Comments on the Gonzaga game.

[DiehardDave37]

Thanks Matt for getting Lute on the air and showing us how much he has recovered from his stroke(s).
Alkins deserved to start over Simmons even though I thought otherwise at first.
KaDeem is still the Man!
Lauri is human, but still fantastic.
We miss PJC more than I expected.
I thought Kobi would adjust to PG faster and better.
I have a hard time faulting Ristic for not stopping 300 pounds at 7'1".
Commanche still deserves a chance to show all that he can do.
Keanu is kean on rebounding and good enough at almost everything else.

Now it is time for you guys who have actually played the game more than I have to post your insights.

[Longhorned]

I agree with all that, but most of all the expectation that Simmons would adjust to point guard a bit more than he has. Credit to PJC for beating out an incoming McDonalds All-American combo guard for the full-time job, but with that happening, it looks like the focus of Simmons's early development has centered to playing off the ball. I bet he'll start looking better at the 1 in the coming weeks.

[HiCat]

Kobi had a tough game yesterday. Learning curve steeper vs. Zags. When he figures things out, he'll I'm betting he'll be a highlight show.

[Longhorned]

It's obviously really, really hard to learn two positions as a freshman. I thought point guard was going to be his primary position, but it's too much to ask any player to debut in that game.

[RaisingArizona]

Karnowski is a wonderful player. Would've liked for us to drive at him looking for contact and fouls.

Better team won yesterday. We fought hard but we were just outgunned. I'd love to face them in the tournament with both Zo and PJC. Would be a fantastic game IMO.

[Puerco]

Karnowski's killed us on a regular basis. That guy's just a load for no matter who's been defending him for Arizona.

I really do hope Kobi can pick up the 1. Getting Trier back would add some desperately needed depth and allow Miller the freedom to develop Kobi a bit there, while using Alkins and Trier at the 2 and 3 and using Kadeem a bit all over the place. That's still a really thin backcourt till PJC returns, but it'd be light years better than today. Lauri at the 3 is just... No.

[Frybry02]

I wish we were full strength as I would loved for us to play at a faster pace similar to what Gonzaga wanted to play at. I agree with the gameplan of turning it into a half court game. With how bad we played for long stretches, it was amazing we made it a two possession game late. I love the fight in this team.

[rgdeuce]

Thanks Matt for getting Lute on the air and showing us how much he has recovered from his stroke(s).
Alkins deserved to start over Simmons even though I thought otherwise at first.
KaDeem is still the Man!
Lauri is human, but still fantastic.
We miss PJC more than I expected.
I thought Kobi would adjust to PG faster and better.
I have a hard time faulting Ristic for not stopping 300 pounds at 7'1".
Commanche still deserves a chance to show all that he can do.
Keanu is kean on rebounding and good enough at almost everything else.

Now it is time for you guys who have actually played the game more than I have to post your insights.

Alkins played well, but Kobi had an off game. Part of that could be the pressure/anxiety from his elevated role of running the offense, regardless, perimeter players have bad games. He is still a much better defender than Alkins at this point, but it's semantics this early in the season and when there are only two guys coming off the bench.

I agree on Kadeem. He gets himself into trouble when he tries to do too much, which had to happen in that game, but he is an invaluable piece on this squad. Kid has heart for days. Yes, LM is human, but pretty much everything was contested for him all night. Happens when your point guard is in street clothes and the offense is not being run and you face a well-coached team with length. I think PJCs absence has opened up a lot of eyes as to how important he is.

I do fault Ristic for his defense against Karnowsky. He was lazy all game and got beat repeatedly, and he didn't learn a thing each time it happened. Lauri was on him for at least 7 plus minutes and Karnowsky didnt do squat. Hell, Karnowsky didnt even get many touches when Lauri was on him. Why? Because Lauri was working hard to front Karnowsky and kept moving his feet and fighting to cut off the passing lanes/angles to him down low, and he was not just giving him a yellow brick road to the paint on possessions. In the event Karnowsky got position, Lauri fought around him immediately and forced the ball handler into a position when he had to have the perfect lob pass because he would deflect one that was too low, and one that was too long would have hit the rim or put Karnowsky in a tough position right under the basket. Keywords - he never stopped working, fighting and moving his feet, and he used his brain. Dusan (and Chance) just stayed there and thought the best course of action was to stay behind the big guy and hope he somehow lost 80 pounds on that particular play. Dusan's idea of fronting was to half-heartedly stick his left arm in front of him like it was going to do anything, and even then, most of the time he wasn't even trying that. Both those guys got killed in the position game and got killed even more once he started breaking them down. If a guy is 300 pounds, you dont try to beat him like he is 180. Someone needs to show him some old tapes of Alonzo Mourning guarding Shaq in their early careers. Shaq was the most dominating, there is nothing you can do about it, player in NBA history, but Mourning at least made him work and made it tougher for his teammates to get him the ball, despite giving up 70 pounds and three inches to him.

[EVCat]

The part that bugged me the most about Ristic on Karnowski is once the ball was delivered (I could do a novel on what needed to be done before the ball got to Karnowski on the block) he just stood there and took the heavy back down. And Karnowski was loading up and bringing the contact.

He didn't:

a. Flop once or twice and let Miller's complaining about an offensive player picking the ball up with a hesitation dribble and displacing a defender about 3 feet with each hit get a call. If you go down a couple of times with clear contact and the dude dunks over you on the ground early, you will get a call.

or, and more on my wishlist,

b. Fuckin' knock that guy down. Forearm him. When he loads up and is coming, meet him with a step-forward and arm bar and make the collision neutral, making them call something. Or pull a Barkley and jump out of the way and let the big oaf fall on his ass. Do SOMETHING. Make an impression somehow. Don't just stand there letting this guy knock you 3 feet back on every step then lay the ball in over your head when you are a foot under the basket. You are mismatched. Dude outweighs you by a small truck. You are not going to win if you don't either get a call or make a statement that this will not be tolerated. The lack of heart it took to just stand there and take that beating was the worst part of all of it.

[Olsondogg]

I agree with EV. Teach the flop or at least implement it. Or foul the hell out of someone.

[rgdeuce]

Well, I agree, he needed to do something. But we could ill-afford 7 scholarship players to turn to 6 because Dusan kept making him earn it from the line. And just a few days ago Miller made those comments condemning the flop after the Butler game, and most of us were irate when they did it to us.

Bilas said it best, "If you allow Karnowsky to get position in the paint, you are basically done." If you can't prevent that from happening and you aren't fighting to make sure he doesn't get the ball, or at least make it tougher to get the ball to him, you are done. Gonzaga wasnt even doing anything special to really set things up for him, it was basically, oh man, look who has perfect position and a defender on his backside again, followed by an easy entry pass.

[Olsondogg]

Well, I agree, he needed to do something. But we could ill-afford 7 scholarship players to turn to 6 because Dusan kept making him earn it from the line. And just a few days ago Miller made those comments condemning the flop after the Butler game, and most of us were irate when they did it to us.

Bilas said it best, "If you allow Karnowsky to get position in the paint, you are basically done." If you can't prevent that from happening and you aren't fighting to make sure he doesn't get the ball, or at least make it tougher to get the ball to him, you are done. Gonzaga wasnt even doing anything special to really set things up for him, it was basically, oh man, look who has perfect position and a defender on his backside again, followed by an easy entry pass.

I dunno, you whack him against the skull going for the ball when he backs that rear into the lane and maybe he thinks about it next time. You do the flop, that every other program does every game, and maybe you get some fouls on him.

Whatever the post D was this game, or whatever you want to call it, it definitely was not working.

[azcat49]

Very frustrated with that part of our defense. No foot advantage in the post and no ball pressure on that entry pass. It was just too easy. I think they feared those whistles which made it tough for us to guard

[Olsondogg]

Very frustrated with that part of our defense. No foot advantage in the post and no ball pressure on that entry pass. It was just too easy. I think they feared those whistles which made it tough for us to guard

Obviously they were frightened by the whistles, which I can't blame them...but at some point enough is enough. I'd rather foul out players at some point.

[Spaceman Spiff]

I agree with EV. Teach the flop or at least implement it. Or foul the hell out of someone.

I feel if Dusan tried to flop, it would be slow and unconvincing.

Part of the issue is that if refs let a player bump his way down like Karnowsky, there really isn't much anyone can do. Backing down someone at his size, there really isn't much a defender can do. Karnowski basically only does one thing, but if the refs aren't letting you bang hard, it's almost impossible to stop.

[Lute4God]

Watching Syacuse - UConn now and it's almost all zone both ways. Did anyone see Nigel Hayes just destroy the Orange playing out of the high post? Why don't we put Lauri in there? Or at least set more screens at the top.

[Longhorned]

Watching Syacuse - UConn now and it's almost all zone both ways. Did anyone see Nigel Hayes just destroy the Orange playing out of the high post? Why don't we put Lauri in there? Or at least set more screens at the top.

It seems to take a while into the season to break zones like that. TJ fed Rondae in the high post beautifully, but it took time to get there. Last year, Kadeem fed Tollefsen. I agree, it will be Lauri this year.

[Lute4God]

Ristic took like 4 passes from Lauri from the wing and converted 2 baskets and an assist. Forget which game. Then in the whole second half Ristic didnt even get a touch.

[Frybry02]

Watching Syacuse - UConn now and it's almost all zone both ways. Did anyone see Nigel Hayes just destroy the Orange playing out of the high post? Why don't we put Lauri in there? Or at least set more screens at the top.

Pretty pathetic offensive output. How could that be when these teams must practice against zones in practice everyday?

[Lute4God]

Watching Syacuse - UConn now and it's almost all zone both ways. Did anyone see Nigel Hayes just destroy the Orange playing out of the high post? Why don't we put Lauri in there? Or at least set more screens at the top.

Pretty pathetic offensive output. How could that be when these teams must practice against zones in practice everyday?

Haha That game was a great argument for playing zone. 2 very frustrated offenses.

[rgdeuce]

Normally id agree with you Odogg, but easier said than done on a 300 pound dude who was probably born in a cave and raised by grizzly bears

[HiCat]