Predict starting line-ups, and 6 mo from now see who got it right?

[ZagsGoZags]

Who will Few put on the floor Sat afternoon for starting five?
And who will Few put on the floor for the first game of the Big Dance in the Spring?

I'll say Saturday:
Pargo, Josh, Daye, Bouldin, Gray

for the Spring:
Pargo, Josh, Daye, Micah, Gray

[cjm720]

I'd agree with your assesment, ZagsGoZags, with one exception. If we face a big team (and if we're so lucky) in the NCAA tourney, I could see Sacre in the line-up (with Micah off the bench). Few has some good, yet difficult decisions with PT between Bouldin, Downs, Gray and Daye. I can't wait for the season to start!!! GO ZAGS!!!!

[Mr Vulture]

Assuming no injuries

PG - Pargo
SG - Gray
Wing - Bouldin
4 Spot - Daye
5 Spot - Heytvelt

I will stick with the same lineup throughout the season because I think it is the best one we have. Micah will play starter minutes rotating through the wing and 4 spots. Goodson will give Pargo some much deserved rest and play probably 15 minutes a game or so. Foster and Brown will see some time depending on the game situations but probably not more than about 10 minutes each. Sacre will get time when he returns, I would say 15-20 minutes a game...again, depending on the circumstances.

Gibbs and Poling should redshirt in my opinion and be ready should a major injury happen to one of the main rotation guys....that's my 2 cents worth.

[pbriz]

PG - Pargo
SG - Gray
Wing - Bouldin
4 Spot - Daye
5 Spot - Heytvelt

I will stick with the same lineup throughout the season because I think it is the best one we have. Micah will play starter minutes rotating through the wing and 4 spots. Goodson will give Pargo some much deserved rest and play probably 15 minutes a game or so. Foster and Brown will see some time depending on the game situations but probably not more than about 10 minutes each. Sacre will get time when he returns, I would say 15-20 minutes a game...again, depending on the circumstances.

Gibbs and Poling should redshirt in my opinion and be ready should a major injury happen to one of the main rotation guys....that's my 2 cents worth.

My thoughts exactly. Except Micah may start in the first game because Austin is still coming back from injury.

[bartruff1]

Mr. Vulture has it right....

Bouldin will always start every game he plays for Gonzaga absolutely positively withhout a doubt....unless he is sick, injured or Few wants to rest him..some have forgotten that he was selected as one of the very best under 19 playes in the country along with the likes of Curry and Beasley and he just gets better and better.....

[dim4sum]

Shorter leash???

I hope Few doesn't feel a commitment to start people just because they started last year. My feeling is that Bouldin will be on a shorter leash. Last year he came up small in some big games. The bench is deep enough to rush in a Micah or an Ira if Bouldin starts to whither. Or to pull Pargo for Meech everytime the former plows into traffic ill-advisedly.
Frankly, I'd be inclined not to redshirt Poling, given Josh's penchant for injuries, Sacre's recovery question marks and a certain cloud over Daye's condition given the ACL -that- wasn't scare.
I think the biggest enigma going into this season is Foster's progress.
He can bang, he can score and he can run, but does he want it enough?
My personal wish is that this team runs more and presses more. Foster is not dead wood so this may happen.
Last year's O was boring and soporific, especially the half-court game.
It seemed like that after five or six passes around the perimeter, the players seemed to have forgotten that points win games. I'm glad that Gray finally,
maybe belatedly, got the green light to put in up whenever.

[ZagnetitForce]

I'd like to see Will Foster start. Get him some good minutes now. My guess is that Daye will not start or play a lot of minutes, assuming he is still recovering and conditioning is not quite there.

Saturday: Will, Josh, Matt, Gray and Pargo.

NCAA: Josh, Austin, Micah, Gray, Pargo.

[KSTATEZAG]

I hope Few doesn't feel a commitment to start people just because they started last year. My feeling is that Bouldin will be on a shorter leash. Last year he came up small in some big games. The bench is deep enough to rush in a Micah or an Ira if Bouldin starts to whither. Or to pull Pargo for Meech everytime the former plows into traffic ill-advisedly.
Frankly, I'd be inclined not to redshirt Poling, given Josh's penchant for injuries, Sacre's recovery question marks and a certain cloud over Daye's condition given the ACL -that- wasn't scare.
I think the biggest enigma going into this season is Foster's progress.
He can bang, he can score and he can run, but does he want it enough?
My personal wish is that this team runs more and presses more. Foster is not dead wood so this may happen.
Last year's O was boring and soporific, especially the half-court game.
It seemed like that after five or six passes around the perimeter, the players seemed to have forgotten that points win games. I'm glad that Gray finally,
maybe belatedly, got the green light to put in up whenever.

Good summary. I agree, especially with Poling not 'shirting.

[cggonzaga]

Couldn't agree with your assessment more Mr. V except I could see Brown getting between 15-20mpg. I think you are spot on though.

Frankly, I'd be inclined not to redshirt Poling, given Josh's penchant for injuries, Sacre's recovery question marks and a certain cloud over Daye's condition given the ACL -that- wasn't scare.

Just because you say you're going to redshirt him doesn't mean he has to stay redshirted. If someone goes down and we need him to play he can still play. He'd just lose the redshirt at that point.

Also, I don't get the negativity towards Bouldin. I personally believe he'll be one of our top players this year. He may not be super explosive but he just does everything right. I would love to have someone of Downs abilities come off the bench all year. We are so loaded!

[jim77]

Agreed Z-force.

I would love to see BIG WILL get good minutes Saturday.


How hard would it be to score tickets for Saturday's game???? Scalpers?

[TacomaZAG]

You want a prediction,

here you go:

If Coach sticks with the 3-guard lineup, we are going nowhere in the dance again this year.

I know that Coach has stuck with Matt no matter what, but I agree with earlier posts about him hopefully being on a much shorter leash this year, especially with Gray due for a huge breakout year and Micah also tearing it up. We have an over-abundance of talent at the 3, with Matt being the least effective of the three (Matt, Austin, Micah).

Matt is out of position at the 3, as are Austin at the 4 and Josh at the 5. The less time the three guards are on the floor at the same time the better off we are. Now, that being said, we really don't have a huge choice until Rob comes back, unless Wil can play some significant minutes, and Rob's return at all this year is not guaranteed. So, Wil needs some serious minutes early this year to see if he can contribute, and I'm not talking about 2-3 minutes in a mop up role.

Saturday Starters:

Pargo
Gray
Daye
Heytvelt
Foster

Big Dance Starters:

Same except Sacre instead of Foster if Rob is available.

The keys for a deep run are Rob's healing and whether or not Wil can contribute significant minutes (15-20 per game). If both of these things happen, the sky's the limit, if neither happen we are most likely one and done, again.

Time will tell, I can't wait to see how it plays out.

Go ZAGS

[DenDiegoZag]

Sat

Pargo
Gray
Bouldin
Daye
Josh

NCAA

Pargo
Gray
Daye
Josh
Sacre

[hockeyzag]

Saturday

Heytvelt
*IRA!
*Micah
Gray
Pargo

*Because they're Seniors

NCAA

I'm hoping for...

Sacre
Heytvelt
Daye
Gray
Pargo

But that's if Sacre develops in the way Few wants him to, which at this point is iffy based on what we heard yesterday from the practice report: “Will and Rob were having a pretty good, even battle (before Sacre’s injury),” Few said.
That wasn't what I was hoping to hear after Sacre's summer development.

NCAA

More likely...

Heytvelt
Daye
Downs
Gray
Pargo

[cggonzaga]

I'd be highly surprised if Micah started this year. He's too valuable to not come off the bench because he can play the 2-4 positions. Micah is a great player don't get me wrong but he won't unseat Steven or Matt. Again, I'm just happy that we have the problem of who will start. It tells us how much depth we have.

[zagfan08]

Austin is still rusty coming back from his knee injury, it wouldn't surprise me if he doesn't start until the Old Spice tournament.

Also, Poling is impressing the coaches in practice. He is doing the little things right like hustling every play and setting screens. He may not redshirt this year.

Gray is the only guy on the team with a complete green light.

The team's doing a lot of rebounding drills, that's their number one focus as of now.


My guess at a starting 5:

Pargo
Gray
Bouldin
Downs
Heytvelt

Daye probably takes Downs' spot come Thanksgiving.