Ciao, Zags - Europe Here We Come

[ZagDad84]

CLF and the Lady Zags ran into Rem Bakamus, former Zag Mbb player, at the Vatican today.

Picture is posted at CLF's twitter page.

Link: https://twitter.com/FortZagWBB

ZagDad

[sittingon50]

How cool is that!

[SkipZag]

Thanks ZD...
From the pictures and video it appears we have a team... really impressed how the team is coming together.
The way the coaches are talking, they seem to be pleased with how well they are playing together. This trip is going to be a big plus for this year... and it appears we are going to have a bench.

A great group to represent GU...

Go Zags!!

[ZagDad84]

Now that the Game 2 highlights have been posted in larger format on the Lady Zag Europe blog, there are some additions to the above game review comments.

Very nice uniform, consistent effort throughout the game. No bad quarters and no really outstanding quarters. After the first quarter, the score was 17-8, at halftime the score was 32-16 and a final score of 69-34. Great defense, holding the opponents to 34 points with only some of your defenses installed was great effort. Two games and the offense has scored 71 and 69 points. Things are working well on that side of the ball as well.

As far as the backcourt goes, as noted above, all of the guards/wings apparently played well with lots of assists and relatively uniform scoring by lots of team members. Both of the Truong twins were shown handling the ball, K#11 took it to the hoop off a dribble. LF played the inside-out game with JW and hit the long range jumper and she also had a couple of assists. JL took it to the hoop and had several assists. KC had some assists, while CW drove by her opponent and hit the stop and pop. KG had an assist and hit a layup off an inbounds play from JL. No idea on the quality of the opponent, but I am beginning to feel a little better about our guard situation.

MK has been very aggressive on both sides of the ball in both games, she is going to be a handful for opponents this year. AV showed some aggressiveness taking it to the hoop around, through and over her opponent. Both Wirths hit outside shots and took it to the hoop through contract. We are looking good in the key.

I also noticed that JT got some more minutes in this game as well.

The video is posted both on the Lady Zag Europe Blog and the Lady Zag twitter page. The Europe Blog has a number of additional pictures of the game.

For their last day in Rome, the Lady Zags visited Vatican City, the Vatican Museums, St. Peter's Basilica and the Sistine Chapel. If you have not visited these sites yet, take a look at the pictures and the video to see these wonderous sites. They are simply amazing and even more so in real life. Once again, both the twitter page and blog have the video but there are a lot more pictures of the day's activities on the blog page.

Lady Zag Europe Blog Link: https://spark.adobe.com/page/OGyQBD6mdwvRn/

Lady Zag Twitter Page Link: https://twitter.com/ZagWBB

After the game, the lady zags boarded the train to Florence. CLF had these comments on Florence.

"We made it to Florence! Bullet train ride, the David, old friends, new friends, and beautiful sunset. Can’t wait for tomorrow!! Bike tour of a little town nearby, a likely trip to gelato and hopefully a W!"

CLF posted a few pictures in Florence.

CLF Twitter Page Link: https://twitter.com/FortZagWBB

Game three (3) is tomorrow.

Go Zags

[ZagDad84]

While the coaches took a cooking class in the hills of Tuscany, the team, in their own words:

"We arrived safely in Florence this morning, explored the markets and saw Michelangelo’s David ����#�� Later, we explored the town while our coaches took a cooking class in the hills of Tuscany �� Perfecto!"

Check out the Lady Zag Facebook page for pictures of today's adventures in Florence.

Lady Zag Wbb Facebook Link: https://www.facebook.com/ZagWBB/phot...type=3&theater

ZagDad

[ZagDad84]

Been a busy couple of days for our Lady Zags in Florence.

Traveled by high speed train from Rome to Florence. Viewing the Italian countryside at 155 mph brought the ladies to Florence in an hour and 20 minutes. The bus carrying the luggage took almost 4 hours to make the same trip.

After visiting the marketplace and eating lunch, the ladies went on a walking tour of Florence.

"Our guide Sylvia took us on a walking tour of the city. We walked across Ponche Vecchio (the only bridge not destroyed during WWII), continued through the Piazza della Signoria, gawked at the Piazza del Duomo and Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore and walked through the Accademia Gallery, home to the famous David by Michelangelo.

Once we finished our tour of the Accademia Gallery, the team was free to shop, eat and sight see on their own. The coaching staff, meanwhile, decided to take a cooking class in the hills of Tuscany. It was quite the adventure! We learned to mix flour and egg to create the base of our pasta; then, when it was starting to get tough, we started to knead the dough. After letting it set for about an hour, we flattened it and created our masterpieces!"

On our second day in Florence, we took an hour bus ride to the small town of Lucca where we toured the area by bike! (ZagDad - IMO probably not the best decision to spend a day riding bikes just before play a game - just saying).

"The tour began on top of an ancient wall that was created to create the ancient town of Lucca. We rode along the wall for about 1.5 miles, while our tour guide pointed out different landmarks and fun facts along the way. It was definitely a leisurely ride -- no Tour de France wannabes here! But it was the perfect way to explore this little town."

After the bike ride it was onto Game 3 of the Lady Zag European tour.

According to CCF, the Lady Zags started out the first quarter kind of sluggish (maybe the bike ride??), but really picked up the pace late in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. According to CCF, the transition game was the best it has been on this trip. As expected, the energy level really picked up off of the defensive pressure. CCF specifically called out K-14 and K-11, and JL, for ramping up the energy level and the speed of transition then added in KC, and CW. Great job Truong twins. JT is shown handling the ball and hitting a turn-around jumper from the free-throw line. JT is also shown playing some stout deny defense on a taller player.

Guards looked good today hitting from outside and inside and dissing to the bigs. LF and CW again showed their aggressiveness by taking to the hoop through traffic. In today's highlight videos showcased AV, EW, and the Wirth twins banging inside and finishing.

GB makes her first appearance in the highlight pictures. EH makes her first appearance in the highlight pictures as well as the highlight video. EH gets the ball at the foul line, fights through a double team and takes it to the hoop. Way to go EH.

In one of the neatest highlight videos so far, KC is bringing the ball up the sideline unguarded. The Italian coach is imploring his team to pick up the ball. K-11 is ahead of the play and sets up on the wing. As the Italian team picks up KC, she passes the ball to a wide open K-11 on the wing. The Italian coach is again gesturing for his team to cover K-11. When nobody moves out to pick up K-11, she gets this sly smile on her face and promptly hits the open 3. Very cool, but the looks on the Italian coach and K-11's face are priceless.

Lady Zags win 64-43

Venice waits in the wings.

Way to go Ladies.

Lady Zag Wbb European Blog Link: https://spark.adobe.com/page/OGyQBD6mdwvRn/

Scroll to the bottom for the latest updates (pictures and videos) of the team's activities in Florence and Lucca as well as Game 3.

ZagDad

[ZagDad84]

Last day in Florence.

Day started with the Lady Zags doing some community service. The team and coaching staff broke into three (3) groups. One group spent some time in a halfway house playing with the kids and sharing a meal. The Zags brought a miniature, kids, basketball hoop for the kids and spent some time setting up the hoop and playing with the kids. Group 2 visited a retirement community run by nums. Group 3 went to work in a soup kitchen serving a meal to the less fortunate and cleaning up after.

A big shout-out to Gonzaga in Florence for setting up today's opportunities for community service.

The team ended the evening by playing their final game in Europe.

A couple of interesting items of interest.

- Todays opponent, Slammers Select, appears to be from Germany as the US and German flags are shown during the National Anthem.

- In the four games we had three different plays jump the initial tip; JW twice, MK once and AV once.

- Today's opponent appears to have been the most physical and athletic team we faced. The highlights show that we had considerably fewer open shots. The Slammers had a large women in the post forcing the team to work to establish position.

- According to Shannon Donegan (Dir. of Basketball Ops) today was very physical and the girls did not handle it very well in the first half. The team picked up the tempo, the energy and the physicality in the 2nd half to pull away. Shannon gave shout-outs to the bigs for running the court, the guards on the wing and the point guards who got them the ball.

Only half the highlights and pictures from tonight's game, so only half the review.

Oh, Lady Zags win 78-49, to go 4-0 in their European experience.

See the videos and pictures from today's community service and tonight's game. The videos are the same in the blog, Wbb twitter and CLF twitter page, but their are some different pictures in each location that might be of some interest. Find them here:

Wbb European Blog Link: https://spark.adobe.com/page/OGyQBD6mdwvRn/

Lady Zag twitter page: https://twitter.com/ZagWBB

CLF twitter page: https://twitter.com/FortZagWBB

It is onward to Venice. Try not to get fined or kicked out of Venice by violating their anti-tourist (my choice of words) regulations that just went into effect,

ZagDad

[ZagDad84]

While we have no idea on the quality of competition the lady zags faced in Europe, we can make some very preliminary notes on how this team looks.

1. My understanding is that because of the European tour, the Lady Zags were granted 10 additional practices to prepare for the tour. While Anna was in Europe, the majority of the team was able to participate in these additional practices which will be of great benefit to the lady zags, particularly when trying to integrate the Truong twins, CW, KG, AV and EH into the team.

2. The additional ten practices and four (4) games, against teams not named Gonzaga, should provide a head start over most of our competition. With our shortage of experienced guards, we need to bring the newbies up to D-1 speed as quickly as possible. Stanford and the Thanksgiving tournament come early in the season.

3. Despite playing lots of players, playing numerous line-ups, and playing people (Anna) who had not practiced with the team this August, the team was surprisingly consistent in the offensive outputs and with the notable exception of the first game, very consistent with their defense in the four games.

Game #1 71-60 (w)
Game #2 69-34 (w)
Game #3 64-43 (w)
Game #4 78-49 (w)

4-Game Average 70.5-46.5 (w)

4. From the sounds of it, the coach's are trying to push the transition game and get the bigs to run. It will be interesting to see if this year's team will push the transition faster than CLF's previous teams.

5. JT looks to be on the mend and should be ready for the big games early in the season. Good news for the Lady Zags and Zag Fans.

6. I am excited to see what MK and KG have in store for us. MK looks like she has brought her defensive physicality to the offensive side of the ball. KG has had to sit out the entire year waiting for her chance to play. She looks like a very strong addition to the wing and trouble for our opponents.

7. We have no idea on the quality of the competition, but K11 and K14 did not look out of place. They ran the offense, made the passes, took the open shot and drove to the hoop. It looks like we got a couple of good ones with the Truong twins and we will need them when we play BYU. Feeling a little better about things with the backcourt.

8. CW won't play this year, but she appears to be very sure of herself, running the offense, shooting the outside jumper and taking to the hoop. She will bring needed senior leadership to the guard position next year.

9. All of the bigs look willing to take it to the hoop, thru traffic. Whether it be JW, LW, MK, AV or EH, looks like we have a strong group of competitors that is not afraid of contact. Mix in JT and KG and the Lady Zag front line looks like it could be very physical.

10. According to the coach's this team looked to make the extra pass, found the open shooter, and ran the fast break, and was willing to share the ball. All good things so early in the season with so many new players.

Great, now what are we going to do for the next eight weeks waiting for fanfest?

Is it October yet?

ZagDad

[SkipZag]

I’m with you ZD...

As a team, this trip appears to be a winner. The amount of smiles is hard to miss. Doing things together off the court is a real plus for the vets and newbies.

A couple of adds... I noticed by the after game pictures of the last game that JT and MK were not suited up. Understandable for JT but hope nothing serious for MK.

Also saw a picture of the 6 forwards and the talent... what an option to run big or small. The 3 and 4 spots could be used for various lineups.

Last... like ZD I was concerned with a bench of untested D1 players. Not so much now... I think the talent level that the coaching staff has brought together is at the next level and will fill in very nicely in the rotation.

This trip and all the pictures sent back home has been great... it’s nice to see what great student athletes we have and how they represented GU to the world...

Well done...

Go Zags!!

[ZagDad84]

I noticed by the after game pictures of the last game that JT and MK were not suited up. Understandable for JT but hope nothing serious for MK.

Good Catch, I missed that.

I don't think there is anything too serious. In the community service pictures taken earlier in the day, JT is seen in several pictures serving food and washing dishes while MK is seen at the retirement facility. In none of the community service pictures did you see any wraps, bandages, braces, etc. on either young lady. In the team group photo, MK is seen squatting down in the group picture and JT is seen standing up but again, neither young lady had any wraps, bandages, braces, etc. in that picture.

I think we're good.

ZagDad

[ZagDad84]

The ladies boarded a bus in Florence for the 4-hour ride to Venice. Once in Venice, they visited St. Mark's Basilica and St. Mark's Square and took a motorboat ride along some of the canals.

Hopefully they will get to see the Hall of Doges, Bridge of Sighs, Rialto Bridge, Farmer's Market and maybe get a chance to see a Venetian Glass Blowing Factory, etc.

They have posted pictures and video of their first day in Venice. As is typical, there are some different pictures posted on the blog and CLF's twitter page.

Wbb European Blog Link: https://spark.adobe.com/page/OGyQBD6mdwvRn/

Lady Zag twitter page: https://twitter.com/ZagWBB

CLF twitter page: https://twitter.com/FortZagWBB

ZagDad

[Bogozags]

I have asked this question several times on the MBB and have never received an answer or at least one that I remember BUT why haven't the men taken this type of trip...I always thought it would be good for team chemistry and player growth...

[ZagDad84]

I can't answer for the men, however according to Wbb head coach Lisa Fortier (CLF);

Former head coach Kelly Graves sent CLF (when she was a Wbb assistant coach) to speak directly with the athletic department for permission to make this kind of trip. Coach Graves sent her every year to the athletic department, and every year the answer was the same, no.

When CLF became the Wbb head coach, she continued going to the athletic department every year asking to take a exhibition tour and like under Coach Graves, every year the answer was no, until this year.

It is my understanding that this year everything lined up and combined with some donations, the athletic department permitted the Wbb to take the European trip this year.

According to the NCAA, a team can make this kind of trip only once every four years.

ZagDad

[SLOZag]

I have asked this question several times on the MBB and have never received an answer or at least one that I remember BUT why haven't the men taken this type of trip...I always thought it would be good for team chemistry and player growth...

Speaking off the top of my head, but NOT from inside info:
1. We always enjoy having several MBB players from other countries, and some of them have been recruited with express promises made by the GU staff to their coaches back home to the effect that the players would be free to rep their country by playing on their national teams during the summer (I believe I've read that the Bonus and Rui came with those express assurances). As a result, the attendance would be spotty and chemistry building might suffer.
2. The GU Summer Boys BB Camps are important to not only GU as an entire university, but also for planting early seeds for recruiting, and for providing summer jobs and activities for the players during the summer. Any overseas trip would have to avoid conflicting with the camps, as giving up the camps for a year would not palatable.
3. A lot of the players enroll in summer school to either lighten their load during the season, or to accelerate their progress towards graduation. Undertaking the international junket while trying to take and keep up on summer school class requirements is at best a problem, and possibly a deal breaker, depending upon the requirements of the classes.
4. Another benefit for players remaining on campus during the summer is be able to spend extra hours in the training room on strength, conditioning, and all that stuff. For some incoming freshmen, this is a big hurdle to get over. Not so easy to do if you are on the road.

[ZagDad84]

Thanks for the reply SLOZag.

Let me offer you a different opinion for your consideration.

We always enjoy having several MBB players from other countries, and some of them have been recruited with express promises made by the GU staff to their coaches back home to the effect that the players would be free to rep their country by playing on their national teams during the summer (I believe I've read that the Bonus and Rui came with those express assurances). As a result, the attendance would be spotty and chemistry building might suffer.

Great comment. While the Lady Zags have the occasional European or Australian recruit, they have no where near the number of foreign born players as the Mbb team. Currently the Lady Zags have one (1) Romanian, one (1) Canadian and one (1) Australian team member. Our Romanian player did not participate in the ten (10) pre-trip, team practices as she was already in Europe, but she met the team in Spain and played in each of the four exhibition games. Everybody else participated in the pre-trip practices and played in each of the four (4) games including our redshirt who will not be eligible to play after the exhibition games until next year. By the looks of it, the Mbb team has numerous players playing for their individual national teams, so this is likely a major issue for the Mbb team.

The GU Summer Boys BB Camps are important to not only GU as an entire university, but also for planting early seeds for recruiting, and for providing summer jobs and activities for the players during the summer. Any overseas trip would have to avoid conflicting with the camps, as giving up the camps for a year would not palatable.

The Lady Zags also have summer camps. To be of much value, any trip would have to occur in mid-August, long after the camps have taken place but before school starts for the semester.

A lot of the players enroll in summer school to either lighten their load during the season, or to accelerate their progress towards graduation. Undertaking the international junket while trying to take and keep up on summer school class requirements is at best a problem, and possibly a deal breaker, depending upon the requirements of the classes.

Again, this also applies to many of the student athletes on the Lady Zag team. This year GU offered three (3) six week summer sessions with the first session starting May 20th and the third session ending August 9th. Once again, the Lady Zag trip occurred after the last session of summer school ended and they will return before the start of the fall semester.

Another benefit for players remaining on campus during the summer is be able to spend extra hours in the training room on strength, conditioning, and all that stuff. For some incoming freshmen, this is a big hurdle to get over. Not so easy to do if you are on the road.

True, but the trip only covers 12 days in mid-August, not a lot of time to take away from the training room. What you do get by going on a European/Asian trip is the NCAA permits you an additional 10 pre-trip, team practices and you get 3-4 extra exhibition games instead of the usual 1 or 2. The additional 10 team practices and 3-4 extra exhibition games could outweigh the loss of time in the training room as long as nobody gets hurt.

Just my thoughts,

ZagDad