5 Takeaways As the Zags Take Down Bryant

Gonzaga moves to 1-0 to start the season with an easy game against Bryant University. With the game in the books it's time to look at 5 takeaways for the 2013-2014 Gonzaga Bulldogs

Takeaways

1. Dower has Decided to Rebound

Coming into the season one of the major question marks of the 14 ranked Bulldogs is how were they going to replace the 18.6 rpg that they lost in Elias Harris, Kelly Olynyk, and Mike Hart (the top three rebounders in 2012-2013). Dower came into this game with a career high of only 10 and was averaging only 2.7rpg. Tonight he attacked the rim hard and seemed focused on securing the ball.

Two Big Names to Know in 2013-2014

With the losses of two NBA caliber players and energy guy Mike Hart, it is only natural that Gonzaga finds players to fill the void left on the court. While most of the gap will be filled by Dower and Karnowski, along with the increased focus on GU's excellent back court play, there will be a significant amount of minutes and impact that will need to come from new players if the Zags are going to continue to dominate the WCC.

While Gonzaga doesn't have a high impact freshman like Wiggins, it does have some new faces who will make significant contributions to the team this year.

Pepperdine Recap

As some of you have pointed out, my pre-season prediction of Pepperdine's record has proved to be 100% correct, while at the same time picking the wrong team in their matchups 50% of the time. This goes to show my brilliance/ignorance, and either way i will proudly brag about it to all that will listen (for the record autocorrect just informed me that i spelled brilliance wrong).





Much like my record Gonzaga's most recent win should be something that they should brag about, and be ashamed about at the same time. Gonzaga won again, and started its WCC season off on the right foot, however they shot their worst FG % of the season at 43.4 %. Despite the 43% Gonzaga actually shot better than most of Pepperdines opponents, which was holding teams to a WCC best 39%.

Eating Crow

I have been outspoken about the fact that I have never been a fan of David Stockton. In fact I even wrote an article on why Draino would steal all of his minutes.  I have said such things as: His last name is the reason he is on the team; his 3-point shot has more arch than a middle school girl’s; he just cannot succeed at a D1 level;he tries to force the ball too much and causes stupid turnovers; and his lack of size and athleticism make him a liability against top-tier teams.

I’ve also been hard on Mike Hart, saying that he is what he is, but that isn’t a Gonzaga basketball player. He doesn’t have the skill set to play for an elite D1 team. He hustles and throws his body around, but in doing so he fouls too much and causes the rest of his team to get out of position. He is so concerned with drawing charges that he forgets to play defense, and his lack of a shooting touch allows other teams to play off him and clog our lanes.
I thought neither of them deserved time on a top-10 team.

David and Mike, I want to offer my sincere apologies. I was wrong.