483
from deep, are out-rebounded by -12.5 pg, and turn the ball over 13.5
times pg. Is there anything they can do? Yes, they can hit free throws at 61%
pg. Gonzaga only hits 57%.
On another positive note, let it be known that the Spartans
play at home to an ave. of 174 attendees per game. You may ask what is so positive
about that. Well, think of how much, ahem, fun it’s going to be for them to
travel all the way from New York to Spokane while getting to play in front of 6 thousand screaming Zag fans.
I hope it’s a fun show, nobody gets hurt, and Few lets off
the gas early, tinkers with various line-ups, and gets a lot of PT for our walk-ons.
Other than that, it’s still basketball, and the game counts.
I could think of a lot worse things to be doing on a Saturday night.
For those of you who cannot attend, catch the game via radio on KIXI 880 AM.
For those of you who cannot attend, catch the game via radio on KIXI 880 AM.
Enjoy the game and GO ZAGS!!~
4 comments:
Actually, the game does not count. I have to wonder how Few will use this exhibition to its best advantage?
I suspect we will see Wiltjer playing in the middle all night long. He needs work on his inside game. Perkins may well start this game. Westley is another guy that could use a little more quality PT but I fear Westley will be way too much for these guys. Nunez needs work on his court awareness. It will be way too easy for him to score if they turn him loose but if he is out there to run offense, that might be a positive for him.
All that said, it would be a shame if STA did not get to experience the entire Zag thing if only for the first five minutes of the game. They probably will never have another opportunity like this.
It may not "count" as far as a bonafide D1 win, as St. Thomas Aquarium is D2, but if the Zags win/lose this game, it most certainly will count on their overall record, no?
Truthfully, IMO this game is a mess. You want the team to gel and start to find itself. Not sure what you can "find" about yourselves playing this level of a team.
Wiltjer banging around some more down low could help, even with this quality of an opponent. Not sure Wesley will get "quality" PT vs this team, but he seems to need more PT regardless.
As far as Nunez, I'd like to see him work some kinks out. It may be that longer PT in this game could be beneficial.
I'd be all for St. Thomas Aquinas getting the full feel of our starters for 5 mins, but after that, whatever the coaches think will help w/ the development of the team would be best, I'm all for, whatever that might be.
It should be a very strange game and I fully admit to not having the foggiest idea of what to make of it, other than, I REALLY like Aquariums.
OK, I really should stop w/ making fun of the Aquinas, or maybe not.
Anyone happen to know what an Aquinas is?
Yeah, Aquinas in this case is a last name, as in St. Thomas Aquinas:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas
Hey Thanks Eric. So he is a Saint, and not a mascot. Now we know.
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