Gonzaga at Portland, Saturday 7:00 PM

Well, here we sit at 9-5 pre conference. Losses vs. WVU (neutral), PSU (H), Idaho (A), UW (A), and Nevada (A). Quality wins vs. Oregon (H), UCLA (N), and Minn (N). Before the season began, I was hoping for two wins in Anaheim and quality wins vs. Oregon and on the road against Nevada. Obviously, I was thinking we'd have two wins against Idaho and a win against PSU. Those are blemishes on our schedule.

If we win 10 or 11 confernce games, we will have a final record (before the tourney) of 19-9 or 20-8. 12 conference wins (my high mark) puts us at 21-7, which would be a very good place to be going into the tournament.

After catching the Idaho and Army games over Christmas, we'll need to pick up a few things to reach those win totals, especially now that BJ is not returning this season. I believe that our keys to winning games are defense and rebounding. Defensively, if we keep teams in the 60s (preferably the low 60s), we realistically have a chance of winning every game. I think we have the ability to do this, but it takes some very hard work. I notinced that, especially in the Army game, Rev was VERY focused on defense. He was up and yelling when we were on defense, making sure the guys were working hard. We aren't necessarily more athletic than teams we will be playing, soyou counter that with hard-nosed defensive efforts. Good defense is only effective if you can rebound your opponents missed shots. It seems to me that Nik has somewhat disappeared on the fensive glass - maybe only getting 3 or4 a game. With Kramer, Robin, Ethan, Luke etc blocking out, it creates the opportunity for Nik to come in and grab the board. If he can picvk up those rebounding numbers, that would help greatly. Force the opponent into bad shots, and limit the opportunities they get for second chance opportunities.

Other things that are important. Free throw shooting!!!! Gotta get those numbers better. It will keep games close when every shot may not be falling, and let us pull away from those games that are 6-10 point leads going down the stretch. Not having let downs, whether they be at the start of a half, or just on the road in general. We're a veteran team, and need to be present mentally at all times. We shouldn't let teams back into games, and we shouldn't let equal or lesser opponents build an insurmountable lead.

All in all, I think we're starting to get back on our stride. We need to realize that, while we're a great shooting team, our offense won't carry us to victory. We have got to be a tough team and allow our entire game defensive effort to lead to a solid offensive output that will put us on top over the stretch of a 40 minute game.

Thoughts?

Go Pilots!!

And since I didn't really put anything Zag specific in there....We'll have to play with our "A" game to beat the zags. Honestly, they've really impressed me this year. I thought they would be a two-man show with Gray and Bouldin, but Harris and Sacre have really looked good, really good. Harris especially, with his athleticism, scares me.

I think rebounding will be huge for us. Remember how WVU got soooo many second chance points? I think Gonzaga has the potential to do the same thing. Offensively, we can't let their extended defense take us out of our offense. It seems like when people extend teir defense on us, we tend to let it take us out to the half court line. This is not a good place to run your offense from. penetration and dishing is key when facing that type of defense.

It also wouldn't hurt for Ito to knock down a few threes that he gets the opportunity to take. He's been shooting pretty well as of late. I like the chances of him getting a few open looks - knock em down Taishi!

Lukes skull against Bouldins head (He's already had two concussion's, and Luke put Kramer out for 4 games last year.

Robin and Harris get in a tussling match and the Germans both get ejected.(What do you think...Robins teaching Luke and Kramer,Ethan, and Jasonn a few cuss words to get Harris revved up and thrown out of the game???)

Ito brings his friend Kevin Durrant back for his one game only senior year as a transfer from Texas and throws him the winning pass in a 72-69 victory .


Enough jocularity, it will take a great performance to be in the game, and an outstanding one to win the game. Dtrchn your DEFENSE and REBOUNDING points are right on. Quite an observation

I'm not really surprised by anything that Gonzaga is doing this year. Gray makes them tick. Their pointguard had an end-to-end buzzer beater in the tourney to beat a team that had knocked of Louisville in the regular season (in last year's tourney). Boldin is a solid player, and Sacre was so promising as a freshman that I felt he could be dominant in the WCC. Plus, in Few's system he just seems to reload. Unfortunately, the Jesuit ballers are still good. But, we have another high RPI team on our schedule.

I'm more surprised by our struggles with road games, and I hope we can turn that corner. Fortunately, this game against GU is at home!!! We tend to do everything slightly better at home: defense, rebounding, turnover differential, and hitting the free throws. So, I'm going to stay positive here. Go Pilots. Give us your A game again! And for bleep's sake hit the darn free throws! (Okay that's as positive as I'm going to get today.)

onetouchfutbol wrote:Their pointguard had an end-to-end buzzer beater in the tourney to beat a team that had knocked of Louisville in the regular season (in last year's tourney).

I was in the arena for that. It made me sick. That team was Western Kentucky, who upset Illinois in the first round. Watching Washington lose in front of a bunch of Husky fans was terrific, though.

http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/tix/1540041629.html

http://portland.craigslist.org/clk/tix/1539434699.html

http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/tix/1538629513.html

Looking at these I kinda wish I had taken advantage of buying the extra seats and selling my half court, first row. Oh well, I just hope we have a lot of Pilots fans there.

Serioulsy, all I hear about these days is that we are in a recession and the stuff (especially tickets) are really cheap. Then I see this and when the Pack visited the Vikings there were tickets on craigslist for $1200.

I doubt anyone will spend the $250 though. Wouldn't be surprised if they sold for $75.

Everyone saying they want tickets are saying they will pay face or a little more. Who knows??

I guess you cant blame a seller for listing a high price up front... but I find it very hard to believe anyone will pay that much for them... Check prices again on Saturday morning...

Well on Stub Hub there aren't even any available, and the return match at Spokane has tickets running in the $300-$400 range...

For all that extra money maybe someone can convince ESPN to launch their 3D network 6 months early at CC...

Well this thread has officially been INFECTED, as portions of a post has made the Bulldog message board so a few of their "bandwagon" fans not regular posters (I'll give them credit that their regulars can stick to original material) could pile on comments made on this board about our team with deep sarcasm.

I can't believe those guys are whinning about tickets still, they had month's and month's and now the bandwagon fans are complaining they cant get any tickets, duh, it was sold out awhile back. I don't hear any of their fans that attend every year doing this kinda .


Oh well it will be settled on the court on Sat. EVE.

mattywizz wrote:Serioulsy, all I hear about these days is that we are in a recession and the stuff (especially tickets) are really cheap. Then I see this and when the Pack visited the Vikings there were tickets on craigslist for $1200.

I doubt anyone will spend the $250 though. Wouldn't be surprised if they sold for $75.

Sports tickets are one thing that haven't been affected at all by the economy. They're like the market for HD TVs or I-phones. Nobody seems to think about whether they can afford it, and everyone rationalizes it as a priority.

When we beat the Zags at home, whenever that day comes, it will be especially sweet because it will be in front of tons of Zag fans.

I hope we are in for a different situation this year; tickets were much harder to come by, even for UP people "in the know"... and there were only a few upper rows on the end zones left when they went on public sale. I think the crowd will be much more UP-trending this year than recent history...

Maybe all of Rev's appearances on The Game earlier this year have drawn interest in the Pilots. Hooking up with them has been a tremendous idea as they brought in Canzano to do his show before the PSU game and have been running promos all week talking about how they will be live at the Chiles Center Saturday.

Yeah, publicity is good for our program for sure...

A few other keys to the game other than what's been mentioned:

Transition defense--At our best against Minnesota, we were able to negate their athleticism by having everyone get back on D, contest shots with tenacious arm movement, and limit second shots.

Hit free throws when we are in the bonus--This is truly becoming one of my pet peeves. We could have won 1-2 more games this season on the road if we just drew fouls when we had the lead and protected our lead by hitting free throws at the line.

If you read these blogs, Rev... Please, please, please get our guys to draw fouls and hit free throws when we're in the bonus. It's so bread and butter... That being said, I do believe in our guys.

GO PILOTS!

Just trolled the GU board and they are all thinking this is going to be a 15+ point win by the zags. I am excited for this one and I hope our team is well rested (and everyone is okay from the stomach bug or whatever was going around). This should be a good game and hopefully will kick off the season. Our first 3 games could go a long way for this season.

RiseUP wrote:Just trolled the GU board and they are all thinking this is going to be a 15+ point win by the zags. I am excited for this one and I hope our team is well rested (and everyone is okay from the stomach bug or whatever was going around). This should be a good game and hopefully will kick off the season. Our first 3 games could go a long way for this season.

I do not see a single person on our board predicting a 15+ plus win by the zags. If Portland is shooting the 3 well, which they are obviously very, very capable of, it should be an excellent game. If not, I think the margin will be 10+. No doubt Portland is better than a few of their bump in the road games. A good team, especially at home, will always be tough. I think it will be a great game.

jake wrote:

RiseUP wrote:Just trolled the GU board and they are all thinking this is going to be a 15+ point win by the zags. I am excited for this one and I hope our team is well rested (and everyone is okay from the stomach bug or whatever was going around). This should be a good game and hopefully will kick off the season. Our first 3 games could go a long way for this season.

I do not see a single person on our board predicting a 15+ plus win by the zags. If Portland is shooting the 3 well, which they are obviously very, very capable of, it should be an excellent game. If not, I think the margin will be 10+. No doubt Portland is better than a few of their bump in the road games. A good team, especially at home, will always be tough. I think it will be a great game.

cjm720 cjm720 is online now
Zag for Life
Posts: 1,147
I'd be suprised if their senior starters don't really show up for this game. If we can minimize our turnovers and 3pters, I think we route 'em - 15+ point win.

ZagManFan
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 595
Ahhh, see. I just see a whoppin coming. What a time to start the WCC. We get to play who many thought was our biggest challenge this year right out of the gate. What message would that send if we came out and won by 20? AT PORTLAND!!
GU will be pumped for this game. STATEMENT GAME!!!!
GU by 21. Elias goes for 25 Who is going to stop him?

titopoet
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 236
Attack the inside, then attack the inside, then attack the inside. They know Matt, Gray, and even Sacre (Though not the new and improved Sacre), I don't think the understand how good Harris really is if they think that UW has better athleticism.

I think if GU brings the A game, Portland is not within 15. I aslo think this will be a statement game for the rest of the WCC. The big dog is the big dog.

If they bring there B game and Portland gets hot from the outside, then there is trouble.

Granted there are 2 threads on GU Boards for this game and the one has predictions coming in at more of a 6-10 point margin. I have to say I am happy that there are a few saying that it will be a good game and it will be a good test for both teams. Finally Portland is close to earning the respect of those around the league. It would be nice to continue that with a big home court win to kick off the season.

I missed the second thread. To me, those guys are overly optimistic. Sure we will be pumped for the game, but so will Portland. Portland has clearly had more success at home, and I expect they will shoot well. Stohl's shooting ability is scary to me. Also, some of the UP posts can step out and hit jumpers better than most big guys. That could create problems for us. What I think is most interesting is that the strengths of both teams are different, and it will all come down to who can capitalize best and exploit their advantages over the other team.

Gonzaga has really impressed me this year. I thought it was going to be a down year for them and that would give us a clear shot at winning the league but it is still gonzaga's league and I hope we can put up a good effort in changing that tend tomorrow night. We've gotta win the home ones if we want to be at the top of the league. I can't wait until tomorrow.

Nice preview. I know that Rev is playing this down, but, this game is very big, and it is a statement game. It will really affect my enthusiasm for our season and probably all of our fan base. This is one of the last really legit chances we have to beat a ranked team on our schedule this year and add a quality victory to the tourney resume. I don't like our chances of beating GU on the road, and I'm really surprised that our last victory over them in 2003 was on the road.

Here are some keys to the game:

TJ Campbell vs. Demitri Goodson: Will this be a draw...or does something got to give? Pretty good end to end transition speed in both players. Can TJ win the battle with his three point shooting or does Demitri win with penetration? Or is it a draw? I'd have to say that TJ did lose his battle with Isiaiah Thomas against UW, the other point guard he played who was this calibur.

Raivio vs. Bolden: Who does a better job of starting off the fast break off the rebound and go play?

Can we play with the defensive tenacity we played with against Minnesota? Or will we get outmuscled like we did against Washington? Can we hit free throws in the bonus and draw fouls if we obtain that advantage? Will a player like Stephen Gray be the X-factor who makes the difference? Can Stohl or Campbell fight through screens and picks to hit a few threes?

At the risk of causing cardiovascular distress to an Arizonan, PPT, Drummer and I can confirm a sighting of one Dave "I'm the Big Ref Now" Libby.

Oh dear... Well I guess even in semi-retirement Big Game Dave can't resist the pull of the big game (and I suppose he also has to do his job observing his minions)