Gonzaga

[Zaratoughda]

Well, our game in Okinawa against Gonzaga is less than a week away now.

AND, there is the matter of Gonzaga having the best trio of inside players in the country, and then there is the matter of Mark Few planning on playing them all at the same time... which means the 6'10" Kyle Wiltjer is gonna be playing SF for them.

Uh... if I were Dixon... I would assign Maia to Kawnowski, ANO to Sabonis, and Mike Young to Wiltjer, and play them where the Zag bigs play. This would mean we would probably end up staring all three of Maia, ANO and Young, with Young starting the game at SF.

Of these three matchups, Sabonis is their best inside player but ANO should be able to do as good a job as possible against him. As far as Young is concerned, should be able to handle SF as good as Wiltjer so it is a matter of whether MY keeps up with him or not. However, Rafael would be giving up 4 inches and 40 pounds to Karnowski and that makes for a difficult matchup for sure and... I am not sure any scheme of doubling the post is gonna do any good given their other bigs. Yeah, they may move Wiltjer inside some but then again they have another big who is 7'1" and.... 290 (!) and he is probably gonna be spelling Karnowski.

I would not try to cover Wiltjer with either Artis or Jeter... and their suspect D. So, these two would only get into the game when Wiltjer sits or moves inside... which is gonna happen.

Uh... I still got no answer for Karnowski so you may indeed have to double the post... which means you might end up with Smith or Slim covering Wiltjer. Slim got the size he could probably do it.

Dixon... has not impressed me in the past as willing to change his rotation based on what an opponent has... so I am not expecting this but... IMO if we go in there with our normal rotation... the Zags are gonna kill us inside.

So, guess we are just gonna have to see.

 

[freddietee511]

I think we have more athleticism than their bigs. Skilled, but I think we have the quicks to stay in front. .our guards have to make a huge impact..

 

[steel_curtain]

Well, our game in Okinawa against Gonzaga is less than a week away now.

AND, there is the matter of Gonzaga having the best trio of inside players in the country, and then there is the matter of Mark Few planning on playing them all at the same time... which means the 6'10" Kyle Wiltjer is gonna be playing SF for them.

Uh... if I were Dixon... I would assign Maia to Kawnowski, ANO to Sabonis, and Mike Young to Wiltjer, and play them where the Zag bigs play. This would mean we would probably end up staring all three of Maia, ANO and Young, with Young starting the game at SF.

Of these three matchups, Sabonis is their best inside player but ANO should be able to do as good a job as possible against him. As far as Young is concerned, should be able to handle SF as good as Wiltjer so it is a matter of whether MY keeps up with him or not. However, Rafael would be giving up 4 inches and 40 pounds to Karnowski and that makes for a difficult matchup for sure and... I am not sure any scheme of doubling the post is gonna do any good given their other bigs. Yeah, they may move Wiltjer inside some but then again they have another big who is 7'1" and.... 290 (!) and he is probably gonna be spelling Karnowski.

I would not try to cover Wiltjer with either Artis or Jeter... and their suspect D. So, these two would only get into the game when Wiltjer sits or moves inside... which is gonna happen.

Uh... I still got no answer for Karnowski so you may indeed have to double the post... which means you might end up with Smith or Slim covering Wiltjer. Slim got the size he could probably do it.

Dixon... has not impressed me in the past as willing to change his rotation based on what an opponent has... so I am not expecting this but... IMO if we go in there with our normal rotation... the Zags are gonna kill us inside.

So, guess we are just gonna have to see.

Last secret scrimmage. Baylor manhandled Gonzaga's frontcourt. Karno played roughly 2 minutes. Wiltjer missed a lot of the scrimmage, some undisclosed injury. They scrimmage again tonight. If Karno plays against Pitt, he will be very limited.

 

[Bethlehemjohn]

You play to your strengths, not to theirs. Their bigs will have problems with Young and Artis.

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

Is this game on TV anywhere?

 

[Scruffy the Panther]

Is this game on TV anywhere?

Nope.

 

[TTOWN2]

Is this game on TV anywhere?

Yes....ESPN !!!! !!! hTP/Forever!!!

 

[Zaratoughda]

Last secret scrimmage. Baylor manhandled Gonzaga's frontcourt. Karno played roughly 2 minutes. Wiltjer missed a lot of the scrimmage, some undisclosed injury. They scrimmage again tonight. If Karno plays against Pitt, he will be very limited.

You were WRONG on Karnowski not being available until the end of November... but I think you have a point here. We will see how many minutes he plays in their exhibition tonight... assuming we can get the box which we should be able to. But, against us his minutes may be limited and/or he may not be as effective as he usually is.

If he is limited in minutes or effectiveness, Few may scrap the idea of Wiltjer at SF, at least for now.

Also, from Dixon's presser after the Gannon game, Maia is not fully up to speed as far as the plays we run and the like. Dixon said he missed a number of assignments in the Gannon game.. and he was not in there that long.

But still... Dixon should be prepared for these guys... and Maia against Karnowksi is probably our best bet against this giant, and ANO should be able to do about as good a job as anyone against Sabonis... and Young should do better than most against Wiltger. If this means playing Young at SF, if Wiltger is at SF, then that is what it means. The idea of Jeter or Artis, or Jones, trying to cover these guys is... scary. Luther should be good for covering anyone they send in to spell their starting trio.

 

[wbrpanther]

Well, our game in Okinawa against Gonzaga is less than a week away now.

AND, there is the matter of Gonzaga having the best trio of inside players in the country, and then there is the matter of Mark Few planning on playing them all at the same time... which means the 6'10" Kyle Wiltjer is gonna be playing SF for them.

Uh... if I were Dixon... I would assign Maia to Kawnowski, ANO to Sabonis, and Mike Young to Wiltjer, and play them where the Zag bigs play. This would mean we would probably end up staring all three of Maia, ANO and Young, with Young starting the game at SF.

Of these three matchups, Sabonis is their best inside player but ANO should be able to do as good a job as possible against him. As far as Young is concerned, should be able to handle SF as good as Wiltjer so it is a matter of whether MY keeps up with him or not. However, Rafael would be giving up 4 inches and 40 pounds to Karnowski and that makes for a difficult matchup for sure and... I am not sure any scheme of doubling the post is gonna do any good given their other bigs. Yeah, they may move Wiltjer inside some but then again they have another big who is 7'1" and.... 290 (!) and he is probably gonna be spelling Karnowski.

I would not try to cover Wiltjer with either Artis or Jeter... and their suspect D. So, these two would only get into the game when Wiltjer sits or moves inside... which is gonna happen.

Uh... I still got no answer for Karnowski so you may indeed have to double the post... which means you might end up with Smith or Slim covering Wiltjer. Slim got the size he could probably do it.

Dixon... has not impressed me in the past as willing to change his rotation based on what an opponent has... so I am not expecting this but... IMO if we go in there with our normal rotation... the Zags are gonna kill us inside.

So, guess we are just gonna have to see.

If they play the three bigs at the same time the answer should lie in preventing the guards from getting them the ball.

 

[KiwiJeff]

If they play the three bigs at the same time the answer should lie in preventing the guards from getting them the ball.

Correct. I think how we played Gannon could be a precursor to how we attack their guards. Putting three of our bigs on the floor at the same time, who can't cover them anyway, is probably not the right answer. Attack their weakness, their guards, and don't even let the big men get involved then. Best way to approach it I think.

 

[Pittx9]

I've always thought Gonzaga was one of the more overhyped teams year in and year out. They've really done nothing but run through a terrible conference schedule every year. I think this year though should be their best team by far. They have some kids that are really good, and it's not even a one or two man show. I would not be surprised at all to see this team even surpass the Gonzaga team Morrison's last year.

 

[Zaratoughda]

Welp... so much for Karnowski not playing or being slowed down... played 21 minutes in their exhibition and scored 13 with 11 rebounds, about his average. Wiltjer also... sheesh... put in 33 with 14 rebounds.... if he is slowed down I would hate to see what his 'not slowed down' stats would be.

Sabonis however... only played 6 minutes and did not score. Apparently had some problem but I could not find what it was.

And YES, Few started the three of them... and the idea of Artis or Jeter or Jones trying to cover Wiltjer... is scary.

Should assign MY to cover Wiltjer, even if that means MY is playing SF.

Here's the link to the box score for their exhibition:

http://www.gozags.com/sports/m-baskbl/stats/2015-2016/gonmbbex.html

 

[Zaratoughda]

Oh... here's one on Sabonis' condition. Apparently fell on the small of his back and will have to see a doctor. Availability for the game against us: unknown.

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2015/nov/07/gonzaga-wins-easily-but-sabonis-takes-nasty-spill/

Yeah... would rather take them on when they are at full strength. Character builder. Losing to them without Sabonis, would be that much worse.

 

[Zaratoughda]

Here's a great quote from Wiltjer... from the above referenced article:

“We wanted to keep it simple and use our base transition offense,” Wiltjer said. “We don’t want Pitt or whoever to be able to scout us too much. We wanted to play simple and work on our defense.”

 

[Zaratoughda]

Here's another interesting comment...

"The Mountaineers, led by point guard Trell Washington’s 22 points, often had four guards and a wing on the court. To illustrate the size difference, Karnowski at one point was defending a 6-3 guard. At the other end, the 6-4 Washington was guarding Wiltjer on the low block, without much success."

If you try to cover Wiltjer with Artis or Jones... he is gonna light you up. Jeter... maybe but Jeter's D has not been outstanding... yeah.... 'poor' would be a better description... and Wiltjer would probably beat him inside and light him up from 3 point land.

ANO would probably do a good job... but with Maia not up to speed... ANO has gotta cover Karnowski. Yeah, even if Sabonis is out, they still present a matchup nightmare.

 

[Pittx9]

I think you have to match up Mike Young with one of the big three because quite frankly, at least his speed and athleticism down low can cause somewhat of a mismatch for Gonzaga. It's already gonna be a mismatch for us in the height department considering they have for one an absolute monster child at 7'1". And btw the game is on national TV. It's a huge event for college basketball, I'm thrilled Pitt was even invited.

 

[Zaratoughda]

Hmmm.... I checked the Zags roster and they have 4 bigs over 6'9" but if Sabonis can't go, that just leaves then with three and Karnowski and Edwards (7'1" and 290) are both pure centers so... they would probably have to go with Wiltjer at PF because they don't have anyone else. He probably spells Sabonis at PF anyways and that is where he played last year. They don't seem to have another player at anywheres the size and ability as Wiltjer to spell him.

Few says depth is a problem for them but I would still rather play them at full strength. Yeah, I can see us losing to them anyways and that is not good.

 

[Pittx9]

Few says depth is a problem for them but I would still rather play them at full stren

What? Lol. Just by us rolling off the names of players, I think it's obvious they've never, ever had a team this deep. They are loaded.

 

[Zaratoughda]

What? Lol. Just by us rolling off the names of players, I think it's obvious they've never, ever had a team this deep. They are loaded.

From the article...

Gonzaga’s rotation is essentially nine deep, counting Sabonis, one of the team’s four bigs.

The Zags started their three standout bigs – Sabonis, Wiltjer and 7-foot-1 center Przemek Karnowski – but they barely had a chance to see them in action before Sabonis fell pursuing a rebound.

“We don’t have a lot of bodies,” Few said. “We took two transfers (Nigel Williams-Goss and Johnathan Williams) that are really good players. It’s just something we’re going to have to deal with. Depth is going to be an issue all year.”

 

[Pittx9]

From the article...

Gonzaga’s rotation is essentially nine deep, counting Sabonis, one of the team’s four bigs.

The Zags started their three standout bigs – Sabonis, Wiltjer and 7-foot-1 center Przemek Karnowski – but they barely had a chance to see them in action before Sabonis fell pursuing a rebound.

“We don’t have a lot of bodies,” Few said. “We took two transfers (Nigel Williams-Goss and Johnathan Williams) that are really good players. It’s just something we’re going to have to deal with. Depth is going to be an issue all year.”

Well, he's the coach. But I think it would be hard to find a coach out there that would turn down Gonzaga's roster if offered to him.

 

[Zaratoughda]

Jonathan Williams (6'9" and 228) is their only other big and he did not play in the exhibition game.

Edit: Few said the above player and another were transfers in... and the other did not play in the exhibition game either.. which probably means they are transfers in THIS YEAR... and are thus not eligible to play this year. In other words, even if Few starts Wiltjer at PF, he is gonna have to spell him with the two giants in there at the same time... OR... a player that is 6'6" or shorter.

Yeah... Few has a bit of a problem with depth.