3 reasons we beat the cowboys.

[Zags11]

1. We as dogs will bite the cowboys.
2. Whats the opposite of smart?
3. We are the under dogs again and you know what that means?

I did this once before and we pounded the gaels. Im hoping for the same.

Add on!

[Zags11]

4. Homecourt is ours in sd.
5. Our bigs will dominate.
6. Dower will have a huge night.

[gonzagafan62]

7. Pangos will be aggressive
8. Stocks will throw some dangerous but effective passes
9. Brian Bhaskar is on the bench, waiving his towel and pumping up the team

[Whitworth_Zag]

10. Few knows Smart
11. Headbanded Gary Bell Jr. continues to stay aggressive
12. Przemek and Dower will dominate down low

[willandi]

Three reasons:
1) Drew Barham
2) Kyle Dranginis
3) Gerard Coleman
3b.) Angel Nunez
3c.) Ryan Edwards

They have no bench. Our first 5 of the bench could start for some teams. We can go small, we can go big or we can go REALLY BIG.

They have Smart. We play SMART

We have a post presence, unlike the talking head that has a dumb-as-a-post presence.

At least 3 reasons...take your pick! It's mix and match-up day!

[Martin Centre Mad Man]

1. Our bench is deeper.
2. Our bigs are bigger.
3. Our point guard has three more NCAA tournament wins than theirs. Experience matters.

[Zagger]

By my count it is now 19 or 21 .....
Will go with 19 :-)
19. Zags are hungry for NCCA payback
20. Zags D
21. Repeat #6 (Dower) and add Stocks along with him

[Arneson]

1. We contain Brown. ( I know there is so much talk about Smart, and he's going to get his points. Markel Brown is rarely mentioned and I think limiting his scoring is at least as vital as containing Smart) Although Oklahoma St. lost games without Marcus Smart they were all very close games due to Markel Brown's contribution.

2. We make our free throws.

3. We are aggressive. ( One thing i've always said is that Gonzaga tends to match the intensity of their rival, this being a tournament game and potential final game for some seniors, I think we come out more aggressive )

[gonzagafan62]

1. We have a better coach
2. Pryzemek Karnowski will make 4 of 6 FT's
3. We will get more Free Throws.

[Reborn]

Zags want to play Wichita St again. In order to do that they must beat Ok State.

There are a lot of beautiful women in San Diego, and if Ford doesn't lock his players in their motel rooms, those guys could get out into the open San Diego air and get into trouble. There will many temptations for the Cowboys. This spells D I S T R A T I O N.

Four of the teams in the San Diego pod are from out West (Weber is kind of sort of but will be rooting for the Zags). One who is is VCU and their coach, Chaka Smart, is a good friend of Mark Few.

[Zagceo]

1. Zags play with confidence
2. Zags play with more confidence
3. Zags play with the most confidence

[EEzag]

1. Zags play with confidence
2. Zags play with more confidence
3. Zags play with the most confidence

Smart knows he can't beat us on his own so he will try to get Brown and Forte the ball thereby limiting his own scoring. We are going to struggle on D until KD comes in and Gary can shift over to Brown. Having Pangos and Stocks in the game at the same time will hurt us unless we run them out of the gym and expose their lack of a bench.

[Reborn]

Smart knows he can't beat us on his own so he will try to get Brown and Forte the ball thereby limiting his own scoring. We are going to struggle on D until KD comes in and Gary can shift over to Brown. Having Pangos and Stocks in the game at the same time will hurt us unless we run them out of the gym and expose their lack of a bench.

This is exactly what thought when the Zags last played BYU. I just didn't see how we could stop them with their height of Haws (6' 5"), Collinsworth (6' 6") and Carlino (6' 3"). And honestly these 3 guards at BYU may be as good as Ok State's, especially when Carlino is hot. Collinsworth is every bit as athletic as Brown. Brown is a better 3 pt shooter. Haws is definitely as good offensively as Smart (Gonzaga did not really stop him in the last game). Of the three Oklahoma State guards that I hope we slow down a lot, I hope we slow down or stop Forte. That kid can shoot the 3 ball.

Also Both BYU and Oklahoma St. average 80 pts a game. We held BYU to 64 points in our last game with them. Speaking of good defense, in the last 15 games only one team scored 70 points against the Zags. That was Santa Clara in the conference tournament (75). The Zags held St Mary's to 47, 51 and 54 points in the three games they had against them. I'd say that's dang good. In our loss to Memphis we held them to 60 points. And they average 78 points a game, and we were playing them in their "house." The Zags unfortunately only scored 54 points that night on the road.

What has really irked me this year is that not one analyst of the NCAA Tournament teams this year has given any credit to how well Gonzaga plays defense. And for that matter, how efficient our offense is this year too. We're only the 5th most efficient offensive team in the USA, and when it comes to 3 point shooting we're the 16th best. And we seem to fear their 3 pt shooting. Maybe THEY should fear ours.

Go Zags!!!

[75Zag]

. . . What has really irked me this year is that not one analyst of the NCAA Tournament teams this year has given any credit to how well Gonzaga plays defense. And for that matter, how efficient our offense is this year too...

IMO the problem with not getting credit or respect is that we play in the WCC. We could beat Pacific 1,000,000,000 times in a row by a margin of 50 points a game and nobody outside of GU or the WCC would care. Same goes with at least half the other teams in the WCC. I know GU is a good fit in the WCC for the many reasons we have discussed over and over and over again, but the bottom line is that unless we play (and win) a very strong OCC schedule we are likely to remain in BB Siberia until we make another major run into the NCAAs. This year does not feel like we will be able to do that, but I am keeping my fingers crossed. Perhaps this year will be the beginning of a resurrection for GU on the National Stage. Getting to the Sweet 16 would be a great start.

Go Bulldogs!

[Reborn]

IMO the problem with not getting credit or respect is that we play in the WCC. We could beat Pacific 1,000,000,000 times in a row by a margin of 50 points a game and nobody outside of GU or the WCC would care. Same goes with at least half the other teams in the WCC. I know GU is a good fit in the WCC for the many reasons we have discussed over and over and over again, but the bottom line is that unless we play (and win) a very strong OCC schedule we are likely to remain in BB Siberia until we make another major run into the NCAAs. This year does not feel like we will be able to do that, but I am keeping my fingers crossed. Perhaps this year will be the beginning of a resurrection for GU on the National Stage. Getting to the Sweet 16 would be a great start.

Go Bulldogs!

I appreciate your thoughts. I pretty much feel the same way.