Gonzaga BB - 2018-19

Congrats on the Zags earning their right to play both Duke and UNC this year.

Going to be an epic game tomorrow. Rui against Zion is going to be worth the price of admission.

I still think Norvell is the Zags best player. When Gonzaga needs a bucket, he is their guy.

Up by 2 45 seconds left. This game may kill me.

Zags defense tightened up at the end, but that free throw shooting.... woof. Good win, though. Watch the Zags go to #1 next week.

This counts as a mini title. Defeated #1 Duke on a neutral court. So that's a win against UNC (refs) and Duke in the past few seasons. Gonzaga has cemented their program towards the top in the nation. No more questions asked.

What an awesome win for the program -- and still missing Killian Tillie who will be back in time to steamroll the WCC.

It would be nice to see some backcourt depth step up. Crandall has been meh so far. Perkins and Norvell either one of those guys goes down it would be disastrous.

What a fun team to watch right now.

I am stunned we pulled off that win. Perkins needed to play without his normal 2 to 3 unforced turnovers and he not only did that but ran our offense to perfection. Rui is the best player on this team and its pretty obvious. Thankfully we got hot Norvell not 0 for 8 Norvell. Clark is an incredible defender and a huge huge addition to this team.

Great game by all involved and we didn't even have one of our top players to boot.

I think this may be our best non tourney win. Any other games come to anyones mind?

I remember they got to number 1 a few years back but that was due to others losing in stronger conferences and Zags running the table in the WCC. I felt at the time that the number next to their name wasn't their true ranking. This however, is legit. The best Zags team I have seen in my time watching them. They are a bonafide national championship contender and worthy of the 1 next to their name. 

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Zags win first game after moving up to number one in the polls in an easy one against NDSU. Starters all on the bench midway through second half.
Big test on the road at Creighton who just beat 15th ranked Clemson. I believe Creighton beat Villanova at home when they were ranked number one last year.

Thoughts on first NET rankings (the newest version of RPI that the selection committee will rely on come March)

It's hard for really anyone to have thoughts on it. There's no transparency or context of any sort. Loyola-Marymount is #11. They're undefeated and look to be a much improved team this year but their only "big" win was against Georgetown who isn't great this year.

Not that KenPom makes much sense to me either, but at least I have some confidence that he's put real effort into his rankings and if I wanted to dig deeper I could.

Hawkstorian":1fcd6872 said:

It's hard for really anyone to have thoughts on it. There's no transparency or context of any sort. Loyola-Marymount is #11. They're undefeated and look to be a much improved team this year but their only "big" win was against Georgetown who isn't great this year.

Not that KenPom makes much sense to me either, but at least I have some confidence that he's put real effort into his rankings and if I wanted to dig deeper I could.

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Kentucky is 61 with just one loss. Michigan state is 4 places above a team they lost to with the same record. Zaga is 6th. Its a really muddled order.

There is context though. The math involved is out on its site. Its prwtty interesting. Probably not worth judging for a few weeks yet. But not a strong first showing

Not sure why they put it out. Way too early to judge it. It does not rank teams at the start of the year. So essentially everyone starts at zero. which is exactly as it should be. Right now there is not enough data to work with. It would be like polling 50 people and extrapolating that out for the entire U.S.

Give it a couple months and it will be a lot clearer picture if it is broken or not. If you look back at the early RPI numbers it gave out they were extremely wonky rankings too. Any numbers based system will until it has a decent amount of data to work with.

Natethegreat":6tdof9c7 said:

Zags win first game after moving up to number one in the polls in an easy one against NDSU. Starters all on the bench midway through second half.
Big test on the road at Creighton who just beat 15th ranked Clemson. I believe Creighton beat Villanova at home when they were ranked number one last year.

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Creighton is actually not a great team. They are picked close to last in the Big East. While they did beat Nova last season, they lost their two best players from last season.

Creighton is a really tough place to play. Think it will be a close game but Zags will find a way to win. They are falling behind as of now.

Shoot, Gonzaga is almost everything you want in a college team, and reaching the Final Four in March is almost a given. Creighton knew they were playing a powerhouse and did everything they could to make it a contest. Had their shooting accuracy not inexplicably gone into the toilet as it did in the fourth quarter, the finish may have actually been a lot scarier. For being an unranked team, to me, it didn't feel any less "easy" for the Zags than the match-up vs. Duke was. Norvell Jr. making timely shots, Clarke draining those free throws, and all the Zags staying calm in the final minutes, was a nice way to end it.

Hawk-Lock":1j4jdoy1 said:

Natethegreat":1j4jdoy1 said:

Zags win first game after moving up to number one in the polls in an easy one against NDSU. Starters all on the bench midway through second half.
Big test on the road at Creighton who just beat 15th ranked Clemson. I believe Creighton beat Villanova at home when they were ranked number one last year.

Click to expand...

Creighton is actually not a great team. They are picked close to last in the Big East. While they did beat Nova last season, they lost their two best players from last season.

Creighton is a really tough place to play. Think it will be a close game but Zags will find a way to win. They are falling behind as of now.

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Don't care where they were picked to finish in the Big East thats a good team that can shoot the lights out. They also are currently receiving votes in AP top 25. Great win for the Zags in a hostile environment.
That was a fun game to watch too. You don't get to watch 2 high scoring efficient offenses in college often. You could tell the Zags got tired legs late in the second half as our bench is really thin right now. UW up next on Wednesday night.

Zags are a great team. I honestly think they are the best team in the nation. Usually the AP rankings mean nothing, but I'd probably take them on a neutral court against any team. Lets see where Duke is at in a few months, but Zags have the talent and experience. The other team that could give them a game is Nevada. The average age on that team is like 23 and they are loaded with talent, but still think Zags would beat them.

Duke will only get better as the year goes on. Kansas doesn't scare me a whole lot. Neveda is decent but they are not exactly offensive juggernauts.
Michigan is looking really good, I think they are a top 5 team.

Huskies played well and gave the Zags a game. Nice job by them. I never really felt all that threatened but they closed the gap right there at the end with some head scratching possessions by the Zags.
I think Tillie would have made a big difference in this type of game facing a 2 3 zone. Clarke was off and missed a bunch of gimmes underneath and just generally looked out of sorts. Credit to the Husky D for that. Rui was clutch and hit the game winner. He is really really good.

19-19 from free throws. Without that it's a different outcome.