Thursday Zags Around the Web - Exhibitions Proving Difficult
by Zach Bell on Nov 5, 2009 7:26 AM PST
9 comments
In the world of Twitter and ESPN having five television channels, there is rarely an event in the sporting world that goes unnoticed. Case in point, Syracuse's loss two nights ago to the LeMoyne Dolphins (I swear if it was a different name it wouldn't be a big deal) was treated as ESPN's lead in story all day long, was discussed on every daytime show such as PTI and will stick in the sides of the Orange until they get a big win in the Big East. A good thing that came from this was that most players for big time programs were noticing the Syracuse loss and you can bet that it motivated them not to have the same thing happen to them. With that in mind, I was stunned when I heard the news that UCLA barely, and I mean barely escaped an upset bid from another school that can't even award athletic scholarships! We'll get more into that a little later. For now, here is some Gonzaga news to get you through this Thursday...
Bainbridge's Gray Changing in Many Ways at Gonzaga : College Sports : Kitsap Sun
In a very, very well done piece by Howie Stalwick, we get an in depth look into easily the most dynamic personality on the Gonzaga roster. Steven Gray has often been criticized for his relaxed on-court attitude and the perception that he doesn't play at 100% and this article kind of speaks to that. In the article, Stalwick notes how Gray views basketball in his mind, whether or not we can expect an increased leadership role from him, and what else is he involved with besides basketball. It is pretty obvious that Mark Few will always be wanting more leadership from Steven if this article is any indicator. I honestly didn't know how to react after reading this piece in the Kitsap Sun and it will be very interesting to see how Coach Few deals with Steven if he strugles.
Gonzaga hoops has new look this season
Surprise, surprise! Gonzaga will have some new faces this season. Not much in this AP story put out by the Seattle PI. Some nice quotes from the guys and Coach Few but other than that, it is a pretty standard season preview.
Local News | Gonzaga-Love & Hate | Seattle Times Newspaper
Interesting/weird little list done by the Associated Press and put out in the Seattle Times. Not sure why people would have the fact that Gonzaga must win four more WCC titles in a row to match UCLA's record of 13. I'd put that in the love. A fun little fluff piece to read.
Detroit Pistons vs. Toronto Raptors - Box Score - November 04, 2009 - ESPN
Austin Daye played by far his most minutes of the season, 17, in the Detroit Pistons loss last night against the Toronto Raptors. Daye accumulated five points, three rebounds, and two blocks during his time on the court but also picked up a familiar five fouls. Good to see him getting more minutes on the court, however. Hopefully he settles in as a regular contributor.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL: UCLA squeaks by lowly Concordia, 62-61 - Whittier Daily News
It's always interesting to watch how these big time programs come out of the gates in their exhibition matchups and if this early season is any indication, it is going to be an interesting year in college basketball. Syracuse goes down two nights ago and last night UCLA needed a three-point basket with 16 seconds left to beat NAIA opponent Concordia.
Ultimate Rankings Countdown: 101-51 - Mid-Major Madness
Eric Reveno's Portland Pilot's checked in at #70 in our SB Nation partner Mid-Major Madness' Ultimate Rankings. Here is what they had to say about Portland:
70. Portland: This season, the Pilots will be Gonzaga's main challenger in the conference. Coach Eric Reveno is building quickly and has the Pilots poised to battle it out with Gonzaga in his fourth season. Last year's JUCO sensation, 5-9 sniper T.J. Campbell (53 percent shooting on 3-pointers), joins Nik Raivio (16.0 ppg) in the league's best backcourt. There's quality size, too, in 6-10 senior Robin Smeulders and 6-8 Luke Sikma, the son of former NBA star Jack Sikma.
Have a great Thursday, Gonzaga fans. We'll keep you posted if anything else comes to light the rest of the day. As always you can follow our updates on Twitter: @slipperstillfit
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Steven/Rankings
Nothing has changed about Steven since I first watched him as a Soph in HS. 5 years ago he was the same person. A pure stroke, uncanny athleticism, smooth as silk, BB talent in the high 90’s percentile and the drive and desire to be the best as a slow growing Oak Tree! Great piece by Howie. You talk about Coaching challanges? How about back to back with Austin and Steven, Black and White! Reading Coach Fews responses brings back some memories of working with young athletes. I’m fairly convinced after 5 years of watching Steven play, you got his best every game. The problem is his best is determined by Steven. The coaches dilema is that they don’t know if Stevens decision on his best is a 1 or a 10 from game to game. Don’t expect anymore from him. Just enjoy who he is, a good young man who dances to his music!
Those rankings along with anybody’s are always tough to come up with if you try to do the top 150. There’s plenty of room for debate with their findings as there is with others. Whats interesting about theirs is the side comments that sometimes gives a reader insight into why they place them there. The other side of that is the “scratch your head” feeling of how did they come up with that? Fun to look at though but as most polls, meaningless! Good read! Thanks
Interesting point, Mike
Have we seen the best of Steven Gray? I’d hate to look back on his best year being his freshman year but you make some good points. The human part of me thinks that it is great that Steven is broadening his horizons at Gonzaga…but the basketball fan in me really thinks it would be a tremendous waste of talent for him to not reach his potential. I guess we’ll see what happens in the coming weeks but he will be one of those guys relied on greatly every game.
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His best?
No, I don’t think as a BB player, he has given his best based on the coaches evaluation of his skill potential. MikeSequim, as a fan, has no right to challenge or criticize the motives or desires of Stevens decisions on his career at GU or his future goals. As a hoop fan evaluating his performence during games on this or any blog or passing conversation with others is open to criticism as long as it is always related to his performence and not directed at the individual. That has always been my pitfall, meshing the two! If you (everyone) haven’t met Steven or know about him, I would suggest some research on your own. To me, he’s just Steven! I know Coach Few just loves the young man and I would be willing to bet if you interviewed him about Steven and asked the tough questions about Stevens ability and level of performance, then watched Coach’s body language, you might see a great smile on his face, a slight lowering of his head and eye contact, another smile with a shaking of his head and then some good, positive interesting comments. Steven, a basketball enigma for us all with the qualities in a human that his generation should relish!
A parents delight. I’ll take the enigma and just smile and shake my head! As always, JMO
Portland gets no respect
I cannot believe how lightly some are taking Portland this year.
Guess they will have to earn a little respect — no one is going to give it to them (except me of course!)
mjc
Hmm...
That’s interesting isn’t it. If you go to the same site and check their archives you will find a top 25 mid major list and Portland is listed @ 15 with St. Mary’s @ 23. I don’t know what to make of that but I would put Portland closer to 15 than 70.
Steven/Portland
"….He’s just kind of a guy who doesn’t show a lot of emotion, and he runs so easy and moves so smooth, maybe a lot of times I think he’s giving better effort than people think."
Few said it best. He’s a really good basketball player and his stats aren’t 1st Team All American quality because of the balance and lack of chemistry on the last couple teams. He lets the game come to him, which some guys we’ve had recently could’ve done better. He didn’t really have a “role” last year because everyone had the same role: take your shots when you can because we have too many scorers. This year we’re putting the offense and leadership on Matt, so I don’t see why Gray’s leadership is such a concern. Steven will be a scorer for Matt to dish the ball to if he gets extra attention.
Portland went 9-5 in a garbage conference last year #70 is generous!!!!! They WILL have to earn respect… everybody does. What were the rankings supposed to say? 35. Portland. Third place in West Coast last year means they’re legit! Come on… They are a good team but they haven’t accomplished anything why would they have ANY respect outside of the WCC?
Portland? Are we serious?
Dudes, Portland is straight up trash. Who in the hell have they EVER beaten? Smeulders is one of the worst big men I’ve ever seen, Sikma isn’t much better, ok, they’ve got one or two guys who can hit a few threes. I think people are giving them way too much credit. I’m not quite sure how to define a “mid major” anymore, Gonzaga has eclipsed that moniker, yet they are in the same conference as Portland, who still gets that moniker. Butler isn’t a Mid Major, but the rest of their conference is. Who in the hell knows what a mid major is anymore anyway?
by You Zig, I'll Zag on Nov 8, 2009 7:12 PM PST reply actions
Whoa ZigZag!
Worst Bigmen you’ve ever seen? Did you watch the games last year against Portland? If I can remember right, Smeulders and Sikma had about 12-14pts and 12-14 rebounds between them on our floor. I was at Portland and if I recall right……………….Smeulders had a dbl/dbl with 16pts and 11 boards and Sikma had 10 pts and 5-6 boards. Thats 26 pts and 16 rebounds against a good Gonzaga team isn’t it? They beat UW who was a 4 seed last year didn’t they? They beat Saint Mary’s who was a fairly good club. Trash? I would be interested in why you would consider Portland’s “Bigs” play, Trash against the Zags, given those stats? It appears they played rather well from the garbage pit to me but you could be right! I wonder how UCONN did with their bigs against the Zags? Thabeet and Adrien only had 17 pts and 10 rebounds between them. Well, if you did see them play, maybe they are the worst big men you’ve ever seen? No? Maybe you could provide us with how you analyze the “Bigs”? Possibly that was just an off the cuff remark and not a serious one? Maybe not? Either way I would like to disagree with that statement. JMO
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