SB Nation - Luke Nevill

BtB 2009-10 Mountain West Preview

Chris Dobbertean — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:00:29 -0000

Last season, the Mountain West's eternal Utah rivals represented the conference in the NCAAs, with both Utah and BYU falling in the first round. The Utes fell victim to in a now-traditional 12 over 5 upset, while the Cougars lost to Texas A&M for the second straight tourney. San Diego State could've been the third pick MWC team to make the field of 65, but the Committee passed on the Aztecs, despite their run to the conference title game. SDSU recovered to make it to the NIT semis. UNLV looked to be a solid bet for the tourney midseason, but a 4-6 finish to the MWC season, featuring three losses to the Aztecs, doomed them to the NIT as well.

Teams like the Utes, Aztecs, Rebels, and New Mexico all lost significant contributors during the offseason, but they also brought in plenty of new blood. How quickly they can integrate their talented newcomers will determine if they can pose a serious threat to BYU, the team who lost the least after 2008-09, at the top of the league.

When you add in Wyoming, who managed to finish 7-9 in the league last season, six of the league's nine members have gotten to the point where they're competitive night in and night out. That means TCU and Colorado State really need to raise their games and the league can only hope that Air Force can get back to the level they reached back in the early and mid-00s.

On the schedule front, there will be one big change this season. In a bid to improve non-conference scheduling and attract more national attention, the Mountain West and Missouri Valley conferences will face off in their first-ever challenge series this season.

More on the nine teams of the Mountain West after the jump.

Let's start with a look at last season's final MWC standings.

Mountain West Conference Standings

(updated 3.31.2009 at 10:02 PM EDT)

	Conf		Overall
	W	L	W	L
BYU Cougars	12	4	25	8
Utah Utes	12	4	24	10
New Mexico Lobos	12	4	22	12
San Diego St. Aztecs	11	5	26	10
UNLV Runnin Rebels	9	7	21	11
Wyoming Cowboys	7	9	19	14
TCU Horned Frogs	5	11	14	17
Colorado St. Rams	4	12	9	22
Air Force Falcons	0	16	10	21

Now here are my picks for the 2009-10 season, presented in reverse order. If a team name appears as a red link, click it to visit that school's SBNation site throughout the season for more in-depth analysis. You can also visit our Mountain West site, the Mountain West Connection.

Air Force (last NCAA: 2006) If Jeff Reynolds' Falcons played offense as well as they play defense, they'd return to contention. Thanks to the graduation of the team's three leading scorers from last season, that doesn't look likely this season. The Academy's top two returnees, 6-4 junior guard Evan Washington and 6-8 junior F/C Grant Parker, averaged a combined 12.8 ppg last season, so it could be another long season in Colorado Springs. The Falcons will participate in the Reggie Minton Invitational against Dickinson State, then either Northern Colorado or Texas Southern. They'll also face Niagara in UTEP's Sun Bowl invitational.

Colorado State (last NCAA: 2003) This season, there isn't a ton of hope up I-25 in Fort Collins either. Leading scorer Marcus Walker (17.1 ppg) is gone, and while sophomore PG Jesse Carr (8.8 ppg, 2.5 apg) is back from the injury that cut his freshman season short, he lacks targets in the backcourt. 6-9 junior Andy Ogide, who averaged 10+ points and nearly 6 boards a game in his first season after transferring from Ole Miss, anchors the frontcourt, while 6-7 junior Travis Franklin (6.5 ppg, 3.6 rpg) will have to boost his production. The Rams travel to Eugene for a round-robin that features host Oregon, UC Davis, and Winston-Salem State. CSU also welcomes Denver and Colorado to Moby Arena, while they visit UCLA.

TCU (last NCAA: 1998) Jim Christian lost leading scorer Kevin Langford (13.9 ppg, 4.5 rpg), but has two good building blocks remaining--6-9 Croatian Zvonko Buljan, who earned conference Newcomer of the Year honors in his first season out of junior college, averaging 12.3 points and almost 8 boards a game, and 6-6 Lithuanian senior Edvinas Ruzgas (10 ppg), the team's main perimeter threat. 6-2 sophomore Ronnie Moss (10.2 ppg) is also back, and the addition of JC transfer Greg Hill--another 3-point specialist--and freshman PG Xavier Roberson, is enough to ensure the Horned Frogs' backcourt should be strong. There isn't much experience in the frontcourt beyond Buljan though. Christian hopes 6-7 freshman Garlon Green, the brother of Dallas Maverick Gerald, 6-10 JC transfer Cheick Kone (from Mali), and 6-9 Nikola Cerina (from Serbia) can provide some help. TCU will participate in the West region of the NIT Season Tip-Off, where they have to face hosts Arizona State in their first game.

Wyoming (last NCAA: 2002) The Cowboys lost three key performers off a team that couldn't even manage a .500 mark in the Mountain West last season (and lost a CBI home game to Northeastern), including PG Brandon Ewing (18.5 ppg, 5 apg), SG Sean Ogirri (14.4 ppg), and 6-7 F Tyson Johnson (13.1 ppg, 7.5 rpg). 5-9 New Mexico State transfer JayDee Luster comes on just in time to replace Ewing at the point, while 6-4 JC transfer Thomas Manzano should see immediate minutes. Meanwhile, the frontcourt will be the Cowboys' strength, as 6-8 Afam Muojeke looks to build on a solid freshman season where he averaged almost 14 points and over 5 boards a game. 6-10 Adam Waddell (5.1 ppg, 3.9 rpg) is also back, while 6-9 Ryan Dermody is back from an injury that cost him last season. Plus, 7-2 Auburn transfer Boubacar Sylla comes aboard to play center this season. The Pokes' schedule is manageable, as they travel to Tennessee and Northern Iowa (for the Challenge) and host Akron this season.

New Mexico (last NCAA: 2005) Steve Alford's Lobos are going after their third straight 20-plus win season, but they'll have to do it without three of their four leading scorers from last season. 6-6 senior swingman Ramon Martinez will be expected to improve on the 10.6 points he managed in 2008-09, as will 6-1 junior PG Dairese Gary (8.1 ppg, 4.1 rpg) and 6-5 soph Phillip McDonald (7.3 ppg, 3.1 rpg). The frontcourt is a bit thin, as 6-8 sophomore A.J. Hardeman (2.2 ppg, 2.1 rpg) is the key returnee. Expect 6-7 JC transfer Darington Hobson to make an immediate impact on the frontline. The Lobos face a difficult schedule with California, Dayton, and Creighton (as part of the Challenge) visiting the Pit. Louisiana Tech, Miami (OH), and Nicholls State will also visit for a round-robin tournament. New Mexico will also visit Oral Roberts and face Texas A&M in Houston.

Utah (last NCAA: 2009) Jim Boylen has a lot of holes to fill, as the Utes will have to do without their four leading scorers from last year. The biggest loss is, of course, that of 7-2 Australian C Luke Nevill (16.8 ppg, 9 rpg). In the backcourt, you'll see more from 6-5 senior Luka Drca (7.7 ppg, 2.5 rpg) and 6-5 junior Carlon Brown (9.2 ppg, 5.2 rpg). Among the bigs, 6-11 Kim Tillie (3.3 ppg, 4.4 rpg) and 7-foot redshirt freshman Jason Washburn have the unenviable task of trying to replace Nevill. Two other JC transfers 6-7 G/F Jay Watkins and 6-9 F Matt Read will see a lot of action right off the bat. Utah has a difficult non-conference slate. They'll face Bradley, then either Illinois or Oklahoma State in the Las Vegas Invitational. The Utes also welcome Michigan, Oklahoma, and Utah State to the Huntsman Center, while they visit LSU and Weber State.

UNLV (last NCAA: 2008) The Rebels are among many Mountain West contenders who lost a lot of star power after last season, as G Wink Adams, swingman Rene Rougeau, and F Joe Darger are all gone. However, Lon Kruger welcomes back 6-4 G Tre'Von Willis (11.4 ppg, 4.3 rpg) and brings 6-8 UCLA transfer Chase Stanback to bolster the frontline and 6-6 Kentucky transfer Derrick Jasper to run the point. 6-11 Carlos Lopez, another highly regarded newcomer, will push 6-8 Darris Santee and 6-10 Brice Massamba, two underperforming returnees, for playing time. UNLV hosts Louisville, Nevada, Kansas State, and Southern Illinois (in the Challenge), while they visitArizona and Hawai'i for the Diamond Head Classic, where they open with SMU.

San Diego State (last NCAA: 2006) It's a Winter Olympic year, so expect Steve Fisher's Aztecs to go dancing. SDSU's previous tourney appearances under the former Michigan coach were in 2002 and 2006. If the Aztecs do make it, their newcomers will have had a lot to do with it. Four key players from last year's NIT semifinalists are gone, including Lorrenzo Wade (14.1 ppg, 4.6 rpg) and Kyle Spain (14 ppg, 5.3 rpg). 6-8 junior forward Billy White (8.8 ppg, 3.8 rpg) is ready for a breakout year, as is 6-7 soph Tim Shelton (7.9 ppg, 4.7 rpg). Plus, Fisher's newcomers include a bunch of guys who can score. Three transfers with D-I experience should have an immediate impact--6-10 C Brian Cantwell (Illinois), 6-5 G Tyrone Shelley, and 6-9 F Malcolm Thomas (both Pepperdine). Plus, freshmen F Kawli Leonard, G Chase Tapley, and F Alec Williams add even more firepower. The Aztecs' schedule features a November 17 meeting with St. Mary's, a home game with Arizona, a visit to Arizona State, and four games in the inagural West Coast Classic. SDSU will host Santa Clara and Northern Arizona and visit Fresno State and Pacific in that event.

BYU (last NCAA: 2009) Dave Rose will be back to coach the Cougars this season after fighting a rare form of pancreatic cancer this summer. That means the Cougars, whose only significant loss was leading scorer Lee Cummard (16.8 ppg, 6.2 rpg, 3.4 ppg), should play some inspired basketball this season. Two of last year's key men 6-2 junior guard Jimmer Fredette (16.2 ppg, 4.1 apg) and dangerous senior swingman Jonathan Tavernari (15.7 ppg, 7.2 ppg, 38% from 3) should be even better this season, and there are plenty of other backcourt weapons at Rose's disposal--6-3 junior defensive specialist Jackson Emery (7,8 ppg, 3.8 rpg), 6-5 Ivorian sophomore Charles Abouo, and highly-regarded freshman Tyler Haws. In the frontcourt, 6-11 senior C Chris Miles is the anchor (7.1 ppg, 4 rpg), while 6-8 Noah Hartsock (2.4 ppg) is ready to build off the 10 points he scored in the Cougars NCAA loss and 6-10 soph James Anderson (2.6 ppg, 1.6 rpg) could also be ready for a breakout season. BYU's schedule includes home dates with Bradley in the MVC/MWC Challenge and Arizona State, along with games against Nevada and either C-USA favorite Tulsa or Nebraska in the Las Vegas Classic.

The Cougars are my pick to claim the MWC's auto bid for this season. They'll appear in my 2009-10 Final Preseason Bracket, which I will release on November 9. The big question is, how many at-larges can the Mountain West earn this season.

To wrap up this preview, here is my preseason All-MWC team, featuring the best returning players from last season.

Preseason All-MWC Team

Player of the Year: Jimmer Fredette, 6-2 G, Jr. (BYU)

Remainder of the Team
Roman Martinez, 6-6 G/F, Sr. (New Mexico)
Afam Muojeke, 6-7 G/F, So. (Wyoming)
Jonathan Tavernari, 6-6 G/F, Sr. (BYU)
Billy White, 6-8 F, Jr. (San Diego State)

Poll

Who is your pick to win the Mountain West this season?

Air Force

1 votes

BYU

4 votes

Colorado State

0 votes

UNLV

2 votes

New Mexico

4 votes

San Diego State

6 votes

TCU

0 votes

Utah

3 votes

Wyoming

0 votes

20 votes | Poll has closed

Gonzaga's Daye, Heytvelt, and Downs Impress NBA Scouts

Zach B — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 06:43:24 -0000

Austin Daye continued to impress NBA scouts Tuesday in his workout with a number of NBA teams at Golden State's facilities. (courtesy of warriors.com)

View full size photo »

Just a few updates that I came across while browsing looking for workout schedules etc...

--You have to think that Gonzaga forward Austin Daye was hoping the athletic results from the combine would be lost and not posted on the Internet. Watching him for two years, it's pretty clear to see that he is not oozing athleticism. I saw this piece done by SB Nation partner site Testudo Times (Maryland) which said one of Austin's pluses was athleticism and I had to chuckle. He's skilled and has tons of upside but he's not about to go Dwight Howard on someone. Because of this, his combine results didn't really shock me.

But first...the good news that I just found about 3/4 of the way through writing this post. Austin worked out for the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday as part of a multi-team event with talent evaluators like Pat Riley and Don Nelson in attendance and prospects such as Terrance Williams, Luke Nevill, Darren Collison, and Chase Budinger. Austin got some great feedback apparently and is, once again, doing everything right.

Gonzaga forward Austin Daye and Temple guard Dionte Christmas had the best days, according to multiple NBA decisionmakers. Daye opted for a softer sell than Collison, using humor as his pitch.

"As long as Nellie likes me, I'm fine with it," joked Daye, who said he's "pretty committed to staying in the draft" but is looking for a guarantee that he will be picked among the top 20. "I don't really care who else is on the team."

Now for the athletic results from the combine (quite the buzzkill)...

continue reading this post for more on Daye and updates on Josh Heytvelt and Micah Downs

His vertical was middle of the pack, his agility and speed were near the bottom of the people tested and of course, he was the only person at camp that could not throw up 185 pounds on the bench press. Josh Heytvelt was actually able to bench 185 pounds 15 times (Notre Dame's Luke Harangody lead everyone with 23). No big surprise and no big deal for Austin. A guy that weighs less than 200 pounds with over a seven foot wingspan is not going to be able to bench that much weight. It's just physically improbable unless your getting one hell of a spot, just ask Kevin Durant. People will freak out for a day or so believing the bench press means something but as long as Austin keeps working out well, it won't matter.

As our plethora of fanshots pointed out today, Austin did not have the best workout in the world Monday for the T-Wolves. He missed a lot of shots and struggled in the physical drills. Whether or not this has a lasting effect on what he decides to do with his future remains to be seen but if he is not making open shots and at least showing some physicality in the paint, you have to believe that not many GM's are going to guarantee he will be top-20.

He does have to knock every team out of their chair however, just one, preferably in the top-20.

--Josh Heytvelt apparently worked out for the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday but they may have the worst team website (sorry EDZ) so it is hard to tell when he worked out and how he did. You'll see some evidence later on in this little piece but the T-Wolves apparently had Heytvelt confused with Gonzaga forward Micah Downs. Here is their mini-bio on JH:

Josh Heytvelt (Ht. 6-11, Wt. 260) scored 9.6 points while grabbing 4.6 rebounds in 25.5 minutes per game for Gonzaga last season. He shot 43.1 percent from the floor while leading the Bulldogs with an 81.3 percent free throw percentage.

Josh wouldn't have a sniff at the draft with those stats and doing a little research it's clear to see they filled Josh's bio with Micah Downs' information. The question now is what does it say for Micah's bio...you'll see.

Anyways, Josh worked out for the Wolves Tuesday but their is no real discussion about how it went even though according to other sources, Josh has been looking good. Their has been little information regarding Josh but here is a snippet:

•Q Score Up: Players who are being mentioned more and more in a positive light by NBA teams we speak to: B.J. Mullens, Tyler Hansbrough, Rodrigue Beaubois, Josh Heytvelt, Jack McClinton, Jeff Pendergraph, Omri Casspi

Obviously not Earth-shattering news but any positive news regarding Gonzaga prospects is worthy here.

On to the future for Mr. Heytvelt and in the immediate future he has an upcoming workout with the Sacramento Kings of the cellar. Keep your fingers crossed that Josh can avoid being drafted by Sacramento, why you ask? Well when was the last time you heard forward UW standout, now King Spencer Hawes' name? I thought so. The positive to this workout is that JH is in the same group as DeJuan Blair. It'll be very interesting to see how Josh does against a shorter but more powerful big like Blair.

--Back now to Micah Downs who has been very quietly impressing draft scouts and seemingly forcing his way into draft consideration. Micah was listed by the Minnesota Timberwolves site as having worked out Tuesday as well for the Wolves and he was lucky enough to receive Syracuse forward Paul Harris' bio on the site. Apparently Micah played 30.5 minutes a game for the Orange. Anyways, the site did offer a quick reaction to seeing Micah:

Micah Downs showed an ability to hit shots around the 3-point arc. The intriguing aspect to Downs is his length at 6-8. At the practice facility, it was hard to ignore the physical comparisons to Wolves' forward Mike Miller. Downs will need to prove to scouts that he can put the ball on the floor and not just rely on outside shooting.

According to DraftExpress, Micah is headed to Chicago to workout for the Chicago Bulls. Hopefully we can gather some information from that workout for you tomorrow.

That's all I got for you now but with all the workouts rolling in, keep checking back for more updates.

Poll

Any chance Austin Daye comes back to Gonzaga at this point?

100% Gone. Time to move on.

109 votes

A little hope, but probably gone.

137 votes

I fully expect him to be back at Gonzaga next year.

39 votes

285 votes | Poll has closed

Arizona Wildcats Keys to the Game

joenewby4040 — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:08:04 -0000

			FG			3PT			FT			Rebounds			Misc
	G	M	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	Off	Def	Tot	Ast	TO	Stl	Blk	PF	PPG
Jordan Hill	31	35.8	7.5	13.8	54.8	0.0	0.0	0.0	3.4	5.3	65.0	4.1	7.0	11.0	1.4	2.8	0.8	1.8	2.9	18.5
Chase Budinger	32	37.6	6.1	13.0	47.2	2.0	4.9	41.0	3.7	4.5	81.8	1.5	4.8	6.3	3.4	2.4	1.4	0.4	1.8	17.9
Nic Wise	32	36.3	4.9	11.0	44.9	1.9	4.5	42.4	3.3	4.0	83.6	0.3	2.1	2.4	4.6	2.8	1.5	0.1	2.4	15.1
Jamelle Horne	32	28.8	2.5	5.9	42.9	0.4	1.5	29.8	1.3	2.0	64.1	1.7	3.5	5.2	1.3	1.3	0.7	0.4	2.7	6.8
Kyle Fogg	32	23.2	1.8	4.0	45.7	0.7	1.7	40.0	1.8	2.3	78.1	0.8	1.5	2.3	1.7	1.2	0.7	0.0	1.7	6.2
Zane Johnson	30	19.5	1.6	3.7	43.6	1.1	2.8	40.0	0.4	0.6	76.5	0.4	1.5	1.9	1.0	0.7	0.4	0.1	1.9	4.8
Garland Judkins	18	12.6	0.9	2.2	40.0	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.6	1.0	61.1	0.4	0.6	0.9	1.2	1.2	0.3	0.1	0.9	2.4
Fendi Onobun	27	6.4	0.4	0.8	45.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.4	0.8	47.6	0.2	0.6	0.8	0.3	0.2	0.1	0.1	1.0	1.1
Alex Jacobson	24	7.0	0.5	1.0	44.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.3	57.1	0.7	0.5	1.2	0.1	0.4	0.0	0.2	0.8	1.1
David Bagga	6	1.7	0.3	1.0	33.3	0.3	0.7	50.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.2	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.2	1.0
Brendon Lavender	25	4.7	0.2	0.6	42.9	0.0	0.2	16.7	0.2	0.2	66.7	0.0	0.1	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.0	0.5	0.7
D.J. Shumpert	3	3.0	0.0	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.3	1.0	1.3	0.3	0.7	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	32	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.4	1.3	2.8	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

We've already had a snapshot of the Utes and a candid Q&A with Stephen from BlockU. Let's focus our attention on our own team and put out some keys to victory for today's match up

David vs. Goliath Seriously, that may be a little much. Jordan Hill as David? Only in terms of heigth. Luke Nevill is 7'2" and Jordan is 6'10". This will be an incredible matchup for both teams. Nevill has the ability to shoot over Jordan and Hill has the ability to move up and under Nevill with his ball handling skills. If either big men gets into foul trouble, their team is going to suffer immensely. As we broke down in the Q&A, Nevill and Hill play almost the same anchor role on their respective teams. If Jordan gets into trouble, Alex Jacobson is our next likely sub, coming in at 6'11".

Fourth Man The charade is over. We squeaked into the tournament and now it's time for someone to step up and be our fourth guy. Earlier in the year, I thought that was going to be Zane. He showed signs of consistency, only to become a non-factor almost immediately. Kyle Fogg averaged close to 15 points a game for three consecutive games, only to shoot less than 4 attempts the next few games. I think that Pennel's adjustment to make Jamelle Horne the fifth guy on the floor over Zane Johnson has been an excellent move. He has the ability to shoot a three, use his long arms to play incredible defense and grab boards, and also throw down monstrous dunks that have sparked the Cats on more than one occasion. My wish for someone to step up has me hoping that it will be Kyle Fogg. He seems to have a natural ability to also create opportunities for others while he is scoring himself, while Jamelle is more of a scorer's mentality. At this point, I don't care who does it. Just do it.

Jekyll or Hyde? Calling Chase Budinger. Are you there? Wait, which one am I speaking to. Am I speaking to the Chase Budinger who averages 17.9 ppg and shoots 41% from beyond the arc or am I speaking to the Chase Budinger who laid an egg against Arizona State in the Pac-10 Tournament. In all seriousness, he needs to come to play. He is an NBA player who needs to show that he can have a bad game and not let it affect him going forward. His disastrous performance in the Pac-10 Tourney hopefully lit a small fire under him and he should be ready to play today. His presence on the floor for defense, pushing the point, driving to the hoop and creating is immeasurable and I expect him to have a huge game against the Utes. Shaun Green for the Utes is 6'8" and will probably match up with Chase today and vice versa.

To Press or Not to Press Arizona has used the press this year, to my dismay, in almost every game of the season. I am not sure why Pennel keeps insisting on tiring out his guys when his bench is so thin. How many turnovers have we had from it? Does it really take any other team out of rhythym? Arizona State sure didn't have a problem with it, beating our press consistently with Glasser running around like a chicken with its head cut off and creating opportunities on the offensive side of their end. The press allowed opposing teams to get a 2-1 or a 3-2 many times this year, leading to either a bucket or an offensive rebound on their part because our guys weren't able to get back in time. I vote NO on the press. Always have, always will (This year). With a bench like ours, every minute counts.

WESTERN KENTUCKY Did y'all see that game last night? Foreshadowing.....

Game Notes

NCAA Tournament Picks You Can't Go Wrong With

dvieira — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 02:18:54 -0000

The NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament starts bright and early Thursday morning and if you haven't submitted your picks to the ATQ Tournament Challenge, please get going! You really have no excuse. It costs you nothing to get in and you get to have bragging rights over your fellow quack addicts. Trust me, you won't have any issues with NCAA Regulations orget fired from your head coaching job. That's just not what we're about. To get us all in the mood, I've thrown together some thoughts on some matchups that you MAY want to consider when filling our your own bracket. This won't be a comprehensive list of all the games, but just some key matchups you may want to consider when you are coming up with excuses for your boss why you are watching the games online in a completely free, unobtrusive way.

If you gamble using these picks and lose all of your money, don't blame me. I provide these for entertainment purposes only! Remember, there are dangers to filling brackets out.

Big Red preparing to eat a baby,
via i58.photobucket.com

5 Utah vs. 12 Arizona

Ah the dreaded 5 vs 12 matchup! History tells us that a lot of upsets happen in 5 vs 12 land. Utah comes in winners of the Mountain West Conference, winning some good games against Gonzaga and Washington State. Luke Nevill is a beast underneath, averaging almost a double-double, and the entire team is balanced. Arizona didn't end the season very well but they had a killer schedule to go through. We aren't far removed from the month stretch of an emotional win over Houston through wins against USC and UCLA. Nic Wise, Chase Budinger and Jordan Hill have all become unstoppable. Arizona matches up well in this game. Russ Pennell has said that he won't be getting the job to coach Arizona in the future so what do they have to lose? Take the wildcats in this game. WINNER: Arizona

7 Boston College vs. 10 USC

Another one of my upset specials, USC seems to have righted the ship coming into the end of the season by winning the Pac-10 championship, going through Cal, UCLA and Arizona State (all teams in the tournament). Taj Gibson is a man playing among boys and is a tough matchup for BC. The Trojans have 3 other guys besides Taj that are averaging in double figures in points. Dwight Lewis, Daniel Hackett, and freshman sensation DeMar DeRozan should all get their buckets. BC has played some great teams, but haven't always come out on the winning end. They split their games with Duke and lost both games to Wake Forest by double digits. DeRozen and Gibson should provide bad matchup problems for BC. Look for USC to pull the upset. Take the Trojans. WINNER: USC

7 California vs. 10 Maryland

I don't like this game for the Bears. I really don't know why. Both teams have some good wins and some really bad losses. Losing to Clemson in blowout fashion was not very good but Maryland has beaten Wake Forest and UNC this year and that makes them very dangerous. As for Cal, sometimes they look really good and sometimes they are just plain awful. I like Maryland's defense in this game and I think it shuts down the 3 point shooting from Cal. Take the Terrapins. WINNER: Maryland

5 Illinois vs. 12 Western Kentucky

Dangerous matchup for Illinois in the dreaded 5 vs 12 spot in the South Bracket. The Hilltoppers were the talk of the tournament last year when Western Kentucky beat heavily favored Drake at the buzzer. They have also beaten Louisville in Nashville this year 68-54 but that was WAY back in November. That seems like an eternity ago. WKU is has won 15 of their last 17 games, crushing the competition. That streak includes a win against Arizona State in the desert. Illinois has some good wins at the end of the season, beating Ohio State and Minnesota but don't forget about their 38-33 loss to Penn State. Just for that, I might never pick Illinois again. Take the Hilltoppers, if, for nothing else, they have the strangest mascot in the world. WINNER: Western Kentucky

Final Four:

Louisville
Memphis
North Carolina
Pittsburgh

Champion: North Carolina

Poll

Upset Most Likely to Happen This Weekend

Arizona upsets Utah

21 votes

USC upsets Boston College

15 votes

Maryland upsets California

18 votes

Western Kentucky upsets Illinois

22 votes

Jshufelt upsets the Pizza Man

9 votes

85 votes | Poll has closed

Getting to Know the Utes

joenewby4040 — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 21:00:11 -0000

Stephen from BlockU gives us a preview of what to expect from the Utes on Friday. It's a no brainer that the way to beat Utah is play good defense on Nevill and make the other guys on the floor beat you. Stephen says that they can be streaky at times, but if they are on, they are hard to beat. They also don't have much of a bench, only playing 6 or 7 guys per game. Sound Familiar?

1) What are the strengths and weaknesses of your team?

Utah's strength is the efficiency of their offense and the toughness of their defense. The Utes rank 25th in the nation in field goal percentage and hold their opponents to around 40% shooting, which ranks 39th. Though Utah ranks only 79th in scoring defense, throughout the Mountain West Tournament, they stifled opposing offenses, holding each opponent below 40% shooting. One of Utah's weaknesses this season has often been trying to find enough scoring power when Luke Nevill is essentially taken out of the game. If Utah's shooters actually hit from the field, then it's very difficult to beat them, however, they can be streaky and if they struggle, the whole team will struggle along with them. In the Utes' loss to BYU, snapping an eight-game winning streak, Nevill was held to nine points and the Utes shot only 29% from the field.

But Utah's biggest weakness might be their turnovers. The Utes average about 13 a game and in their two most recent losses, they had 15 and 18. That is probably the biggest concern for Utah entering the tournament this year, because in most of their losses, the reoccurring theme is those turnovers.

2) What kind of tempo do you expect Utah to display against Arizona?

With Arizona's zone defense, I expect Utah to push the tempo, especially if the Wildcats marginalize Nevill's impact down low. For that to be successful, though, players like Tyler Kepkay, Shaun Green and Lawrence Borha will have to hit their shots. However, the Utes have been able to slow the pace down and gut out ugly and tough victories, as was the case in their tournament championship game against San Diego State. Utah won that by two, but only scored 52 points, which is about twenty points lower than what they average.

3) If Nevill is shut down, who do you expect to take up the slack for the Utes?

As I mentioned, if Nevill is shut down, expect more of an outside game from Utah. For them to have any success with Nevill being taken out of the game, they'll need those players to step up and hit their shots, or it could be a very long day for the Utes. Fortunately, Utah has been able to break down the zone defense more often than not through their shooting.

4) What is your bench situation?

Utah is very similar to Arizona in the fact they don't have a very deep rotation. They generally only go 6 or 7 players deep, unless fouls become a major issue.

5) It looks like your struggles on the road compare to the Wildcats. What do you think about traveling all the way to Miami for the first round?

Personally, I would much rather Utah be playing in Boise or Portland, but it doesn't appear this scheduling favors either of our teams. So we'll see the impact it has, but since there probably won't be throngs of Arizona or Utah fans, I doubt the atmosphere is going to be challenging.

Snapshot of Utah Utes

joenewby4040 — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 14:12:10 -0000

Info

	Utah
Seed	5
Record	24-9
Conference Record	15-4

SOS	34
RPI	13
KenPom	25

Starters and Key Players

Player	Yr	Size	Ppg
Luke Nevill	Sr.	7'2"	16.9
Lawrence Borha	Sr.	6'3"	11.7
Shaun Green	Sr.	6'8"	10.4
Tyler Kepkay	Sr.	6'0"	10.1
Carlon Brown	So.	6'5"	9.4
Luke Drca	Jr.	6'5"	7.8
Jordan Cyphers	Fr.	6'4"	3.2
Kim Tillie	Jr.	6'10"	3.1

The Utah Utes reign from the Mountain West Conference, winning the conference championship 52-50 over San Diego State. They went 24-9 on the season and 15-4 in conference play. The Utes started off the season on shaky ground, falling to Southwest Baptist 79-80 on their first game of the year. They lost three in a row to Idaho State, California, and Oklahoma to bring their season win loss to 5-4. The Utes started gelling around this point and won 15 of their next 17.

The Utes are led by Senior Luke Nevill, who averages 16.9 ppg and 2.7 blocks per game. He is definitely a force to be reckoned with and will be the tallest player the Cats will face all year.

Nevill will try to wreak havoc.

The Utes have an array of other players who contribute on a nightly basis. Lawrence Borha is a guard, who averages 11.7 ppg. Shaun Green and Tyler Kepkay also average over 10 ppg. Carlon Brown averages 19.4 ppg and 3.2 assists as well.

The Utes have won four in a row, including two games against TCU, Wyoming, and San Diego State. They have also lost two of their last road games, at BYU and at New Mexico State.

			FG			3PT			FT			Rebounds			Misc
	G	M	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	Off	Def	Tot	Ast	TO	Stl	Blk	PF	PPG
Luke Nevill	33	32.0	5.9	9.8	60.7	0.0	0.0	0.0	5.1	6.4	79.1	2.0	7.1	9.1	1.3	2.5	0.4	2.7	2.8	16.9
Lawrence Borha	33	31.4	3.8	8.4	45.8	2.0	4.9	40.7	2.0	2.4	84.8	0.7	2.6	3.3	1.5	2.0	0.6	0.3	2.3	11.7
Shaun Green	33	29.0	3.4	7.2	47.0	2.2	5.5	40.3	1.5	2.0	73.1	1.2	3.8	4.9	1.8	1.2	1.1	1.0	2.6	10.4
Tyler Kepkay	33	30.3	3.3	8.2	40.6	1.3	3.8	34.1	2.1	2.5	84.1	0.2	2.3	2.5	1.2	1.5	0.5	0.0	2.1	10.1
Carlon Brown	33	29.5	3.6	7.9	45.8	0.2	0.9	19.4	1.9	2.8	68.8	1.2	4.0	5.2	3.2	2.1	0.7	0.4	2.0	9.4
Luca Drca	30	25.5	2.3	5.1	45.4	1.1	2.8	38.8	2.1	2.7	80.0	0.2	2.4	2.5	3.5	2.5	1.0	0.1	2.7	7.8
Jordan Cyphers	22	5.7	1.0	2.3	42.0	0.6	1.7	35.1	0.7	1.1	66.7	0.1	0.5	0.7	0.1	0.3	0.2	0.0	1.0	3.2
Kim Tillie	30	15.6	1.0	2.4	39.7	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.1	1.3	85.0	1.7	2.8	4.5	0.6	1.0	0.5	0.3	2.6	3.1
Morgan Grim	16	5.6	0.3	0.6	55.6	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.1	100.0	0.3	0.6	0.8	0.2	0.3	0.1	0.4	0.8	0.7
Jonathan Downie	6	1.3	0.2	0.2	100.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.3
Jace Tavita	25	6.8	0.1	0.4	33.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1	33.3	0.1	0.6	0.7	0.6	0.6	0.0	0.1	1.0	0.3
Tre Smith	1	2.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	32	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.8	1.6	2.4	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

Why I'm Pissed

Zach B — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 20:00:06 -0000

Washington beat Portland State without Jon Brockman.

You are going to have to bear with me on this one. The absolute insanity of last night's game did not really set in on me until the morning. I wasn't able to watch the game, which is probably a good thing being that it sounded like it was worse than the score indicated. After reading everydayezag's little rant (which I HIGHLY recommend) there are just a few little things I need to get off my chest about this program that has broken hearts since they made it big-time in 1999.

continue reading after the jump at your own risk!

I think the Washington sports curse is starting affect the Gonzaga Bulldogs. After playing one of the most exciting games against the University of Connecticut, Gonzaga just lost to Portland State...can cities have state schools? Someone needs to look into that, maybe we can get the game forfeited in our direction. Now, I realize that we are in December and Santa hasn't come yet but I see this loss having catastrophic effects on Gonzaga's tournament status. First off, Gonzaga has lost three games. As a team in a mid-major conference, three losses was their target loss number for this year if they wanted a #1 seed. We can kiss a 1 seed goodbye now that one of those losses comes to Portland State. Arizona is closer to getting a 1 seed than we are at this point with their quality wins and upcoming conference schedule. Three teams now have better positioning for the top spot than Gonzaga: Oklahoma, UCLA, and Arizona. I think that Arizona will drop out of contention and fall back to around a 5 or 6 seed during Pac-10 play but as of right now, they are better suited to take on top competition. The committee will have no issue with putting Oklahoma in the West region and UCLA tends to mature as the season progresses, as opposed to Gonzaga which seems to regress.

Ok, the tournament isn't until March so I guess I can quit complaining about how we just pissed away a sure fire Elite Eight bid. Oh wait, one more thing, if you aren't concerned about this team losing 2-3 more games this season then I would look through the GoZags archives and look at how this team has historically performed. I see potential for losses in five games, and I didn't even see the Portland State game as a potential loss so their are probably 2-3 more games we could lose. The five games that are most noticable are Utah, Tennessee, Memphis, @ Santa Clara, and @ St. Mary's. Gonzaga has the superior talent in all five of these match ups. What does a talent advantage mean when you are Coached by the Gonzaga coaching staff? Little to nothing. We should beat Utah but we travel there and Luke Nevill could put 40 points up. I can't envision the Zags coming away with a W in Tennessee after last night, I'm sure we can use the 'traveling' excuse if they lose. Memphis looks bad now but they will be ready when they visit Spokane and they have John Calipari who typically plays Gonzaga as his finger puppet when the two squads match up. Santa Clara has John Bryant so I won't count them out and they have really played good basketball against Gonzaga the past few years. St. Mary's has turned it on and look like a great WCC basketball team. I can't imagine us sweeping them.

So why in this crazy world of cities having state schools is this happening? It's hard to say that Gonzaga's fate was decided when the schedules were released but it really might be the case. Everyone loves to debate whether or not Gonzaga is mid-major, high-major, uber-major or non-major or whatever. But the funny thing is that our coaches don't even know what we are. If we are a high-major school, then there is no way we should be scheduling Connecticut, followed up by the Big Sky champion two days before Christmas, then traveling to Utah to face the Utes and then over to Tennessee. I mentioned in my game preview that this game freaked me out and it turned out to be the trap game I was indeed worried about. One of our live game thread comments said that we had no business playing this game right now and I have to agree. Mark Few, you can't expect a team with emotional teenagers to not be affected by that loss against Connecticut. If you do, than you have no clue about human behavior. These kids are 18-21 (I'm subtracting Ira's age because it hurts my argument) and were just exposed to a roller-coaster game in Seattle. Two of your most emotional players, Austin Daye and Micah Downs, fouled out of that game and had to watch at the end of the bench. Your 'glue-guy' and veteran guard Matt Bouldin may have had his worst game in a Gonzaga uniform before fouling out. The hangover was still noticable on Austin Daye and Micah Downs last night as they were sub-par. Matt seems to always play well at home and is able to have a short memory about things and he was outstanding last night. Now I realize that we can't change the schedule in the middle of the season but judging by some of the post-game quotes that Few threw out there, it seems as though he was surprised by Gonzaga's weak effort. It's YOUR responsibility to continue to push these guys and you failed. You failed before the game and you failed at halftime when the defecit was one point and Gonzaga came out like they were down 30.

All of the blame can not fall squarely on the shoulders of Mark Few and Jerry Krause, sadly. Gonzaga started out the season as rebounding machines. Josh Heytvelt and Austin Daye were pulling down rebounds using their length and athleticism. Since the Arizona game, however, this team has been humiliated on the boards. I'm really starting to ponder making T-Shirts that say Gonzaga: The Smallest Big Team in the Country on them. It's a very true t-shirt, which is why it's funny. This team has no dedication to rebounding. I never, ever, ever thought I would say this but the graduation of David Pendergraft and Abdullahi Kuso has absolutely killed this team. Well, maybe not so much Pendo, but I would pay a lot of money for one more year of Kuso. The dude just sat under the basket and collected rebounds. All we have seen this season are the guys trying to block shots and sit out on the perimeter and shoot three point shots. Josh Heytvelt has been the most disappointing player to me. He has pretty stat lines and did pull down eight rebounds...but the leading rebounder on the season for Portland State was 6'7''. Come on! I'm four inches shorter than that! Josh has GOT to learn his role. I hope to God that Mark Few isn't actually telling him to shoot three shots from beyond the arc a game and pull down less than 10 rebounds. If this is the case then you can ship him off to Arizona with no remorse from me. The loss of Robert Sacre could be something which spells disaster for this team because no one else cares about rebounding. One other thing that I would like to talk about is Jeremy Pargo. I've seen a lot of criticism of Jeremy after some losses but I just see a kid playing the role the coaching staff wants him to. It appears that the staff has made an effort to utilize Jeremy as a pass-first guard. This is a Pargo that we are not used to seeing and he seems to have lost some of his killer instinct on the offensive end. Instead of backing down players in the post like we have seen in years past, he is driving and making difficult dishes that have, on numerous occasions, wound up as turnovers. It seems like we are trying to fit a square peg into a round hole with him right now.

Well, we have some time to stew after this loss. The Zags don't play again until New Year's Even when they head down to Utah to battle Luke Nevill and the Utes. I'm sure we will go through the stages of depression and try and find something cheery about the way the season has turned on Gonzaga...after all it is the holidays. We're still 10000% behind this team. The season isn't over, but this loss is going to make the rest of the way a LOT more difficult.

I encourage the rest of you to drop some comments and get some stuff off your chest, you'll feel better about the loss after, trust me.

Hopefully no one makes the famous "Hitler YouTube video" after this loss.