Scouting Gonzaga at the Marriott

Basketball
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Let’s start with where GU is at:
They have struggled on the road. Yes, they beat San Fran and Santa Clara on the road but GU was behind most of the game. I get that elite talent can turn it on and put games away. But what if the opposing team gets hot and sinks 3s, Gonzaga is playing with fire. Coach Few knows it. SMC can beat them at home, maybe others.

Timme is the MVP of college basketball. he has more moves than Mic Jagger.
BYU basketball: How can BYU compete with No. 8 Gonzaga’s Drew Timme? - Deseret News

GU also has 3 guys that shoot 42% or better from 3land. Say a team commits 2 defenders to slow down Timme, he kicks out and those guys kill you. And they have a super athlete, Watson-6’8. Who’s going to guard that dude.

Really the only saving grace when playing Gonzaga, is that they don’t have an NBA point guard this year.

Where BYU is at:
BYU is defending at a top 30 rate over the past 10 games, we have not seen that in 30 years. We defend the 3 even better. But:

The problem with BYU is…We have no NBA talent, no athletes that can take over a game so BYU has to rely on picks to get an open look or drive inside and get the ball to a very efficient Foos.

Pope does an amazing job at generating points from role players but our biggest challenge by a million miles is scoring enough to win ball games. Secondly, I watched LMU just bully our smaller guards into 3 point plays. BYU just was too small. We are starting a 6’6 Foos at center and if he gets into foul trouble, a very foul prone Atiki is the back up.

How Gonzaga will attack BYU. Timme, Timme, Timme, get Foos into foul trouble and foul out Atiki in about 5 possessions. BYU will of course, double Timme, at which he will kick the ball out to a 42% or better guard, who strokes in a 3.

How BYU will defend GU. Double Timme and hope their guys miss open 3s. On offense, if BYU gets hot from 3, we have a very good chance. If not, no chance.

77-73 BYU.

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Who are those officials for tonight’s game? Come on what a three ridiculous calls against BYU and a flop?

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George will kill you every time

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Unfortunately that was probably the best shooting night they’ll have for the rest of the year.
Passing is maybe the worst I have seen. ya gotta focus. Gave away the game. Oh well.

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It was all Mark pope fault for not telling his players making sure Gonzaga does not shoot for three and should have fouled someone before they shoot three pointers.

Remember Della from SMC at the buzzer in the Marriott Center several years ago.

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remember it will, I was in Vegas and had 20 bucks on the jimmer game. I still can’t stand Dellavadova.

It is Pope’s fault, but my take is, when you have a big lead, why not play value possessions. You take out the guys that can’t handle the ball or make a pass…BYU still can’t handle the press and keep a lead.

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With that said, 5-10 ft won’t do it. 7-10 wins. GA had 17 offensive rebounds. Didn’t you mention that is the key?
Ya, Jim was texting me during the 4th quarter about the fouls. But, that’s something we never get to have go our way. So, we have to do other things better. That was a winnable game. Sad. Shot well except from the free throw line. Uggg…

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Ya gotta let Rudi W play more minutes in a big game like this. 8 assists to 1 TO. George shots too many shots for his %. Hall needs to make more shot attempts.

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Hall should have been in the last play as well. He’s a game winner shooter. Rudi should have gotten to the middle so there wouldn’t be so many defenders bunched up. But, Robinson should have defended the 3 and not gone under when up by only two points. And, 5-10 free throw shooting. Yet, we played so well against a more athletic team.

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I kept saying where is Darllen Hall when he should play a lot more minutes.

Did anybody play Defense when Gonzaga made that three-pointer shot? Who fault what is that, one of our player or Mark Pope?

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I chalk up the 3 at the end of the game as a high risk shot that if he hadn’t made it, game is about over and BYU wins. If I am a coach and we are only down 2, I go for the layup/foul 100% of the time unless all my rebounders are near the basket, and I can kick out for a wide open 3.

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I’m sure he said no 3s. But Robinson went under the screen and let him have an open look. Frustrating!

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Sad ending to a really good effort by BYU. Pope out coached by Few-No surprise there-happens to a lot of coaches. Key play-up 4, BYU throws the ball away on an inbound play. Bring back memories from a year ago? Too much experience for Gonzaga-too much youth for BYU. Officiating doesn’t matter, even though it was biased. BYU executes an inbound play and they win. The game was decided by BYU’s mistakes in the last 50 seconds. Last BYU possession?-I give the ball to Williams or Hall and let them drive and shoot or pass out-had time

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The refs cannot be controlled by a team like BYU. It’s part of the equation that BYU has to start with down by 10 points. It’s wrong but that’s what it is. Will it change in the Big12? Time will tell.

Ya, as soon as Rudy got the ball, he should have moved to the center before he got doubled and had nowhere to go. Then he hands it to Johnson who now has the defense all over him. Our press offense whether it’s half court or full court is awful.

One other play was where we scored and no one got back on defense and GA got a layup. Then there was Robinson missing the second free throw. 5-10. And, we couldn’t buy a 3 down the stretch.

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Yes, this. What a punch to the gut. Cougs had the win in their hands and let it slip away. Elation to deflation in less than a minute.

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Despite the ending, WHAT A GAME TO WATCH! It had all the drama–good and bad–of great D1 basketball. I for one root every year for the Zags to win the NC–Coach Few deserves it and I’d love to see it happen for him.

I have said all year that BYU is an average team…fun to watch, scrappy, with juuuuuussstt enough talent to beat some good teams but enough flaws to lose to bad teams. I think the most important stat from last night is that, even hitting 13/25 on 3 pointers, we still were not good enough to beat the Zags. Poor FT shooting and poor ball control have plagued us all year, and caught up to us in the end.

Kudos to Coach Few. Our kids played their hearts out, but the Zags did what they had to do and the best team won. I hope that BYU can keep an annual game with the Zags, and I think we will.

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Missing the 2nd ft was a big miss. It changes the defense and the offense, because it forces Gonzaga to go for three and allows BYU to better defend the three. Looking back, though, Robinson was who I would want at the line, so anyway, that’s how it goes in sports. Great effort, but no win

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George said in an interview that it came down to more than just a couple of plays at the end. It was game rebounding and poor transition defense. He’s right.

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I’m not going to say there was bias against BYU in the Gonzaga game because BYU had a very good chance to win that one.

But…

Gonzaga had a total of 2 fouls called against them in the first 15 minutes of the second half and only 3 total with about a minute to go. That is just plain nonsense. BYU had 9 fouls called against them during that same time period in the second half. More nonsense.

Lastly, the missed goaltending call in the first half would have given BYU two more points and while I don’t subscribe to the idea that one missed basket changes the game, I do believe that one poor call, especially when it comes to taking points away from one team, can change things.

I will let everyone else believe what they want to believe. BYU played well enough to win the game, Gonzaga did not but still came out with the win at the end. That is how it goes for BYU in the crappy WCC. It has been a problem since they joined and it will be a problem the rest of the season until they leave.

Footnote - I think Pope recognized what a big mistake it was to put Waterman and Saunders in for that spell when BYU was up 10 and then immediately they were only up 5. Waterman took two ill advised 3 pointers and then gave up a dunk on defense and Saunders erratic, out of control style did nothing to help BYU on either end of the floor. That move swung momentum in favor of Gonzaga and when you have the officials assisting in the momentum swing, things like a 3 pointer with `0 seconds left happen.

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It’s a difficult call. On one hand, you want the best players on the court and keep the lead or increase it. And, you want them fresh enough at the end as well. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.

The transfer portal hurts with team chemistry. With some teams that isn’t important like with Gonzaga. For BYU it is important. It helps when there is full court pressure or even half court pressure. Like when Sandeurs takes off as Williams passes to him.

Such a winnable game. I hope the team can overcome this and beat Pepperdine. The first few minutes may be hard to watch. See what these kids are made of.