Hey Fellow Bloggers- What Do You Think About the Zags' Style of Play?

I think that the 2009 Gonzaga recruiting class ensures the this program stays elite and, if it is added to well in the next few years, can contend for final fours. We’ve got a freshman wing in Mangisto Arop that has shown great flashes, Kelly Olynyk could also really blossom into a wonderful outside in player. Bol Kong will be a terrific three year scorer here and obviously Elias Harris might only have one more year at Gonzaga but his impact has obviously been remarkable. Then you have two guys like Sam Dower and GJ Vilarino that have a ton of skill but, especially Sam, are still unknowns. I think both can thrive and they give Gonzaga so much as freshmen that it is hard to not imagine this core of kids not going deep in March.

As far as pace of play goes, I do agree that a solid press is something I’d like to see more of. We saw some of that against Santa Clara with a little 3/4 court token pressure. Mark Few has shown that he likes to use Manny Arop’s length similar to how he used Larry Gurgainous to step in passing lanes and be a rover type defender when the Zags press. In someone like Meech Goodson, you have a player that can hound the ball and create frustration. Steven Gray also has the defensive ability to excel in a press. Outside of that, I’m not sure where you go. I think Bol’s length can be huge on the press but he’d have to be used so that his lateral foot speed isn’t exposed. Grant is kind of in the same boat. With all this being said, I think you won’t see a press be the featured defense from Mark Few but you will seem some trapping zones be used in certain situations.

I love a coach the mixes up defensive looks and that could be big for Gonzaga down the stretch. I don’t love our team in zone because we struggle enough defender the three point shot but with certain lineups, it works very well.

Utilizes a 3-2 offense on the half-court that relies mostly on individual talent and athleticism. We see many pick-and-rolls, pick-and-pops from the perimeter, and give-and-goes from outside to the post. Lots of screening motion both for the ball handler and away from the ball.

On the inbound, Few uses a play I love that worked well once against Santa Clara. When the defense is playing man-to-man and when inbounding under our own basket, the front court keeps their defenders close to the key while two wing men circle them, one following the other with defenders close. The inbound passer has the option to pass to the first cutter if he is in front of the defender, or he can pass to the trailing cutter for an easy lay-up. If those two options aren’t there, then the post man can drift out to the top of the key and take the inbound pass. This worked great on SC and allowed for a soft lay-up by Steven Gray.

I think that Few’s style is really no one set style of motion play, but rather allows his team to use their athleticism to run any number of different sets. He lets them run if the opponent has shown a weakness on the break, and he slows it down if things get too helter-skelter. This style of coaching doesn’t limit him to any one kind of offense or defense and he can make any adjustment he sees fit during the course of the game.

I have heard this called a “motion offense” with 3 out and 2 in. It works pretty well for Few and the talent he recruits. The trouble is, many teams run the same offense and instintively know how to defend it. The key to winning is in execution. If we can be succesful in the basics, run the offense according to plan, then the rest is just athleticism and the will to win, and we have lots of both.

He has a tremendous tendency for playing favorites, putting a bad mix of players on the floor, and refusing to sub out a guy when he clearly doesn’t have it.

I don’t think you should look at people complaining about playing time as something that conflicts with “want[ing] Gonzaga to be in the hunt for a national championship.” For example, the reason that I personally complain constantly that Meech should play less and Manny and Grant should play more is because I feel like they’re better players who bring more winning attributes to the floor.

As for the press, I’m all for it. If you haven’t read Malcolm Gladwell’s piece on the full court press, you really should. That said, I don’t think we have the athletes to do it against truly elite talent. The only guys on the team that seem to display great lateral athleticism on D is Manny. Even Elias has trouble staying in front of his guy at times.

You cant start with a hodge podge bunch of good recruits and then start inventing a style. The odds of that working is next to none. Each team has a niche’ that can only exploit its competition if it is actually recruiting to the style that is already set.

 I agree with MdZagfan- but you cant get your ingredients together and THEN get out your recipe and make cookies. You have to get our a recipe first, and then start recruiting the ingredients.

Fantistic common sense and positive posts by MdZagFan.

It all comes down to doing the basics and doing them right. Coach Few made an interesting comment the other day …in essence he said he would like his team to make higher percentage plays.
I think they have a style of play but it involves running plays. In my opinion they went away from that style in the SF game. Coach is noted for running great plays after time outs. Did you see any? This years Zags are not good enough at “playground” basketball to go far in the ACC or NCAA tournaments.
I don’t see these guys having the ego problems last years team did. I believe they will continue to learn and in the long run they will succeed. In watching them interviewed on The Mark Few Show, I find them to be great kids.

Good things will continue to happen for our Zags.

I think there is so much parity in college basketball these days.
We are not the only ranked team to get beaten by a lesser team.
Especially with the success that our Zags have enjoyed for atleast the last ten years.
They get everyones A game. And, of course, thats the way it should be.

Its hard to get to the top and harder to stay there!