Gonzaga

[TheCatInTheHat]

I assume most of us are anticipating Gonzaga's game tomorrow night. Drew Timme and the Zags are a class act. The scenario begs the question of how much Tommy Lloyd (who always seems to learn and do better in re-matches) will share in a scouting report with his mentor Mark Few. I assume there'll be at least a phone discussion, and that sort of professional courtesy always seems to be considered appropriate and non-controversial (at least when it happens against us.) Under the circumstances, there certainly shouldn't be any misplaced sense of conference loyalty. Meanwhile, as it's slow elsewhere in sports, the LA media predictably fawns while Cronin sandbags about Bona and Singleton, both of whom are guaranteed to play. Now I'll caveat this next by warning that our more sensitive and socially virtuous readers should refrain from reading the following, which actually uses the word suicide, which is a serious subject which should never be used humorously, ever, and I'm sure we've all had a friend or relative affected by it, and the 988 hotline is a valuable resource that we should all be familiar with as responsible citizens. But for some inexplicable reason, I still found it humorous:
Q: How would Cronin commit suicide?
A: He'd roll a condom over his head and suffocate.

[MrBug708]

Drew Timme as someone other than a villain was not the take I was expecting to read this morning.

I'm surprised to see any Arizona fans rooting for Gonzaga, considering they see Arizona and UCLA as threats to their self-claimed best program in the West with their 8 straight sweet 16 appearances.

Love the posts TCINT, keep up the energy. We need more random, off the wall posts. The milquetoast brand of trolling by RC gets a bit bland.

As for the meat of the discussion, I don't see why Few wouldn't reach out to Lloyd for a phone conversation. Not sure what he'd share that would be new, that Few wouldn't already know, when Gonzaga blew out UCLA last year by 20. It's going to be elite offense vs elite defense.

[pc in NM]

Drew Timme as someone other than a villain was not the take I was expecting to read this morning.

I'm surprised to see any Arizona fans rooting for Gonzaga, considering they see Arizona and UCLA as threats to their self-claimed best program in the West with their 8 straight sweet 16 appearances.

Love the posts TCINT, keep up the energy. We need more random, off the wall posts. The milquetoast brand of trolling by RC gets a bit bland.

As for the meat of the discussion, I don't see why Few wouldn't reach out to Lloyd for a phone conversation. Not sure what he'd share that would be new, that Few wouldn't already know, when Gonzaga blew out UCLA last year by 20. It's going to be elite offense vs elite defense.

UCLA once ruled the world of college basketball, and definitely, the Pac...

... them the U of A mocked their snobby, over-entitled fans, and replaced them in the Pac and the West.

... Then Gonzaga modeled itself after the U of A and replaced them as the best program in the West.

Any UCLA fan should admire what Arizona has accomplished.

Any Arizona fan should admire what Gonzaga has accomplished.

It's pretty obvious to anyone who's not been too smug to pay attention!!

BTW, I have zero tolerance for anyone's over-entitled fans! Fuck them! Mock them!

[TheCatInTheHat]

Assuming a detailed recent scouting report is made available, that's an interesting story line. Players develop new wrinkles in their games from year to year, and coaches also make tweaks. Particularly coming from a team with a very similar system, the detailed scouting prepared for three separate games would figure to be fairly significant. The personnel are different, and that's crucial with the matchups. But approaches from the system that didn't work as well as planned, as well as those that did, should be helpful. Also various tells preceding particular moves by individual players are often identified over time. Just a game within a game to consider which may enhance fan viewing enjoyment.

[MrBug708]

My guess is Arizona's scouting report will be limited in scope just simply on UCLA's available personnel. One game was UCLA playing without Bona and Clark. Another game was UCLA without Bailey. The third was half a game of UCLA at full strength before Clark got hurt, which is essentially what this matchup will be. Cronin has been hammering the lack of a rim protector, which makes me think they will want to attack the basket. But it probably comes down to Gonzaga's ability to hit 3's. When they have lost, they haven't shot well from the arc at all. My guess is Timme proves to be too much of a warrior in the post for UCLA to stop

[Beachcat97]

You have to love bug preemptively trotting out possible reasons for ucla to lose to gonzaga. he has impressive confidence in his team. Notice that there's no scenario where ucla just, you know, loses. In recent losses to AZ, ucla didn't merely lose these games. They were victims of great misfortune without which the losses would not have happened, obviously. There's no possible way for ucla to simply lose this game. If they do, it's because of factors beyond their control.

Btw, ucla wins tomorrow. gonzaga isn't nearly as good this year.

[EastCoastCat]

Sorry to say Bug, I will be rooting for Gonzaga but I also think it's going to be a heck of a game.

In years past I'd normally root for Pac teams (except for ASSU of course) but since this conference has become a steaming pile of shit I am no longer an avid supporter.

[MrBug708]

You have to love bug preemptively trotting out possible reasons for ucla to lose to gonzaga. he has impressive confidence in his team. Notice that there's no scenario where ucla just, you know, loses. In recent losses to AZ, ucla didn't merely lose these games. They were victims of great misfortune without which the losses would not have happened, obviously. There's no possible way for ucla to simply lose this game tonight. If they do, it's because of factors beyond their control.

Btw, ucla wins tonight. gonzaga isn't nearly as good this year.

The only thing I said about the matchup tomorrow was that I believe Timme will be too much for UCLA, which will probably be the national storyline going into the game.

But a lot of Bruin fans will be upset when they show up to Vegas tomorrow and find out the game was on Wednesday.

Once again, RC with the pulse on college basketball.

[arizonawildcats]

[CalStateTempe]

Keep talking baby, I’m almost there…

[U.P. Zona Fan]

I don't know about Gonzaga joining the big 12.
I have been a Zag supporter since 1999 but this run they have had with mark Few has been special but only has a few years left on it, and I think that Tommy was the special sauce that made the sandwich great.
I fear they will decline and that they could possibly get buried in the big 12. I mean they get every non con game they want, and have a 16 game conference schedule and then advance to the semis of their tournament! They are set up for life in the he wcc. A couple of down years in the big 12 and you are in the bottom half of it and not making the tournament. And the bottom half of the big 12 is still some tough teams!
It's like how I feel about Cincinnati. They will be in the bottom 2 or 3 of the big 12 and never make the tournament again after having multiple Natty's, HOF coaches (I mean, Cronin will be there someday I bet) that was a proud program and I feel it may be decades before it comes back to relevance.
If realignment had happened a while ago and the zags join the big 12 in like '18, they could have really made their mark and leaned into the new arrangement with a head of steam. I feel like they are on the decline in the twilight of the career of an incredible head coach without a clear path past his tenure. I would hate for them to become irrelevant.

But, I'm wrong sometimes too.

[dovecanyoncat]

Zags struggling with the Dawgs.

[AZCatGirl]

And down they go. Nice to see someone besides us having a good win in this conference.

[dovecanyoncat]

Glad it wasn't the FlufferBros.

[ZagCatFan]

I don't know about Gonzaga joining the big 12.
I have been a Zag supporter since 1999 but this run they have had with mark Few has been special but only has a few years left on it, and I think that Tommy was the special sauce that made the sandwich great.
I fear they will decline and that they could possibly get buried in the big 12. I mean they get every non con game they want, and have a 16 game conference schedule and then advance to the semis of their tournament! They are set up for life in the he wcc. A couple of down years in the big 12 and you are in the bottom half of it and not making the tournament. And the bottom half of the big 12 is still some tough teams!
It's like how I feel about Cincinnati. They will be in the bottom 2 or 3 of the big 12 and never make the tournament again after having multiple Natty's, HOF coaches (I mean, Cronin will be there someday I bet) that was a proud program and I feel it may be decades before it comes back to relevance.
If realignment had happened a while ago and the zags join the big 12 in like '18, they could have really made their mark and leaned into the new arrangement with a head of steam. I feel like they are on the decline in the twilight of the career of an incredible head coach without a clear path past his tenure. I would hate for them to become irrelevant.

But, I'm wrong sometimes too.

The fear is being left behind….the power conferences have all the power money leverage and someday will say “why share dance money with mid majors”?

[dovecanyoncat]

This ain't the boring doggy zone that the Zags lost to. Zags didn't play well. Dogs with 5 players in double figures. Zags had 3 backcourt players log 40 min. each.

[ZagCatFan]

Zags just picked up Michael Ajayi

https://x.com/srjimm/status/17727702743 ... 4FqOFZBtxg