St Marys Schedule Upgrade

[willandi]

Gaels add a 4-team invitational in Vegas to the schedule
SMC Opens up with Utah State and then will play either Arizona St or Mississippi State

This added to the already scheduled games:
Neutral - LSU & New Mexico
Road - New Mexico St, Western Kentucky
Home - Cal, Harvard, Bucknell

As an SMC fan, this is the first time in 9-10 years that I can say that I am happy with the schedule and the excuses go out the window. Just wish Bennett would have stepped up over the past 6-7 years. I know it is almost impossible for us to get home games against quality opponents and I appreciate the willingness to get creative and schedule the 4 neutral court games in vegas.

It's looking good. Thanks are due to your schedulers. Perhaps not getting in the dance last season made them realize that they had to do something.

Gonzaga started out their 'anyone, anytime, anywhere' and had to play a lot of teams on the road with no home games in return. It was only after they showed that they could win those road games that the national ratings services took note and made it to where a loss to the Zags was not a black mark. Mark Few then was able to get some home and home series and that has morphed into what we are seeing now, the Tarheels, Creighton, Arizona and more.

As SMC schedules more OCC games, on the road and neutral, against better competition, as they have this year, their scheduling will continue to improve, they will get into the dance and their players will see their own stock rise as national attention shines its light on them.

Thanks!

[sittingon50]

Thanks for the heads up 87.

[SCU]

Rumor that Santa Clara visits Haas Pavilion and the Cal Golden Bears this fall... in addition to what I posted before, i.e., hosting USC at home and playing in a tournament with Minnesota, Texas A&M, and Washington up in Vancouver. Pretty decent slate for Santa Clara.

[TexasZagFan]

NMSU is a very tough place to play. SMC can expect a crowd larger than 10K, and they love their Aggies.

Fond memories of the Pan Am Center, our first “sports date.” We sat in the UTEP section, of course.

[OZZY]

SMC has lined up a series of games in Australia / New Zealand this northern summer.

They are playing Australian NBL teams while here and have had some decent results (Jordan Ford been torching everyone).

I'm actually going to see the game against, what appears to be the strongest team they will face down under, tomorrow night.

Coached by Australian Basketball Legend, Andrew Gaze, the Sydney Kings boast a line-up including

Andrew Bogut
Daniel Kickert
Brad Newley
Jerome Randle (Cal)
Brian Bowen (McD All American)
David Wear
Kevin Lisch
Dane Pineau
Deng Deng
Tom Wilson
Kyle Adnam

Here is their websites brief Bio's

http://www.sydneykings.com/news/arti...k-sydney-kings

Although a pre-season game for the Kings (they played Japan without Rui last week) they will be a very formidable opponent.

I'll let you know what I think of the Gaels after the game.

I'll be especially interested I seeing how their bigs fare as the Kings have a formidable and experienced front court.

[GonzagasaurusFlex]

SMC has lined up a series of games in Australia / New Zealand this northern summer.

They are playing Australian NBL teams while here and have had some decent results (Jordan Ford been torching everyone).

I'm actually going to see the game against, what appears to be the strongest team they will face down under, tomorrow night.

Coached by Australian Basketball Legend, Andrew Gaze, the Sydney Kings boast a line-up including

Andrew Bogut
Daniel Kickert
Brad Newley
Jerome Randle (Cal)
Brian Bowen (McD All American)
David Wear
Kevin Lisch
Dane Pineau
Deng Deng
Tom Wilson
Kyle Adnam

Here is their websites brief Bio's

http://www.sydneykings.com/news/arti...k-sydney-kings

Although a pre-season game for the Kings (they played Japan without Rui last week) they will be a very formidable opponent.

I'll let you know what I think of the Gaels after the game.

I'll be especially interested I seeing how their bigs fare as the Kings have a formidable and experienced front court.

Randy likes to schedule his toughest opponents in the summer I guess.

Looking forward to your postgame analysis of the Gaels Ozzy.

[OZZY]

Well its taken me a few days to finally get the time to provide an analysis.

Obviously a road weary Gaels team hit a very well prepared Sydney Kings squad on the night.

As most would know now they Kings dominated from the tipoff and shut down the Gaels offence.

Final score: Sydney Kings 84 Gaels 56

http://www.fibalivestats.com/u/NBL/910298/bs.html

The Kings defence was suffocating with Randle and Lisch making life absolutely miserable for Jordan Ford (credit to Ford he had 3 steals and no turnovers) dogging him everywhere and when he did actually attack the basket you had Andrew Bogut to contend with. Jordan ended up with 0 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists on the night. After carrying the team for the most of the trip down under he can be forgiven for being worn down.

Bogut was rightfully POG with a double/double (plus four blocks and 3 assists) and actually looked really good given his history of injuries (they play the Clippers in Honolulu on October 1st).

It was also the first time I've seen Randall play in person, he has speed to burn and is a real showman.

It would have been difficult for the Gaels staff to prepare against a Kings side that had a lot of new faces. The Kings starting 5 included Randall, Lisch, Newley, Kickert and Bogut (4 of whom have played for the Australian National team and the 5th the NBL top scorer from last year)

Re the other Gales starters, Krebs and Thomas struggled against seasoned pros, Jock Perry had a rough game inside (albeit against a 750 game NBA veteran) and Fitts was probably the best of their starters (had a lot of energy).

Bench players who stood out for the Gaels:

-Tass showed me he will contribute for them this year, played his man straight up well and has very good fundamentals.
-Zoriks showed no fear and, like Tass, has good footwork and was active.
-Kyle Clark didn't play much but seemed effective when in the floor (against the Kings bench)
-Kuhse ended up being the point guard that got things done for the Gaels, but, like Ford was fighting a loosing battle against the "in your face" defence.

Speaking of defence, the game was much more physical than I recall any of the NCAA games I've seen.

On the Gaels Offence they had some open looks from long range but only hit 6, they also had a few nice back door cuts for baskets that worked well against the Kings aggressive defence.

Lastly I was impressed that even in the face of the tough defence the Gaels ended up forcing more turnovers than they committed and had more steals than the Kings. I think that is a tribute to the Randy-Bennett coached side and a sign that they will still not beat themselves in this area.

[sittingon50]

Thanks for the report, OZZY.