BYU vs Gonzaga Thread

[jay santos]

Two games against UNM and one against SDSU (again--on a third consecutive night with a 6 man rotation) is marginal?? UNM could beat a lot of tourney teams.

Spanked by #5 SDSU
Split with #47 (Sagarin) New Mexico, losing in total margin
Beat Wyoming (223), TCU (183), Wofford (93) with total MOV not too impressive

That puts you about #50.

[Art Vandelay]

I hate how SU makes me waste my valuable time...

In games with a 10 point spread or less this year.

BYU: 12-3 outright and 8-7 ATS
Gonzaga: 9-9 ouright and 8-9-1 ATS

I have no money on the game so the spread, though fun to look at, means nothing to me. As I said, in this or some other thread recently, BYU has played very well in close games this year.

[EuropeanFootballMale]

If BYU gets hammered by Gonzaga it's going to be spooky how similar the arc of your basketball season and our football season were. I've always considered Gonzaga the Boise State of college basketball.

What I was wondering is who you consider the Gonzaga of college football.

[SeattleUte]

I hate how SU makes me waste my valuable time...

In games with a 10 point spread or less this year.

BYU: 12-3 outright and 8-7 ATS
Gonzaga: 9-9 ouright and 8-9-1 ATS

I have no money on the game so the spread, though fun to look at, means nothing to me. As I said, in this or some other thread recently, BYU has played very well in close games this year.

GOING BACK MORE THAN SIX GAMES, MAYBE MORE THAN LAST NIGHT, IS A COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME.

That's one of the best things about college basketball, the opportunity for redemption. This Gonzaga team does not resemble the one that generated the stats you're researching.

Once upon a time St. Johns would have killed Gonzaga. Then St. Johns lost an irreplacable interior player. . . . Gonzaga put its troubles behind it, etc.

[CardiacCoug]

Spanked by #5 SDSU
Split with #47 (Sagarin) New Mexico, losing in total margin
Beat Wyoming (223), TCU (183), Wofford (93) with total MOV not too impressive

That puts you about #50.

I tend to agree with you, but 6 games is way too small a sample size. For all we know BYU minus Davies is #100 or #15.

I was going to post that this game was a Pick'em last night but never got around to it.

BYU's overall "body of work" for the season is a lot better than Gonzaga's, but BYU is struggling and Gonzaga is playing well right now. But just because BYU struggled a little bit against Wofford, I wouldn't write them off. It happens all the time in the tournament that one of the top seeds plays a close game but then wins the next game in a blowout.

Generally, fans probably give too much weight to recent games and not enough to the entire available evidence.

[TripletDaddy]

Gonzaga has a better coach. Don't forget that.

Typical of the WCC. The Utes know a strong talent pool when they see it. Speaking of which, What is the latest on the ST. Marys hire?

[TripletDaddy]

SeattleUte is getting double miles with his posts today. He self medicates against his growing Jimmerphobia and he also draws attention away from how mediocre the Big East looked yesterday. Lol, Louisville

[old_gregg]

SeattleUte is getting double miles with his posts today. He self medicates against his growing Jimmerphobia and he also draws attention away from how mediocre the Big East looked yesterday. Lol, Louisville

i'm worried about him. it's far too early in the day and in the tournament for bourbon. maybe i'll call the temple and have him put on their prayer roll.

[dixdog]

Why does anyone respond to SU?

He only posts to get under the skin of BYU fans. When has he ever been right about BYU basketball this year? Never.

[dixdog]

Mark Few said he has had an assistant scouting BYU since before the seeds were announced. He has an assistant scout all teams they haven't played before and will be playing in the upcoming year. That way they can prepare in the offseason.

[SeattleUte]

Why does anyone respond to SU?

He only posts to get under the skin of BYU fans. When has he ever been right about BYU basketball this year? Never.

Most recently I was correct predicting that Gonzaga would be favored to win this game.

[falafel]

Most recently I was correct predicting that Gonzaga would be favored to win this game.

No you weren't.

[Donuthole]

Most recently I was correct predicting that Gonzaga would be favored to win this game.

lol

[SeattleUte]

No you weren't.

Do you know how to read these?

http://www.vegasinsider.com/college-...dds/las-vegas/

[KillerDog]

Who cares about spread and Ken Pomeroy. This is going to be an exciting basketball game. A couple of facts:

Gonzaga has done a poor job of defending the 3 point line this year. Not a spectacularly poor job but a poor job. Part of the reason is that their guards are not impressive defensively. Part of the reason is that their bigs are true bigs. We will be a difficult match-up for them because we spread the floor and will force their big guys to guard in space.

Gonzaga is a very good team in the paint. They have big athletic guys who know how to play the game. This is an advantage to them. I expect they will score more off of deep catches in the block than we will (it seems silly to have to say that because I expect 0 points off of catches in the block for us).

Gonzaga plays at an average pace for college hoops. This is to be expected given their size. We like to play at a faster than average pace. If we can push the pace, they will have trouble. Our ability to push off makes or misses will be critical. It will force their 5 and 4 to drage their 245+ lbs up and down the floor. It will also force them to go to their nearly equally talented back-up 5. It will also allow us to trade 3s for 2s.

Basically this game will be strength against weakness at both ends of the floor. Their interior scoring and rebounding against our interior defense and rebounding. Our outside scoring and spreading the floor against their defense in space.

Like all of you, I watched the SJU v. GU game and came away impressed with the 'Zags. I did not, otoh, come away fearful of either team. SJU looked like UNLV. In fact, I think the two teams are so similar that I would bet some of our UNLV stuff could have been our SJU stuff. Gonzaga beat SJU by forcing them to do stuff they didn't want to do. Luckily for Gonzaga, that played into their strength too. IOW, SJU is a dribble penetration team that can't shoot from range consistently. Gonzaga's defense is best at help side interior defense. Not a good matchup for SJU (that's why I picked the upset on both brackets.) That doesn't mean Gonzaga has miraculously become Kansas overnight. They still have weaknesses. I expect BYU will exploit those weaknesses.