Kevin Pangos was absolutely brilliant in this last home stand. One of my buddies summed it up quite nicely when he noted, "We are a much better team when Kevin Pangos doesn't miss." As obvious as that may seem, the stats seem to back it up. Looking just at his 3-point shooting here are some lines.

Home games (14):

46-93, 49.5%. 3.3 makes per game on 6.64 attempts per game.

Neutral Games (3):

3-11, 27.3%. 1.0 makes per game on 3.7 attempts. (note, this is heavily influenced by his 0-5 effort in the battle and is a relatively small sample).

Road Games (7):

9-37, 24.3%. 1.3 makes per game on 5.3 attempts per game.

So what does this tell us. First off, Pangos really likes the MAC. He has been unconscious, going 10-13 in the last two games (biggest home stand of the year). He lit up SMC, making all of Zag Nation giggle with glee. He has been pretty consistent, hitting at least one three in every single home game. Considering we play a decent majority of our games at home, this is a good sign.

Unfortunately, as a freshman Pangos hasn't quite learned to travel yet. He averages about 1.3 less attempts per game, and 2 less makes per game. He has hit some huge threes on the road but the consistency hasn't quite been there. Don't get me wrong, I love watching Pangos and have full faith in him, wherever he plays, but I am very interested to see how he performs in our final three road contests and Vegas. Gonzaga travels fantastically to the WCC, so the energy should be there.

Just putting out the stats, interested to see what you guys think. I know I'm looking forward to the rest of the year and the next three years. This kid can fill it up, no doubting that.

I'm looking for a preview and some pre-game predictions on the Portland game tonight.  I see this a huge game for both our psyche and our potential WCC tournament seed.  We are tied with Portland, one back of San Francisco and Santa Clara, and 2 behind St. Fairys.  Fortunately we have both SF and SCU at home, but we still have to play at St. Marys.  We should take absolutely nothing for granted tonight, or for any of the rest of our road games.

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St. Marys is a team that is ridiculously effective on offense.  They are 2nd in the nation in both assists and field goal percentage.  Both McConnel and Delledova average 6 assists a game and have a Assist/TO of over 3.  There only two losses came on the road against SDSU, a team that we know is very good, and a one pt loss to Jimmer's team BYU.

Lets be realistic, with apologies to looking ahead, St. Marys is the marquee league matchup for Gonzaga, and is not going to be easy sledding.  Yes this is a team that lost samhan, but in all honesty he was never effective against us.  they pass and shoot the ball well, added Rob Jones for some athleticism, and seem to have some incredible confidence.  Thursday the 27th has been circled on my calendar for some time and the kennel should definitely be rocking.

thoughts....

I was recently visiting the zag shop for their clearance sale and saw that all of the #32 jerseys were being cleared out.  I asked why #32 and not #15 because of bouldin's departure.  The guy at the store said gray was changing his number.  He didn't say to what, or why.  Anyone got the scoop.  Maybe he's trying to change his inner zen by switching up the number on his back.  Maybe it will lead to the consistancy we are all praying for.