Yeah ...they play totally within themselves. The Zags do. They are a centered team with high BB IQ all around

(03-31-2021 09:16 AM)holyterror Wrote:  

(03-31-2021 07:31 AM)Atlanta Wrote:  

(03-31-2021 05:17 AM)Browning Hall Wrote:  

(03-30-2021 07:12 PM)passat25 Wrote:  Just can’t help it but get nostalgic about the old days when we used to be better than Gonzaga.. I am still surprised none of the blue bloods has come to get Mark Few out of Spokane.. They must have some deep pockets up there... or he just doesn’t want to leave.

Few has had numerous opportunities to leave. Says he enjoys his life without thinking BB 24/7/365.

Good for him.

Too bad Calipari wasn’t of the same mindset

(03-31-2021 12:07 PM)oruvoice Wrote:  

(03-31-2021 10:59 AM)tiger1016 Wrote:  

(03-31-2021 10:36 AM)oruvoice Wrote:  

(03-30-2021 11:30 PM)tiger1016 Wrote:  Big 10 basketball = still ugly as hell
Having an NBA player as coach doesn’t help either

Well, they did make the Elite 8 with one of their top players recently sidelined with an injury.

By playing ugly basketball...

If we could get to the Elite 8 playing ugly, I'd be ok with that.

Man...not sure what your point is :)
Big 10 has been known for ugly basketball and it hasn’t changed much. Even adding a coach with NBA experience to a Big 10 team hasn’t changed the style much. Big 10 teams have made deep runs before playing this ugly style. But I don’t have to like it.

Just like I don’t like Harden’s brand of NBA basketball but his teams have made runs in the POs

(03-31-2021 02:20 PM)tiger1016 Wrote:  

(03-31-2021 12:07 PM)oruvoice Wrote:  

(03-31-2021 10:59 AM)tiger1016 Wrote:  

(03-31-2021 10:36 AM)oruvoice Wrote:  

(03-30-2021 11:30 PM)tiger1016 Wrote:  Big 10 basketball = still ugly as hell
Having an NBA player as coach doesn’t help either

Well, they did make the Elite 8 with one of their top players recently sidelined with an injury.

By playing ugly basketball...

If we could get to the Elite 8 playing ugly, I'd be ok with that.

Man...not sure what your point is :)
Big 10 has been known for ugly basketball and it hasn’t changed much. Even adding a coach with NBA experience to a Big 10 team hasn’t changed the style much. Big 10 teams have made deep runs before playing this ugly style. But I don’t have to like it.

Just like I don’t like Harden’s brand of NBA basketball but his teams have made runs in the POs

My point is that I don't care about the style we play, if it results in deep NCAA tourney runs.

(03-31-2021 03:13 PM)oruvoice Wrote:  

(03-31-2021 02:20 PM)tiger1016 Wrote:  

(03-31-2021 12:07 PM)oruvoice Wrote:  

(03-31-2021 10:59 AM)tiger1016 Wrote:  

(03-31-2021 10:36 AM)oruvoice Wrote:  Well, they did make the Elite 8 with one of their top players recently sidelined with an injury.

By playing ugly basketball...

If we could get to the Elite 8 playing ugly, I'd be ok with that.

Man...not sure what your point is :)
Big 10 has been known for ugly basketball and it hasn’t changed much. Even adding a coach with NBA experience to a Big 10 team hasn’t changed the style much. Big 10 teams have made deep runs before playing this ugly style. But I don’t have to like it.

Just like I don’t like Harden’s brand of NBA basketball but his teams have made runs in the POs

My point is that I don't care about the style we play, if it results in deep NCAA tourney runs.

Good for you

Doesn’t mean others have to like the style. Michigan underachieved for their seed. The whole Big 10 conference playing an ugly brand of basketball grossly underachieved.

Regardless my statement had nothing to do with performance. It was an observation that the ugly brand of basketball that has been the calling card of the big 10 hasn’t changed even with addition of “exciting” coaches

(03-30-2021 09:13 PM)chrisd11 Wrote:  

(03-30-2021 08:09 PM)presskh Wrote:  

(03-30-2021 07:12 PM)passat25 Wrote:  Just can’t help it but get nostalgic about the old days when we used to be better than Gonzaga.. I am still surprised none of the blue bloods has come to get Mark Few out of Spokane.. They must have some deep pockets up there... or he just doesn’t want to leave.

I’ve thought about that, as well. Seems like it was about 2012 or 2013 when we last beat the Zags at the FedEx Forum. Our programs really diverged after that. However, Penny has us on the right trajectory, I believe. It’s much harder to bring a program back, like Penny has been faced with, than inheriting one at its peak, like Pastner did.

So many of the Opie defenders on this board will never understand that. Opie inherited a brand new Corvette right off the show room floor. Penny inherited a used Ford Pinto.

Good post.

Pastner inherited a depleted roster with looming sanctions---however Penny did have to follow the CHARLATAN GRIFTER

The cupboard wasn’t bare (spoon, for example) but it wasn’t stocked either. Both extreme views on the roster are exaggerated.

Pastner inherited some good players, and lost some really good players at the last minute

He took the good players and probably came within a win of making the tournament

Inherited returnees
Wesley Witherspoon
Robert Sallie, who had that great tourney game but was not a great player
Donneal Mack
Willie Kemp
Pierre Niles
Angel Garcia, kind of

Will Coleman
Transfer Eliot Williams

The above is a sold roster, but not exactly NCAA tournament lock level

Stephens, Barham and a few other frosh

Of the five core returnees, none of them excelled under Calipari, although they were behind better players. Nonetheless, he had kids to work with and ultimately did about what would be expected with them

In addition to the above, it was expected the team would also have John Wall, Xavier Henry, Eric Bledsoe and DeMarcus Cousins, all but Bledsoe having committed

My guess is with Wall and Cousins he wins a few more games and then some

(04-02-2021 07:33 PM)jsw3ent Wrote:  

(03-30-2021 09:13 PM)chrisd11 Wrote:  

(03-30-2021 08:09 PM)presskh Wrote:  

(03-30-2021 07:12 PM)passat25 Wrote:  Just can’t help it but get nostalgic about the old days when we used to be better than Gonzaga.. I am still surprised none of the blue bloods has come to get Mark Few out of Spokane.. They must have some deep pockets up there... or he just doesn’t want to leave.

I’ve thought about that, as well. Seems like it was about 2012 or 2013 when we last beat the Zags at the FedEx Forum. Our programs really diverged after that. However, Penny has us on the right trajectory, I believe. It’s much harder to bring a program back, like Penny has been faced with, than inheriting one at its peak, like Pastner did.

So many of the Opie defenders on this board will never understand that. Opie inherited a brand new Corvette right off the show room floor. Penny inherited a used Ford Pinto.

Good post.

Pastner inherited a depleted roster with looming sanctions---however Penny did have to follow the CHARLATAN GRIFTER

It was not a depleted roster. It was a roster of 6 players who were a part of a winning culture that Opie inherited... and 7 if you count Taggart who Opie couldn't convince to stay.

Witherspoon
Mack
Sallie
Kemp
Niles
Garcia

Add to that roster Elliot Williams who just wanted to come play for the home team.

And it wasn't about the roster. It was about the National brand Cal handed over to Pastner. We were a top 10 (maybe even top 5) brand that he inherited that made recruiting so easy for him. We were right up there with the bluebloods at that time. It's a shame he couldn't do anything with all the talent that that brand allowed him to recruit to.

Agree . I flew in for the NIT game vs St. John’s; it was a sellout.

Elliot was a monster . He and Spoon dominated.

If you’re not watching Arizona vs UConn, what are you waiting for?

The refs really effed up that call .

Yeah, I just picked it up in the 4th quarter. Very interesting phantom 5th foul on that UConn player. Looks like AZ gonna’ hold them off to win it.

Stanford won earlier ... knocked off SC by a point

Fun game. Pulling for Arizona on Sunday.

6 men’s and women’s teams in total left

Bill Walton loving life

Stanford
UCLA
Arizona

Gonzaga
Baylor
Houston

UCLA is hanging tough

They got a Tyger

Feels like at any moment Gonzaga will run away but they were up 7 now down one

UCLA man

And UCLA is a playin team lol

Everything the pundits said about Gonzaga maybe feeling extra pressure if the game is close because they have not been in close games is coming true

They made a big three Kate and had a nice steal but also a bunch of little mistakes

Pressure