Random thoughts

On another GU fan site which shall not be named, there’s 130+ posts arguing back and forth about a 2^nd half collapse against Iowa St. GU was plus 10 in the second half against Florida, minus 13 in the second half against Iowa State, pretty similar point totals. If the Iowa St game was a collapse was the Florida game a great comeback? All I know is they were both Ws.

Karnowski perspective: Since becoming a starter, here are some big Shem stats through the first 5 games:

Pretty consistent but a little better numbers this year. Considering all his adversity, that is pretty incredible. (Five games because that’s all he played in 15/16)

Anyone who saw the Sunday’s Mark Few show can’t help be impressed with JWIII. Thoughtful, shy and intelligent, the self-professed comic book geeks demeanor during the Greg Heister interview belies the toughness and hard edge he shows on the court. BTW, he shot an incredible 17 for 20 in Orlando.

Gonzaga had double the turnovers of Florida (16 v. 8) and Iowa State (11 v. 6). While it sounds like the Zags need to improve ball control, when I rewatched the games (sadly, no life) I realized many of the turnovers came on very good passes that just barely missed. I think this is an area that will correct itself as the players get used to playing with one another and start looking for those bullet passes.

Jordan Matthews perimeter shooting woes continue (although he did make a couple of great lay-ups against Iowa St). He’s 4-16 in his last 4 games since the 5-7 against outing against SDSU. One other thing I noticed, doesn’t he seem about 2 inches shorter than the other guards?

In his last season at UW, NWG shot a pathetic .265 from 3. Thus far he’s shooting a scorching .450 at GU (9-20) and is also shooting an impressive .947 (18-19) from the charity stripe. Wonder what he worked on during his redshirt season?

Killian Tillie’s stat line is just jaw-dropping and although he’s only averaging 1 assist per game they stand out as really sweet passes. He’s also 50% from the field and .545 from 3.

One slight improvement area for Zach Collins, he needs to better finish through contact. When he gets fouled going to the hole, he often misses the bunny. The guy is so damn good it’s really tough to find fault and I’m sure he will improve in this one small area with strength and experience.

At 0-8 with 7 of those losses blow-outs, Mississippi Valley State is pretty awful. I’m thinking 20+ minutes of RUI on Thursday with significant playing time for Alberts and Edwards. Could this be the game where Zach Norvell insists on playing?

Alonzo Trier is still a no-show for Arizona and Sean Miller won’t say a thing about his status. Thus far, Arizona’s best player is arguably their 19-year-old, 7-ft center Lauri Markkanen. Markkanen is averaging over 18 ppg but is not much of a defender or shot blocker. I’m sure Mr. Karnowski is looking forward to meeting his fellow European on Saturday. When he gets tired, I’m also looking forward to Mr. Collins and Mr. Tillie introducing themselves.