After watching the Texas game. . .

[RenoZag]

. . .did you come away feeling more confident this year's edition of the Bulldogs was equipped to make a deep run in March ?

I realize UCLA, Duke, Alabama, and Texas Tech will also offer barometers of the season to come. Zags might drop one (two ?) in that time frame. Even if they don't emerge unscathed on 12/30 when the WCC season begins against the Toreros, it looks like the vets and newcomers have the potential to be a remarkable squad.

What's your take ?

[willandi]

. . .did you come away feeling more confident this year's edition of the Bulldogs was equipped to make a deep run in March ?

I realize UCLA, Duke, Alabama, and Texas Tech will also offer barometers of the season to come. Zags might drop one (two ?) in that time frame. Even if they don't emerge unscathed on 12/30 when the WCC season begins against the Toreros, it looks like the vets and newcomers have the potential to be a remarkable squad.

What's your take ?

I did.

After the first half against Dixie State, I was a bit concerned. I realize that the first half against Texas was the Timme highlight show, but I think that on any given day, the Zags have the horses to run with anyone.

[Hogan]

I certainly came away more confident. How could you not, with such a dominant performance against a highly ranked team. There seems to be good hope that our three point shooting may be better than was shown in the first few games and we could end up being an outstanding defensive team. I am concerned that Chet may get pushed around a lot and that this will really limit his effectiveness. I remember hearing John Stockton say that the most important thing about playing is to always be on balance. I fear Chet may struggle with this, at least inside.

[bartruff1]

Yes....more confident but not confident !!! Chet has a positive effect on every play.....I think that will happen in every game he plays at Gonzaga.....

[daskim]

More confident. Feel they can play (and win) against anyone.

The biggest wild card is Holmgren. He is definitely a huge factor in any game. Just not certain what that factor will be as the season progresses.

[Malastein]

My feeling of optimism hasn’t changed. This team is built differently than last year’s team but still has its own flaws. Most other college basketball teams probably can’t exploit them, but that doesn’t mean they will finish unscathed at the end.

[White lightning]

When Chet realizes he doesn't have to jump every time to alter shots his fouls will drop hence more floor time and more scoring.

Texas went to a zone once. Chet took a wide open shot from the edge of the ft line. It rims out and Texas never went back realizing Chet would score at will.

I feel this team has the most room to improve of any Zag team over the last several years. Its going to be exciting to watch them grow.

Go Zags



Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[Martin Centre Mad Man]

More confident. This team is not ready for the March Madness grind, but I believe it will be very good by March.

I really liked the play of Bolton and Nembhard. They will provide enough veteran stability for the younger contributors to learn and grow over the course of the season. The younger players appear coachable. They are smart and play hard. This team should show more week to week improvement than some of our more veteran teams displayed in the past.

[gueastcoast]

Yes. This team has depth that will become more apparent as the season wears on.

Last year's team was magnificent but with a narrower rotation. This team feels like it will have a wider range of counter-punches available due to more varied and highly skilled personnel.

[GonzagasaurusFlex]

The Zags 3pt shooting and Few’s shrinking the rotation are my only big concerns.

Timme will get doubled/taken away by opponents with more size or just teams determining they won’t let Timme gut them. The counter to that for Zags is ball movement and 3pt shooting.

Team chemistry is great by all appearances to date but if Few holds the reins so tight vs every quality opponent that could change. Depth matters and guys like Sallis and Perry need a chance to develop vs toughest opponents if Zags want their depth to be an advantage in March. Perry is just as important as Sallis imo because he gives the team a big strong bouncy post defender they otherwise lack.

[SorenTodd45]

. . .did you come away feeling more confident this year's edition of the Bulldogs was equipped to make a deep run in March ?

Far more confident. I'm not worried about March yet, that time frame is weeks (months) away. Let's just get through 2021 first. If we can get past Duke & UCLA, I think we can run the table again. Not worried about Bama or TT at all.

[kitzbuel]

The Texas game was indeed a real gauge for me as to the quality of the Zags. At this time of the season it looks like the Zags are indeed at top of the pack. The good news from my perspective is that the team is going to get better. Even in this Texas game, we saw lots of areas for improvement. Most of that comes from the players getting more comfortable with each other and the game style. I also think this game showed the players the value of Few's game style, so they are going to buy into it even more so I expect to see some clear improvement.

[zag67]

Things I liked about this game that lead me to believe they will be ready for March.

1. Timme is better than last year. His footwork was fantastic. But Texas did not have any tall centers, which we will have to wait and see.
2. Chemistry for a team with so many new plalyers. I thought that is was unbelieveable to watch how they "fed the beast" during the first half. In other words they recognized who had the hot hand and made sure they all worked to get him the ball for good shots.
3. Boulton is going to add another dimention to this team.
4. Nembhard is a super solid play maker and is going to be a major cog in the ignition of this team.
5. Watson is more agressive and better at all parts of his game.
6. Holmgren is going to also show us how great he is going to be by the end of the year. But he showed how team oriented he is against Texas. When he saw that Timme was controlling the center he stayed out and help feed him. He also did not try to get shots just to get points. Also he will learn from his jumping to block shots, rather than just be a force and be in the way.
7. The rest of the team will be there more and more as they get experience. Some are ready offensively and others defensively but need work to improve a complete player.
8. This is going to be a super defensively team.
9 others that I have forgotten. GO ZAGS

[Reborn]

I have believed that the Zags would make a deep run in March for a long time. This is the best recruiting class that Gonzaga has ever had, and the Zags return three solid players from last years Runner's Up to the National Championship. The return Timme, who was 2nd team All-American last year and should be first team this year. And Nemby returns who is one of the best Point Guards in the counry and is up for the Coosey Award. Finally, Watson returns and as we are seeing he is a much improved version of the player we expected to see from the beginning of last year. I think that This Year we will see that player. And then add in Bolton and Holmgren and how could we not expect to have a deep run in March.

The Texas game showed how good these Zags are. I was really looking forward to that game because I needed to see how good that Holmgren and Bolton are, and they did not disappoint at all. Bolton showed that he really is a great guard both on offense and defense. He hit 4 threes, which is possibly the most threes Ive seen a guard make since Kevin Pongos. And he has the body to attack the rim which Kevin could not do. Bolton reminds me of the best that we saw in Gary Bell, who has always been one of my favorite Zags. We did not get to see the best out of Holmgren on offense, but we did see his effectiveness on defense. Which may be more important right now. He is the best rim protector that Gonzaga has ever had.

Go Zags!!!

[TacomaZAG]

The Zags 3pt shooting and Few’s shrinking the rotation are my only big concerns.

Timme will get doubled/taken away by opponents with more size or just teams determining they won’t let Timme gut them. The counter to that for Zags is ball movement and 3pt shooting.

Team chemistry is great by all appearances to date but if Few holds the reins so tight vs every quality opponent that could change. Depth matters and guys like Sallis and Perry need a chance to develop vs toughest opponents if Zags want their depth to be an advantage in March. Perry is just as important as Sallis imo because he gives the team a big strong bouncy post defender they otherwise lack.

Agree Flex, especially with the 3-pt shooting. On the flip side, for better or worse, history says the 7-man rotation in big games is "baked in".

Go ZAGS