Fact: Gonzaga is Relying on the Three Point Shot

Its the Josh Heytvelt problem! Does Gonzaga have a post presence? Nope. Offensive rebounding: ranked 194 in the nation. I don’t see this situation getting any better until either Josh mans up and lives underneath or Sacre/someone comes in/back & explodes. The bigger problem that I see is the pace of the game. Where is the fast break points and fast paced game.?They slow it down so much that they get down there and no one is under the basket or in the post that they are forced to shoot the three. Pargo’s dribble drive wasn’t their either. They played horribly but could have won which is a reason for optimism but until they dedicate themselves in the paint, teams are going to stay close.

I agree with Irish for the most part: There is no excuse for Josh to stay out of the paint. That being said, Mark Few is a great coach for guards and not so much for big men. How many times did it feel like we needed to pound the ball to Batista or Turiaf, only to have someone take a runner in the lane? This isn’t a new development.

That being said, I think the 3 point problem lies elsewhere. Look at Downs, Gray, and Bouldin. I think Gray is a pure shooter and am OK with him spotting up behind the arc for all of his shots. He has a great stroke and that’s a role he’s played since he’s gotten here. Bouldin used to post people up… what happened? He has great strength for a guard and can almost always take his man down low. He has a solid shot fake too, he just doesn’t use it. Micah is the same way… he has the talent to be like Daye and shoot from wherever on anyone, but he LIKES to shoot the 3. I think that Few needs to sit these guys down and make sure they realize that they should be scoring in different ways. Maybe, I don’t know, design some plays for bouldin down low, Micah at the free throw line, or gray going backdoor.

i have no problem with gray and downs taking three point shots because i think that where their offensive game excels. although, i do miss gray’s midrange jumpers from the baseline his freshman year. if matt and austin get hot, they can one or two of those shots but they need to understand (so do micah and steven) when to pass. austin needs to utilize his game from all over. during his freshman year he would cross people over and shoot from 10 feet out or nail the floater from the charity stripe. and i have to agree with kguner that i miss matt posting up. he is such a big physical guard that when he has a smaller guard on him or we have a mismatch, we need to utilize that. josh for the most part needs to stay in the paint, while he does have an outside shot (and a pretty descent one at that) having another big guy down low allows for more offensive options and offensive rebounds.