Pangos

[zagzilla]

This year the long break between the WCC championship and the opening round of NCAA's is a blessing for us. Kevin gets 9 (or hopefully 10) days to rest his toe. Not sure if that is enough to make a difference at this point, but it should help.

Watching him the last couple of games has been really difficult. How much of that is injury and how much is it the WCC teams who know us best game planning to take him out of the game and make the other guards beat them? For instance, SCU admitted playing away from Stox who burned them for it.

Having said that, I went back and looked at his shooting stats for the last 7 road games since senior night and he's shooting 42% from the field and 3PFG at 35%. His career average for FG% is just under 43% so he's not shoot badly overall. His career 3PFG% is around 41% so he's definitely in a bit of a slump there.

Taking nothing away from Dower, PK, DS, GBJ and the rest of the guys, but we're going to need to see the old Kevin Pangos who torched Arkansas for 34, WSU & Dayton for 27 and BYU for 24 if we want to advance to the second weekend and beyond this year.

Go Zags!

ZZ

[hooter73]

we can hope but the best case scenario is he rests for as long as a guy like him can, then he gets back into his practice rhythm which seems to be the recipe for his in game shooting.

I think the entire nation now knows that if you face guard him 100% of the time, he wont be able to create his own shot right now. not expecting the old pangos to sneak up and drop 7 or 9 threes on anyone in the first round or two.

[CDC84]

He will not heal until he gets that foot in a boot and does nothing but stand still shooting on the basketball floor for 8-12 weeks. I would be very surprised if we see anything different from Kevin next week unless some dummy coach perceives him as non-offensive threat. He's going to have issues if the opposing team's best defender keeps getting assigned to him. Even more so in the NCAA tournament. I sure hope I am proven wrong, but I am just not optimistic.

[Birddog]

He's going to have issues if the opposing team's best defender keeps getting assigned to him. Even more so in the NCAA tournament. I sure hope I am proven wrong, but I am just not optimistic

What CDC said. He's gotta get open to take a decent shot. He has been closely guarded down the stretch.

[Zagsker]

I am just not seeing a hobbled Pangos out there, he looks to be moving around pretty good

[Zagsker]

I just think teams know how to defend him...stay in his hip pocket on the perimeter, make him drive. And on that same note: Pangos doesn't seem to have difficulties taking it to the rack (as he has been doing over the past couple games)

[jazzdelmar]

KP does not appear to be hurting. He has become quite passive though, particularly in contrast to his earlier "shoot til you get hot" mentality. He's certainly not the same player vs Arkansas and last year. Let's recall he was a fringe Wooden/Cousy awardee type talent. He needs a re-set next year, with a different squad of players. Perkins and/or Melson might even push him; let's hope. I don't expect the 2013 model KP in the NCs.

[Reborn]

The beauty of this team, and what they have done, is that they've built a very efficient offensive team even with the TOE. Some time ago BZ wrote a thread and stated the GU would go as far as the toe would go. It was a cool thread and the content in that thread has traveled with me all season. And now here we are with a conference championship and a conference tournament championship, and probably Gonzaga's best game of the season was the last one. The toe is still injured, and yet the team is not. It's cool. GU scored 75 points in it's last game against BYU and really should have scored 80 with better foul shooting. And 80 is what we would have scored if Kevin did not have the injury.

The wonderful thing is that Kevin is playing amazing defense, and he is tougher then nails. I honestly did not believe that Gonzaga would be able to beat BYU with the small three guard offense, and or the 4 guard offense. BYU has big guards who are good and can play. And they have two big and good post players who can board. I believed that in order to beat them that David Stockton would have to spend most of his time on the bench, or that he and Kevin would share bench time so Few could play a big guard lineup. And I was wrong again. Kevin and David played most of the game, and Few played the four guard lineup almost half the game.

I watched the game a second time yesterday and I can say one thing about this Gonzaga team, and that is that they are tough. Kyle Dranginis was so tough on the boards that I could hardly believe it. I finally realized why he is playing so much. And Barham gave all he had on the defensive end and played his best defensive game of the year against BYU. Yes, we did get out rebounded, and probably by a margin that would normally hurt a team, but it DID NOT hurt GU. Oh, I forgot. Dower was a beast on the boards Tuesday night.

The amazing thing about the toe is that it can play defense. Kevin has always been a tough defensive player but this year he has needed to be even tougher and he is. He's always the guy on the floor, drawing offensive charging calls and diving for loose balls. He can rebound too. The beauty of the toe is that it has forced the Bulldogs to become the tough defensive team that they have often lacked in past years, and have needed to be this year.

Go Zags!!!

[zag67]

Reborn great post. I also would have thought that our small lineup would not work, but I guess that is why we are getting our big bucks. This week was the first time this year I got to see the team in person. Their defense was unbelievable. In order for it to work every player has to give 100 percent and know what their role is on every switch. Bell or Dranginnis (whoever was guarding the shooter) also knew that they never helped.

Also Reborn one correction, Pangos and Stockton did not play most of the game, each played 40 minutes (just kidding). But when I was watching the first half I realized that Stockton had not rested. I would think that this was the first time in his career that he played the complete game.
Also I think that Pangos was used as a decoy in many of our games and only shoots when wide open or the defense slips up and forgets about him. That to me is a great player tHat is willing to sacrifice form the team. Even injured he is a threat and if you leave him alone he will hurt you.

Nice win and great tournament. Go Zags.

[LongIslandZagFan]

KP does not appear to be hurting. He has become quite passive though, particularly in contrast to his earlier "shoot til you get hot" mentality. He's certainly not the same player vs Arkansas and last year. Let's recall he was a fringe Wooden/Cousy awardee type talent. He needs a re-set next year, with a different squad of players. Perkins and/or Melson might even push him; let's hope. I don't expect the 2013 model KP in the NCs.

Keyword is "appear".

If he isn't playing like the same player we have seen for the last 2 years and the player he was earlier in the season... then I'd say it DOES appear that he is hurting. I think it borders on silly to insinuate that this is a mental block and that he isn't still injured.

[kitzbuel]

He's going to have issues if the opposing team's best defender keeps getting assigned to him. Even more so in the NCAA tournament. I sure hope I am proven wrong, but I am just not optimistic.

I hope that happens. That means that defender won't be on Bell, Draino or Stockton.

[Zagsker]

Keyword is "appear".

If he isn't playing like the same player we have seen for the last 2 years and the player he was earlier in the season... then I'd say it DOES appear that he is hurting. I think it borders on silly to insinuate that this is a mental block and that he isn't still injured.

Has Pangos looked hobbled when he has driven it too the hoop? Not to me. I think there may be some lingering effects from his injury but my take is that he is just flat out cold and teams put a quick defender on him to ensure he cannot get good looks, couple that with our poor on the ball screens and he just cannot get open

[kitzbuel]

BTW, is KP's new nickname 'The Toe'?

[kitzbuel]

Has Pangos looked hobbled when he has driven it too the hoop? Not to me. I think there may be some lingering effects from his injury but my take is that he is just flat out cold and teams put a quick defender on him to ensure he cannot get good looks, couple that with our poor on the ball screens and he just cannot get open

He has had some miserable looking drives to the hoop. There have been a couple that were disasters that resulted in him crumbling into a heap on the floor and the ball careening of into the waiting arms of a defender.

[Zagsker]

He has had some miserable looking drives to the hoop. There have been a couple that were disasters that resulted in him crumbling into a heap on the floor and the ball careening of into the waiting arms of a defender.

I am talking about Pangos not Stockton



Lol