Gonzaga

[Zaratoughda]

IMO the bottom line on the game, is I thought this team would be better this year than it was last year, what with all the new additions and the returning players having another year of experience, but it may end up being a MUCH better team.

• Sterling Smith gives you a solid, reliable starter at SG and a good defensive player that, unlike Cam Wright, will hit a 3 ball when he gets an open shot.
• Slim (Cam Johnson) and Chris Jones gives you a dynamic duo off the bench at SF and SG. Last year Jones had to handle this all by himself. This is an example of the difference between this year's team and last year's.
• Mike Young looks fine at PF. Was scoring over all of their 3 bigs, and in fact all at the same time. If he were just finishing a few more of them, would be in Wiltjer class offensively. Doesn't seem to make a difference if he plays PF or C.
• James Robinson looks poised to have a great senior year.

But, there are still areas where improvement is desired:

• A better defensive team now but needs to get better still. Were a bit ragged out there at times but not surprising for this time of year. But still, needs to get better defensively.
• We need solid relief for Robinson at PG. Milligan or Wilson, doesn't matter which one. Don't want Robinson running out of gas like last year. Milligan was not bad out there but we need better. Someone that at times makes plays.
• The whole thing about Artis at SF, and where Jeter fits into the rotation (as well as his D) is still to be determined. Young may end up playing some minutes at C to get Jeter more time at PF. IMO this one is not gonna settle into place until around the start of the ACC season.
• ANO looked solid at C but not so much for Luther, who has some talent and was playing hard but, was getting beat defensively in almost every way possible. We need another solid player at C. Either Luther getting better of Maia getting up to speed (I would guess the latter is more likely).

Last year Dixon was playing with less than a full deck of cards, and this year he has more than a full deck. How he puts them all together is thus the key. For this time of year, looked real good out there against the Zags. Now we get to see where the team goes from here. Should be interesting.

 

[DC_Area_Panther]

Reply to one of Z's comments plus some other thoughts and observations--

"A better defensive team now but needs to get better still. Were a bit ragged out there at times but not surprising for this time of year. But still, needs to get better defensively."

i basically agree. There is room for, and there will be IMO, defensive improvement. Nevertheless, slippery conditions gives a little more advantage to the offensive player since he initiates a move while the defense has to react. The former is easier than the latter on a slippery surface--think a WR in FB on a snowy field making a cut and the DB trying to react. The latter is more likely to be later than on a dry field and more likely than the WR to slip and a lose a step or two, or even slip and fall down. So, I think our D might have been at least somewhat better on a dry court. They do need to learn to cover bigs better on the old fashioned pick and roll play.

Luther will get better and Maia will be better when fully healthy. Both will also do better when not needing to defend 6-11 and 7-1 guys--which will be most games going forward. Also, needing to defend only one 7-footer (e.g., Purdue) will be a lot easier as a team than defending two or three at the same time.

Artis less than expected PT was mainly due to having 2 fouls early in half. He would have gotten more PT in second. This is just a typical game specific thing and not by design.

Zags, like us, will be better later in season once their new guards and wings (when they don't use all 3 bigs at the same time) gain game experience.

Zags play very tough OOC schedule since their in conference schedule is far weaker than our ACC schedule and they need the OOC games to strengthen their resume. We are in the opposite position and we don't want our OOC to be anything close to that tough since it could generate too many overall season losses and that loss total would likely negatively impact getting an NCAA bid.

Wonder if there is an outside chance we could find another team--even a "rent-a-win" team--to add a game to the OOC schedule to make up for losing the Zags game? Probably not likely at this late date--but maybe Barnes/Dixon might try?

 

[Sean Miller Fan]

Wonder if there is an outside chance we could find another team--even a "rent-a-win" team--to add a game to the OOC schedule to make up for losing the Zags game? Probably not likely at this late date--but maybe Barnes/Dixon might try?

It would have to be a team that would help the RPI. Few said, somewhat jokingly that they wouldn't mind playing Pitt in Chicago or KC. Honestly, I think Gonzaga would make room for us somehow. Jamie said we dont have an open date, which we really don't but if it meant playing 3 games in one week, I think we should do it.

 

[Chescat]

Good comments Zara. Unfortunately with Artis out with fouls we didn't see how the PF, SF discussion
work out in this game Young looked very good at PF and Jamie went with Ano, Luther and Mia at center.
Ano played early and looked the best, Luther is undersized at Center but could contribute a few minutes
per game as a sub; Maia is way outta shape and looked bad....I expect that to change. Either way, Jamie
went with these three guys at C. Mighta been different if Artis were available.
What surprised me was how bad Jeter looked. His pattern last year was either great, or a disappearing act.
Last night was the latter.

Now I realize this was only a half and the above comments may have played out differently over an
entire game. One thing that is clear though, Pitt has depth and the minutes battle may play out at SG.
OK...back to football game.

 

[Chescat]

Good comments Zara. Unfortunately with Artis out with fouls we didn't see how the PF, SF discussion
work out in this game Young looked very good at PF and Jamie went with Ano, Luther and Mia at center.
Ano played early and looked the best, Luther is undersized at Center but could contribute a few minutes
per game as a sub; Maia is way outta shape and looked bad....I expect that to change. Either way, Jamie
went with these three guys at C. Mighta been different if Artis were available.
What surprised me was how bad Jeter looked. His pattern last year was either great, or a disappearing act.
Last night was the latter.

Now I realize this was only a half and the above comments may have played out differently over an
entire game. One thing that is clear though, Pitt has depth and the minutes battle may play out at SG.
OK...back to football game.

 

[Zaratoughda]

Hmmm... as far as the minutes are concerned....

ANO just played 3 minutes, and Maia just 4. Luther was out there 12 minutes which means Mike Young played 1 minute at C and 17 minutes at PF.

Jeter played just 4 minutes (and was not in foul trouble), meaning 3 at PF and 1 at SF.

Artis also played just 4 minutes (WAS in foul trouble). The other 15 minutes at SF, were played by Slim. Yeah, getting Slim PT in this kind of game is tremendous because he needs the experience.

Smith played 8 minutes at SG and Jones, 12. IMO, Smith is better as the starter and Jones is better coming off the bench. More minutes go to whomever is hot.

Robinson played 16 minutes at PG and Milligan the other 4.

OK, this game against Gonzaga was weird due to their pronounced bigs. But...

1. We need better play from Luther OR Maia has to get up to speed. Otherwise, you will need to play MY more at C because we don't have anyone else that can cut it besides ANO.

2. If neither of those two get it going, we STILL need to play MY more at C... so we can get Jeter minutes. Of course this assumes Jeter plays at least reasonable D.

3. We need to play Robinson a bit less, and that means we need Milligan or Wilson (once he is available) to play a bit better. Hopefully this will happen over the next 4 games or so.

Right now these players are NOT completely together as a team. But, that is what the cupcake games are for.

 

[Fredact]

It would have to be a team that would help the RPI. Few said, somewhat jokingly that they wouldn't mind playing Pitt in Chicago or KC. Honestly, I think Gonzaga would make room for us somehow. Jamie said we dont have an open date, which we really don't but if it meant playing 3 games in one week, I think we should do it.

Not surprising that Few would say that. As much as Pitt fans are whining about losing a good RPI game, it's far more important to Gonzaga. As it has been every year, Pitt's SOS will be better than Gonzaga's at year end.