Gonzaga BB 2020/21 season

[Natethegreat]

Wow, so dissapointing. You could see they came out scared. Just watching Baylor grab rebound after rebound. Such a great team. Such a massively dissapointing performance.

 

[Flyingsquad23]

Zags choke again. Sad to see such a quality team play like hot trash. The game was lost on rebounds 38-22 and ice cold 3 point shooting 5-17 throw in 14 T.O. and you get blown out..

 

[James in PA]

Don’t forget sucking at the free throw line.


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[Sports Hernia]

Playing in that crap conference doesn’t help the Zags when it comes to the tournament IMHO.
They are obviously superior than the weak sisters they play on a regular basis.

Iron sharpens iron.

 

[Natethegreat]

This team was capable of playing so much better. You could see how nervous they were. Unforced turnovers. I mean Nembhard could hardly even dribble. Couldn't buy a three, didn't box out or rebound.
It was a complete meltdown. Suggs was the only one not scared but he was trying to do too much.

 

[Threedee]

They looked bad against UCLA. The difference is that Baylor is much better than UCLA.

 

[Crizilla]

Baylor might be GOAT status. Only team in 2 years to blow out the Zags. No question fatigue played a role, Baylor looked a full step faster. Boring game. Amazing season.

 

[Throwdown]

Baylor was better in every facet, they’re more athletic, aggressive, and could shoot the lights out.

It was never gonna end in Gonzaga’s favor.

 

[Jerhawk]

Playing in that crap conference doesn’t help the Zags when it comes to the tournament IMHO.
They are obviously superior than the weak sisters they play on a regular basis.

Iron sharpens iron.

I try to tell this to my fellow Spokanites for the past 15 years and they come at me with tar and feathers.

But you're exactly right. The WCC is weak. The teams in the tournament are bigger, stronger and faster. They're not ready for it.

Gonzaga did have a great out of conference schedule this year, but their conference stinks

 

[Hawk-Lock]

Baylor deserves a ton of credit. I always root against Gonzaga, but Baylor is a very easy team to root for. Drew took over as the coach right after the murder scandal there. That had to be one of the worst coaching jobs in college basketball at the time.

Playing in the WCC definitely hurts Gonzaga. Competition always make you better. While Gonzaga always schedules a tough non conference, they play nobody for a few months who can help them get ready for the tourney.

Zags recruit to their system, but when they run into teams with great athletes, they struggle. Timme and Kispert are good players, but you can definitely see their limitations agianst great competition. Timme and Kispert can get you a #1 seed, but not sure they are the kind of guys to win you a championship. Few needs to go after more athletes, coaching can only take you so far.

Not sure I would call it a great season. If it was, then it was a great season with a disappointing ending. If I'm a zags fan, it was championship or bust, that's how high expectations were.

 

[getnasty]

Baylor deserves a ton of credit. I always root against Gonzaga, but Baylor is a very easy team to root for. Drew took over as the coach right after the murder scandal there. That had to be one of the worst coaching jobs in college basketball at the time.

Playing in the WCC definitely hurts Gonzaga. Competition always make you better. While Gonzaga always schedules a tough non conference, they play nobody for a few months who can help them get ready for the tourney.

Zags recruit to their system, but when they run into teams with great athletes, they struggle. Timme and Kispert are good players, but you can definitely see their limitations agianst great competition. Timme and Kispert can get you a #1 seed, but not sure they are the kind of guys to win you a championship. Few needs to go after more athletes, coaching can only take you so far.

Not sure I would call it a great season. If it was, then it was a great season with a disappointing ending. If I'm a zags fan, it was championship or bust, that's how high expectations were.

Baylor deserving credit is 100% correct. I haven't seen them play enough to know if they always shoot the ball like that but if they do i think they beat GU 8 out of 10 in a 10 game series.

Gonzaga was alethetic enough to win they just didn't excute and once again Baylor deserves a ton of credit for that. They biggest difference to me was rebouning and 50/50 balls which comes down to effort. Don't get me wrong Baylor was far more athletic then GU but so is Kansas, WV, UCLA and numerous other teams GU beat this year.

 

[Natethegreat]

Hawk lock I often agree with you but a lack of athleticism had little to nothing to do with what happened in that game.
They were afraid to shoot the three and when they did it was off. They were caught standing and watching as Baylor was the aggressor in every aspect. They looked nervous and failed to be the aggressor they had been all year. Heck they could hardly dribble at times.
They played plenty of athletic teams all year and had no issues. It was a stinker performance.

It was a great year and saying it wasn't just smacks of jealousy and poo pooing like all the trolls on twitter. Terrible ending but that was a great team that had a great year.

Edit: I also think they were emotionally drained after that game with UCLA. By the way I think that Baylor team would have been undefeated as well had they not had to shut down and not practice. That was a great team and they played great.

 

[Appyhawk]

This is one of those deals where anything can happen in a one game make or break situation. IMO Zags were the best team this year and proved it all year...until the last game or two.
Kansas played Baylor twice this year and beat them once, but that once was just as dominating a performance as Baylor put on vs Gonzaga last night. Don't allow one game, even though it was the BIG one, define what this season was for Gonzaga.

 

[Hawk-Lock]

Hawk lock I often agree with you but a lack of athleticism had little to nothing to do with what happened in that game.
They were afraid to shoot the three and when they did it was off. They were caught standing and watching as Baylor was the aggressor in every aspect. They looked nervous and failed to be the aggressor they had been all year. Heck they could hardly dribble at times.
They played plenty of athletic teams all year and had no issues. It was a stinker performance.

It was a great year and saying it wasn't just smacks of jealousy and poo pooing like all the trolls on twitter. Terrible ending but that was a great team that had a great year.

Edit: I also think they were emotionally drained after that game with UCLA. By the way I think that Baylor team would have been undefeated as well had they not had to shut down and not practice. That was a great team and they played great.

After thinking about it a little more, I should have said that the Zags need more athleticism in the front court. Looking back at all of the Zags teams, they rarely have an athletic interior guy. Collins is really the only guy I can think of. Anyone watching that game could see that Thamba and the other back up center were so much more physically and athletically imposing than Kispert and Timme. Obviously the backcourt and wings of Gonzga have some athletes, but Kispert and Timme could not stay in front of their guys, especially when guards got switched onto them.

I think everyone rushed to judgement with this Zags team because they went undefeated, but they were far from perfect. They had no rim protector and weren't very deep. They're still a great team, likely the second best team this season. I think Few will adjust and learn from it. I still think Zags get a championship soon, maybe even next season. But at some point, they need to win it. Pressure is mounting, that's now four, #1 seeds, along with a #2 seed. Few might be the best coach in college basketball, but I think he knows that coaching can only take him so far. He needs more guys like Suggs to play for Gonzaga, and that looks to be the case with the upcoming recruiting class, especially if they get this kid Holmgen who is the top recruit. Zags will be back in this spot again, just a question of if they can win the championship.

 

[Natethegreat]

Your absolutely right our front court was thin and not as athletic as skilled.
Over all this was an athletic tall long team but front court had a depth problem. No doubt a Brandon Clark would have done wonders in a game like this.
By the way the zags are now 5 and 1 all time against Baylor and they played and beat this team with many of the same players.
They came out as the aggressors and punched us in the moth and we never recovered.
Suggs getting a ridiculous charge call did not help matters but his second was his fault so thems the breaks.
All in all it was a great team and a great year.

 

[Hawkstorian]

Playing in that crap conference doesn’t help the Zags when it comes to the tournament IMHO.
They are obviously superior than the weak sisters they play on a regular basis.

Iron sharpens iron.

I try to tell this to my fellow Spokanites for the past 15 years and they come at me with tar and feathers.

But you're exactly right. The WCC is weak. The teams in the tournament are bigger, stronger and faster. They're not ready for it.

Gonzaga did have a great out of conference schedule this year, but their conference stinks

The problem with this argument is everyone throws it out there like some sort of HOT TAKE, when in fact it's been the reality they've lived with for the last 20 years, and done everything possible to climb out of. They've looked at other conferences, and nothing else make sense. Few does all he can to pull up the other teams (and they've made progress) but Gonzaga is still miles ahead of the rest.

All they can do is schedule like crazy in November and December (which they've done) and keep blowing out the WCC teams (which they've done). 5 consecutive Sweet 16s and 2 final 4s seems to indicate they're doing something right. They're a top 5 national program recruiting top talent. You can't argue it.

Can't find much fault with being the 2nd best team in the country this year given all that. Sorry, you don't get ace-analyst credentials for calling out the obvious.

 

[IndyHawk]

Fact:Few is 0-8 against #1 seed teams..
Fact to me..It was 3 point shooting contest and Baylor won it.
Basketball is so putrid thanks to Golden State for bringing that garbage into it.

 

[Natethegreat]

It took Dean Smith 7 final fours before winning the national championship. It took Mike Krzyzewski 4 trips to final four before winning it all.
Few not winning it all is hardly an indictment. I could go through those losses and point out that half were to the eventual Champs and most were when they were double digit seeds.
Pulling out facts with no context can be very misleading.
Few is a hall of fame coach and with the recruits he is getting now I am very sure that championship is coming.

 

[Threedee]

It took Dean Smith 7 final fours before winning the national championship. It took Mike Krzyzewski 4 trips to final four before winning it all.
Few not winning it all is hardly an indictment. I could go through those losses and point out that half were to the dvdntual Champs and most were when he was a double digit seeds.
Pulling out facts with no context can be very misleading.
Few is a hall of fame coach and with the recruits he is getting now I am very sure that championship is coming.

I actually think this game was far less disappointing than the last championship game. My expectations were far lower given the obvious quality of Baylor down the stretch. The only real reason why I'm bummed is the perfect season scenario.

 

[Natethegreat]

Sounds like Tommy Loyd will be leaving Gonzaga for Arizona job. Big loss for the GU program. Not that they can't overcome it but he was in line to take over if Few left and is widely regarded as a stand up guy who is a great recruiter and a knowledgeable capable coach.