"Forget Football -- Basketball starts tonight!" Topic

Those very first cupcake games are going to tip off tonight!

Generally these are of little interest but . . . In Spokane, Gonzaga is entering a new era. 3 returning players are joined by 10 guys that have never played a minute of D-1 basketball. Not that that is all bad as some are red-shirt Freshmen and others have been playing for the Canadian and German National teams. Gonzaga has always had one or two international players but this year we have one from Germany and four from Canada. Much more of a swing and we will be playing "Oh Canada" at the start of our games.

This will be my first chance to see the new GU! We may not be as good as last year but . . . I'm still zazzed!

mjc

Props to you guys, 4 Canadians!

I hope the Spartans (ranked #2!!!) will make me forget the awful Football season State is having this year. I have great expectations, I think we have what it takes to win it all. Go State!

I'll pay attention to basektball in late Feb. Until then it is football season. Oh and baseball ended early October.

Spartans will soar to the Izzone!

Go Jayhawks, they should have a good year if they can avoid the football team.

Football team may be and still is the greatest threat to Kansas! Personally I'd rather take my chances on the Basketball floor but apparently things are a bit more intense in Kansas (reminds me of Oklahoma in the old days ;-))

Quid, you will find that foreign " ational players" pick up the college game quick. They will be ready for conference play.

Canadians? I know the Australian and German ayers are good. How are the Caadians? Must be purty good, eh?

What's 'Zagas big non con games?

Smokey,

As usual, the Zags have the preseason from Hell.

We start with two cupcakes -- Alberta and Mississipi St.

Then we play Izzo's Michigan State team (probably the number 1 team in the country -- they are very impressive -- and that includes Kansas) -- first game. If we can sneak away with in win in that one, it would probably count as coach Mark Few's first miracle on his way to Sainthood.

The EA Sports Maui Invitational features Arizona and Colorado -- not that impressive a field.

Wake Forest, Duke, Washington State, and Memphis are the other notables.

The Canadians are an interesting bunch.

Robert Sacre 7'0", 247, injured his foot last year and had to redshirt. Very physical very mobile – likes to bang! Can he stay out of foul trouble? Sacre will probably be the guy in the middle this year.

Bol Kong 6'7" isn't really Canadian -- Sudanese -- but lived in Canada since age 7 or 9 or something like that.
Was not allowed in the country under the Bush administration (terrorist nation). But what a difference a new administration in D.C. makes. H arrived in Spokane and was either injured when he got here or injured his ankle soon after arriving -- we are told not to expect much from him this year -- whatever that means. Don't sound good.

Mangisto Arop 6'5" was born in Sudan but is a Canadian citizen. Made a lot of noise on the Canadian Junior national team. IIRC scored over 20 in several games. Very quick, nice stroke. Will be hard to keep out of the starting line-up most places but the GU guards are very very good, so this year he may not play as much as some would like.

Kelly Olynyk is out of B.C. An Austin Daye kind of player -- 6'11" and listed at 215 which is probably very generous (rocks in his pockets) with great skills and no meat on his bones. He's a year or two away from playing his best basketball.

- probably the number 1 team in the country -- they are very impressive -- and that includes Kansas -

I agree with that statement!

That schedule is great!

Props to y'all! (and it helps in selection time! Give me teams that played tough early season teams over the 12-0 pre conference records who play cupcakes)

Mississsippi st. will be no walkover, BTW

Canadian players "Born in the Sudan", IMO, are assumed to be good. :)

I mean't your "Canadian" Canadians, LOL! :)

Yeah, I guess Alberta is pretty good as far as Canadian Basketball goes. Guess we will find out just how good tonight. They feature a couple guys off their Junior National Team as well.

Alberta and Mississippi State may be Bran Muffins -- my apologies.

mjc

You will kill them, they have no chance. Canadian College basketball is nowhere near as good as the US. Anyways, most of our best players go play in the US…

Gonzaga won 94-53 while shooting 3 of 19 from the three point line. The new kids are very athletic -- very fast. Arop (6-5) guard pulled down 15 boards in about 20 minutes.

Alberta stayed with us for about 10 minutes -- lead 22 – 21 before Gonzaga went on a 16-0 run. All over but the crying after that. The Alberta team has good skills – especially shooting (leave em open and they will convert) but not very physical and had trouble with the Gonzaga pressure.

Will scrimmage University of Texas in CO next week. No one can get tickets to this hush hush stuff -- getting to be a regular thing this scrimmage. Apparently either coach can stop the whole scrimmage at any time and do what ever needs to be done. Sounded like both teams benefited quite a bit from this last year.

mjc

Basketball?

That would be right! The Season is on!!!!!!!

mjc

Hard to watch hoops after playing and coaching it.

Get the urge to dive through the TV, grab players by the collar and yell: "Sag! Sag!" "Flash!" "Help!" "Box out!" "Bounce Pass!" "Use the ing backboard!", "Spread set! Delay to score!", "1-3-1! three man rotation!", "SAG! SAG!" the entire game. :(

Seriously. Coach it and you will never enjoy it the same way again.

SAG! ?????????

Never. My kids were downright offensive all the time. And that was before they started playing for me.

Play the Pass!!!! Outlet! Put some air under that ball!

Been there done that. Nope still fun to watch!

mjc