Gonzaga won't rack up frequent flyer miles this December
by Zach Bell on Dec 1, 2009 10:33 AM PST
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PrintLike we mentioned a few days ago, December is typically the most telling and crucial month for Gonzaga basketball. While November is valuable for good starts and solid showings in early season tournaments, December is when most of the travel kicks in for this team and is when the nonconference schedule really fires up. Much was made about Mark Few's scheduling this season; most notably his decision to schedule Michigan State so early in the year drew a lot of questions. As we look back, this may have been his smartest move. Without their experience in East Lansing, I'm not sure this young team would have had the moxie to come back and beat Colorado in the opening round. If that happens, Maui could have snowballed into a vacation from hell for this team. Instead, the Zags were Maui champs and are now well-entrenched in both polls.
Last year, December was a mess for Mark Few. After a brutal and demanding Old Spice Classic, the Zags had a quick turnaround and had to travel to Indianapolis to take on the Hoosiers. After winning there, they went on to the always-emotional rivalry game against WSU in Pullman. They routed the Cougs in their home gymnasium but that was really the only bright spot from there on out. The Zags then traveled to Phoenix and only Austin Daye bothered to show up and the #4 Zags were upset by Arizona. After a "filler" game against Texas Southern, Gonzaga lost an emotional heartbreaker against Connecticut and then the wheels fell off. With the students home for Christmas break, Gonzaga lost to Portland State in the MAC, an inexcusable loss. Mark Few's squad finished December with a whimper in what I think was this staff's biggest scheduling snafu, a road loss to Utah on New Year's Eve.
We are now about to begin the December slate of games and just looking at the schedule, it is another stroke of genius by Mark Few and co. Instead of a quick turnaround after an emotional early season tourney, Gonzaga doesn't leave the state until December 19th. Games with Washington State, Wake Forest, Augustana, and Davidson all provide nice tests without leaving the Evergreen State. A marquee game with Duke in New York City will be Gonzaga's only "road" game and then they come back home for Eastern Washington and Oklahoma in Spokane to finish out the month.
After that, you have Illinois and Memphis as the only nonconference tests and, of course, the West Coast Conference slate which is becoming more and more difficult every day. With that being said, it *should* be a Merry Christmas for Gonzaga if they take care of business and beat teams they should beat. This week should be the toughest of the month for the Zags and we are really about to learn a whole lot about this club by Saturday night.
| December | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Washington St. Cougars  |
Wednesday, December 02 2009 | 6:00 PM PST | coverage | |
| Wake Forest Demon Deacons |
Saturday, December 05 2009 | 2:30 PM PST | coverage | |
| Augustana,Ill. Vikings | Wednesday, December 09 2009 | 6:00 PM PST | coverage | |
| Davidson Wildcats | Saturday, December 12 2009 | 4:00 PM PST | coverage | |
| Duke Blue Devils | Saturday, December 19 2009 | 1:00 PM PST | coverage | |
| Eastern Washington Eagles | Monday, December 28 2009 | 6:05 PM PST | coverage | |
| Oklahoma Sooners |
Thursday, December 31 2009 | 7:00 PM PST | coverage | |
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What a difference a month makes
If I were making the prediction a month ago I would say 4 or 5 losses going into the WCC, but after seeing what the Zags can do and what other teams on the schedule have done I am much more optimistic.
Not to jump ahead, but which preseason tourney are they playing in next year?
Rumor has it
that they will be in the CBE Classic next year. The CBE is awesome because it begins at four “host” locations. Evidently next year’s hosts are Gonzaga, Duke, Kansas State, and Marquette. Each host school will have a pod play system at their gym and whoever survives the initial rounds will advance to play in Kansas City for the championship round. Obviously, it sets up so that the four host schools have an easy road but you never know.
Very excited for that tourney.
The Slipper Still Fits - SB Nation's home for the Gonzaga Bulldogs!
These votes also make me curious
So I’ll share my vote. I gave Gonzaga a 6-1 record for this month.
Obviously a great deal of weight hangs in this first week of the month. I’m not 100% sure which game we will drop but I can’t see us going 4-0 against WSU, Wake, Duke, and Oklahoma. A one loss December would be superb. Two losses would be manageable but anything else would be a severe disappointment. Make no mistake though, an undefeated December is very possible assuming this team gets through the week unscathed. Duke is beatable and Oklahoma is SO young.
I don’t mean to overlook Augustana, Davidson, and Eastern Washington but I feel like they are all absolute must-wins.
The Slipper Still Fits - SB Nation's home for the Gonzaga Bulldogs!
by Zach Bell on Dec 1, 2009 12:07 PM PST reply actions 1 recs
I don't see a loss.
Sure I’m very confident, but I always think the Zags are a lock to win in the Kennel, especially against inferior opponents. So that takes care of those games.
Does Davidson have Steph Curry anymore? Oh they don’t? There’s another win.
So that leaves Oklahoma and Duke. I’d worry about Oklahoma more if they weren’t coming off a complete no-show at the Great Alaska Shootout. Not good when you’re finishing well below the preseason #7 team in the WCC.
Which brings us to Duke. Quite honestly I’m giddy. I think our team still has match-up issues with some teams (the super athletic ones), but after watching Duke a few times I think the Zags match up PERFECTLY with them. If the team guards the 3 moderately well and doesn’t get screwed hard by the refs (which is likely) then I say they run the table.
Was leaning 6-1 but went 5-2
5-2…………………Lose to Duke and either WSU or WF at home. WF looked like a pretty good club against Purdue and the Cougs will battle period. Before the season started I had us losing to MSU and 1 team at Maui, WF, Duke, OK, ILL and Memp. Now I think we lose only 2-3 of those last 5. JMO
Skeptical much?
I only watched a few minutes of the WF-Purdue game, but that’s all I needed to see. Purdue played absolutely horrible and they were still able to easily put away Wake Forest. I believe Purdue went 1-15 from 3-pt land. That is the type of shooting that only happens once in a season and is usually indicative of a loss. However, that was not so against this underachieving WF team. Without Teague at point anymore, this team is drastically different and much less competent than they were last year. I foresee no problems putting them away this weekend and thoroughly intimidating them with our size and strength (not to mention crowd). I can understand a loss to Duke, but WSU and WF WILL NOT beat us. I’d be confident betting any amount of money on either of those games solely on the conditions that our players are present and wearing shoes.
Zagnificent - GU Class of 2011
No
I though we would drop the Duke game. Against marginal teams on our home court I’ll put my money on the Zags everyday (and these opponents are marginal). However, with a young team at Madison Square Garden against a very talented veteran Duke team, I don’t like our chances. That’s not to say we don’t have a solid opportunity to win, it’s just saying I wouldn’t bet on it.
Zagnificent - GU Class of 2011
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