Game 1: In Which Gonzaga Unleashes Yet Another 14-Year Old to Conquer Us All

It is said in legend that when one Zag Hobbit leaves the institution to make its mark on the world, another must take its place. Gonzaga’s newest little Ewok, Kevin Pangos, introduced himself to the world last night in the form of nine three pointers and leaving half of Cougar Nation wondering if he took a giant stack of cash home to his wife, Rosie Perez, and the other half of Cougar Nation to wonder why I used a Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and White Men Can’t Jump reference all in the same sentence.

Perimeter Defense was off and on last night, but it really didn’t matter. It was a Zag world and we were all fortunate to be witnesses to it last night. For levity’s sake, I charted the nine Pangos death balls to see what happened, and for comedy’s sake: Pangos Death Balls is the name of my Ronny James Dio tribute band.

Death Ball 1: Lapse by Reggie. Left Pangos at the top of the key to attempt double teaming/stripping Sacre but the pass was skipped to Pangos who let it fly
Death Ball 2: Another lapse by Reggie. He let Pangos float to about 9 o’clock and got caught between Pangos and Carter. Rather than make a decision to take one of them, he jumped straight in the air to attempt intercepting a pass he had no shot at, and Pangos had 6 points
Death Ball 3: Reggie gave him about 3 feet of room and dared him to shoot. This may have been Reggie’s best defense to date.
Death Ball 4: Fluke long rebound, half our team was back in transition.
Death Ball 5: Capers now guarding Pangos. Gonzaga rotated WSU’s defense perfectly to the right corner and the Cougs attempted a trap, forcing Capers to choose between Dower under the basket or Pangos at the top of the key. Deadly Snake in one door and man-eating Tiger in the other. Great offensive set.
Death Ball 6: Another fluke long rebound
Death Ball 7: Carter penetrated forcing Capers (in the corner guarding Pangos) to sag to the block stopping the ball. Simple kick-out to the corner and we’re three points poorer again.
Death Ball 8: Out of Bounds Play specifically run for Pangos, who ran through three screens and nailed another one at the top of the key, leaving Lacy about 2 screens short.
Death Ball 9: Indefensible defense by Faisal, sagging all the way to the elbow, leaving Pangos nothing but real estate.

So he torched it when we let him and torched it when we didn’t let him. The kid didn’t take a bad shot the whole night. Probably could’ve had 3 or 4 more threes, but couldn’t knock down EVERY wide open shot…

While there were several lapses from Reggie, he did a lot of what he was supposed to do on the other side of the ball: Penetrate and find a teammate with an easy look. If those easy looks had been converted, Reggie would’ve had around 12 assists last night. But alas, WSU misses more bunnies than your Oregon Trail hunter who eventually died of cholera. The shots were there; the points were not, if you catch my drift.

That’s not to say the offense went without its problems. Faze2012 has pretty much all the same features last year’s model had: pushing an early offense that isn’t there, committing to a dribble when there is an assist to be had, and letting the other team know that as soon as Faze’s head goes down, he’s shooting the ball whether you put five guys on him or not. Coach Bone’s commitment to Aden in the first half was certainly puzzling (Aden played the first THIRTEEN minutes and was the last starter to hit the bench), and it will be interesting to watch whether or not his leash becomes shorter as the preseason progresses.

Other quick hits from my notes:

• Motum and Simon’s repoire is noticeable. I’ve been tentative about Simon getting minutes this year, but they executed a few high-low looks that the defense had trouble with. Hopefully that continues.
• Faisel Aden with 23+ seconds on the shot clock: 1 for 6. With fewer than 23 seconds: 4 for 6.
• Shelton played limited minutes because he didn’t move without the ball. He spent the majority of his possessions clogging the lane by (ineffectively) posting up. Aron Baynes can do that. Shelton cannot.
• WSU allowed 12 points off 5 field goals on out of bounds plays.
• DiIorio: 5 fouls in 6 minutes. Sounds about right.
• Doris Burke lost me when explaining the value of redshirting in basketball.
• Wazz-who is an incredibly delicious pun and Gonzaga fans should be commended for thinking of it.

Plus/Minus for last night (An explanation for the Roland Rating can be found here)

Lacy 30
DiIorio 24
Ladd 14
Shelton 14
Simon 4
Motum -4
Moore -12
Aden -22
Capers -24
Enquist -24

DID YOU KNOW DJ SHELTON'S UNCLE IS LONNIE SHELTON!?!?!?!?!?

I've been as apprehensive about this late pickup as the next person, but I think this kid has a shot at being something special. The only thing I knew about Shelton previously was that his uncle is Lonnie Shelton, so get ready to put that on your FSN banter-bingo cards. I'm a little shocked that his AAU team was the Bay Area Hoosiers. I was not aware Indiana had a Bay Area. Speaking of shocked, I'm as shocked as you are that this blog is being updated... Let's watch a little movie and then talk about what we saw, shall we?

Some positives:

This kid has an incredibly long reach, allowing him to play 3 or 4 inches taller than he is. He's pulling boards that he has absolutely no business getting to throughout that video.

Some legitimate low post moves (read: MORE THAN ONE). Seriously, when was the last time one of our big men could get the ball on the block and do something other than barrel towards the basket and hope to not draw a charge. The spin move he pulls at the 33 second mark is just filthy.

Handles. We have a big now who can pull down a long rebound and push into transition all on his own and start a fast break (2:04 mark). We haven't had one of those since....Varem, maybe? MAYBE?

Off-Ball Movement The way this kid moves to get open down low is already pretty beautiful. Watch the Pick and Seal at around the 2:34 mark. Getting your four to move without the ball and cause havoc IS BoneBall.

Defensively I didn't pick up a ton, as most of the highlights are him getting blocks and boards, something you'd expect out of a kid with arms that long. Though it should be noted that he did anchor that 2-3 zone; something nobody on our current roster, save Bjornstad, has done with any regularity or success.

Drawbacks: He needs 15-20 more pounds on him by November. He was getting shoved around with regularity and made up for it with his arm length. Not something he'll be able to do against UCLA or even Oregon State.

I'm assuming they didn't showcase his 15 footer for a reason. Bone usually wants four players on the floor who can hit a mid-range jumper. He has a very special NBA Showdown '94 spin move that allows him to create room against players 50 lbs heavier than him, but he's not going to be deadly unless he can drill a shot from 10-15 ft out.

Bottom Line: After seeing this video, I'm much happier than I was when I thought we were taking a flyer on a JUCO throwaway. This kid has the chance to compete at the Pac-12 level THIS YEAR, and could be part of something very special 2-3 years from now.

Hide Your Daughters, Pullman Empty Arena, Pt. 2 (WSU -7.5)

Game Projection	PTS
Oregon St.	57.7
Washington St.	67.8

Projected High-Scorer
Klay Thompson (WAST) 25.4 pts

Live Betting Predictions

Point Spread	AccuScore Probability
Oregon State +7.5	43.1%
Washington State -7.5	57.1%

 

Over / Under	AccuScore Probability
OVR 128.5	45.5%
UND 128.5	54.2%

 

Money Line	AccuScore Probability
Oregon State +285	20.6%%
Washington State -325	79.6%%

 

It'll be nice to get back to complaining about basketball instead of complaining over blown calls. Oregon State is a solid team that we match up with very well. While Oregon presented several defensive matchup problems, we've proven to break down both types of zones the Beavers run effectively. Klay should be able to shoot right over the top of it, and we have enough good passers to get them out of position. I would guess Capers gets the task of guarding Calvin Haynes, and Nik and Abe will switch off guarding Schaftenaar. Our key defensively will be keeping Deane and the rest off the boards. Last year, Deane killed us on the offensive glass and was the reason we lost (!!!) this game last season. While Oregon scared me with potential matchup problems, I think we will dictate this game entirely. If our shooting is on, we run away with this one.

Still Breathing....Happy New Year?

I'm still sick to my stomach over Pac-10 officiating taking the game away from us yesterday. I'm generally not a "blame it on the refs" type person. But the fact was we had the game won….and then play stopped to award Oregon two points. There was no part of me that felt we could take them in the 2nd overtime after that. 99% of teams can't overcome a call like that. I've been like a zombie over the past 24 hours, reading pretty much every fan's opinion on the various Coug boards out there (I've NEVER seen an ESPN recap for WSU reach a third of the 600 comments they got last night), and can't seem to stop. I feel the more I read them, maybe common sense will prevail and this game will be given back to us….but alas, now I'm just hoping this call won't carry over and make us start out 0-2 and get swept at home by the freaking Oregon schools.

I'm still racking this through my head. Some out there are saying "technically it was the correct call". Fuck you. No it wasn't. There was no impediment of any play. A whistle was blown as soon as the ball went through the hoop (presumably for the officials to determine how much time was on the clock). No Duck players were on the baseline ready to inbound the ball. In fact, the Duck HOLDING the ball was headed toward the sideline with the rest of his team. In addition, what play were we impeding? THERE WERE ZERO-POINT-THREE SECONDS LEFT ON THE FUCKING CLOCK. Not enough time for a catch-and-shoot. This game, for all practical purposes, was OVER. But just like two years ago and three years ago, officials make their stamp on the Oregon/WSU game (for those who didn't major in history, in the 2007 game, Aaron Brooks took a solid four steps before making a game-winning-three, and in 2008 a VERY iffy touch-foul on Maarty Luennen allowed him to shoot game-winning free throws after the clock expired.) I'm not saying this is rigged; incompetence is color-blind. But how many times is this going to happen?

I've said my piece. And your piece. We should be 1-0, but we're 0-1. Klay SHOULD go off for 40 points over the Beaver zone tomorrow, but I can't take anything for granted anymore. If the loss affected them half as much as it affected me, we could get blown out of our own gym.

Lost in the mess of this game was the remarkable job performed by X and Watson, while Reggie and D sat on the bench. It should be noted that Porter didn't start his 18 point tear until X checked out of the game. For all my grandeur regarding Reggie already being our best point guard ever, I've knowingly overlooked his defensive shortcomings, and those killed us tonight. Watson performed as admirably as someone who's outweighed by 80 pounds in the post could be. I figured Dunningan would kill us when Casto checked out; turned out the only thing that stopped Dunnigan last night were cheeseburgers. If he logs 30 minutes during regulation, Oregon probably doesn't even need overtime.

Plus/Minus from last night (minimum 10 minutes)

Watson 22
Thames 18
Lodwick 10
Koprivica 0
Thompson -2
Capers -8
Moore -16
Casto -22

Hide Your Daughters, Pullman Empty Arena Pt. 1 (WSU -6.5)

Accuscore Game Projection

Oregon 68.3 Washington St. 78.2

Projected High-Scorer
Klay Thompson (WAST) 27.7 pts

Live Betting Predictions

Point Spread	AccuScore Probability
Oregon +6.5	39.1%
Washington State -6.5	60.9%

 

Over / Under	AccuScore Probability
OVR 149	41.0%
UND 149	54.5%

 

Money Line	AccuScore Probability
Oregon +244	26.7%%
Washington State -275	73.4%%

I've been looking forward to this game for quite awhile. Before Reggie stepped up and showed everyone he may already be the best true point in WSU history, Jamil Wilson was a favorite for Pac-10 Freshman of the year, and still might have a shot if Oregon gets their act together.

I worry about all games, but this one especially makes me nervous. Oregon is a school that we just don't match up with very well. Oregon's finally getting back to full-strength. Pretty much all of their losses this year were either without Dunigan or Porter, and supposedly they're going to have Catron back for this afternoon. While I look forward to Klay shredding the Beavers' 2-3 for 40 points on Saturday, this one is going t make me nervous.

Key to the game? Casto staying out of foul trouble. This hasn't been much of an issue thus far, but this is the only team we play with a definitive size advantage over us until….well we play them again in March. How badly does Oregon want to see Charlie Enquist match up with Dunigan? Odds are this is the initial attack the Ducks will lob at us, and hopefully we have a counter for it.

I still think we win this game by 8 or 9, but with 3-4,000 people in the arena giving us a weak homecourt, I wouldn't be shocked if we started 0-1

Games 4, 5 and 6 (Great Alaska Shootout)

Hey! We're champs of something! How about that?

I had two whole pages filled with notes from these games (that I watched back-to-back-to-back after Thanksgiving and Apple Cup), but spilled coffee on them, so I'll try to remember as much as I can.

While I'm still not convinced we'll finish in the top half of the Pac-10 this season, I think the championship game vs. San Diego sent a message to the rest of the league, particularly Oregon St and Arizona St, to NOT run a 2-3 zone on Klay Thompson. He will shoot over you. And you will cry. I think coaches who see this film will likely try to run a box zone with a rover on Klay and see if Reggie and D are up to the task.

A bad habit I noticed towards the end of the Eastern Washington game that showed up again in the first two games of the tournament was Casto flashing out in the halfcourt defense to attempt a trap past the 3-point line. Eastern was able to rotate the ball around this pretty easily and get a simple layup over an out of position Klay Thompson. This half-assed rotation nearly cost us that game, as well as the one vs. Nicholls St. At first, I thought this was just DeAngelo trying to do too much, but during the Nicholls St game, Charlie tried it too. In the first 8 or so times I saw us try this, we got one steal, allowed six (!!!) baskets and got back into our set the final time. Since both DeAngelo and Charlie tried it, I thought it might be a bad scheme, but Klay is so woefully out of position when they get the ball under the basket, that couldn't possibly be planned. I don't think San Diego was able to burn us on this in a similar fashion solely from their lack of size.

The other thing I'd do if I were Ken Bone is pull DeAngelo aside and show him some gametapes of him running our offense last season. Last year, if D set a pick on you, you were hitting the floor and our wing would get free. During the tournament, I watched him just move from block to block, going through the motions similar to Baynes last season, and their wings were able to get through the picks pretty successfully. This is a minor change that I think could pay some serious dividends for us come conference play.

Nik should be starting over Lodwick right now. I can't think of a reason why he shouldn't be. He's the 2^nd best passer on the team behind Reggie, plays better defense than Abe and has really shown a knack in this offense. During the Nicholls St game, I couldn't help but notice the repoire he and Casto have. Nik getting the ball on the baseline, taking two steps toward the hoop, drawing D's defender and dumping it off to him for the easy layup was our bread and butter when we started pulling away. Between Nik and Reggie both willing to make the extra pass in our offense, it flows much better, and we're a better team for it.

Going forward, I just can't see us staying within single digits against the Zags on Wednesday. While I think Reggie is a better ballhandler and passer than Taylor, we haven't seen pressure like that this year, and I'm not sure we're ready for it. I think a lot of it is going to depend on whether Reggie, Zero and Nik are able to get past the full court press and allow Klay and Casto to set up the early offense. I think it's probably Gonzaga by 15, but having Klay always gives us a shot….

Plus/Minus for the Tournament:

Player	at UAA	at Nic St	at USD
Capers	21	5	21
Thompson	25	11	35
Moore	31	1	-21
Casto	-21	11	-5
Lodwick	-1	-5	-9
Harthun	-9	-13	-17
Koprivica	5	11	-5
Thames	-35	-13	7
Enquist	25	-9	-3
Motum	-23	-15	-23
Allen	-31	9	-29
Bjornstad	-21		-33
Watson	-23	-11	-29

Game 3

Yet another game not on the tv….Surprising results that in a game where we won by 19 (and were up 27 when the regulars were pulled), we were actually outscored by 11 when Casto was on the court. Concerning to me when we're playing teams without a lot of size and our big men's ineffectiveness is already glaring. Klay is awesome. That's my expert analysis.

Plus/Minus

Thompson	45
Capers	17
Lodwick	5
Enquist	5
Thames	-7
Koprivica	-9
Moore	-11
Harthun	-13
Motum	-17
Allen	-25
Bjornstad	-25
Loewen	-25
Brown	-25
Watson	-33
Casto	-41