Mea culpa...

[upan8th]

"...it's always a paltry, feeble, tiny mind that takes pleasure in revenge." Roman philosopher Juvenal, 120 AD.

"Mark my words: A 20 point throttling..."
"Shouldn't be close. 12 to 15 points..."
"... the game won't even be close unless one of SMC's guards gets hot..." (prophetic, at least)
"I feel a top ten SC play coming on..."
"I just want a real beat down. Make a statement..."
"I'm sure (the Zags) want revenge...what I would give for a blow out pummeling..."

Notice all the 'I's in there? I've been right there. Not asking a lot. A scalping would do, and if not that, we'll settle for some tar and feathers. Way past that now. Just rejoicing in the still confounding achievements of the little Jebbie school out in the Big Sky forests.

Some posters here are making their commentary sound very much like the Kentucky board (don't go there) or Tarheel central (ditto). And that makes me yearn for the bad old days when we were getting routinely "pummeled" by the dudes at Pepperdine and Santa Clara. Drink fueled nostalgia actually had me rooting for SMC's determined, underdog, second half comeback. That's where the Bulldogs of the '70's, 80's & 90's routinely found themselves. Took some pleasure in the game thread mewlings of the above posters (& their ilk) when it looked like it all might be slipping away in the second half.

The irony of criticizing the Zag players for not meeting a poster's unenlightened, ill informed, unrealistic expectations, is simply off the charts. Or to say the game was close at the end because we got hosed by the refs in the second half, it's ulta-irony. And, it's almost always the folks who want blood who express the greatest outrage when they don't get it.

"We" are not like that. Like the UK rednecks, the (name the worst)... there are plenty of examples from the message boards of teams GU has beaten. Are we like them? Sixteen and one. Really been ugly, but, yeah, it could have been worse & it will be further on up the road. Our mantra when that happens: BIG SKY, BIG SKY, BIG SKY, OOOOUUM.

[Ekrub]

Tl;dr

[adoptedzag]

Tl;dr

tl;dr: You shouldn't want the better team to win because you'll end up like Kentucky or UNC.

OP has some valid concerns, but I think that wishing for a SMC smashing is very warranted since they were the ones who dethroned us.

[Robzagnut]

People forget its a rivalry game and anything can happen. It's just like the Cougars going o-fer in the Pac12 and then beating UW in the Apple Cup. Throw all reasoning out the window.

[JPtheBeasta]

Few seemed relieved to come away with the W in that press conference. He noted the long road trip and that they will have a week off, essentially. This could have easily been a loss with the mental fatigue this team has gone through, which Few called his best and hardest road stretch. I guess the guys (players and coaches, I would argue) just went on their sabbatical 15 minutes too early.

I liken this Zags performance, with all of the criticism from the fans, to the scared parent whose just watch their kid runout into the street. It may look they are upset but they are just emotional because they care so much. I understand those that are just happy with the W, but I don't think the other side of the aisle is coming at it with ill-intent in their hearts and minds.

Saturday reading of the tea leaves of Few:
(Speaking of Kelly) That's a hard guard. But, uh, you know, uh (looking away)... for some reason he didn't get to the line tonight."

Kelly, on the physical play:
"There was a lot of push and shoving, uh, bumps- and, like, you had to finish through contact, and it was tough sometimes."

I just re-watched a few minutes of the end of the game and every call went their way, excpt for the Harris jump ball. Kelly drew as much contract on his no call that Delly got on his call. Levesque leveled Kelly with a charge but that was a play on. There was actually a jump ball play in particular that I wanted to rewatch because Waldow and Bell were on the ground fighting for the ball- except Waldow was calling a timeout with no part of his body touching the ball. Gary can be seen from the ground with sole possession of the ball saying (it appears), "I have the ball." I don't feel so bad out the one that went our way.

To the OP, I wish the game would have been a total beat down, and I understand how our human minds have been trying to make sense of the craziness that was the second half, but I am definitely content with the win.

[2wiceright]

Few seemed relieved to come away with the W in that press conference. He noted the long road trip and that they will have a week off, essentially. This could have easily been a loss with the mental fatigue this team has gone through, which Few called his best and hardest road stretch. I guess the guys (players and coaches, I would argue) just went on their sabbatical 15 minutes too early.

I liken this Zags performance, with all of the criticism from the fans, to the scared parent whose just watch their kid runout into the street. It may look they are upset but they are just emotional because they care so much. I understand those that are just happy with the W, but I don't think the other side of the aisle is coming at it with ill-intent in their hearts and minds.

Saturday reading of the tea leaves of Few:
(Speaking of Kelly) That's a hard guard. But, uh, you know, uh (looking away)... for some reason he didn't get to the line tonight."

Kelly, on the physical play:
"There was a lot of push and shoving, uh, bumps- and, like, you had to finish through contact, and it was tough sometimes."

I just re-watched a few minutes of the end of the game and every call went their way, excpt for the Harris jump ball. Kelly drew as much contract on his no call that Delly got on his call. Levesque leveled Kelly with a charge but that was a play on. There was actually a jump ball play in particular that I wanted to rewatch because Waldow and Bell were on the ground fighting for the ball- except Waldow was calling a timeout with no part of his body touching the ball. Gary can be seen from the ground with sole possession of the ball saying (it appears), "I have the ball." I don't feel so bad out the one that went our way.

To the OP, I wish the game would have been a total beat down, and I understand how our human minds have been trying to make sense of the craziness that was the second half, but I am definitely content with the win.

Amen...

[ZagsBaby]

90% of the posts on this board=tl;dr

[MTZag03]

tl;dr?

What the deuce is tl;dr?

[KStyles]

What the deuce is tl;dr?

Too long; didn't read

OR

[Oregonzagnut]

On Indiana

ESPN headline

The Hoosiers are on a quest for perfection. That's why just holding off Minnesota left a bad taste in their mouths.

Gonzaga is on a quest for perfection too. Barely beating arch-rival at home left a bad taste in everyones mouth. Why deny the truth, if we only win by 5 at home to St Marys then what is going to happen in Moraga?

We will win because we learned this lesson in Spokane: 20 points is NEVER a big enough lead in the WCC. Fact.

[Reborn]

It did not leave a bad taste in mine. Like I said clearly. It was a great win at home. Now let's get ready for Portland at their place.

[GoZags]

It did not leave a bad taste in mine. Like I said clearly. It was a great win at home. Now let's get ready for Portland at their place.

It didn't leave a bad taste in mine, either.

Folks shouldn't speak for others (when the others are fully capable of speaking for themselves).

[ridgebackzag]

It's easier for teams that play us 2-3 times a year to adjust after a bad first half. NOTHING went SMC's way in the first half and everything did in the second. Don't look too far into it.

I guess a 16-1 season so far doesn't give the naysayers much else to do but criticize our own fan base and players.

[Oregonzagnut]

I liken this Zags performance, with all of the criticism from the fans, to the scared parent whose just watch their kid runout into the street. It may look they are upset but they are just emotional because they care so much. I understand those that are just happy with the W, but I don't think the other side of the aisle is coming at it with ill-intent in their hearts and minds.

I agree JP, but some here do believe there is some ill-intent. Criticism and critique are not the same thing. Yet many here badmouth great and loyal fans who share in-depth or detailed opinions, only to be ridiculed.

BTW, I like your analogy but I liken it more to my straight A student of high schooler, who thought because she had an A in the class she could skip the final. She got an A- for skipping. Both her, the teacher and her parents had a right to not be happy about the A-. But it wasn't the A- which is a "WIN" in most peoples opinion, but it was the "skipping" that was the cause for concern. What parent is going to stand for that? Yet another parent of a c student will say I was a complainer and am a bad parent for demanding the A. It's all relative to the potential and reasonable expectations.

Many posters here feel no one has a right to speak about or expect the best or 40 minutes and for an entire season, especially if they have it in them but they choose not to do it all the time.

[Oregonzagnut]

It didn't leave a bad taste in mine, either.

Folks shouldn't speak for others (when the others are fully capable of speaking for themselves).

Did you and reborn even read the ESPN article "The Hoosiers are on a quest for perfection. That's why just holding off Minnesota left a bad taste in their mouths."? I was making an analogy between that game and ours.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/8838433/hoosiers-not-satisfied-play-win-no-8-minnesota-college-basketball

IMO, the analogy applies to our game and team. I loosely used an absolute term that was false. But I stand semantically and literally corrected, by Reborn and Gozags since that is their only comment to my post.

But for me I have "mixed feelings" over that game and if Mark Few and Olynyk can admit "difficulties with effort and defense", I would say (perhaps wrongly) that they too are not satisfied with this victory. Just like Indiana is not satisfied with the way they beat Minnesota.

Just my opinion.