Monday Night Frustration Station

[BobZag]

Take your Valium or drink your favorite hard beverage because Pepperdine's style of play will drive you nuts. As Sittingon50 stated in another thread and Few decribes in Meehan's article, the Waves constantly poke the ball loose, try to swipe the ball, come at you from unexpected angles, play pressure D when least expecting it, and shoot a ton of long bomb treys. Even if they don't get hot, the Waves will sink a good amount, strictly due to so many attempts.

It'll be helter-skelter chaos at its best, or, worst.

It'll frustrate the crap out of Zag fans.

Last year the Waves caused about 25 turnovers. Josh had about 25 rebounds that game. That means virtually every rebound Josh got was then handed over to a Pepp player.

I imagine Few is using 7-8 guys (told to ball hawk) to play against 5 guys in preparations, just to ready the team for the swarming, frenetic style.

So expect it. Buckle your seatbelts. It'll be a wild ride in Malibu.

[primal23]

Plus the fact that GU hasnt played all that well this year on ESPN. Time to change that, and it starts tomorrow!!

[VinnyZag]

Memphis preview

Pepp plays a lot like Memphis does. In fact, I seem to remember reading somewhere that Vance Wallberg actually taught the system to Calipari.
Pepperdine doesn't have nearly the athletes that Memphis does, of course. And (hopefully) Pargo will be ready to go by the time GU goes to Memphis (gawd help us if he isn't). But this should be an interesting sort of preview of the Memphis game.
By the way, if GU struggles against Pepperdine ... well, that's gonna be a bad sign for the Memphis game.

[applezag]

Officiating

How this game is officiated will be an important factor in how it plays out. Pepperdine's intention to swipe the ball at any chance they get is similar to Tennessee's. When the refs let a lot go that game, it gave Tennessee an advantage. They hacked the crud out of us and got away with a lot. If the officials take control and make sure they are calling the slaps on the arm it will be a good for the Zags. On the other hand, if they don't, it could be frustrating. To be honest, though, it might not be a bad thing if they don't call a lot in that GU needs to get better at handling this kind of defense. I thought Tennessee got to them a little bit with that and would like to see them play through it a little better.

[BobZag]

Based on these stats--

http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaab/teams/pah/stats;_ylt=AtSj87ZynxmsdK4_teLNkpC007YF

--Zags ought to roll.

Discipline and poise and strength/purpose with the ball are vital for GU. Good D and rebounding are a must.

[Ziggy]

Sniff, sniff, hmmm...smells like Tennessee to me boys! Hold on to the ball tight. Pass fakes, dribble fakes and shot fakes. Draw the foul and literally take them out of the game.

[Ziggy]

Additional thoughts

Lets take the "best eight minutes" of the second half against Tennessee and shove them down Pepperdine's throat for 40 minutes on Monday night! Our opponents will strike that strategy from the playbooks if we do it right!

[spudzag]

The Zags should run away with this one. They fell to Portland yesterday and the presious game Memphis outpaced them by almost 40. We may score 90 again getting 4 04 5 into double figures.

[Nevtelen]

After seeing just how limited Pargo was vs LMU, no way will he be 100% against Pepp. I think he gives it a valiant effort, has to expend too much to just stay out there with their style of play, and only gets aroudn 15 mins total. That said, I still expect Gray and Bouldin to do well, though a lot less well than against LMU who brought very very little D to bear on them. There is no reason at for Heytvelt to not break 20 and 10 this game. I also think Gray will get hot. It'll be as ugly as BZ predicts, no question, but a W IMO.

[FrosTbear]

After watching Pargo try to play at LMU it is time for Gray and Matt to step up and handle the ball. Pressure D can be overcome by ball movement and GU showed at times it can pass the ball and get a great shot.

[BobZag]

Pepp players will also come flying in for offensive rebounds so the Zags need to be fundamentally sound in the rebounding dept. The gym will be raucous and the Zags must bring the same hustle and energy that Pepp will bring.

1. Offensive efficiency. (another 65% shooting night would be nice)
2. Keep turnovers under 20.
3. Apply fullcourt pressure of our own now and then.
4. Tough defense and domination of the boards.
5. Don't let up, don't ever let up.

If the guys play strong and confident and execute the 5 areas of the game above,

[Rubbadub]

We're doomed!

[Reborn]

This is going to be a wild one tonight. Exactly the kind that I like. I think the Zags are going to rip Pepperdine tonight, and they wlll certainly rip that press apart if they try to use it. I saw the Pepp vs Portland game, and Portland certainly handled the press. I think the Zags will be very difficult to press this year. Much more so this year than last year. Are you watching our ball handling? Daye is amazing. We will make errors for sure. But our turnovers will be below 18...and then take a look at pts in the paint. The Zags had 54 or 56 against Loyola M...The Zags are beginning to get the feel for the running game, so we may see us hit 100 pts IF Pepperdine presses. However, with Pargo being wounded, we could see a little more damage done to us because of our youth, but Matt, Gray and Daye all handle the ball very well, and all of them can pass. I think Daye has to be a very difficult guy for Pepp to guard. I see him getting 20 pts tonight. And what about Ira. What's that guy going to do. We are seeing the Ira Brown that we all hoped to see. I love the way THAT GUY plays, and Few does too. Did you see Few talking to the team when Ira was all over the floor. He must have been saying, "now THAT'S what I've been talking about." Pendo got all over the floor too. I'm not worried at all about the Zags. It's going to be a really fun game. Our best this year.

[BobZag]

Ira! = instant defense
Daye = instant offense

Reborn, you're exactly right. Few was telling the guys to look at what Ira! was doing out there. He was imploring them to play more like Ira!.



Pepp is an odd team. They can make teams look awful and put major scares into teams, or they can make teams look real, real good.

I think we'll see a team playing like a bunch of Ira!s tonight. I only wish Pargo could but he must still be sore from that hard fall. Between ESPN being there, the loud crowd, and just one more game to improve, the team should be focused and chomping at the bit.

[75Zag]

Pepper Dines

Bulldogs are 13 point favorites for tonight. I have been burned (for recreational purposes only) by the Zags lately. They seem to lack the killer instinct to cover the point spread, even when they are winning. But I am feeling wealthy due to a (for recreational purposes only) killing I made on the NFL parlay this weekend, so I guess I will give it one more try for the team.

Come on Bulldogs, score some %$ %$^ points for the Point Spread Community!!!!!!!