He was actually dominating down the stretch until the ankle injury.
He tried to play hero ball, have his version of the Jordan flu game but it didn't pan out. Worth the risk for a chance at glory IMO, but playing the inside/outside game with carnitas was probably the safer bet (even though he completely shit himself on the big stage up to that point).
He made a nice move on Jackson and arguably got away with an offensive foul when he got the banker on Pinson ... he got nothing after that point and in the process of getting denied by Pinson he overextended and turned his ankle ...
Gonzaga's problem down the stretch wasn't NWG and his injury per se ... the problem was that nobody else wanted the ball. And that's what happens when you go from big fish in a small pond to swimming with the big fishes. Only a handful of Gonzaga players really looked comfortable on the court tonight.
And Mark Few said as much in his post game interview that NWG was the only one that could make a play.
What Few has done over there is incredible, but he faces the same dilemna as Pete did at Boise State and that is can you recruit the 1 or 2 difference makers that have the god given ability to make a play on the offensive and defensive end you need to win a game versus one of College BB's Blue Bloods?
Big picture you shoot 25% in the 2nd half like Gonzaga did, you are lucky to be within 15. Small picture you could argue the tar heels made 4-6 more plays because their Jimmies are just enough better that the Zags Joes and that was the difference.
The only Zags on the court that looked like they were comfortable playing against major D1 talent were NWG and Collins ... everybody else more or less were outmatched in one form or another by a player that could match/exceed them in their athletic ability, height, or strength. Mathews did fine but he's just a role player. That's what he was at Cal and that's ultimately what he was at Gonzaga.
It's pretty clear at this point that Pete decided to look for opportunities outside of Boise once it became painfully obvious to him that there was only so far he could take the job at Boise. Few's pretty much just content at where he is and will never leave. It's one of the reasons why I thought it was possible that Marshall would move on from Wichita State as they face a similar issue to Gonzaga ... but them moving to the American conference will move them closer to where they need to be (Big East would have been ideal).
The only Zags on the court that looked like they were comfortable playing against major D1 talent were NWG and Collins ... everybody else more or less were outmatched in one form or another by a player that could match/exceed them in their athletic ability, height, or strength. Mathews did fine but he's just a role player. That's what he was at Cal and that's ultimately what he was at Gonzaga.
It's pretty clear at this point that Pete decided to look for opportunities outside of Boise once it became painfully obvious to him that there was only so far he could take the job at Boise. Few's pretty much just content at where he is and will never leave. It's one of the reasons why I thought it was possible that Marshall would move on from Wichita State as they face a similar issue to Gonzaga ... but them moving to the American conference will move them closer to where they need to be (Big East would have been ideal).
That's a nice post game narrative. The reality was Gonzaga lost to a slightly better team. Gonzaga beat plenty of teams this year that had major D-1 talent.
That wasn't an incredibly talented North Carolina team. Neither team is loaded with future NBA studs.
It was a close game the entire way. Neither team shot the ball well and the game came to a grind in the 2nd half because of the refs.
The only Zags on the court that looked like they were comfortable playing against major D1 talent were NWG and Collins ... everybody else more or less were outmatched in one form or another by a player that could match/exceed them in their athletic ability, height, or strength. Mathews did fine but he's just a role player. That's what he was at Cal and that's ultimately what he was at Gonzaga.
It's pretty clear at this point that Pete decided to look for opportunities outside of Boise once it became painfully obvious to him that there was only so far he could take the job at Boise. Few's pretty much just content at where he is and will never leave. It's one of the reasons why I thought it was possible that Marshall would move on from Wichita State as they face a similar issue to Gonzaga ... but them moving to the American conference will move them closer to where they need to be (Big East would have been ideal).
That's a nice post game narrative. The reality was Gonzaga lost to a slightly better team. Gonzaga beat plenty of teams this year that had major D-1 talent.
That wasn't an incredibly talented North Carolina team. Neither team is loaded with future NBA studs.
It was a close game the entire way. Neither team shot the ball well and the game came to a grind in the 2nd half because of the refs.
Take a closer look at their schedule. As shitty as the UW schedule was, it was rated higher.
The only Zags on the court that looked like they were comfortable playing against major D1 talent were NWG and Collins ... everybody else more or less were outmatched in one form or another by a player that could match/exceed them in their athletic ability, height, or strength. Mathews did fine but he's just a role player. That's what he was at Cal and that's ultimately what he was at Gonzaga.
It's pretty clear at this point that Pete decided to look for opportunities outside of Boise once it became painfully obvious to him that there was only so far he could take the job at Boise. Few's pretty much just content at where he is and will never leave. It's one of the reasons why I thought it was possible that Marshall would move on from Wichita State as they face a similar issue to Gonzaga ... but them moving to the American conference will move them closer to where they need to be (Big East would have been ideal).
That's a nice post game narrative. The reality was Gonzaga lost to a slightly better team. Gonzaga beat plenty of teams this year that had major D-1 talent.
That wasn't an incredibly talented North Carolina team. Neither team is loaded with future NBA studs.
It was a close game the entire way. Neither team shot the ball well and the game came to a grind in the 2nd half because of the refs.
How many times have you changed your position today?
Here's the possessions/shot attempts from Gonzaga starting with 5 minutes left in the 2nd half:
4:47 - Missed 3 by Mathews (this was the airball that the refs erred in calling a block) 4:39 - Made 3 by NWG 3:58 - Missed 3 by NWG 3:08 - Free throws by NWG (1 of 2) 2:25 - Made jumper by NWG 1:55 - Made jumper by NWG 1:19 - Missed jumper by NWG 0:17 - Missed jumper by NWG 0:09 - Turnover by Karnowski 0:03 - Missed 3 by Mathews
That's 7 straight possessions where the only person digging for their shot was NWG ... everybody else basically crawled into a corner and sucked their thumbs.
Now, I will give you that Gonzaga lost to a better team (although how many people here were calling it for Gonzaga between Saturday night and today?) ... but this is the problem that Gonzaga has with their overall talent level ... it's similar to what Pete experienced at Boise.
If you look at the interior for Gonzaga tonight, their bigs by and large were a non-factor outside of Collins (their only big that is a legit talent. He had 9 points and 7 boards in 14 minutes ... but got into foul trouble and showed that he was a freshman. Williams had good quickness and the ability to cause problems offensively but he couldn't match up with the height/strength combo from Carolina and got himself into foul trouble. Karnowski was visibly bothered by the quickness/length combination of Carolina's defense ... shooting 1-8 from the field with 4 turnovers.
There were people saying that NWG would run all over Carolina because of Berry's injury ... he got a steady dose of Pinson and Jackson ... that led to 5-17 shooting for the game. I also said that Mathews wasn't going to be a massive problem because he was a spot up shooter and Carolina would be able to slow him down ... he was 2 of 7 and basically turned into a spot up shooter (2 of 5 from 3). Melson is ok as a player but he's not a player that's going to demand the ball in that kind of game ... 1 of 3 is about right for him. And has been stated throughout Gonzaga discussions in the past few weeks, Perkins is a disaster when he has to do too much ... he was actually better tonight than most would have expected 13 points on 3 of 8 shooting.
But the point being that there's nobody on Gonzaga outside of NWG that could create a shot when they needed one. They could get locked up by a team that could match their size ... which most can't. Against Carolina, they weren't going to dominate the interior to the point where Carolina would have to dig down and double. It's a completely similar situation to what Gonzaga went through 2 years ago when they lost to Duke in the Regional Finals. Their bigs were basically rendered useless by Duke's bigs and the overall athletic ability gap showed big time.
Let's be completely realistic here ... the reason that there's a lot of "hate" thrown Gonzaga's way is because while they are absolutely well coached and tend to maximize their abilities they don't have a roster or plan that allows them to readily compete against the elite teams in the country. Gonzaga's path to the title game tonight was a dream draw ... they had little overall strength in their way ... West Virginia was a tough match for them but they got lucky with West Virginia literally pissing the game away in a number of different manners ... when Xavier pulled the stunner on Arizona it eased their way to the Final Four. Then with the Villanova and Duke upsets it took 2 teams that could high end talent Gonzaga off the court out of their path.
For Gonzaga to get back to future Final Fours, they will likely again need a very fortunate draw. How often are they going to get a big talent like Collins in their program? If he leaves early then that's the kind of talent they can't replace. NWG is a kind of player that they can't get on their own and only in a FS situation like playing under Romar would that kind of caliber of player even be available to Gonzaga.
Pete learned all of this at Boise and that got him to UW. When Pete saw the difference between UW and Alabama in Atlanta, he's upped the ante in recruiting from that point forward. Gonzaga doesn't have that luxury ... just like Boise State doesn't. Few could have option if he left Gonzaga ... but he won't.
The only Zags on the court that looked like they were comfortable playing against major D1 talent were NWG and Collins ... everybody else more or less were outmatched in one form or another by a player that could match/exceed them in their athletic ability, height, or strength. Mathews did fine but he's just a role player. That's what he was at Cal and that's ultimately what he was at Gonzaga.
It's pretty clear at this point that Pete decided to look for opportunities outside of Boise once it became painfully obvious to him that there was only so far he could take the job at Boise. Few's pretty much just content at where he is and will never leave. It's one of the reasons why I thought it was possible that Marshall would move on from Wichita State as they face a similar issue to Gonzaga ... but them moving to the American conference will move them closer to where they need to be (Big East would have been ideal).
That's a nice post game narrative. The reality was Gonzaga lost to a slightly better team. Gonzaga beat plenty of teams this year that had major D-1 talent.
That wasn't an incredibly talented North Carolina team. Neither team is loaded with future NBA studs.
It was a close game the entire way. Neither team shot the ball well and the game came to a grind in the 2nd half because of the refs.
How many times have you changed your position today?
Here's the possessions/shot attempts from Gonzaga starting with 5 minutes left in the 2nd half:
4:47 - Missed 3 by Mathews (this was the airball that the refs erred in calling a block) 4:39 - Made 3 by NWG 3:58 - Missed 3 by NWG 3:08 - Free throws by NWG (1 of 2) 2:25 - Made jumper by NWG 1:55 - Made jumper by NWG 1:19 - Missed jumper by NWG 0:17 - Missed jumper by NWG 0:09 - Turnover by Karnowski 0:03 - Missed 3 by Mathews
That's 7 straight possessions where the only person digging for their shot was NWG ... everybody else basically crawled into a corner and sucked their thumbs.
Now, I will give you that Gonzaga lost to a better team (although how many people here were calling it for Gonzaga between Saturday night and today?) ... but this is the problem that Gonzaga has with their overall talent level ... it's similar to what Pete experienced at Boise.
If you look at the interior for Gonzaga tonight, their bigs by and large were a non-factor outside of Collins (their only big that is a legit talent. He had 9 points and 7 boards in 14 minutes ... but got into foul trouble and showed that he was a freshman. Williams had good quickness and the ability to cause problems offensively but he couldn't match up with the height/strength combo from Carolina and got himself into foul trouble. Karnowski was visibly bothered by the quickness/length combination of Carolina's defense ... shooting 1-8 from the field with 4 turnovers.
There were people saying that NWG would run all over Carolina because of Berry's injury ... he got a steady dose of Pinson and Jackson ... that led to 5-17 shooting for the game. I also said that Mathews wasn't going to be a massive problem because he was a spot up shooter and Carolina would be able to slow him down ... he was 2 of 7 and basically turned into a spot up shooter (2 of 5 from 3). Melson is ok as a player but he's not a player that's going to demand the ball in that kind of game ... 1 of 3 is about right for him. And has been stated throughout Gonzaga discussions in the past few weeks, Perkins is a disaster when he has to do too much ... he was actually better tonight than most would have expected 13 points on 3 of 8 shooting.
But the point being that there's nobody on Gonzaga outside of NWG that could create a shot when they needed one. They could get locked up by a team that could match their size ... which most can't. Against Carolina, they weren't going to dominate the interior to the point where Carolina would have to dig down and double. It's a completely similar situation to what Gonzaga went through 2 years ago when they lost to Duke in the Regional Finals. Their bigs were basically rendered useless by Duke's bigs and the overall athletic ability gap showed big time.
Let's be completely realistic here ... the reason that there's a lot of "hate" thrown Gonzaga's way is because while they are absolutely well coached and tend to maximize their abilities they don't have a roster or plan that allows them to readily compete against the elite teams in the country. Gonzaga's path to the title game tonight was a dream draw ... they had little overall strength in their way ... West Virginia was a tough match for them but they got lucky with West Virginia literally pissing the game away in a number of different manners ... when Xavier pulled the stunner on Arizona it eased their way to the Final Four. Then with the Villanova and Duke upsets it took 2 teams that could high end talent Gonzaga off the court out of their path.
For Gonzaga to get back to future Final Fours, they will likely again need a very fortunate draw. How often are they going to get a big talent like Collins in their program? If he leaves early then that's the kind of talent they can't replace. NWG is a kind of player that they can't get on their own and only in a FS situation like playing under Romar would that kind of caliber of player even be available to Gonzaga.
Pete learned all of this at Boise and that got him to UW. When Pete saw the difference between UW and Alabama in Atlanta, he's upped the ante in recruiting from that point forward. Gonzaga doesn't have that luxury ... just like Boise State doesn't. Few could have option if he left Gonzaga ... but he won't.
The only Zags on the court that looked like they were comfortable playing against major D1 talent were NWG and Collins ... everybody else more or less were outmatched in one form or another by a player that could match/exceed them in their athletic ability, height, or strength. Mathews did fine but he's just a role player. That's what he was at Cal and that's ultimately what he was at Gonzaga.
It's pretty clear at this point that Pete decided to look for opportunities outside of Boise once it became painfully obvious to him that there was only so far he could take the job at Boise. Few's pretty much just content at where he is and will never leave. It's one of the reasons why I thought it was possible that Marshall would move on from Wichita State as they face a similar issue to Gonzaga ... but them moving to the American conference will move them closer to where they need to be (Big East would have been ideal).
That's a nice post game narrative. The reality was Gonzaga lost to a slightly better team. Gonzaga beat plenty of teams this year that had major D-1 talent.
That wasn't an incredibly talented North Carolina team. Neither team is loaded with future NBA studs.
It was a close game the entire way. Neither team shot the ball well and the game came to a grind in the 2nd half because of the refs.
Take a closer look at their schedule. As shitty as the UW schedule was, it was rated higher.
They play in a shitty conference. Water is wet. They also beat Florida, Arizona, Iowa State, and Tennessee. They always play good non conference games.
The only Zags on the court that looked like they were comfortable playing against major D1 talent were NWG and Collins ... everybody else more or less were outmatched in one form or another by a player that could match/exceed them in their athletic ability, height, or strength. Mathews did fine but he's just a role player. That's what he was at Cal and that's ultimately what he was at Gonzaga.
It's pretty clear at this point that Pete decided to look for opportunities outside of Boise once it became painfully obvious to him that there was only so far he could take the job at Boise. Few's pretty much just content at where he is and will never leave. It's one of the reasons why I thought it was possible that Marshall would move on from Wichita State as they face a similar issue to Gonzaga ... but them moving to the American conference will move them closer to where they need to be (Big East would have been ideal).
That's a nice post game narrative. The reality was Gonzaga lost to a slightly better team. Gonzaga beat plenty of teams this year that had major D-1 talent.
That wasn't an incredibly talented North Carolina team. Neither team is loaded with future NBA studs.
It was a close game the entire way. Neither team shot the ball well and the game came to a grind in the 2nd half because of the refs.
How many times have you changed your position today?
Here's the possessions/shot attempts from Gonzaga starting with 5 minutes left in the 2nd half:
4:47 - Missed 3 by Mathews (this was the airball that the refs erred in calling a block) 4:39 - Made 3 by NWG 3:58 - Missed 3 by NWG 3:08 - Free throws by NWG (1 of 2) 2:25 - Made jumper by NWG 1:55 - Made jumper by NWG 1:19 - Missed jumper by NWG 0:17 - Missed jumper by NWG 0:09 - Turnover by Karnowski 0:03 - Missed 3 by Mathews
That's 7 straight possessions where the only person digging for their shot was NWG ... everybody else basically crawled into a corner and sucked their thumbs.
Now, I will give you that Gonzaga lost to a better team (although how many people here were calling it for Gonzaga between Saturday night and today?) ... but this is the problem that Gonzaga has with their overall talent level ... it's similar to what Pete experienced at Boise.
If you look at the interior for Gonzaga tonight, their bigs by and large were a non-factor outside of Collins (their only big that is a legit talent. He had 9 points and 7 boards in 14 minutes ... but got into foul trouble and showed that he was a freshman. Williams had good quickness and the ability to cause problems offensively but he couldn't match up with the height/strength combo from Carolina and got himself into foul trouble. Karnowski was visibly bothered by the quickness/length combination of Carolina's defense ... shooting 1-8 from the field with 4 turnovers.
There were people saying that NWG would run all over Carolina because of Berry's injury ... he got a steady dose of Pinson and Jackson ... that led to 5-17 shooting for the game. I also said that Mathews wasn't going to be a massive problem because he was a spot up shooter and Carolina would be able to slow him down ... he was 2 of 7 and basically turned into a spot up shooter (2 of 5 from 3). Melson is ok as a player but he's not a player that's going to demand the ball in that kind of game ... 1 of 3 is about right for him. And has been stated throughout Gonzaga discussions in the past few weeks, Perkins is a disaster when he has to do too much ... he was actually better tonight than most would have expected 13 points on 3 of 8 shooting.
But the point being that there's nobody on Gonzaga outside of NWG that could create a shot when they needed one. They could get locked up by a team that could match their size ... which most can't. Against Carolina, they weren't going to dominate the interior to the point where Carolina would have to dig down and double. It's a completely similar situation to what Gonzaga went through 2 years ago when they lost to Duke in the Regional Finals. Their bigs were basically rendered useless by Duke's bigs and the overall athletic ability gap showed big time.
Let's be completely realistic here ... the reason that there's a lot of "hate" thrown Gonzaga's way is because while they are absolutely well coached and tend to maximize their abilities they don't have a roster or plan that allows them to readily compete against the elite teams in the country. Gonzaga's path to the title game tonight was a dream draw ... they had little overall strength in their way ... West Virginia was a tough match for them but they got lucky with West Virginia literally pissing the game away in a number of different manners ... when Xavier pulled the stunner on Arizona it eased their way to the Final Four. Then with the Villanova and Duke upsets it took 2 teams that could high end talent Gonzaga off the court out of their path.
For Gonzaga to get back to future Final Fours, they will likely again need a very fortunate draw. How often are they going to get a big talent like Collins in their program? If he leaves early then that's the kind of talent they can't replace. NWG is a kind of player that they can't get on their own and only in a FS situation like playing under Romar would that kind of caliber of player even be available to Gonzaga.
Pete learned all of this at Boise and that got him to UW. When Pete saw the difference between UW and Alabama in Atlanta, he's upped the ante in recruiting from that point forward. Gonzaga doesn't have that luxury ... just like Boise State doesn't. Few could have option if he left Gonzaga ... but he won't.
Gonzaga's offense stalled. So did North Carolina. A lot of players on both teams had shitty games.
I agree Gonzaga had an easy path. You are really over analyzing a close game that was really ugly in the 2nd half.
The only Zags on the court that looked like they were comfortable playing against major D1 talent were NWG and Collins ... everybody else more or less were outmatched in one form or another by a player that could match/exceed them in their athletic ability, height, or strength. Mathews did fine but he's just a role player. That's what he was at Cal and that's ultimately what he was at Gonzaga.
It's pretty clear at this point that Pete decided to look for opportunities outside of Boise once it became painfully obvious to him that there was only so far he could take the job at Boise. Few's pretty much just content at where he is and will never leave. It's one of the reasons why I thought it was possible that Marshall would move on from Wichita State as they face a similar issue to Gonzaga ... but them moving to the American conference will move them closer to where they need to be (Big East would have been ideal).
That's a nice post game narrative. The reality was Gonzaga lost to a slightly better team. Gonzaga beat plenty of teams this year that had major D-1 talent.
That wasn't an incredibly talented North Carolina team. Neither team is loaded with future NBA studs.
It was a close game the entire way. Neither team shot the ball well and the game came to a grind in the 2nd half because of the refs.
Take a closer look at their schedule. As shitty as the UW schedule was, it was rated higher.
They play in a shitty conference. Water is wet. They also beat Florida, Arizona, Iowa State, and Tennessee. They always play good non conference games.
And they also play really really shitty ones people seem to forget about. Like they played UW and Bryant this year.
The only Zags on the court that looked like they were comfortable playing against major D1 talent were NWG and Collins ... everybody else more or less were outmatched in one form or another by a player that could match/exceed them in their athletic ability, height, or strength. Mathews did fine but he's just a role player. That's what he was at Cal and that's ultimately what he was at Gonzaga.
It's pretty clear at this point that Pete decided to look for opportunities outside of Boise once it became painfully obvious to him that there was only so far he could take the job at Boise. Few's pretty much just content at where he is and will never leave. It's one of the reasons why I thought it was possible that Marshall would move on from Wichita State as they face a similar issue to Gonzaga ... but them moving to the American conference will move them closer to where they need to be (Big East would have been ideal).
That's a nice post game narrative. The reality was Gonzaga lost to a slightly better team. Gonzaga beat plenty of teams this year that had major D-1 talent.
That wasn't an incredibly talented North Carolina team. Neither team is loaded with future NBA studs.
It was a close game the entire way. Neither team shot the ball well and the game came to a grind in the 2nd half because of the refs.
How many times have you changed your position today?
Here's the possessions/shot attempts from Gonzaga starting with 5 minutes left in the 2nd half:
4:47 - Missed 3 by Mathews (this was the airball that the refs erred in calling a block) 4:39 - Made 3 by NWG 3:58 - Missed 3 by NWG 3:08 - Free throws by NWG (1 of 2) 2:25 - Made jumper by NWG 1:55 - Made jumper by NWG 1:19 - Missed jumper by NWG 0:17 - Missed jumper by NWG 0:09 - Turnover by Karnowski 0:03 - Missed 3 by Mathews
That's 7 straight possessions where the only person digging for their shot was NWG ... everybody else basically crawled into a corner and sucked their thumbs.
Now, I will give you that Gonzaga lost to a better team (although how many people here were calling it for Gonzaga between Saturday night and today?) ... but this is the problem that Gonzaga has with their overall talent level ... it's similar to what Pete experienced at Boise.
If you look at the interior for Gonzaga tonight, their bigs by and large were a non-factor outside of Collins (their only big that is a legit talent. He had 9 points and 7 boards in 14 minutes ... but got into foul trouble and showed that he was a freshman. Williams had good quickness and the ability to cause problems offensively but he couldn't match up with the height/strength combo from Carolina and got himself into foul trouble. Karnowski was visibly bothered by the quickness/length combination of Carolina's defense ... shooting 1-8 from the field with 4 turnovers.
There were people saying that NWG would run all over Carolina because of Berry's injury ... he got a steady dose of Pinson and Jackson ... that led to 5-17 shooting for the game. I also said that Mathews wasn't going to be a massive problem because he was a spot up shooter and Carolina would be able to slow him down ... he was 2 of 7 and basically turned into a spot up shooter (2 of 5 from 3). Melson is ok as a player but he's not a player that's going to demand the ball in that kind of game ... 1 of 3 is about right for him. And has been stated throughout Gonzaga discussions in the past few weeks, Perkins is a disaster when he has to do too much ... he was actually better tonight than most would have expected 13 points on 3 of 8 shooting.
But the point being that there's nobody on Gonzaga outside of NWG that could create a shot when they needed one. They could get locked up by a team that could match their size ... which most can't. Against Carolina, they weren't going to dominate the interior to the point where Carolina would have to dig down and double. It's a completely similar situation to what Gonzaga went through 2 years ago when they lost to Duke in the Regional Finals. Their bigs were basically rendered useless by Duke's bigs and the overall athletic ability gap showed big time.
Let's be completely realistic here ... the reason that there's a lot of "hate" thrown Gonzaga's way is because while they are absolutely well coached and tend to maximize their abilities they don't have a roster or plan that allows them to readily compete against the elite teams in the country. Gonzaga's path to the title game tonight was a dream draw ... they had little overall strength in their way ... West Virginia was a tough match for them but they got lucky with West Virginia literally pissing the game away in a number of different manners ... when Xavier pulled the stunner on Arizona it eased their way to the Final Four. Then with the Villanova and Duke upsets it took 2 teams that could high end talent Gonzaga off the court out of their path.
For Gonzaga to get back to future Final Fours, they will likely again need a very fortunate draw. How often are they going to get a big talent like Collins in their program? If he leaves early then that's the kind of talent they can't replace. NWG is a kind of player that they can't get on their own and only in a FS situation like playing under Romar would that kind of caliber of player even be available to Gonzaga.
Pete learned all of this at Boise and that got him to UW. When Pete saw the difference between UW and Alabama in Atlanta, he's upped the ante in recruiting from that point forward. Gonzaga doesn't have that luxury ... just like Boise State doesn't. Few could have option if he left Gonzaga ... but he won't.
The only Zags on the court that looked like they were comfortable playing against major D1 talent were NWG and Collins ... everybody else more or less were outmatched in one form or another by a player that could match/exceed them in their athletic ability, height, or strength. Mathews did fine but he's just a role player. That's what he was at Cal and that's ultimately what he was at Gonzaga.
It's pretty clear at this point that Pete decided to look for opportunities outside of Boise once it became painfully obvious to him that there was only so far he could take the job at Boise. Few's pretty much just content at where he is and will never leave. It's one of the reasons why I thought it was possible that Marshall would move on from Wichita State as they face a similar issue to Gonzaga ... but them moving to the American conference will move them closer to where they need to be (Big East would have been ideal).
That's a nice post game narrative. The reality was Gonzaga lost to a slightly better team. Gonzaga beat plenty of teams this year that had major D-1 talent.
That wasn't an incredibly talented North Carolina team. Neither team is loaded with future NBA studs.
It was a close game the entire way. Neither team shot the ball well and the game came to a grind in the 2nd half because of the refs.
Take a closer look at their schedule. As shitty as the UW schedule was, it was rated higher.
They play in a shitty conference. Water is wet. They also beat Florida, Arizona, Iowa State, and Tennessee. They always play good non conference games.
First, these are all early in the season games before teams have really figured themselves out.
Iowa St didn't have bigs ... Arizona missing 2 of their perimeter players ...
Gonzaga needs a great draw and a little luck to get really deep ... they got that this year
The only Zags on the court that looked like they were comfortable playing against major D1 talent were NWG and Collins ... everybody else more or less were outmatched in one form or another by a player that could match/exceed them in their athletic ability, height, or strength. Mathews did fine but he's just a role player. That's what he was at Cal and that's ultimately what he was at Gonzaga.
It's pretty clear at this point that Pete decided to look for opportunities outside of Boise once it became painfully obvious to him that there was only so far he could take the job at Boise. Few's pretty much just content at where he is and will never leave. It's one of the reasons why I thought it was possible that Marshall would move on from Wichita State as they face a similar issue to Gonzaga ... but them moving to the American conference will move them closer to where they need to be (Big East would have been ideal).
That's a nice post game narrative. The reality was Gonzaga lost to a slightly better team. Gonzaga beat plenty of teams this year that had major D-1 talent.
That wasn't an incredibly talented North Carolina team. Neither team is loaded with future NBA studs.
It was a close game the entire way. Neither team shot the ball well and the game came to a grind in the 2nd half because of the refs.
Take a closer look at their schedule. As shitty as the UW schedule was, it was rated higher.
They play in a shitty conference. Water is wet. They also beat Florida, Arizona, Iowa State, and Tennessee. They always play good non conference games.
And they also play really really shitty ones people seem to forget about. Like they played UW and Bryant this year.
You mean they smashed a team with the number 1 pick in the draft?
They both played like shit and neither team could shoot ... AT ALL. It was disgusting.
If a less intense version of the Oregon team that showed up to punch Kansas in the mouth had been playing last night against either team, they walk, I say, WALK, away with the title w/o breaking a sweat.
I'm not sure about Bell, who was just a monster all tournament, but there aren't any future NBA all stars on that Oregon team as far as I can tell (which isn't very far - it's basketball so I barely give a shit - not real life). They just played an unforced SHIT game against NC in the semis and lost by a point. Dorsey is completely right about that. If Pritchard hits just one of the four or five really nice looks they got him at a three down the stretch, they play Gonzaga and take it.
Last night, Gonzaga benefited from an even worse shooting NC team - even Jackson couldn't hit shit, and he was on fire against Oregon.
I guess I come down on this with Tequilla - Oregon had to play real teams over and over - throughout the season, and in the tournament. If it doesn't beat you up too much, it's better preparation for a championship game, because those are always hard fought.
Gonzaga would do well to tuffen up their schedule. NC was begging them to win that game and they couldn't do it. Crappiest NC team to win a title that I've ever watched. I think if Berry doesn't have bad ankles, the Zags lose by 12+.
And, nobody has focused on this, but Gonzaga's big Polack is a punk and shat the bed Yuge. When you can lick the rim standing on your toes, I have no sympathy or understanding for you when you can't convert in the low poast. Totally unacceptable, and that guy should be on suicide watch this morning. Bell would have packing his shit all night long.
The only Zags on the court that looked like they were comfortable playing against major D1 talent were NWG and Collins ... everybody else more or less were outmatched in one form or another by a player that could match/exceed them in their athletic ability, height, or strength. Mathews did fine but he's just a role player. That's what he was at Cal and that's ultimately what he was at Gonzaga.
It's pretty clear at this point that Pete decided to look for opportunities outside of Boise once it became painfully obvious to him that there was only so far he could take the job at Boise. Few's pretty much just content at where he is and will never leave. It's one of the reasons why I thought it was possible that Marshall would move on from Wichita State as they face a similar issue to Gonzaga ... but them moving to the American conference will move them closer to where they need to be (Big East would have been ideal).
That's a nice post game narrative. The reality was Gonzaga lost to a slightly better team. Gonzaga beat plenty of teams this year that had major D-1 talent.
That wasn't an incredibly talented North Carolina team. Neither team is loaded with future NBA studs.
It was a close game the entire way. Neither team shot the ball well and the game came to a grind in the 2nd half because of the refs.
Take a closer look at their schedule. As shitty as the UW schedule was, it was rated higher.
They play in a shitty conference. Water is wet. They also beat Florida, Arizona, Iowa State, and Tennessee. They always play good non conference games.
First, these are all early in the season games before teams have really figured themselves out.
Iowa St didn't have bigs ... Arizona missing 2 of their perimeter players ...
Gonzaga needs a great draw and a little luck to get really deep ... they got that this year
Doogs gonna doog. Everyone realizes they had an easy path. They made the championship game. They lost.
You can drone on and on about matchups, Gonzaga's schedule, etc. If they hit a couple shots or free throws you have a completely different tune. They were down 1 point in the final minute.
Sometimes the game comes down to making or missing. Both teams missed a lot in a defensive game. Roy Williams commented that both teams didn't play well. You're an annoying fuck.
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What Few has done over there is incredible, but he faces the same dilemna as Pete did at Boise State and that is can you recruit the 1 or 2 difference makers that have the god given ability to make a play on the offensive and defensive end you need to win a game versus one of College BB's Blue Bloods?
Big picture you shoot 25% in the 2nd half like Gonzaga did, you are lucky to be within 15. Small picture you could argue the tar heels made 4-6 more plays because their Jimmies are just enough better that the Zags Joes and that was the difference.
It's pretty clear at this point that Pete decided to look for opportunities outside of Boise once it became painfully obvious to him that there was only so far he could take the job at Boise. Few's pretty much just content at where he is and will never leave. It's one of the reasons why I thought it was possible that Marshall would move on from Wichita State as they face a similar issue to Gonzaga ... but them moving to the American conference will move them closer to where they need to be (Big East would have been ideal).
That wasn't an incredibly talented North Carolina team. Neither team is loaded with future NBA studs.
It was a close game the entire way. Neither team shot the ball well and the game came to a grind in the 2nd half because of the refs.
Here's the possessions/shot attempts from Gonzaga starting with 5 minutes left in the 2nd half:
4:47 - Missed 3 by Mathews (this was the airball that the refs erred in calling a block)
4:39 - Made 3 by NWG
3:58 - Missed 3 by NWG
3:08 - Free throws by NWG (1 of 2)
2:25 - Made jumper by NWG
1:55 - Made jumper by NWG
1:19 - Missed jumper by NWG
0:17 - Missed jumper by NWG
0:09 - Turnover by Karnowski
0:03 - Missed 3 by Mathews
That's 7 straight possessions where the only person digging for their shot was NWG ... everybody else basically crawled into a corner and sucked their thumbs.
Now, I will give you that Gonzaga lost to a better team (although how many people here were calling it for Gonzaga between Saturday night and today?) ... but this is the problem that Gonzaga has with their overall talent level ... it's similar to what Pete experienced at Boise.
If you look at the interior for Gonzaga tonight, their bigs by and large were a non-factor outside of Collins (their only big that is a legit talent. He had 9 points and 7 boards in 14 minutes ... but got into foul trouble and showed that he was a freshman. Williams had good quickness and the ability to cause problems offensively but he couldn't match up with the height/strength combo from Carolina and got himself into foul trouble. Karnowski was visibly bothered by the quickness/length combination of Carolina's defense ... shooting 1-8 from the field with 4 turnovers.
There were people saying that NWG would run all over Carolina because of Berry's injury ... he got a steady dose of Pinson and Jackson ... that led to 5-17 shooting for the game. I also said that Mathews wasn't going to be a massive problem because he was a spot up shooter and Carolina would be able to slow him down ... he was 2 of 7 and basically turned into a spot up shooter (2 of 5 from 3). Melson is ok as a player but he's not a player that's going to demand the ball in that kind of game ... 1 of 3 is about right for him. And has been stated throughout Gonzaga discussions in the past few weeks, Perkins is a disaster when he has to do too much ... he was actually better tonight than most would have expected 13 points on 3 of 8 shooting.
But the point being that there's nobody on Gonzaga outside of NWG that could create a shot when they needed one. They could get locked up by a team that could match their size ... which most can't. Against Carolina, they weren't going to dominate the interior to the point where Carolina would have to dig down and double. It's a completely similar situation to what Gonzaga went through 2 years ago when they lost to Duke in the Regional Finals. Their bigs were basically rendered useless by Duke's bigs and the overall athletic ability gap showed big time.
Let's be completely realistic here ... the reason that there's a lot of "hate" thrown Gonzaga's way is because while they are absolutely well coached and tend to maximize their abilities they don't have a roster or plan that allows them to readily compete against the elite teams in the country. Gonzaga's path to the title game tonight was a dream draw ... they had little overall strength in their way ... West Virginia was a tough match for them but they got lucky with West Virginia literally pissing the game away in a number of different manners ... when Xavier pulled the stunner on Arizona it eased their way to the Final Four. Then with the Villanova and Duke upsets it took 2 teams that could high end talent Gonzaga off the court out of their path.
For Gonzaga to get back to future Final Fours, they will likely again need a very fortunate draw. How often are they going to get a big talent like Collins in their program? If he leaves early then that's the kind of talent they can't replace. NWG is a kind of player that they can't get on their own and only in a FS situation like playing under Romar would that kind of caliber of player even be available to Gonzaga.
Pete learned all of this at Boise and that got him to UW. When Pete saw the difference between UW and Alabama in Atlanta, he's upped the ante in recruiting from that point forward. Gonzaga doesn't have that luxury ... just like Boise State doesn't. Few could have option if he left Gonzaga ... but he won't.
I agree Gonzaga had an easy path. You are really over analyzing a close game that was really ugly in the 2nd half.
Any over analyzing is a complete by product of people being FS and thinking that Gonzaga matched up well ... they didn't and don't
Iowa St didn't have bigs ... Arizona missing 2 of their perimeter players ...
Gonzaga needs a great draw and a little luck to get really deep ... they got that this year
If a less intense version of the Oregon team that showed up to punch Kansas in the mouth had been playing last night against either team, they walk, I say, WALK, away with the title w/o breaking a sweat.
I'm not sure about Bell, who was just a monster all tournament, but there aren't any future NBA all stars on that Oregon team as far as I can tell (which isn't very far - it's basketball so I barely give a shit - not real life). They just played an unforced SHIT game against NC in the semis and lost by a point. Dorsey is completely right about that. If Pritchard hits just one of the four or five really nice looks they got him at a three down the stretch, they play Gonzaga and take it.
Last night, Gonzaga benefited from an even worse shooting NC team - even Jackson couldn't hit shit, and he was on fire against Oregon.
I guess I come down on this with Tequilla - Oregon had to play real teams over and over - throughout the season, and in the tournament. If it doesn't beat you up too much, it's better preparation for a championship game, because those are always hard fought.
Gonzaga would do well to tuffen up their schedule. NC was begging them to win that game and they couldn't do it. Crappiest NC team to win a title that I've ever watched. I think if Berry doesn't have bad ankles, the Zags lose by 12+.
And, nobody has focused on this, but Gonzaga's big Polack is a punk and shat the bed Yuge. When you can lick the rim standing on your toes, I have no sympathy or understanding for you when you can't convert in the low poast. Totally unacceptable, and that guy should be on suicide watch this morning. Bell would have packing his shit all night long.
You can drone on and on about matchups, Gonzaga's schedule, etc. If they hit a couple shots or free throws you have a completely different tune. They were down 1 point in the final minute.
Sometimes the game comes down to making or missing. Both teams missed a lot in a defensive game. Roy Williams commented that both teams didn't play well. You're an annoying fuck.