Comments on: Good, Bad and Ugly: Gonzaga

By: Kelin Blab

Kelin Blab — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 07:59:34 +0000

Glad to hear a little more about Tijan, I have been a little hard on him but he plays hard and trys….and he is 7foot tall…I will lay off.

I agree if D.Moore doesn't at least do a shot fake once a game I am going to be pissed.

By: Kelin Blab

Kelin Blab — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 23:59:34 +0000

Glad to hear a little more about Tijan, I have been a little hard on him but he plays hard and trys….and he is 7foot tall…I will lay off.

I agree if D.Moore doesn't at least do a shot fake once a game I am going to be pissed.

By: deedubbadoo

deedubbadoo — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 13:32:32 +0000

First off, I love the poll at the top of the page in regards to “moral victories.” I feel that Saturday was definitely a “moral victory” for the guys. Getting blown out consecutively by 20+ points, you begin to look for anything positive. I think the game against the Zags was definitely a positive. That being said, everyone knows what we need to work on and my basketball mind is no where near coach Crean's so I will not comment on that. I will say what everyone else is saying though. Daniel Moore, I love you, now SHOOT THE FREAKIN BALL!!! Everyone is whole damn arena knows there is no way that you are going to even attempt to shoot, so surprise them! When they give you space, shoot it! It's not like a few missed shots are going to kill us here, hell Matt Roth will pull up from the parking lot if he gets a little room to breathe. It makes it much easier for teams to defend us if they know that our point guard is not even thinking of shooting. All that aside, a pretty good game. Glad to see that it didn't turn into another And-1 Mixtape like the Wake Forest game, no double alley-oops that I saw at least. One more thing, I was in the car listening to the pre-game with Don about an hour before tip-off and he had a really good interview with Tijan. The guy has been through quite a lot, he is definitely raw in every sense of the word but, I think come February / March he will be much improved. I still can't listen to him talk without thinking of that Kevin Bacon movie, “The Air Up There.” Maybe coach Crean can show him the “Jimmy Dolan Shake and Bake…”

GO HOOSIERS!

By: ALH_00

ALH_00 — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 08:05:33 +0000

Agreed…Big 10 has some outstanding coaches right now…minus that dork in Champaign.

By: ChronicHoosier

ChronicHoosier — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:18:31 +0000

Talk about suspended reality. I actually felt like we had a chance to win that one. Forget that everybody knows skill, athleticism, and experience will always trump raw effort, but for the first time this season it seemed like we just might get to play spoiler. My head (and Pargo's persistent points) kept telling me it was foolish to believe, but my heart wouldn't stop thinking we could do it. Wow, did that feel good! Not what I was expecting, especially this early, this year, against that team. But for some horrible officiating & our unending turnovers, and we would have made a real game out of it. Yes, Virginia, there is a basketball team there. And just for good measure, +25% free throw improvement!

The FUGLY:
-We might be the poorest passing team in the country right now, definitely the worst in the conference. Bounce passes at the knees, telegraphed like Morse code, away from the cutter/postman, with middle school velocity will not allow us to compete in games we might otherwise. Other teams already bring plenty enough to the table to beat us, we cannot keep helping them in that endeavor with bush league passing.

-Without Pritchard on the court, our offense disappears faster than a box of donuts in a room full of fat girls. Yeah, that fast. Gonzo.

-We'd have had 10 more turnovers if they counted the rushed shots which resulted from our complete disregard for the shot clock. Time and time again, we dribbled without purpose while the clock ran out.

By: NC Fat Boy

NC Fat Boy — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 20:47:10 +0000

Yes, at some point we have to hope that Williams, Story, Dumes and Jones become the guard rotation with Moore filling in (but I agree, is 18 feet outside of Moore's range?). Moore's not getting many passing options when he drives, everything collapses and no ones positioned for the chippy (maybe that's because they're all perimeter players except for Pritchard).

For Moore to be effective, he has to at least become a possible threat to score offensively.

By: Kelin Blab

Kelin Blab — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 19:28:01 +0000

I have a questions....Is EVERY player 6'10 to 7ft tall enrolled at Wake and Gonzaga...damn how many 6'10 guys does a team need? They just kept coming and coming...

Nick Williams has been MIA
Please Jordan Hulls hurry and get to IU
Vj please come back soon
Tijan Never gets the ball in the post, I just want to see what happens
Crean gets after it.......
There is a kid at Avon H.S. we need to be recruiting....he is a BALLER!

Lucas Oil, very nice by the way.

By: JerryCT

JerryCT — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 16:10:42 +0000

I like Taber but he scares me alot. On defense he cannot hedge on the pick because he is just not quick or agile enough to ge tback on his man. If its Moore's man he is hedging on , leaving Moore to cover a post player …………..guess what…….the other team gets 2 open shots……..Moore's man AND Taber's man.

By: iuoiu

iuoiu — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 15:40:00 +0000

Aside from IU actually making the Zags long trip worth it, don't forget that the conference had a pretty good day overall (about time). OSU beating ND and Michigan beating the Dukies for the first time…..since I don't know….was great.

I've been saying that the best B10 hire (prior to Crean) was Coach B. I think he will get Michigan back into relevance, and will be a tough go for IU in the future. 3 years down the road, I'm betting that IU and Michigan will be the top two teams in the league.

By: NC Fat Boy

NC Fat Boy — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 14:58:26 +0000

You're right, we're going to see turnovers all year. In the beginning of the second half, the Zags cranked up the pressure on defense right from the get go and our guys were not prepared for that intensity. Learning experience. It'll happen again.

We're going to struggle for a while against that kind of intense defensive pressure. Ball handling skills will improve. Breaking a press is a mental game and it takes 5 players working together to break it. They WILL turn it over. We will face teams with outstanding foot and hand speed.

What got me was seeing Taber on the perimeter attempting entry passes to Pritchard and failing on the angle miserably. I know Taber's not a post player, we need him in the post as well as Pritchard. By the way, was that Jobe I saw calling for the ball in the post? )