Originally Posted by
WRHUradio
St. Mary's is always a pain in the ass to defend and they run their offense and system so well year after year, despite their talent level. This is the least talented St. Mary's team in 15 years, but if they shot the ball decently from 3 in the 1st half/early 2nd, they couldve won this game. They just put defenses on skates. One of the keys is to MAKE St. Mary's play from behind with a 10+ deficit.
I thought GU's perimeter athleticism might make it be a bit of a different kindve game than it was. Kuhse's improvement is unbelievable. I cannot believe that a lesser Div 1 team didnt try to pluck him via transfer a couple years ago to give him a scholarship, that he had to wait til this year to be a scholarship player. He is the least explosive lead guard/PG St. Mary's has had during this run, the guy you would pick last if you were the line up the Gaels last 10 or so lead guards, but he is still very good, he's just not the scorer that some of the others were. The other guy that St. Mary's will see progress is Mathias Tass. Prior to his torn ACL early last year, he was really on the way to being the next all-WCC Big for the Gaels, he's just not finishing at the rim yet but perhaps in another month as he continues to regain strength and lift he will be better.
Despite the 1st half issues, GU has so much depth, you just figure SOMEONE is going to be "On" and get the team going, and I thought tonight it was Aaron Cook. His first half effort of passing, rebounds, assists, usual solid defense just lifted GU and steadied the game for them. Ayayi is SO steady that you take it for granted and you dont even notice it, he's not a streaky scorer. Cook giving the team a lift and a bridge to halftime felt significant, and that this team can go to so many areas of their roster against decent competition to get that is one of the many traits that give it a chance to win big.
Now the bad; Summarizing not just St. Mary's, but also vs Pepperdine...Coach Few clearly knows the team did not play well offensively, they just lacked their usual flow. The backdoor cuts leading to easy layups, 10 pass possessions that lead to wide open 3s, just werent there. It would be interesting to do an analysis of their number of passes this weekend compared to previous games in the half court. That flow wasnt there. Pepperdine was more reaching for deflections and that was causing some disruption. I think Coach Few really wants to play another High Major Top 15 team so they get another look at that and how to handle it. You can get away with it vs WCC but vs High Major the offense the last 2 games wouldve been in trouble.
Really wondering about how much LESS the wing pick and roll and finding the roll man at the basket has been, just perplexing.
Some of this is St. Mary's and how they frustrate teams with their long possessions and GU has always wanted to play a higher scoring game against the Gaels and you get sucked into some quick bad shots and all of a sudden you only have 7 pts 5 mins into the game. St Mary's also rarely turns it over, and VERY rarely ever have Live ball turnovers, GU again very little in transition.
I think Coach Few sees past the points and wins and knows there is still a lot of improvement to be done. They won games but didnt play as well as they did vs High Major competition. Of course WCC teams know GU inside and out and what to do to narrow the gap, but he also doesnt want them to get stagnant and have peaked too early in the season.
Couple things I'd like to see more of- All the PG's take more of the FT line area jumpers, they jump stop so often there, and yes they are looking for GREAT shots, but they seem to turn down the FT line jumper very often.
And then more entry passes into Timme, and even Ballo. I dont care that Ballo may not shoot it, but sometimes he gets great position, even just with 1 pass in, and then back out, makes offensive possessions better. And because of the Flow theyve had going offensively, I thought they got away from having enough entry passes into Timme. Again, even if he doesnt have super position, it makes the defense react and move, sometimes they might double immediately, even when they shouldnt, and that gets the ball rolling.
Same with Ballo, at times when he is in there, I'd rather see him go make a move when he is in decent spots. Usually the Zags have the lead- a lot of times comfortably- I want Ballo thinking he is allowed to shoot, and not playing 7 mins and now terrified to do anything. He has enough of a leash where 1 shot during an appearance isnt going to hurt the team.
I will say this- Pepperdine is the No. 2 talented team in the WCC. They have 2 high major talents in Ross and Edwards, and then a 6'9 grad transfer from Pitt that played rotation minutes there. They played very physical vs the Zags getting lots of deflections, forced some frustration in the 1st half. I think that game is just setting a blueprint for the next meeting and the rest of the country's High Major teams when it comes NCAA Tournament time. Bullying the Zags is going to have to be something they should do, and you better believe Baylor feels this way too along with the top 25 teams.
With so much film now available, I suspect the Zags will see some 23 zone at some point in WCC, and really pack it in but be in cheat mode to Kispert. Make Non-Kispert players hit 8 3's in the halfcourt.
This GU team has so much balance but this weekend showed they are not invincible to the level that some media pundits are making them out to be. On a neutral floor vs Top 15 High major competition, they can be beaten.
Gonzaga vs Saint Mary's Post Game thoughts and analysis
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