SB Nation - Diamon Simpson

Previewing the 2009-10 West Coast Conference

Zach B — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:50:23 -0000

Brandon Johnson may have been the most exciting player in the WCC two years ago. Can he return to form after a terrible Achilles injury?

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As the lone West Coast Conference blog on SB Nation, we've taken it upon ourselves to do our best to publicize the WCC as much as we can. If you read the site last year, you know that we love to cover the conference as much as we can without alienating the Gonzaga faithful. Schools like St. Mary's and San Diego have had national success in recent years and the University of Portland appears to be destined for a breakout season. All these teams make the conference fun to watch especially when you combine that with the fact that all the schools in the bottom half of the conference at least appear to be headed in the right direction. San Francisco and Santa Clara are both proud programs that seem to be on the rise. Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount have really struggled the past few years but are still getting decent talent and should be able to compete in the conference.

The West Coast Conference has often been ridiculed by the national media for being a weak conference and that definitely holds some water. Gonzaga feels compelled to play, and travel to, a bunch of big time schools just to boost their RPI because once conference play hits, the odds are that Gonzaga's RPI will fall off a bit. This season, however, Gonzaga will probably get its greatest challenge for the regular season conference crown in recent memory. The Pilots of Portland under head coach Eric Reveno return 12 players from last season's team and are everyone's choice to give Gonzaga the most trouble. St. Mary's is always a challenging foe for the Zags and a great rivalry has kicked up between the two schools in the past few years. San Francisco, Santa Clara, and San Diego are also all fully capable of putting together nice seasons as they each have some very exciting, veteran players leading their teams into 2009-10.

After the jump we'll take a more detailed look at each of the teams in the conference (except Gonzaga) and outline where we think they are headed this season.

Portland Pilots

Last Season: The Pilots had an outstanding season a year ago under Eric Reveno. They went 19-13 and made their first post season tournament since 1996 when they were selected to play in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament. Portland was bolstered by a group of veterans led by Nik Raivio but the biggest key may have been transfer T.J. Campbell. Campbell arrived at Portland and made an immediate impact at point guard, averaging 11 points and 5 assists a game.

Player to Watch: Everyone knows the talent that Portland brings back this season. The big question is whether all of that talent has enough upside to show great improvement from last season to this season. For this reason, the key player for the Pilots is T.J. Campbell. Campbell brought so much to the team in his first season that expectations are very high for this final year in Portland. He's a very heady guard with great penetration abilities who will be the key if UP hopes to knock off Gonzaga in 2009-10.

Season Outlook: The Pilots kick off their season with Eastern Washington on the 14th of this month and face a pretty tough nonconference schedule. Games against Oregon, at UCLA, and at Washington will test Eric Reveno's team and will give them great preparation for WCC play. Fittingly, Gonzaga and Portland open up the West Coast Conference schedule against one another in Portland on January 9th. Overall, Coach Reveno did an outstanding creating a schedule not full of insane traveling that should give his team good rest while playing a respectable batch of games. I wouldn't be surprised if the Pilots took 2/3 from their Pac-10 foes.

St. Mary's Gaels

Last Season: It was a banner year in Moraga a season ago as the Gaels brought home a school record 28 wins in 2008-09. Led by the now departed Patty Mills and Diamon Simpson, St. Mary's was selected to participate in the NIT Tournament and they were a game away from heading off to New York for the semifinals before San Diego State upended them. A weak nonconference schedule and being routed by Gonzaga in the WCC Tournament championship gave away any hope for the Gaels being an NCAA Tournament team.

Player to Watch: St. Mary's is sort of going through a Gonzaga-lite experience this season. The Gaels have seven freshmen this season, five true and two redshirt. With all this youth for St. Mary's, a veteran has to be looked upon to pick up the slack and that guy is Mickey McConnell. Mickey was very inconsistent a season ago but returns for his junior year with some great experience after filling in for Patty Mills when he was hurt. The show is McConnell's now and he'll have to step up his output if St. Mary's is going to stay in the West Coast Conference race.

Season Outlook: St. Mary's will get two outstanding early season tests at the McKeon Pavilion in Moraga. San Diego State and Vanderbilt will make the trip to take on the Gaels on their homecourt and it will give St. Mary's a great idea of where they are at. Vanderbilt is a popular pick to be a top tier SEC team and San Diego State will challenge in the Mountain West. St. Mary's will also take on Oregon in Eugene and Utah State in Ogden to give them two nice road tests. Their hardest stretch of WCC games will be in mid-February as they take on Gonzaga, Portland, and San Diego all on the road in a seven day stretch.

San Francisco Dons

Last Season: It was a difficult year a season ago for the Dons. After not really playing anyone of note in their nonconference slate, San Francisco was greeted with some harsh reality and lost their first six games in conference play. The finally got off the hook with a win over Loyola Marymount but the season didn't really look up from their. The Dons would go on to win two more games in WCC play and were eliminated from the conference tournament by Pepperdine in their first game. The final tally for the Dons was an 11-19 record with three of them coming in conference.

Player to Watch: When I think about San Francisco, I actually feel happy that I won't have to watch Gonzaga take them on in person anymore. Not because it was such an awful game, but because I always feel terrible for Dior Lowhorn. Lowhorn is a combination of size and ability that even Gonzaga has trouble defending. He's been the leading scorer in the conference twice and averaged a little over 20 points a game last season. He has outstanding NBA potential and it is really hard to say where San Francisco would be without him on their roster...I'd wager somewhere near LMU.

Season Outlook: USF will be challenging itself this season with three very difficult road test in nonconfernece play. The Dons will face off with Arizona State, BYU, and Washington this season all away from their home court. They'll also make a trip to the Mountain time zone to take on Colorado and Colorado State. It's clear that Rex Walters is hoping to test his new, young nucleus of players with some road game that are winnable but will take a nice effort.

Santa Clara Broncos

Last Season: Santa Clara went 8-9 in their nonconference schedule a year ago with games against Georgia, FAU, UAB, Arizona, UNLV, Pacific, Stanford, Harvard, and New Hampshire all resulting in losses. They were able to defeat UTEP in a thrilling effort but aside from that, there wasn't a whole lot of quality wins on the schedule. A 7-7 record in the conference is what head coach Kerry Keating led his team to. Their only real surprising victory last season was their last game of the year when they took down Portland. They were led by John Bryant who is now graduated from the university and his shoes will be tough to fill.

Player to Watch: This is probably the easiest player to watch in the conference, save maybe for Pepperdine. Kevin Foster returns to Santa Clara for his sophomore season and will be expected to make a big jump from a season ago. The WCC's co-newcomer of the year with T.J. Campbell, Foster was also a Freshman All-American having averaged 15 points per game. The guard from Katy, Texas is an outstanding outside shooting threat as he broke Steve Nash's single season SCU record for three-pointers made. If SCU is going to be able to cope with the loss of John Bryant, it'll have to be Foster that puts in most of the work.

Season Outlook: Not a whole lot of beef in the nonconference schedule for the Broncos. San Diego State and UNLV will be two tough Mountain West opponents and Santa Clara will also be looking to avenge losses against New Hampshire and Harvard from last year.

San Diego Toreros

Last Season: San Diego's magical run a few years ago when the defeated Gonzaga in the conference championship and beat Connecticut in the NCAA Tournament feels like an eternity ago after a disappointing year last season. It got off to an awful start as senior Brandon Johnson tore his Achilles tendon after eight games. The Toreros wound up finishing with a 16-16 record and losing in the second round of the WCC Tournament to Santa Clara.

Player to Watch: Brandon Johnson was granted a fifth year of eligibility by the NCAA after his horrific injury. His return to the Toreros is enormous because without him, they might have challenge LMU for the spot in the cellar. Having also lost Gyno Pomare (graduation) and Rob Jones (transfer), Johnson will have to return to his old form and guide this team. There is a little experience with Johnson in the backcourt but the frontcourt will have sever growing pains for Bill Grier's squad.

Season Outlook: Games against Stanford, Oklahoma, San Diego State, and Mississippi State will give Bill Grier and the Toreros all they can handle in the nonconference slate. It appears that San Diego State has decided to schedule nearly ever WCC game, Oklahoma is a power in the Big 12, and Mississippi State could be a dangerous squad in the SEC. Stanford's basketball program is probably still a few years away but they still are Stanford and it will be a nice Pac-10 test right off the bat.

Pepperdine Waves

Last Season: Tom Asbury's return to coaching came with some mixed results in Malibu. They dropped 13 of their first 16 games including losses to Arizona State, USC, and Georgia Tech. Their only wins out of conference came against Western Oregon, Cal State-Monterey Bay, and Coppin State. They added five regular season conference wins and actually played inspired basketball. Wins over Santa Clara and San Diego were nice for Pepperdine but they were never able to challenge the heavy hitters and finished with a 9-23 record.

Player to Watch: Easily my favorite player not in a Gonzaga uniform is Keion Bell. The high-flying sophomore guard was one of the lone bright spots on the Pepperdine roster. Bell average about 13 points a game last year and brought some flare to the program. Keion is a very reckless player on the court however. He averaged about four turnovers a game last year and only dished out two assists. That will have to change in a big way for the Waves to show any signs of improvement.

Season Outlook: UCLA, Utah, Georgia, and Miami will all test Pepperdine in their nonconference schedule. The good thing is that they get Utah and Miami on their home court in Malibu. The rest of the schedule is anyone's best guess. Pepperdine will suffer some head-scratching losses but the key is for their veteran core to show some improvement and get some quality wins.

Loyola Marymount Lions

Last Season: You kind of have to give LMU a pass for their play a season ago. All summer and fall leading up to the season, we talked about LMU being the next program to challenge the top dogs. Bill Bayno was in charge and recruiting well but that all changed when Bayno took a leave of absence and eventually left the program. Max Good stepped in at the embattled program and led them to a historic 3-28 record. Wins over Bakersfield, San Diego, and San Francisco were all this team could muster.

Player to Watch: Believe it or not, the Lions do have some talent. They have two outstanding transfers who will be making an impact this season and one of them is former Oregon Duck Drew Viney. A 6'5'' sophomore forward, Viney left the Ducks after a short stint there due to injuries. He was a Scout top 100 recruit when he came out and will be called on to not only start immediately but be a leader on the team.

Season Outlook: In all honesty, every game for LMU will test them this season. With such a rough past few seasons, the program is still searching for an identity to build upon. Hopefully the new young players and transfers can build this program back into a proud on. Games against USC and Notre Dame stand out on the schedule for the Lions this season

ZB's Preseason Power Rankings
1. Gonzaga
2. Portland
3. St. Mary's
4. Santa Clara
5. Pepperdine
6. San Francisco
7. San Diego
8. LMU

Top 10 Players Not in Gonzaga uniforms:
Dior Lowhorn, USF
Kevin Foster, SCU
Keion Bell, Pepp
Mark Trasolini, SCU
Omar Samhan, SMC
TJ Campbell, Port
Nik Raivio, Port
Jared DuBois, LMU
Drew Viney, LMU
Brandon Johnson, USD

Poll

Outside of Gonzaga, St. Mary's, and Portland, which WCC team has the best shot for a breakout year in 2009-10?

San Diego

152 votes

San Francisco

30 votes

Pepperdine

18 votes

Santa Clara

51 votes

251 votes | Poll has closed

Could Tim Floyd's Resignation Further Weaken the WCC?

Zach B — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:43:20 -0000

St. Mary's head coach Randy Bennett is expected to be on the short list of candidates for the USC vacancy.

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Tim Floyd has been on a two-month roller coast ride that finally ended yesterday at rock bottom. The former USC coach was reportedly about to be named the head man at Arizona a few months ago before a change of heart that kept him at Southern Cal. You have to wonder how he feels about that decision now. Floyd is now out as the Trojan head basketball coach and his departure has left the college basketball world scratching its head. Floyd's "resignation" now adds fuel the fire that is USC athletics. The basketball and football programs have come under investigation by the NCAA for potential recruiting violations and Tim Floyd was specifically implicated for his handling of OJ Mayo.

What happens at USC from here on out, we could really care less about here at SSF but the head coaching vacancy definitely caught our eye. If Floyd would have left USC a few months ago and taken the job at Arizona, the Trojans probably could have avoided some of this recruiting mess and landed one of the bigger fish of college basketball, maybe even Pitt's Jamie Dixon. Now, however, they are going to have a tough time finding a well-established coach like that to jump ship for a program that has really taken a beating recently. For this reason, I would not be stunned if current St. Mary's coach Randy Bennett was on the shot list for the USC job.

Putting aside all the recruiting issues and recent player defections, Southern Cal still has plenty of offer a guy like Bennett. First off, they are in the Pac-10. Bennett won't have to have 30 or so wins to make the NCAA Tournament if he is in the Pac-10. He'll have 1000x better facilities, get to work in LA, and be friends with Pete Carroll. This also comes at a pretty rough time for the St. Mary's program. Graduating senior Diamon Simpson is no longer a Gael and guard Patty Mills recently declared that he will remain in the NBA Draft. This means that the only really established player they have returning is Omar Samhan and a supporting cast of Mickey McConnell and Wayne Hunter. They have some good young players like Tim Williams and Colin Chiverton but they're redshirts and have yet to hit the court.

This would be the worst-case scenario for a program like St. Mary's because they are at a very crucial juncture in their development. The West Coast Conference is notorious for having teams rise up and challenge Gonzaga in recent years only to fall back down to the depths of the league (see LMU a few years ago). If Bennett were to leave the program, you would have a very inexperienced team with a brand new coach and that is never a healthy combination. It is the last thing the West Coast Conference needs as well. The Gonzaga-St. Mary's rivalry is really starting to push through on the national level and it has become two games that a lot of America watches. Bennett leaving means the conference is probably a one-bid league for quite a while again, unless Eric Reveno can continue showing progress with Portland.

I never expected Bennett to remain with St. Mary's until he was done coaching and there is no doubt that he has paid his dues to the program. In his eight years he has shown a remarkable eye for talent with guys like Patty Mills and Diamon Simpson who were largely overlooked and turned in to two of the best players on the West Coast. I'd imagine his name will become pretty hot from this point on when the USC job is discussed. Their will be plenty of other names I'm sure. The big fish like Billy Gillispie and Bob Knight will probably be mentioned and guys like Reggie Theus as well. Hopefully they stay away from Randy Bennett but he may be to hard to ignore.

So this is how it ends

Grady. — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 07:42:06 -0000

NCAA Basketball Stats

Let us revisit my burning questions for this game:

Is Patty Mills back to form?

A: Yes. Yes. And yes. Although that little flop in the first half made me lose a whole lot of the respect I had for him.

Can Baynes outperform Simpson under the basket?

A: No. No. And no.

Can we keep St. Mary's off the free throw line?

A: Absolutely not. That 41.5% FT rate is unacceptable.

Still, it doesn't matter how it ends. It just ends. And for 95% of college basketball teams, it ends with a loss.

This, in so many ways, was a microcosm of our season. A disappointing start, with moments of brilliance down the stretch that made us believe we had a chance. Then, ultimately, a bittersweet ending. This was the life of the 2008-09 Cougs. At least we'll always have The Shot.

It is going to be weird to have to watch WSU basketball without Taylor Rochestie, Aron Baynes, Caleb Forrest and Daven Harmeling. Thanks. You meant so much to this program.

Player of the Game: Aron Baynes. 19 points, 10 boards.

Play of the Game: The Marcus Capers jumper to bring the Cougars within four with 6:39 remaining.

It was over when... Omar Samhan's jumper gave St. Mary's a 63-53 lead with 4:49 to play.

Stat of the game: Patty Mills' 27 points on 8 of 15 shooting, including 5 of 9 from three-point range. Our friends at the Zag blog warned us Patty Mills was streaky. We ended up on the wrong end of the streak tonight.

Scouting Report: St. Mary's

Grady. — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 06:11:45 -0000

Courtesy of kenpom.com:

Category	Offense	Defense	D-I Avg
Adj. Efficiency:	110.1 [56]	96.2 [75]	101.1
Adj. Tempo:	66.4 [166]		66.5
Four Factors
Effective FG%:	49.8 [137]	46.3 [54]	49.1
Turnover %:	18.7 [68]	18.2 [300]	20.4
Off. Reb. %:	39.2 [18]	29.7 [45]	32.9
FTA/FGA:	40.7 [59]	30.3 [45]	36.5
Miscellaneous Components
3P%:	33.6 [189]	34.2 [167]	34.2
2P%:	49.5 [110]	44.6 [49]	47.9
FT%:	69.3 [160]	68.9 [176]	68.9
Block%:	7.7 [92]	11.4 [51]	8.8
Steal%:	8.3 [37]	10.1 [144]	9.9
Style Components
3PA/FGA:	34.4 [131]	26.1 [7]	33.1
A/FGM:	52.8 [205]	42.5 [3]	54.0
Defensive Fingerprint:	Mostly Man
Point Distribution (% of total points)
3-Pointers:	27.1 [177]	23.5 [301]	27.6
2-Pointers:	50.8 [214]	58.1 [12]	52.0
Free Throws:	22.1 [83]	18.4 [264]	20.4
Strength of Schedule
Components:	102.5 [133]	100.2 [139]	101.1
Overall:	0.5658 [126]		.5000
Non-conference:	0.6284 [67]		.5000
Personnel
Bench Minutes:	33.6% [107]		30.7%
Experience:	2.16 yrs [37]		1.66
Effective Height:	+2.2 [49]		0.0
Average Height:	77.2" [71]		76.5"

A couple of noteworthy things when reading this chart. One, if a number is in brackets, it is a national rank. Two: green equals good, red equals bad.

There's only one thing in the Four Factors that St. Mary's is bad at, and as luck would have it it's one of the things we're bad at too: forcing turnovers. That should be a huge aid to our offense. This team simply cannot afford turnovers. Because we surrender the offensive rebound for our transition defense, we need to make our possessions count. All of them. Secondly, we are not a come-from-behind team, as evidenced by UCLA and countless other runs that have put us down this season. Maybe not so much against UCLA, but in most games where we've been run off the floor this season, turnovers have played a huge role.

The good news, at least I like to think it's good, is that St. Mary's only does one thing remarkably well. That's offensive rebounding, and the fact of the matter is when you have superior talent in a conference like the WCC, you absolutely should dominate the offensive glass (although Gonzaga doesn't, which is either an anomaly or a result of their brutal nonconference schedule).

Which brings me to my key matchup of the game: Aron Baynes versus Diamon Simpson. We need Baynes to be prolific with defensive rebounding, and we need him to steer clear of foul trouble, which he's been so good at this year. Simpson is ranked 11th nationally in free throw rate, so watch out. If Baynes gets in trouble, hope Casto is a suitable replacement. If DeAngelo gets in trouble too, we are basically out of luck. Might not matter what Patty Mills does if our big men get two quick fouls called on them. Simpson is also a beast at defensive rebounding, rated 35th nationally in DR%. Again, as I look at these numbers, I hope it has something to do with the fact that St. Mary's opposition just wasn't as strong as ours.

So, my three burning questions for the game are:

Is Patty Mills back to form? His injury basically sunk a Top 25 team.
Can Baynes outperform Simpson under the basket?
Can we keep St. Mary's off the free throw line?

If I could tell you the answers to those, I would probably have some kind of super power. I can't. We'll find out for sure tomorrow

The scariest thing as I glance at the scouting report above it looks remarkably similar to one University of Washington basketball team. Dominant in offensive rebounding, excellent at getting to the free throw line. Don't get down about that - UW is much better, and we held our own against the Huskies even with Klay Thompson and Marcus Capers in foul trouble. Nevertheless, St. Mary's is a solid team that has every right to have a chip on their shoulders about failing to make the Big Dance.

Make no mistake - I want this game. One, to give WSU and the Pac-10 a marquee win in the NIT. Secondly, the WCC has been going all out in its effort to recruit Australia's finest. They even worked with ESPN (imagine that!) to get a number of their conference games televised down under. I would love to show a nationwide audience in the U.S., and possibly Australia, that Baynes is the best Aussie on the court, and that Australian players should be looking to suit up in Crimson and Gray.

This game, oddly enough, could have some serious impact on recruiting in the future. At least we have Brock Motum already locked up for next fall.

WCC Finals: Zags vs. Gaels

everydayezag — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 23:07:42 -0000

When this season started in late October, nearly every fan in the WCC could have predicted a Gonzaga vs. St. Mary's game in the WCC championship. However, I'm not sure any fan could have anticipated the path that these two teams would have taken here. Despite currently being ranked 12th in the country, this season has certainly been a roller coaster ride for the Zags. A frustrating run in late December and early January, which saw Gonzaga lose to Arizona, Portland St., and Utah had GU fans wondering whether this team was worthy of all the preseason hype. I'll openly admit that I had some concerns about this team, but it seems over the past 2-3 weeks, the coaching has pushed all the right buttons and has this team peaking. For the Gaels, everything seemed to be going perfectly until the night of January 29th. It seemed that the Gaels finally had the talent to conquer the mighty Gonzaga empire, but all those plans began to crumble when Patty Mills fractured a bone in his hand. An 18-1 start was ruined, and it took the Gaels quite a long time to regain their swagger. What makes the match up tonight so special is that both teams will be playing at the highest level possible during the most important month of the season.

This is night that many St. Mary's fans have been dreaming of since the injury to Patty Mills. The Gaels have played well enough to survive without their star player, but for this team to reach its ultimate potential, it must have a healthy and confident Mills.

As we all know, this is a tremendous team when it's firing on all cylinders. Leading the way for the Gaels is the fantastic Patty Mills. Many Gonzaga fans have a strong memory of Patty Mills lighting up the Zags for 18 points in the first 20 minutes in Spokane. While this performance was surely a slight aberration, its clear that Mills is obviously one of the most talented and explosive athletes this conference has seen in the past 10 years. Mills leads the Gaels with 18.4 points per game, but his presence on the court is worth much more than that.

I have to believe that Diamon Simpson and Omar Samhan are the two happiest people on the face of the earth. These two have seen their play dip with Mills out of the lineup, but both are outstanding compliments when Mills is healthy. Each ot the two towers averages 13.6 points per game, while Simpson averages an impressive 10.8 rebounds per game. While we were all impressed by the tremendous offensive display from Austin Daye yesterday, it's vital that he plays one of the top defensive games of his career tonight. Daye has struggled with the physicality of Simpson in both meetings this year, but he seems to be playing with great confidence.

There is no doubt that if Gonzaga plays at the level it did last night, the Zags will emerge with a victory. However, the main issue with this team has been the lack of consistency. All Gonzaga fans are hoping that this team has started to hit its peak at just the right time, and the game tonight should prove whether last night was an aberration or a preview of things to come. The optimistic side of me believes that the Zzags are finally peaking at the right time of the season, and tonight we will see a dominant Gonzaga performance. Behind a rejuvenated and terrific Jeremy Pargo, the Zags will emerge with a 79-68 victory.

Poll

What do you expect the result of the WCC Championship game to be?

Zags win by 11+

63 votes

Zags win by 1-10

23 votes

Gaels win by 1-10

1 votes

Gaels win by 11+

3 votes

90 votes | Poll has closed

Quick Primer for the WCC Tournament

Zach B — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 21:07:53 -0000

It's hard to believe that postseason play begins tomorrow for the West Coast Conference. After a very odd year, even by WCC standards, the top of the conference looks the way most people thought it would at the start of the season. Gonzaga continued their dominance over the conference with a 14-0 record and St. Marys, despite losing Patty Mills, battled back to overcome Portland and take the #2 spot which gives them a two game bye. Don't expect too much from the low seeds in the conference tournament. The bottom half of the conference has proven to be quite terrible and I would not be surprised at all if we had no upsets throughout the entire tournament.

continue reading after the jump for a few things to watch for in Las Vegas...

If you find yourself watching one non-Gonzaga game in this tournament it should be... Santa Clara and San Diego possibly matching up in the second round of the tournament. While I think neither of these teams will really have any sort of impact on the outcome of the tourney, I could see this being one of the better games to watch. The Broncos feature conference player of the year John Bryant and the Toreros still have the talent to pull the upset and make it all the way to the third round despite being without their star player Brandon Johnson. Gyno Pomare and De'Jon Jackson are two players that are good enough to take down John Bryant and Santa Clara and Bill Grier is still one of the best coaches on the West Coast. I'd be very surprised if this wasn't a great game.

Three players to watch that aren't getting the attention they deserve...

Keion Bell (Pepperdine): Bell is one of the most talented young players this conference has seen. As a freshman, he has stepped into an immediate leadership role for the Waves and has shown the capability to be a Brandon Johnson type player for the Waves. He's averaging nearly 13 points a game in his first collegiate season and has played particularly well against Gonzaga, averaging 18 points. Look for him to lead the Waves past the Dons in the first round.
Kevin Foster (Santa Clara): John Bryant may have trimmed down through his career at Santa Clara but he still casts a large shadow over the rest of his team. One such player that has been largely left in the dark is Broncos' guard Kevin Foster. All Foster has done this year is avearge nearly 15 points a game and has really become a great second option for Santa Clara. Not only that, but he comes into the game on a hot streak. Three of his last four games have been 20+ point performances.
Dior Lowhorn (San Francisco): There hasn't been a player that I have felt this bad for in quite a long time. Lowhorn has got it all. He is a physical specimen and he can really play the game but he is trapped in one of the worst situations in college basketball outside of LMU. Rex Walters seemingly has no control over the situation and is carrying out some sort of soap opera in the Bay Area and all Lowhorn does is pour in 20 points a game for the Dons.

Prediction Time: The first round match up should be a cake walk for USD and I also like Pepperdine behind Keion Bell and Mychel Thompson to defeat the Dons. In the second round, I think Bill Grier and the Toreros pull it off. They've been struggling but they know how to play in the postseason as we saw first hand last year and I think they pull the upset. No chance for the Waves however, as Portland easily rolls over them. The top two seeds at this point are just light years ahead of the competition right now and they should easily cruise to the championship on Monday. While I have gone back and forth on who would win this game if Patty Mills was healthy, I have to predict that Gonzaga takes down the Gaels to win the automatic bid from the WCC. Mills is a gamer but with the injury that he suffered, I don't think he will be ready to blow up against the Zags so quickly. The game will be close which could be enough for St. Mary's to sneak in the tournament as an at-large but overall, Gonzaga just has too much.

All-WCC Tourney Team:

Center: Josh Heytvelt, Gonzaga: Hottest player in the conference right now.
Power Forward: Diamon Simpson, St. Mary's: One of the best defenders and most consistent players in the conference in recent memory.
Guard: Matt Bouldin, Gonzaga: As EDZ says, Bouldin is Mr. WCC and he should have a great tourney
Guard: De'Jon Jackson, San Diego: Jackson is the surprise spark for a nice tournament run for the Toreros.
Guard: Jeremy Pargo, Gonzaga: Pargo should outshine the rehabing Patty Mills in the tourney and finish his WCC career in great fashion.

Zags Win, Questions Remain

Zach B — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 08:35:27 -0000

I'll be the first to admit it. I'm guilty. I expected way too much of this team coming into the season. The talent level of this Gonzaga Bulldogs team is through the roof on paper but it has become pretty obvious that through 23 games this team is not ready for the big time. Each game since December, with some minor exceptions, seems to bring up the same issues. Rebounding, free-throw shooting, chemistry, inconsistency, etc, etc, etc. Tonight, each of these issues came out in full force and nearly cost Gonzaga the game.

Here's the AP style recap: Gonzaga won a nailbiter in Moraga tonight, 72-70 over a fiesty St. Mary's squad, who was missing their heart and soul, Patty Mills. Josh Heytvelt was brilliant tonight in 34 minutes. He really controlled the paint in his 20 point, 10 rebound performance. Matt Bouldin continues to put up gaudy stats against the WCC with 21 points.

my take after the jump...it's an elaboration of the first paragraph, not the second.

I'm not much for AP style recaps because they sound so pretty. If you saw tonight's game, it was pretty obvious that there was not really anything pretty about this game, well except for the new black uniforms, which are excellent.

The game started just the way we have become accustomed to Gonzaga games starting, slow and lacking enthusiasm (we're a second half team). Steven Gray nailed the first basket of the game and then caught the early flight out of San Francisco. Zags have a 3-0 lead, time to pour it on! Right? Nope, new uniforms, same team wearing them. St. Mary's hung around despite looking like an extremely mediocre West Coast Conference team. Normally a reserve, St. Mary's Wayne Hunter made his push for WCC player of the year tonight and played quite well, keeping his team close in the first half after hitting a number of threes. Gonzaga was ice cold in the first half and never got on track shooting the basketball early on. To add to the poor shooting, St. Mary's was the more energized team and played like the wanted it. It showed in a number of areas that have plagued Gonzaga all season.

This is my favorite possession of the game as it really sums up the majority of the evening in Moraga.

13:27		10-14	Ian O'Leary Defensive Rebound.
13:01		10-14	Diamon Simpson missed Two Point Jumper.
13:01		10-14	Saint Mary's Offensive Rebound.
12:52		10-14	Mickey McConnell missed Three Point Jumper.
12:52		10-14	Diamon Simpson Offensive Rebound.
12:51	Foul on Micah Downs	10-14
12:50		10-14	Diamon Simpson missed Free Throw.
12:50		10-15	Diamon Simpson made Free Throw.

Three St. Mary's rebounds, including two on the offensive glass, a Gonzaga foul, and a missed Simpson free throw. Gonzaga was murdered on the glass tonight, especially in key times. The final tally came out to 45-33 in favor of the Gaels. Diamon Simpson was an absolute man for the Gaels, pulling down 15 rebounds on his own. No player has been more impressive on a consistent basis against Gonzaga than Diamon.

The rebounding situation for Gonzaga is not a new issue. I don't think that there is a question that the rebounding problems that Gonzaga has is in direct correlation with the zone defense that the coaching staff has fallen in love with. I understand the zone defense to start the game because Mark Few really does try to hide Austin Daye on the defensive side as he has the tendency to pick up early fouls that sideline him. It's clear that he simply can't match up the size and grit of Omar Samhan and Simpson. However, in the second half, when Omar Samhan is a complete non-factor and you are playing a team with a marginal basketball players like St. Mary's, you can afford to man-up and play defense so that Carlin Hughes does not victimize you with three-pointers late in the game. Every single game in Moraga seems to have one St. Mary's shooter get hot. Last year it was Todd Golden and this year it was Hughes late in the game. Get Matt Bouldin out in his face and make him run around and get him out of his element. He's not Stephen Curry but he is a division 1 basketball player The three-pointer he shot from Josh Heytvelt's armpit was pure luck but he was able to stand there, size it up, pump, and draw what should have been a foul and sink the shot. In Spokane, you can get away with the zone most times because a guy like Hughes will not get hot away from home but in Moraga, with his student body behind him, you have to account for streaky shooters.

Like I said in the opener, what we saw tonight is a 23-game-old problem. It's not like St. Mary's came out and played their best game tonight. They shot 57% from the free-throw line and turned the ball over more than Gonzaga. They may also have gotten hosed on a call late. They have just as many excuses as Gonzaga about why this game wound up the way it did. I apologize if this post is a completely frustrated one but it's hard to look at the talent on the court and live with some of the results we have seen. It's a total matter of chemistry and leadership. We talked about the same things way back in December and I honestly thought the leadership aspect of this team would change once we got some conference wins and started rolling again. There is just no identity this year. We raved about the depth but it has gotten so inconsistent that it is anyone's guess as to who is going to show up which days. Tonight it was Josh Heytvelt and Matt Bouldin who played well. Against Memphis it was Josh and Micah. Against UConn it was Jeremy and Steven. Other games it has been Austin but we have rarely seen any sort of consistent effort from everyone. It shouldn't be a maturity issue. Gonzaga has one freshman playing this season and everyone else, aside from Will, is familiar with big time minutes or is 26 years old.

I guess we can blame it on the fact that in the two biggest games in front of pro-Gonzaga crowds, UConn and Memphis, the Zags lost. That's got to take a toll but you are telling me that a team like Notre Dame, who hasn't won a game in weeks was in a better emotional state than Gonzaga? But they went out tonight and dominated one of the best teams in the nation from start to finish. It's not because they have more talent or depth than Gonzaga, it's because they have an identity and they rode their workhorses and played with emotion.

The sad thing for Gonzaga fans now is that there are no more games for this team to really get their swagger back. The next three opponents have six combined victories in conference play and 18 wins total, which is exactly the same number of wins that the Zags have after defeating St. Mary's tonight.

More to come tomorrow, I'm sure. Zags win, woohoo.

Poll

Issue #1 with that game last night was...

Passion, or lack there of

66 votes

Rebounding

44 votes

Zone Defense

17 votes

Daye and Gray were non-factors

38 votes

Nothing, we're great!

3 votes

168 votes | Poll has closed

Projecting the Hoops Season: Top 25

Zach B — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 20:35:15 -0000

swBefore putting this up I should link my original top 25 which, after a few games, has already changed. UCLA looked bad last night against a pretty darn good Miami of Ohio team. The West is down in basketball this year, well except of course for my beloved Zags. The Big East is once again the dominant conference from top to bottom...but as usual, the ACC has some of the top teams, including the odds on favorite to win it all.

1. North Carolina...Hansbrough is hurt but should be back for the bulk of the season. They are absolutely loaded this year.

2. Louisville...Rick Pitino may finally have his championship year at Louisville. Blue-chip recruit Samardo Samuels joins an already talented Cardinals roster.

3. Connecticut...Barely behind Louisville. Thabeet is sure talking a lot, hopefully he can back it up on the court. I hope Harangody beats him up though.

4. Michigan State...This is my sleeper team. I love Kalin Lucas, there are not many point guards better than him this season. Delvon Roe is another freshman to watch.

5. Pittsburgh...DeJuan Blair is going to be a manchild in the middle and Sam Young has developed into one of the best forwards in the nation.

6. Oklahoma...This one is for Woodrow. Willie Warren is going to be the most productive freshman this season. Blake Griffin will also be the number 1 selection in the upcoming NBA draft.

7. Notre Dame...Still not completely sure about this one. I'm not sure if they have enough talent to put together another great season in such a tough Big East.

8. Gonzaga...This is with as little bias as possible. The Zags are the best team on the West Coast. Austin Daye and Josh Heytvelt are the one's to watch along with Jeremy Pargo.

9. Texas...Damion James does everything for the Longhorns and is one of the most complete players in the nation. Can they replace DJ Augustin?

10. Duke...I usually think the Blue Devils are overrated but I like this team. They have an excellent back court. Kyle Singler is Mr. Fundamental.

See the rest of the Top 25 after the jump...

11. UCLA...I'm just not impressed by their interior play. They have talent but not having Kevin Love is going to hurt. If they had him, they could be challenging Carolina for the top spot.

12. Memphis...The Tigers lost a lot with the departures of Dorsey, Rose, and CDR but they reloading quite nicely. Taggart and Dozier will have to lead this team that will rely on plenty of youngsters.

13. Tennessee...JP Prince's injury worries me but he should be back healthy for the bulk of the season. Bruce Pearl signed one of the best players in the country in Scotty Hopson and he'll be expected to contribute immediately.

14. Purdue...Robbie Hummel is a top player in college basketball this season. Only a sophomore, Hummel will be counted on to make this team go. If they can stay more consistent this year, they could be great.

15. Georgetown...I'm hoping and praying that the Hoyas and Zags match up this season. Dajuan Summers is bound to break out this year. He's got all the tools to be a top tier player this year.

16. Arizona State...James Harden could wind up being the player of the year in college basketball. The Sun Devils should challenge UCLA in the PAC-10.

17. Florida...Florida should be vastly improved from last year. Jai Lucas has transferred but Nick Calathes could make an All-American team by season's end. The Gators are on their way back to the top of the college basketball world.

18. Villanova...This team is nowhere near the Foye, Lowry, and Allen Ray team but they have the potential to be a very good team by the end of the year.

19. Wake Forest...Three five-star freshman will be taking the floor for Wake and they are all taller than 6'9'', I wish Gonzaga could borrow one. Get to know Al-Faroug Aminu.

20. Marquette...The Eagles have been a consistently solid squad for many years and this year will be no different. Jerel McNeal is one of the best guards in the nation and Dominic James is always reliable.

21. USC...If Davon Jefferson was still in the fold, this would be an elite team but now they are forced to rely on freshman DeMar Derozan.

22. Miami...It feels odd to me to put Miami in a top 25 for basketball but they should be a force this season in the ACC.

23. UNLV...I think this is going to be a very special season for Lon Kruger's team. Wink Adams is one of the top guards in the nation and redshirt freshman Beas Hamga should be a man in the middle.

24. Xavier...There will be plenty of new faces in the max for the Musketeers but they have some solid returning players like B.J. Raymond.

25. Saint Mary's...The Gaels deserve a spot in the Top 25 as they have one of the best combos in the nation with Diamon Simpson and Patty Mills. Mills should become a household name by seasons end.

Who Just Missed: I'm not ready to put Kansas in the Top 25 yet. They lost so much from last year's championship team that they'll have to prove it first. The fact that San Diego only got one vote combined in the two major polls is stunning. I have them pegged as a top 30-35 team to start the year. The loss of Jason Richards is going to hurt Davidson a lot more than people like to think. Stephen Curry is a much better player when he can move without the ball. As the point man, he's not going to have that luxury very much. I struggled leaving Baylor out of the top 25. Curtis Jerrells is about as good as it gets in the Big 12. Syracuse has a whole ton of talent but I'm not convinced that Jim Boeheim is going to be able to harness it all.