Gonzaga vs St. Mary's...post game thoughts

[Reborn]

Wow!!! Did I say Wow? Wow!!! What a game. What a way to close conference play. Way to show the country who we are. Hahahahah I must laugh at all the Gonzaga scoffers this season. Ten of the top twenty teams in the AP poll lost today, and most of the others barely won. There were so many upsets today. But not Gonzaga! We won by 30. ON THE ROAD BABY!!! Tell me we're not good. Let me have a good laugh. Am I drinking pink Kool-Aid at two AM? Dang right I am.

I'm thinking about MDABE, and GAMAGIN and they talk a lot about TEAM. That is what we saw tonight for the most part. And i totally saw everyone playing their best game and giving it 100%. That's why we won. This reminded me of the team that played when Bell and Dower were out, and I'm so glad to see Few give more minutes to the bench. Coleman got 15 minutes tonight and Nunez 9; while Barham and Dranginis got 18 minutes each. He cut down on a few minutes from each starter to give these guys more playing time, and boy did it pay off. The Bench scored 28 points tonight, two less baskets then all of St. Mary's team. And the Zags shot 57% on the road. Can you believe THAT? And did you see the passes from Pk and Sam. It was a thing of beauty for sure.

Congratulations to the whole team, coaches and players. It's been a fun, crazy season, and one that I love. It has been full of challenges and also full of surprises so far, and I think the Best Is Yet To Come. Tonight was as much of a surprise as our loss to Portland was, but in a completely different way. The team is beginning to gell at exactly the right time. I still can't get over how good GU played. It is so very, very hard to think that GU could keep Holt from making a single basket all night. Levesque only got one too. It was crazy to see the St. Mary's had only one play, and that was to dribble dribble drive to the basket and hope the ref called a foul. Beyond that, St. Mary's didn't have a single play that worked, and that, my friends wasn't a play I am sure.

I'll be going to bed with a big smile on my face.

Go Zags!!!

[MTZag03]

Agreed Reborn. It was like a lightbulb went off and suddenly the team played to their potential. I actually feel bad for the SMC seniors that they didn't acquit themselves better for senior night.

[Zag4Hire]

Don't want to get ahead of ourselves but yes, wow. If this team can turn it on like that over the next few weeks, I like their chances to do some damage.

Sorry forgot to ask: Did RB do his typical blow by handshake or did he change it up this time?

[Martin Centre Mad Man]

Don't want to get ahead of ourselves but yes, wow. If this team can turn it on like that over the next few weeks, I like their chances to do some damage.

Sorry forgot to ask: Did RB do his typical blow by handshake or did he change it up this time?

He did the handshake.

[ZagHouse]

Great game. Who does Saint Mary's have loaded up for next year? Based on their underclassmen, I don't see them challenging for the title any time soon. Kind of sad because my disdain for SM is much healthier than my hatred of BYU.

[jpn17]

Great game. Who does Saint Mary's have loaded up for next year? Based on their underclassmen, I don't see them challenging for the title any time soon. Kind of sad because my disdain for SM is much healthier than my hatred of BYU.

I agree. With them losing 6 players from this year's team, scholarship reduction starting next year and no off campus recruiting (don't think there will be any Aussies going to SMC next season) I think SMC is going to be a middle of the conference team at best.

Still a win in Moraga is always a good thing. Great job Zags!

[GoZags]

He did the handshake.

I saw it as the "blow by" handshake ..... a very brief touching of the hands and at no point did RB look at Mark Few.

[vandalzag]

Tough one for RB, game was over 3 minutes in the first half. Hard to have your team get destroyed on their home floor, impossible to even find small victories in this one. How exactly do you lose by 28 when you make get 28 trips to the line and make 6 more freethrows than the other team attempts. Zags made the St Mary's look like LC State last night. So much for the doomsday scenario following the Sand Diego game. Hopefully this win and the top 30 RPI will get the Zags into the NIT this year.

[kyle dixon]

Not following your last sentence, Vandal Zag. Are you being sarcastic?

[pablo1516]

Team effort +1

Great Zag team effort from everyone on the Zag bench this includes all the players & coaches. Let's take this to Las Vegas!

Really like what we are seeing w/ Karno, Coleman, and Nunenz.

[zagfan24]

Zags are a pretty good 3pt shooting team, but I think last night showed how much better the offense is when our guards are in attack mode.

I think Sam has been our most consistent player, and Kevin may have the highest ceiling, but this team sure seems to follow Karnowski's lead. When he is playing well defensively it really sets the tone for everyone else. I think maynard mentioned this in another thread but his tough interior defense allows the guards to stay on the perimeter which significantly reduces open looks from 3. PK also showed more patience on offense than I've seen before...his moves were more deliberate and less rushed, and he turned it over less as a result.

More than anything, it was really nice to see the Zags play hard for a full 40 minutes. I do think that the increased playing time for the 4 main bench players helped everyone stay a bit more fresh. The foul trouble against Pacific that limited PK and Sam's minutes may have also helped in this regard. It's easy to forget how exhausted these guys are by the end of the season...really nice when they can get a breather here and there. I also continue to feel comfortable with Ryan Edwards getting a few minutes when necessary.

Congrats to guys on a great regular season. On to Vegas...

[DZ]

zf24 hits a great point. As good a 3 shooting team as we can be, we're far better when we're moving the ball around for open shots underneath or wide open cutters. I think it's important to note that a TON of our offense came of our defense - turnovers turning into layups. Our defensive intensity was fantastic last night, we need to keep that up.

I am not being a hater, or negatively nelly, or anything other than trying to keep a little perspective - - we've been unbelievable for 2-4 games before this season and were ready to anoint these guys as the successors of last year, I was certainly doing that after the last time we beat SMC. Now, we're all healthy, we're using the bench (Few needs to keep that going in the WCC and not get conservative), and these seniors - David and Sam, especially Sam, are playing their best ball of the year, we need a run of consistent intensity, I think they're more likely to do it than before.

[zagamatic]

A possibly POSITIVE twist for the unbalanced schedule this year is that we're going into tournament time being used to playing on the road.Andnd thanks to these last two games, we're scoring well on the road while also packing our defense with us.

[vandalzag]

Not following your last sentence, Vandal Zag. Are you being sarcastic?

Just a shout out to all those who were writing the season off after Memphis, BYU, San Diego, etc... All is not lost and this team has yet to play it's best basketball.

[Ezag]

I am watching the DVR of the game, now late in 2nd half. How come when we're up 30 we still have so many starters playing. Why not give bench more minutes?