Early Season Assessment

[ALioninWinter]

I'm looking at the bright side -- I'm spending zero time thinking about our prospects for the coming season. I'm getting a lot of other things done! If there's a polar opposite to Gonzaga'a prospects for the coming year, it's gotta be LMU.

[longtimelionfan]

I'm not going as far as Winter, I am watching LMU's recruiting and giving some idle thought to next year's basketball season. But, my LMU thoughts have nothing to do with Gonzaga. The present divide between LMU and Gonzaga is metaphorically as deep and wide as the Grand Canyon. And, as our coach said last year, you have to move over those ahead of you one at time before you get to the top.

But, looking from the top down, Mark Few has a lot of work to do before next year. The story of the Zags' 2015/2016 season won't be told by the front court but, rather, the back court. For the first time in 4 years, the Zags can't rely on Pangos or Bell to quarterback them, bail them out and see them through. And, Wesley is gone too. That is 60% of the Zags' starting line-up and 3 of the top 4 players. I was not all that impressed by the Zag's back-up guards. When Pangos was out of the game this year the Zags were significantly less effective; and, Karnowski, Sabonis and Wiltjer are dependent upon others to get them the ball in scoring positions. Wiltjer will be the focal point of their opponent's defensive game plan and unless and until someone else steps up Wiltjer is going to see far fewer open perimeter shots. I'm sure that the Zags will be at the top of the conference but, absent some major developments in the back court, I think the Zags' level of play slips significantly next year. In short, right now I think the Zags are a fringe Top 25 team.

[loyalion]

While I hope you are right, and Gonzaga slips significantly next year, I dont think so. Instead i think they will be even BETTER next year. THere isnt a better front court in college basketball than Wiltjer (maybe preseason national player of year), Sabonis and Karnowski. Add in Ryan Edwards a 7'1 270 lb backup center who redshirt this offsesason and its laughable how good that front line is. Josh Perkins also sat out the second half of the year due to ignury and was a top 50 recruit. Way more athletic than Pangos and better shooter. Melson, and Mcclelan arent bad backups either. Plus they still got 4 scholarships to fill.

Zags are a top 10 team easy in my eyes.

BYU should also be decent with a solid recruiting class and Fisher and Collinsworth back.

Pepp is good also.

Those are the top 3. I think St Marys drops off a ton.

[kdub00]

I was reffing a rec league that one of the GA's plays in, he gave me some feedback on the team.

Petr Herman has been playing with a chip on his shoulder, and is playing alot stronger/tougher...they are expecting more from his this year as he gets used to ball in the U.S.
The coaches are excited about Jocko, thinking he'll be able to contribute on both ends of the court, and that he can really get up and down for a transition style of play.
Heaney is a stud, and that he'll be among the leading scorers in the WCC
Johnson is a beast on the inside, and that teams will have trouble boxing him out.
The recruiting shift from brining Euro's in last year to JC players this year is b/c the staff feels like it has to wait 1 year or so for the Euro's to adjust to the U.S. style of ball, where a JC player can contribute right away..

The team is now mostly full of Dunlap guys, where last years team quit on the coaching staff, so to expect more out of this years team

[thx4leavinjimlynam]

Thank you for the update. The season is just over six months away!

[pumpfake]

Yes, thanks for the update. The suggestion that the non-Dunlap guys quit on the staff doesn't entirely ring true considering that that group consisted of Deji, Godwin, and Chase. That trio was among the hardest workers on the team IMO. It's possible that Evan was mentally checked out once he had made the decision to leave (who could blame him given his diminshed playing time) but he seemed to play hard when he was on the court. Nevertheless, I am excited to see what this new group will do. Brandon Brown is going to be FUN to watch. Now it's time to lock down a couple more recruits. We definitely need another big (6'8" to 6'10" will do) guy.

[LIONS90045]

Appreciate the update kudub
Good to hear about Petr as he has a D1 body
Could be a fun year if Dunlap brings these guys together

[husky]

Certainly a strong group coming in. Not even sure Herman can earn a whole lot of playing time against these guys in practice (although he was "NBA Ready" last year). Really, really good looking resumes. As a life long opponent of excessive hyperbole, I can't find much to carp about.
Suspected Steven Haney was somewhat hyped based on his modest UCF Freshman stats; but there is more to the story. Steven was the highest graded recruit un UCF's (admittedly brief) Division I BB history so it's likely that UCF's coach Coach Donnie Johnson who is currently under heavy fire probably underutilized his talents (as in Evan Payne?) UCF's record almost mirrored LMU's the last couple of years. It's also true their conference is generally stronger than the WCC and they garner close to double the attendance so that part is all true. More on UCF: the student body numbers almost 2 million students which means the classrooms must each hold 7-10 thousand students so another reason for Steven to transfer was probably to actually get an education.

Still Juco and HS are not Div I and I agree with the King, it's going to be a coaching challenge. Interesting times ahead though. Last year based on resumes, I thought we would end up at around .500 for the season. That actually seems about right this year, only this time I am more sure.

BTW I also didn't appreciate the gratuitous slap at old Max and his hard working players.

[LIONS90045]

Husky - good to hear from you and your thoughts are solid
I especially agree with your last remark about Max and his hard working players including Evan

[kdub00]

I was just repeating the words from the GA, not my words...

[LIONS90045]

We won't hold you accountable!?

[husky]

Well heck.

I think I can use the tar in my driveway but what am I going to do with all these feathers?