Invitational/Shootout Showdown in Spokane

[Zagineer]

Here we go. Champs of the Maui Invitational and the Great Alaska Shootout will meet in K2 on Wednesday.

I'm comfortable, .... to a point, ....... but by no means will it be a cake walk.

As BZ stated in another thread (para phrase), The next two games (WSU, Wake Forest) will tell us alot.

Don't underestimate WSU, Zags. Focus and execute.

Thoughts from others (far more technical and qualified than I) are appreciated.

P.S. I truly enjoy the dialogue from all of you

[Kiddwell]

Here's the $64 question: What does GU do about Klay Thompson? We beat those guys if we can somehow bring this guy down to earth.

:[

[MDABE80]

Manny.....and GJ. Harass the crap out him. Deny him the ball. Never let him get a step and never give up the baseline. He's pretty much a shooter...not a passer. Keep him busy. We have several fouls to give.

[zag67]

We also have Harris and Bol. We can throw different looks at him by putting taller people that are quick enough to stay with him. Make the other players beat you (except possibly Castro in the middle).

[maynard g krebs]

(except possibly Castro in the middle).

Fidel or Raul?

[CB4]

What does GU do about Klay Thompson?

Thug ball

Seriously, if GU plays as physical and mentally composed as they did against Cinci the Zags will shut him down without a doubt. Manny has fouls to spare and he's a gamer. I'm not the least bit worried.

[MickMick]

It is like asking:

"Could this current Zag team have beaten Davidson with Curry?"

[Nevtelen]

No doubt that Thompson is one of the best shooters in the country, probably in the top 5 nationally (currently shooting 54% from 3 and close to that from 2). Maybe the best on the W Coast (though Gray and a couple of the Pilots might have something to say about that). He's going to get run off about 10,000 ball screens in all kinds of crazy combinations, so the team will have to be ready to pressure the passer, first off, to make it hard to get into his hands (which USD never did) and chase him with a lot of different looks. I expect Gray to be on him a good bit, as well as Goodson for stretches (yeah, Thompson can shoot over Meech at 6'6" but Meech would need to beat him to his spots and not let him get his feet set.) I hope the team is more ready for this than they were for Colorado. If Thompson goes off like Colorado did on us, it's going to be a loooong game.

But, if we can slow down Thompson, I think we can beat the Cougs handily. He's basically their offense at this point, with assists from Moore and Casto from what I've seen. If he shoots poorly, their offense grinds to a halt (when he didn't score for a few minutes is when USD came roaring back around the half).

Edit: One more thought - Elias did guard 2s when he played for the German national team. I wonder... hmmm...

[Birddog]

One more thought - Elias did guard 2s when he played for the German national team. I wonder... hmmm...

Harris would really have to control his "chippy fouls" or we'd lose him in minutes.
I think Gray is the man to guard Klay.

[kyle dixon]

Make him work on the defensive end

Make Klay work on the defensive end. Rotate multiple guys at him with Harris, Meech, Gray, and even Bouldin at times. Maybe even a box and one defense on him and make the other Cougar's beat you from the outside. Should be a great game though.

[Reborn]

Don't underestimate WSU, Zags. Focus and execute.

Don't worry. I don't think anyone's going to underestimate the Cougs or Thompson. Thompson did remind me of Curry last night.

I'm really excited for the game Wednesday night. It's always been one of my favorite games of the year. It will be more exciting this year because WSU appears better. But they are not Cincinatti, Wisconsin or Michigan St, imo. And San Diego did not resemble the Zags in any way, shape or form last night. San Diego is much better than they were last night. Their legs completely gave out in the second half last night. They played way tougher games than WSU did. I don't want to take anything away from what Thompson did because it was a great performance and nice to watch.

The Zags won't stop him. He's too good. But they can limit the damage he's capable of doing. I think Gonzaga will defend him the same way they have defended everyone so far. Gonzaga has been pretty good at defending the 3 so far. Gonzaga has been good on defense this year. Just keep it up.

I also do not believe that WSU is as good as Davidson was a few years ago. They are more like Davidson of two years ago, Maybe. Moore is a good point guard for WSU, but he will not lead the nation in assists. He's also a decent scorer, but I think Meech will handle him way better than anyone he's seen so far.

I think the better question to ask is, "How will WSU defend the Zags?" I just can't see how they are going to defend us? Who will stop Harris and Sacre? Casto may be a good defender, but he's no Gates, or that #42, Cincy's power forward. The other thing I remember about Curry was that he was a great passer, and hand so many moves, which contributed to ability to be almost unstoppable on offense. Thompson seems to be much more of a guy who comes off screens and shoots. He's limited that way. And Meech must put a lot of pressure on Moore and make it diffiult for him to pass.

Remember fans. The Cougars are coming into K2. Our HOUSE. The Kennel dogs have a way of getting into opposing players' heads. They will be ready for the Cougs, and they will be ready for Curry..oooops I mean Thompson.

[Nevtelen]

Agreed, Reborn - I don't think WSU has anyone who can defend a majority of our starters. They have pretty good D as a team, but who's going to guard who in the post? If they put Casto on Sacre, I don't think it'll slow Sacre down that much. They'll probably have to double him. Then who deals with Harris? And Thompson can guard Bouldin or Gray, at least on the perimiter - but can he (or anyone on that team) stop them from driving or passing? Cincinnati they're not. I'm a little worried about how the team will defend Thompson, but WSU will have a lot more worries.

[gonza]

Could we mimic what Cincinatti did to Bouldin ??

[Ezag]

WSU may have won the Great Alaska but the teams in it were far from great. They still have yet to beat a good team. San Diego may have been a decent team but with really only a couple of scorers on their team, I hesitate to call them good.

Thompson is shooting out of his mind but he hasn't really seen the type of defense that shut Bouldin down. And like someone else said, you shut Clay down and you shut down the Coug offense.

[TacomaZAG]

Gray can handle Klay.........

just keep him to 20 or fewer points. The Cougs have no other scorers. Like with Davidson, if we had kept Curry to 20 points (approximately his season average) we win by 10-15. The key is not letting him go off for 40 or more. Our defense is too balanced and aggressive this year to let that happen, IMO. Also, as others have said, the Cougs have no answer for Rob or Elias.

Like Curry, I don't think Klay is a particularly physical player, so just 'D' him up.

Will be fun to watch. Zags by 10.........

Go ZAGS