Well, that was a disaster
by Grady Clapp on Dec 10, 2008 9:30 PM PST
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Look. Gonzaga's good. Really good.
I have hardly ever seen a team completely throw us off our game on both ends of the floor since the Bennetts arrived. This was the first time in years. Or at least that's what it felt like.
And it was only the second half, when you think about it. WSU played tight the entire first half, even controlling the tempo for much of it. But then everything fell to pieces. And I mean everything. I hate to bring this up in numbers, but Gonzaga went on a 36-7 run to start the second half.
I said the keys to this game were team defense and 3-point shooting. The defense was good in the first half; only nullified by a couple of undefendable shots by Steven Gray and Jeremy Pargo, among others. But it was a nightmare in the second half, from the lobs to Heytvelt, to the ball screens, to the boxing out, to the everything.
3-point shooting was beyond awful. 2 for 19? Every team that gets blown out by the Zags puts up a number like that, because that 2-3 zone dares you to shoot. And if you shoot and miss and miss and miss - you're pretty much done for.
Taylor will eventually get better. I'm starting to realize that maybe it's the guys on the floor that need to rally around Rochestie and make him better, not the other way around. Last year, he had Kyle Weaver and Derrick Low to cool things off with a bucket or two. Now he doesn't. He gets frustrated and starts jacking up bad shots instead of settling into the offense. But Gonzaga deserves credit here as well. They took away the extra pass underneath. They kept us from moving the ball effectively and they limited Baynes' touches. I don't know what to say, other than we were dominated.
I was going to say it was our worst half of basketball in two and a half years. But was it us, or the opponent? It was both. We beat ourselves in this one, and then Gonzaga beat us harder. At the end of the day I'm more angry with the fans that left early than the team itself. And I couldn't be more happy to be a Cougar and not one of the many Gonzaga fans (most of whom didn't even go to the University, mind you) who showed up and fluffed their feathers with a lopsided win.
Congratulations, GU. You have possibly three first-round NBA draft picks out on the floor and we can't match up with you. We get it. By the way - does this game remind you of anything?
It's ok. The sky isn't falling. We'll be back. Go Cougs.
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Might as well make it award time. DeAngelo Casto gets player of the game with 10 points, 2 blocks and 3 offensive boards in only 15 minutes. You've got to at least feel better that the Zags didn't get this guy as well.
Play of the Game: I'm going with Taylor Rochestie's ridiculous little off-the-glass runner. I'm not going with one of the 268 shots that rimmed out tonight. We'll have to check that number later.
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Edit (9:50) - Hey, it's a silver lining! We just dominated the #4 team in the country in free throw rate. Of course, most of that is from the first half, when we were actually playing well.
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I missed the second half
I had a basketball game of my own, and it was a tough decision to stay and watch or go to the game (which i pay too much money to play). i think I made the right decision. i may have put a hole in the wall if I watched that.
Watching the closing minutes… i liked how the freshman looked (albeit it was bench v bench), but the freshman seem to be able to score more than the upperclassmen as the year goes on. hopefully bennett will play around things more and see what works. i will say that while the 2nd half sucked… waiting for 5hrs made me appreciate the game more and the first half was a lot of fun!
hooray for optimism!
Leaving Early
Grady, you mentioned being angry with the fans that left early, and I couldn’t agree more. With fourteen minutes left in the second half, I ran to the bathroom for a second and discovered tons of fans exiting Beasley. I couldn’t believe it! According to the game flow graph, Gonzaga’s lead was only around 20% safe at that point. I made sure to mention to a few of the people that the game hadn’t ended yet, but they didn’t seem to care. I then returned to my seat and over the next few minutes saw many more people leave, particularly a few people sitting in the first few rows. I can’t understand why anyone would wait in line for 8 hours and then leave with over ten minutes of game time left! I realize that people are busy this time of year, but I’d be willing to bet that I have more school work to do right now than at least 97% of the people that left early. It’s disappointing to see and discouraging to the players.
My thanks to everyone that stayed the entire game. That’s how fans should support their team.
I stayed the entire game.
I wouldn’t be surprised if we had a record turn-out for this game. The line outside of Beasley was the longest I have ever seen and it does not help that 1500 student seats were taken away over the summer.
I am not surprised in the slightest that a good number of people left early. There were TOO MANY casual fans there. I honestly hope that the casual fans do not come back after Winter Break because it makes it all that much more difficult on me to get decent seats. I personally will not cut class just for basketball because I am a student-fan, and not a fan-student.
But anyway, yeah, the casual fan leaves when the going gets tough. People are getting too used to winning around here (well atleast in basketball) and at the very least a blowout loss is just the medicine needed to bring the delusional fans back to earth.
We currently don’t have the large number of Bandwagon fans as the likes of North Carolina, Duke, (or even Gonzaga for that matter) and I count that as a positive. Having more fans is usually a good thing… but having a large number of smart and dedicated fans is better.
Oh, and I would estimate that a good 75% of the fans stayed through the whole game...
What do other people who were at the game think?
i was in line at 1:30 (no classes) and i thought i wouldn’t be able to sit in the lower bowl— that’s how long the line was.
I was fortunate enough to not be there in a large group.
I got there after my last class just after 4pm and I went with only one friend. I got in line, on the sidewalk by the street after the line had wrapped all the way around the outside of the stadium and the sidewalk. Amazingly, I was able to find two isolated seats, one in front of the other at the end of two separate rows about half way up in the lower bowl. Otherwise I would have been forced to sit up in the upper section. (which I have never done before…)
If people around there are getting too used to winning
then they don’t get it. The Cougs haven’t beaten anyone yet this year.
Honestly you are bit over the top
there is sometimes no reason to subject oneself to watching a team get lashed. I watched the first half on tv live, listened to bits and pieces of the 2nd half and then re-watched the replay of the 1st half and the first 2 minutes of the 2nd half.
I saw a completely drained team come out for the 2nd half. No energy or concentration. I told someone after watching the 1st half live that I don’t think we will be able to keep that energy up because we have too few guys playing all the minutes.
Truly we need another guard. I think TB has to throw Capers or Harthun into the fire and start one of them at the 1 or 2 and Rochestie at the other. Go with Klay at the 3, Harmeling or Casto at the 4 and Baynes.
I like Nik but we another good ballhandler.
For me ...
… turning the game off was simply frustration. I just couldn’t torture myself anymore; plus, I was watching the game in my classroom with my 20-month-old son, who was well past his bed time. I listened to it on the radio on the way home, then listened to Bennett’s post.
I think I’m a little more clearheaded this morning, and I’ll have a post up sometime today.
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