Love for Bouldin

[tyra]

The Board has (appropriately) had a lot of love for various players lately. I second all the positive comments. But I think it is time we singled out Matt for his play and especially becoming so very CONSISTENT in the last many games. He started the year hot, then had a slump, and ended the year playing like a seasoned veteran. Anymore, Matt plays more like a sophomore or junior than he does a freshman. Kudos to Matt!

The future is so bright, it blinds me.

[tobizag]

Watching Matt play just makes me smile. His moves, his passes, his shots, and his poise are so beyond Freshman. It would be interesting if he would have been a Freshman in a different year. Not that he would be Frosh of the Year, but he certainly would be recognized even more nationally.

Thank you to Matt for the solid play.

[Lurknomore]

I'm going to give a little shout out to Matt also. To be a freshman and be so composed at the line blows me away. We have really needed him and he has stepped up in so many ways. To play sick like he did last week shows what kind of guts the kid has. I think he has a great future as a Zag!!

[sonuvazag]

The future is so bright, it blinds me.

Then you gotta wear shades...

Matt has been awesome. Great team player and great attitude.

[gozagswoohoo]

holla holla!


Bia Bia!

[youreachiteach]

I love when Bouldin posts up!! Great game.

[Ziggy]

Eyes in the back of his head!

[EL MUSTACIO]

I've been so accustomed to Bouldin's great play that I have almost gotten too used to it and have stopped noticing how awesome he is. Bouldin (IMO) is in the top 5 freshman this year including ODEN, DURANT, HAWES, and ...well, at least he's in the top 4. Those are the ONLY guys I would replace him with. He's a great player and an even greater person.

[RebornZag]

Love for Matt

Three weeks ago I said that if The Zags were going to make it to the dance that Matt would have to step up on the road. And he has. He has grown and matured a lot in the last month...I think Few has created a new role for Matt, and I haven't figured it all out yet, but he is more then a normal wing player. That doesn't fit his style. That's what so wierd about this team...None of them fit into a standard role....and Few has spoken about the fact that he has had to give them more flexibility and freedom. And I can see it...Matt has become a big guard posting up smaller guards...It's been a great strategy. Teams have defended GU by putting a #3 guard who's usually 6'5" or 6'6" on Derek. This means that a smaller guard is defending Matt. We are now making teams pay for putting their #3's on Derek. Great coaching. In the last 4 games, and especially the last 2 Matt has played far beyond his years....He had it at the beginning of the year, lost it, and has found it again. That's often how it goes......He's found it again at the RIGHT time of the year......WOW!!!! And what about his passing??? and boarding?

[Zagdawg]

Sophomore Jump

He is doing outstanding now and --I can't wait to see how much he improves this summer for his sophomore jump (improvement)--

Imagine him getting stronger over the summer-- wow-- he is going to be an outstanding Zag--

Go Zags--

[JAGzag]

This kid will be freaking amazing next year; I expect his transition into Soph year to be incredible. How many guards, freshman guards for that, post up down low and have spins moves we saw against SCU?

[former1dog]

It occurred to me over the past couple of days that, IMO, Matt Bouldin is already the best player on our team.

That isn't to say he is the most important or most impactful player at this time. But, he is the player with the most skills and basketball smarts. Actually, I don't think it is even close. That kid is, dare I say it, a basketball genius.

The best example of this was the USD game. He was just on a different level of vision and anticipation. I could tell that the game has just slowed down for him now and he can see several moves ahead, like a lot of the greats could (Stockton and Magic come to mind.) Maybe I'm overstating my opinion here, but it is just that, my opinion.

[gamagin]

matt is a great fresman

I don't mean to throw a turd in this punchbowl, but Matt, to me, is one of the best freshman prospects I've seen in a long time, YET he also makes alot of freshman mistakes. Thus, he is built for but not not quite ready (neither was pargo last year) to hold much less own, the reigns of this team, imo.

So far this year, besides flashes of brilliance we have all enjoyed, he has become flummoxed too many times inbounding & passing the ball (memphis a big one), forcing passes into the middle and failing to shoot.

The failure to shoot makes everyone else adjust after working the ball around to the open man, who then rewinds the play. It's disruptive.

I think maybe he wasn't being encouraged to shoot at the very beginning. Then he was encouraged to shoot, but wouldn't, and so forth. As I say, its part of the development. Normal. But he hasn't yet mastered his and our game. Our leaders, DR & SM, have.

So developing matt on the fly has been painful for all of us at times, but mostly for the teammates who are willing and able to pass, shoot and drive and dish.

IMO, matt, a quick study (perhaps the quickest in several years), is well on his way. But not there, yet.

None of these development glitches are crimes, nor signs of weakness nor irreparable flaws or anything, other than lack of experience.

He has had the luxury of getting alot of playing time (early on) to work on those weaknesses (some have said too much at times) and he has shown signs of that progress with each game.

Imagine if PMac hadn't stumbled (I'm not sure when or how he lost the coaches confidence, or his own, but he did, but it will return). Imagine if PMac had gotten Matt's minutes, or more of them.

I suggest PMac's confidence level would be much higher and HE might be considered a future star on this thread instead of Matt, with Matt being considered great developmental material in need of more time.

But it didn't work out that way.

For my money, I hope to see all these great GU recruits and regulars get enough time to show us just why they were recruited in the first place to this great program. The transitions we have witnessed this season already remind me of the beauty of spring. All that blossoming going on all around us. Wonderful to behold. celebrate. discuss.

But who will do what next year is way, way in the future.

Not even counting injuries or other things that happen in real life as we learn to dance, and the coaches teach these fine young men how to pair up and do things right, year after year.