McConnell's late game heroics bury Gonzaga
by Zach Bell on Jan 27, 2011 11:38 PM PST
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PrintThe roller coaster ride that is Gonzaga basketball 2010-11 continued this evening as the Bulldogs fell to the Gaels by a count of 73-71. Personally, I'm at an interesting place right now in as much as that I think Gonzaga played about as good a game as this team is capable of tonight. Were there turnovers? Sure, Steven's five and Elias' three were brutal but, and I hate saying this, that is simply what this team is this season. It is an inconsistent bunch that some twenty-odd games is still grasping at straws to figure everything out.
I'm sure some will take offense to the thought that tonight's effort is basically a near-peak of what this team can do but the track record this season is mind boggling and tonight was no different. Gonzaga's "big three" are the perfect indicator of that. Elias started slow once again, made some nice plays, but his turnovers continue to accumulate. Rob has made great strides in a few areas but, if you want to rely on him to make a shot not uncontested on the free throw stripe, it could be an adventure. And lastly, Steven Gray is a nice microcosm of this team as a whole. Flashes that dazzle, but just not enough to get over the hump.
While the big three are the microcosm, there are a couple other factors that have doomed the team throughout the year and that continued tonight. First of all, outside of Steven, Gonzaga doesn't have an offensively aggressive guard. There's nothing. Monninghoff can hit a shot, Goodson can attempt a shot, Stockton will hurl the occasional three, but there is very little play moving towards the basket if you aren't named Steven Gray. A lot of Gray's turnovers are attributed to the fact that there is a 200-page book out on this team and Steven driving is page one. A guy I was hoping to see fill this role was Manny Arop....he didn't play tonight. And, to be honest, Manny was someone I thought needed to see the bench long ago. He has added no value to this team on the attacking side of the court.
The Pandora's Box that opens when you combine a frightened backcourt with frightening points guard play, is terrifying. It makes everything that much harder. There's very little floor spacing, and that leads the way for isolation plays because no one is cutting, no one is moving, and it damn near seems like no one wants to take a shot. People will look to the box score and comment that there seems to be no problem scoring baskets but the issues are obvious and what I am saying is by no means Earth-shattering.
I realize this isn't a typical recap but (and maybe this has to do with it being 12:30) a loss like this will clog your brain a bit. I'll try and broach this game again sometime soon. Kudos to Sam Dower on one hell of a game. Without Sam, Saint Mary's looked to be poised for a rout.
Win the WCC Tourney!
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Perfectly Said
Well said and right on for the breakdown on each player. If we won, head line would be “Dower’s coming out party.”
Time to find out who the true Zag fans are. With the recruits were getting the program is fine. Ride out the rough stuff.
yep
Carter and Stockton took 3 shots in 42 minutes combined and Meech managed to take 6 shots and miss them all.
Where was Keita?
He seemed to be developing and now he’s collecting slivers.
Very exciting game
As an outsider and BYU fan, I must say that was an exciting game. A lot of interesting/questionable foul calls (on both sides) – is that common in the WCC? They let us play a bit more in the MWC. St. Mary’s almost beat us after we tried to hand it to them earlier in the season.
I’ve been following the WCC as much as I can since the news of BYU joining the WCC. Although we lose our backcourt (Jimmer & Jackson), I feel like we’ll be able to compete fairly well – depends on if Davies goes on a mission though… we’ll miss him. I want to learn the teams, learn the coaches, learn as much as I can. Die-hard BYU fan and have enjoyed the time in the very competitive Mountain West. Sad to leave that tough conference, especially when it’s at its peak. Although, I’m excited to start some very fun rivalries with some classy programs.
Looking forward to next year and getting to know your classy program… but this is definitely one of the rare peaks in BYU basketball right now. On line for a 2 or 3 seed, which around our parts, is unheard of.
Good luck in the WCC Tourney!
My swag was phenomenal.
Seems like every close game in this league...
The losers complain about the reffing. More than other conferences it seems.
I didn’t think it was terribly lopsided this game, though.
The recruiting misses on this team in the past few seasons have been brutal
and this season is when all that bad luck comes to roost. Gray hasn’t developed into the super-senior leader that GU fans have become accustomed to (that’s Sacre), Meech hasn’t significantly improved his PG play in 3 years, and Elias has taken a huge step back. Other guys that were recruited as complementary players (like Olynyk or Arop) just can’t make that transition and rise up to be stars. The young guys that have a chance of being stars (maybe Keita? maybe even Dower?) just aren’t there yet. If we’re honest with ourselves, GU lost because we have the inferior talent.
RE-READ THIS POST EVERYBODY
We have one hell of a class coming in next year, which is encouraging, but even the best programs in the country take a nose-dive every few years. Remember Maryland, or Arizona? Sacre is the only one of the starters that belongs on this team next year. The reason for that is the players the team has brought in. Just one quick example at the 3 position:
Small forwards – Harris/ Keita /Arop /Hoff/ KO – 7 feet but plays the 3.
That’s five guys. REPEAT. FIVE. Guys that all play the same position. It’s not even about the rotation or minutes. It’s about trying to find a roll on a team when there are four other guys trying to do your same job.
UGH.
by DaveValleDrinkNight on Jan 28, 2011 2:51 AM PST up reply actions
Every empire falls eventually!
Sorry GU but you got 10 straight. The record is only UCLA’s 13 straight, so you got close. I’m a WSU fan so I was naturally hoping for you to beat it. After all I root for GU all but 1 game a year. You can look for all kinds of reasons for this disappointing season (Harris’s sophomore slump, Grey having other interests ‘drama or trip to Africa’, weak point guard play). I have always liked Stephan Grey and at least you should get Elias Harris back. The incoming freshman class looks great! I wish we had got a couple of those guys, but am so happy they won’t be wearing purple next season. So consider this season a hiccup and move on. BYU is losing that Jimmer guy and hopefully SM’s Coach Bennett will leave for greener pastures. Don’t hate on Coach Few, believe me you are lucky to have him and coaching changes are bad for a program, unless you suck. It’s time for Coach Few to decide if he wants to try and push forward for another NCAA tournament appearance or give younger guys a look to build for the future. I feel GU will win the WCC next season, and make a push past the Sweet Sixteen the following year! Just sit back, take a deep breath, and accept you cannot win the conference every season. In the long run, whatever is best for the conference is best for GU. The better conference play is the better you are prepared for NCAA tournament play.
Few
I’ve always been a die hard Few supporter but over these last few games I’m beginning to question. Stockton, Meech, and Carter were on the floor together for WAY too long tonight. Sam Dower goes off and then comes out at the end of the game when we can’t find the bucket.
I understand the need to shorten the rotation but how can Keita and Manny go from starting to 0 minutes while Carter is running around with his eyes wide open?
Few got outcoached in the WCC…again
Agreed!!!
I have to assume the coaching staff looked at the SMU guards and determined the smaller, theoretically quicker line-gave them the best chance at stopping them. I personally thought both Keita and Arop were good defenders and would think it’s harder to fire a 3 over a 6’5" guy with long arms than it would be Stockton or Carter. Not Sure Michael J. could have shutdown some of the stuff McConnell was throwing at the basket tonight. I remember watching the late, great Chick Hearn broadcasting Laker games. Every time someone took an ugly shot he would sarcastically say “nice throw”. McConnell made a lot of “throws” tonight, including the one that ended the game, and damned if they didn’t go in.
Sacre, Harris, and Gray (+Dower) out scored St Mary’s big three of McConnell, Jones and Dellavedova. The problem was the rest of the Zags looked horrible. Carter made one nice pass and a lay-up, but seemed lost for the other 19 minutes. Meech was a goose egg, Olynik has digressed to the point of insignificance. Stockton, God bless him, is playing his ass off. It’s just too bad there just isn’t enough ass there, and what a time to miss your first free throw of the year.
I always thought Few never got enough credit for the wins and too much blame for the losses, but I too have to question the teams direction. Hopefully a big win against San Diego can turn things around and another nine straight wins in on the horizon. If you love during the good, gotta support ’em during the bad.
Never got enough credit? Got too much of the blame?
We must be living on different planets. Few’s been untouchable till just recently.
http://twitter.com/larevblog
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Why is it
that Few always benches the guy with the hot hand? Dower was on fire – then benched. Few made a serious mental mistake by doing that.
Also – why was Sacre on the perimeter guarding McConnell for that last shot? Sacre! Someone, anyone, should have been in McConell’s face besides Sacre. Stockton was in the vicinity but jsut stood there looking.
Just my two cents.
Dower was in the entire time Sacre was out, needed a quick breather
Now, if you want to talk about why Sacre and Dower weren’t on the court at the same time from the first tip, well…
All in all, Mark Few booted the hell out of this game. Definitely not his finest hour.
(And I think McConnell caught Sacre on a switch. At least that’s how I remember it.)
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"Win the WCC Tourney!"
Yes, I would love that, as well… Just really wonder what kind of noise we can make with our point guards,,,, almost makes me wish for the NIT, so we could compete more.
I was thinking similarly to Zach, he narrowed it down further though, when he writes we need another scoring guard… I was thinking we need a stud point guard.
In the college game, you are only as good as your point guard…. a supreme playmaker, like J Kidd, a rugged rebounder, like Rajon Rondo, a LEADER, like McConnell, who has the pulse of his team, and delivers the Rx where and when needed for victory.
DS played his heart out on D tonight, MC has brass ones, I love MEECH!,, These guys deserve respect… but they won’t lead us to a deep NCAA run…I HOPE I EAT MY WORDS.
It's a sad day in Zagville!
This was a very disappointing loss last night. Staying up until after 12:30 a.m. (CST) didn’t help my disposition today about the loss either. There have been a lot of excellent comments from this blog about what happened in that game, and I appreciated reading some of them. I believe that our leaders, Steven and Elias, really had sub-par games and Rob got taken out of the game due to early fouls in the 2nd half. This is the time these leaders should be "stepping up" but that didn’t happen and the team loss. Although the WCC regular season conference title streak is pretty much ended, I’m hopeful that the Zags can get their act together and then win the WCC Tournament in March to get to the Big Dance. But, if they play like they have in the last 3 games, I don’t believe that will not happen. There are some excellent teams and players in the WCC, and we saw a few of them during the last 3 games. More importantly, these teams and players were much hungrier than the Zag players and wanted to win more! I send my congratulations to the St. Mary’s team for a great win! You really played a complete and smart game last night.
I sort of agree with one contributor’s thought that Coach Few needs to decide whether to push forward for another NCAA tournament appearance or give younger guys a look to build for the future. We have some excellent young players that have not been given the chance to sort things out in game situations. Guys like Kelly, Sam, David, Hoff, and Keita. Except for Sam, these guys almost seem too shy to shoot the ball. Right now, I would like them to take their shot, because we really need a lift from some of these players if we are going to be successful now and in the future.
ATTN: Coach Few
Whatever happened to the “hot hand” theory? You know, the one where you, in “crunch-time,” go to the guy that is sinking everything he throws up. (Pun intended) You know, the theory St. Marys acknowledged and executed to beat your team last night. Don’t you think that maybe, just MAYBE Sam (THE MAN) Dower would have been a better option than Rob (THE DOOR-KNOB) Sacre? Granted hindsight is 20/20, still, everytime Sacre gets the ball it’s painful to watch.
Clearly some adjustments need to be made if this season is to be salvaged.
Oh, good game Gaels. You were, by far, the better team Thursday night.
By far??? are you serious?
they won by a circus shot as time expired….
If you don't like my fire then don't come around...
As a heart attack
Besides the home court “disadvantage,” the oddsmakers had GU favored. In case you don’t know what that means, it means St. Marys was suppose to LOSE. Since they won they played better BY FAR.
Two things....
Without Dower…SMC wins that game by 12+ I said it at the begining of the season and I am saying it again…Dower is a stud! He could have done great things for this team….alas it is tough to score from the bench.
Secondly….
First of all, outside of Steven, Gonzaga doesn’t have an offensively aggressive guard. There’s nothing. Monninghoff can hit a shot, Goodson can attempt a shot, Stockton will hurl the occasional three, but there is very little play moving towards the basket if you aren’t named Steven Gray. A lot of Gray’s turnovers are attributed to the fact that there is a 200-page book out on this team and Steven driving is page one. A guy I was hoping to see fill this role was Manny Arop….he didn’t play tonight. And, to be honest, Manny was someone I thought needed to see the bench long ago. He has added no value to this team on the attacking side of the court.
This might be the best thing I have ever heard from Zac….I 1000% agree with you!!!
If you don't like my fire then don't come around...
actually I have another comment...
or two…three…
I stick with what I said before…FEW has no clear idea of what he wants from the SF positon…..Arop did not even play. WTF?
also…this is the second game that a team has benefited GREATLY from an NBA continuation type call. all I can say is WTF????
At the end of the game Sacre got pulled to the floor and no call….calls went weird both ways tonight but how is that not called???
Lastly, it was a really good game to watch and the team competed very hard…they wanted that win and I was proud of them for that…..Freaking Frodo just made a trick shot…whadda ya gonna do?
If you don't like my fire then don't come around...
Do recruits read The Slipper?
If they do I hope we don’t scare them off with all of our talk about coaching. I doubt whether Few has won many games with his actual game coaching. He has won so many games because he and the staff have been great recruiters. In the past GU has had the superior talent, especially against the WCC. This year the rest of the league is catching up talent wise so the real measure of how good this coaching staff really is, is how to they get the team to overachieve with less talent. It’s a lot easier to be a great coach when you always have superior talent.
As far as I am concerned, GB and the other recruits lined up can come into Spokane and become studs to make Few look good again.
Enough with putting the blame on the refs
How many years have we played in the WCC?
How many years have we endured all of the ticky tack fouls called in the WCC?
I want to say, “I told ya so”. I did bring this up before the season started.
But the refs/fouls while liberally distributed, were dished out to both teams. You can gripe about this all you want but IMO that’s just an excuse.
I said this team would go as far as its point guards would take it. I think that is still true. There are still a few games left before the conference tournament. Few is going to have to tame his three headed monster and inject a level of consistency into the point guard position.
I have no magical formula for Coach Few. Maybe it cannot be done with the group we have. As many of you noted, we saw a lot of minutes with Meech, Stockton, and Carter all on the floor at the same time. No Arop. No Keita. Maybe this is a look of things to come. Throw them all out there for extended periods and see who rises to the top.
On thing is certain. Our focus and goals irrevocably changed last night. Everything we do the rest of this season needs to be aimed at winning the WCC tournament. Further, we should approach that from the standpoint that we will not be getting a bye as in years past.
mjc
Sorry
I laughed out loud when I read “three headed monster.”
And having all 3 out there at the same time won’t prove who’s better. With them on the floor at the same time means there are only at MOST 2 people on the floor who can score. Not a very efficient offense.
Strategy?
What I want to know is why we didn’t do anything about the foul situation on the SMC bigs? Each of them had at least 3 fouls (1 had four I believe) within a few minutes into the second half, and Rob had one foul. Why not pound the ball inside? Even with Rob telegraphing his moves and Elias only a partial factor we still should have made them play, and foul, when we had the chance. Our guards can’t make an entry pass if you paid them (except DS occasionally), so that might be the biggest issue. Could be coaching decisions as well?
So, here it is!
As of right now, SMC is playing better than GU and in fact, has 2 in a row against GU. They have MUCH better guards than GU does. They are better coached, and have………..oh oh, leadership……………! They have a vision of where they want to go.
GU is a soft, cushy, poor defensive minded mid major that has been carried by 2 things…..1) Being in the WCC and playing 16 of their games in that league each year! 2) Exceptional players coming through the door for the past 10 years.
Unlike most here……it’s nuts to drop the losses on the Ref’s. Just plain braindead! Doesn’t even get to the ranking of understanding 4th grade YMCA ball!!!!! Then there’s the “SMC” couldn’t hold our jock-strap group with all their inteligencia! What a sad group of comments here!
Step back, take a breath and try fairly looking at the program. It appears Zach and some others have. This season isn’t over but darn close to it! I would suggest trying to insert some BB knowledge and reality into the blog for all of us. Might just be refreshing!
Wow, ya know, I really like this….I don’t even think I’ll have to take my lorazapam tonight!!!
Go Zags
Well I need em...
pass some over please! lol
Perhaps the meds will help me dream about what it would be like to have ONE point guard that can do all of the things a pg is supposed to be able to do.
All I want is:
1. a guy who can pass and deliver the rock into the paint, consistantly. 2. Be able to shoot from the perimeter now and again.
That is all I ask for. Thank you in advance GB for your help in this matter.
Its gonna be gLoRiOUS!!~
Gaz
All good results on the tests!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Been 3 years and I FEEL GREAT!
BTW, unless he is suiting up against us, Mick has won me over as a fan.
His feel for his team and overall chutzpah when it comes to defining moments, reminds me of Dickau (though I don’t think he quite has Dan’s quickness, or overall aggressiveness).
So now you basically have a man crush on McConell?
Not me. Absolutely not.
Know thy Enemy…HATE thy enemy. With that winning shot he effectively ended our magical run. I will HATE him forever!!~
*Unless he could somehow become a Zag…and the sooner the better! heheh.
Its gonna be gLoRiOUS!!~
Lets go ZAGS!!~
Put a serious beat down on San Diego tonight and win out.
All is not lost and there is much possible yet to gain…….LETS DO THIS!!~
FINISH STRONG!!~
Its gonna be gLoRiOUS!!~
SMC and Portland on ESPNU
Gonna watch until the Zags are on
GOOOOOOO PILOTS!!~
Everybody loses. WCC Champ Record must be 9-5…whoohoo! Hey, then we still got a chance!
Its gonna be gLoRiOUS!!~
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