"Athletes" on the Zags team

[Marcus]

There has been a huge amount of comments in this years tournament from announcers and the media and the half time crews about the advantages of having elite athletes. Would any of our team members be classified as this? We have elite players but do we have any elite athletes?

Going forward, how important is it to have more elite "athletes" on our team? Do the additions of Coleman and Nunez improve our overall athleticism?

In no way am I saying this is a reason why we lost or calling for a change in personnel or how the coaches recruit. Just wondering how important people feel this is for Gonzagas future?

[former1dog]

None of the active players really qualify as "elite" athletes. I don't know about the red shirts, like Coleman.

We've had some in the past. Calvary, Anthony Reason, Errol knight before his knees went bad, Pargo, Downs. Probably missing a few.

[McZag]

I have been waiting for this thread. It usually doesn't pop up until Final Four weekend but not surprised to see it here. It takes at least this long for us Blue and Red Eyed Zag heads to see and understand what national championship teams look like. I first started noticing this thread when Rose and Memphis made the championship game and Cal went off to UK.

There are exceptions, like Butler, but championship teams are those that stock athletes, lots of them, and teach them disciplined team basketball. Last year's Kentucky team had just enough discipline and basketball knowledge to not beat themselves and win it all.

But it starts with the athletes and if you have read my posts this past week you will begin to understand why I am not as down as some about GU's early exit. With one more athlete, we win last Saturday. With two more we win a game next weekend.

Over simplified? Guilty. But without the speed, you are relying on 3's falling and refs making calls and champions rely on neither.

[bartruff1]

Last year after Gonzaga embarrased West Virginia, in the post game interviews, Huggins was asked why ???

He said, because Gonzaga recruits kids that know how to play basketball, and all to often, other teams recruit kids that are quick and big and strong and can run and jump and don't know how to play and won't learn...

Now, if we can get some that can run and jump and know how to play basketball !!! But, you know where they go...

[former1dog]

Santangelo was an elite athlete. Should have mentioned him. Frahm was borderline.

[zagco]

Zagco takes an athlete over a skill guy everytime, unless it's a game of HORSE or a video shoot for a basketball drills instructional. Generally speaking, he would only take a skill guy if the skill guy had truly elite skills, like Larry Bird. Otherwise, it's athlete all the way.

[Marcus]

I remember Huggins saying that and I do think that their is some truth in that statement. I think it's easy to get caught up in physical ability and lose sight of the great basketball IQ and skill guys. Having said that, I also agree with McZag that in games where your skill guys have an off night it can be tougher to overcome those games and still win.

Fwiw I feel that Guy is an elite athlete but he could not put it all together for long enough stretches to be effective. Maybe if he had all four years at Gonzaga he could have visited the Olynyk clinic and been a force. Who knows.

[MJ777]

Wouldn't GLE qualify? Few apparently couldn't get him to be disciplined enough to stay on the court.

[former1dog]

Wouldn't GLE qualify? Few apparently couldn't get him to be disciplined enough to stay on the court.

I'd put him in the borderline category. Pretty good hops. Probably average speed.

[zagco]

Zagco feels that Dranginis is very athletic, although since he did not get to play a bunch this year, Zagco bases that mostly on seeing him play when he was younger. He seemed extremely athletic then.

[bartruff1]

Zagco takes an athlete over a skill guy everytime, unless it's a game of HORSE or a video shoot for a basketball drills instructional. Generally speaking, he would only take a skill guy if the skill guy had truly elite skills, like Larry Bird. Otherwise, it's athlete all the way.

......

North Carolina had them...Kentucky had them...Cuse has them and so does Louisville...( I wonder what Few could do with that Carolina team ?)

Next year...Kentucky is suppose to have the best recruiting class ever and a odds on favorite to win the National Championship.

You could see the difference in the Nike Game that Pangos played in in Portland...many of those US guys are in the NBA now.

[229SintoZag]

Well

Any suggestion that Bell, Harris, KO, or GLE are not elite athletes is absurd.

Neither Larry Bird, nor John Stockton, nor Pistol Pete, nor even Magic was what some today would call an elite "athlete." All know how to play the game though.

We recruit basketball players. We ought not abandon that approach.

[former1dog]

Any suggestion that Bell, Harris, KO, or GLE are not elite athletes is absurd.

Compared to who? Compared to you and I, sure. Compared to Oladipo or the injured kid from Kenucky or any of the former players for Gonzaga I mentioned, not really.

You can certainly be an elite basketball player and not be an elite athlete and vice versa. All of the guys you mention are in the former camp, not the latter. With the exception of GLE.

[Ekrub]

Meech was quite the athlete

[zagco]

Bird, Magic, and David's dad are 3 of the Top 50 greatest players in NBA history. Pistol Pete is the greatest college basketball player of all time. Elite skill is harder to find than elite athlete, Zagco believes. If you can find it, get it. But, if it is not elte skill, then Zagco takes the athlete every time. This may be a bit of looking at basically the same thing in a different way, but he generally is not impressed by HORSE champions and drill demonstrators. He looks for explosion, the ability to move and change direction by hopping and players who can recover from bad positions.

If he was advising a young kid who was looking to find a way to actually improve his athleticism, he would strongly advise learning and perfecting the art of Olympic lifting via cleans and snatches, and he would also advise sprinting with resistance, all meant to work the fast twitch muscles and get the mind used to explosive movement.

Harris looked out-athleted in the tourney. He looked a bit slow in the post, evidenced by several blocked shots. He looked too deliberate and not explosive.

For his size (Zagco tends to adjust his thinking a bit for truly big guys), he agrees that KO has unusual athleticism. Now, if that translates into the NBA is a bit of a different question, because everyone in the NBA is pretty dang big and you have a lot of elite athletes who can be 4 inches shorter but still play bigger.