Gonzaga Post Game Thread

[DogMania]

He was taking terrible shots. Idk if he's just trying too hard to be "the guy"

He was rushing and was way too far off the 3pt line

AK regularly takes and makes 3s from that distance. He just had a bad shooting night. Most of those were good takes within the flow, though probably should have faked more on a few of them and tried to create something for a teammate or himself off the dribble. He had a few nice takes to the basket and probably should have done it a tad more. He'll be just fine. I expect some monster games coming up and him playing huge when it counts most in March.

I actually like how he and some of his teammates take 3s a foot or two beyond the arc. Many teams are coached to defend at the arc, so learning to let 'em fly a foot or two deeper where the shots are less contested is a good strategy and clearly seems to be taught and encouraged by the coaching staff. It also stretches the D to open up the middle of the floor for all sorts of opportunities.

 

[RuffRuff]

Yep for Mahaney to play off the ball sy the 2 guard. I have been preaching this even before the season started. I had him penciled in as the starting 2 with Diarra at the 1. I didn't know ball wouod shoot as well as he has.

All this off the ball stuff with AM - do we even need that piece? An undersized poor defensive 2 to go alongside a small PG? You can’t force it. Trying to maximize his offense only makes him a bigger defensive liability. This isn’t a charity game, it’s trying to win. The only way he offers any value is with his dribble. We don’t need a small spot up shooter who is only has a pretty good shot.

 

[cp176]

I loved listening to this!

 

[housekeys]

Shout out to Diarra. Not the best scoreline and the ill-advised 3, at the end, stands out, BUT, the guy is a warrior. Lot's of minutes doing probably the most essential job on a team. Played all but 4 minutes, hustled and delivered early to Samson and always great for 1 spectacular (spin in the lane) moment. UConn fans are so spoiled and have such a high standard, his play goes almost unnoticed.

 

[DogMania]

I was actually pretty impressed by how fast he found the open guy. Not his fault his teammates didn't hit on it

I like the kick-outs, but thought he could have gone right up strong to the basket on the second one. He'll learn. There are usually 3 good options: Go right up, or hard fake once and go up to score & draw a foul, or kick it out. To his credit he didn't choose the poor bad habit options of either bringing the ball down or trying to dribble it in traffic. I like what I'm seeing. He's definitely learning. It's not often when you see an inexperienced big who gets spot minutes come in during meaningful moments in the game and play as relatively mistake free as he's been doing. Props to the big fella!

 

[aceboon]

Have you watched him try to put the ball on the floor and get into the lane. It’s not pretty. That’s really not his game, due to his athletic limitations.

Others have said it best, he’s more of a “system guy”. And when there are other playmakers on the floor to attack the defense and he can play off that within the flow of our offense, he’s in the perfect system for his abilities.

When our offense gets bogged down or he gets asked to be the one to attack the defense, you can see his limitations. He just gets pushed further and further back off the 3pt line in an attempt to get a clean look.

I've seen him put the ball on the floor and then play off two feet and hit the quick pop shot or draw contact plenty of times. The point isn't for him to suddenly became Rip Hamilton, it's to see one go down or get the FT line and get in rhythm, not just keep launching deeper 3s when's he cold.

 

[1999GoodSon]

He was taking terrible shots. Idk if he's just trying too hard to be "the guy"

He was rushing and was way too far off the 3pt line

Massive overreaction.

 

[RuffRuff]

 

[DogMania]

All this off the ball stuff with AM - do we even need that piece? An undersized poor defensive 2 to go alongside a small PG? You can’t force it. Trying to maximize his offense only makes him a bigger defensive liability. This isn’t a charity game, it’s trying to win. The only way he offers any value is with his dribble. We don’t need a small spot up shooter who is only has a pretty good shot.

I hear what you're saying. I continue to root for the kid, but unless he can get stronger, improve his D and more consistently contribute (finish his drives, get to the line, make quicker decisions, find open teammates, and knock down his open 3s), he's taking minutes away from teammates that could contribute more than what he's giving. So far he's turned out not to be a good fit for what he was brought here for.

He had a good game the other day, but until he shows consistency with what I described above, he shouldn't have any more of a role than the Joey Cal role. I hope Hurley and the staff can coach him up. I think Nowell might turn out to be the better backup to Diarra once he's healthy. I hope AM can improve and give us 5 to 10 solid minutes at the 1 or 2, but so far he's not been able to do that. Note that I though he showed improvement on D a game or two ago, but unfortunately he didn't build on that last night and that backcourt clock brainfart was inexcusable. He's on too thin of ice to be making those types of mistakes.

I've not given up hope, but anticipate Hurley being careful how he tries to bring him along.

 

[Mike Honcho]

A couple points I want to make:

1. The crowd was electric. Sometimes the sound technicians really mute out the crowd noise and it's hard to tell from home how loud it is at the arena. But that was clearly not the case last night. I loved Jimmy Jackson's answer right at the beginning of the broadcast when Jason Benetti mentioned the pro-UConn tilt. He goes, 'Ya think?' And then our boys played lights out to start the game and both sides were feeding off each others' energy. It was awesome to watch -- I wish I was there.
   
   
2. I love Hass -- he might be my favorite player on the team. He's getting people involved, limiting his turnovers, and playing tough minded defense. But the one thing I haven't liked is the execution near the end of halves/games. Far too many times Hass has just thrown up a contested three-ball and that happened again at the end of the first half. The only time I can remember a good decision being made was at the end of regulation against Memphis and he found Solo for a game-tying three. This isn't all on Hass -- his teammates need to get open too. But considering how efficiently our offense operates during the games, I hope we can apply that to end of half/game type situations too. And maybe it means leaning more on Liam to create his own offense.

 

[3rdbass]

All this off the ball stuff with AM - do we even need that piece? An undersized poor defensive 2 to go alongside a small PG? You can’t force it. Trying to maximize his offense only makes him a bigger defensive liability. This isn’t a charity game, it’s trying to win. The only way he offers any value is with his dribble. We don’t need a small spot up shooter who is only has a pretty good shot.

I think he can play some key minutes subbing for Ball and he can create his own shot off the ball. He has proven it. Yeah i'm still confused why Hurley picked him up. I thought he would be at least and average athlete but he is sub par from what I have seen.

 

[305Husk]

There is never an in-game thread. Use the chat.

Where dat at ?

 

[Waquoit]

I like the just like Charles Barkley part. I'm sure he's referencing 2014 Elite Eight game where Chuck said UConn shouldn't bother coming out for the second half.

 

[Waquoit]

Where dat at ?

Go to the top heading. Look just under the "Y" in BONEYARD.

 

[Kolumbo]

This is great. Hurley is cold man, on Liam, chuckling, "he's warming up"

Coach, Liam the player of the game and Alex after struggling

 

[DogMania]

I don't think I ever posted that I was rooting for Mahaney to fail, or insulted him in any way (other than the Nick Timberlake comparison).

I'll cheer him whenever he plays, as it can only benefit our team.


Just observing that his play has been (to date) poor.

You would have been better off just not using that comparison. It's clear AM is struggling and so far doesn't look like a good fit for what he was brought here to fill.

Based on Hurley’s reaction the other game when Mahaney had that nice stretch, he wants to develop him but is doing so by giving him spot opportunities to do so.

Let's all show some restraint and try to root for him to get back his confidence and improve. It's okay if folks constructively criticize him, but try not to trash him or loose all hope.

Maybe he'll surprise us and turn things around before it's all said and done.

 

[Mister P]

The video in the clip shows some of his game highlights with on of them a great view of his no look over the shoulder basket.

 

[RuffRuff]

A couple points I want to make:

1. The crowd was electric. Sometimes the sound technicians really mute out the crowd noise and it's hard to tell from home how loud it is at the arena. But that was clearly not the case last night. I loved Jimmy Jackson's answer right at the beginning of the broadcast when Jason Benetti mentioned the pro-UConn tilt. He goes, 'Ya think?' And then our boys played lights out to start the game and both sides were feeding off each others' energy. It was awesome to watch -- I wish I was there.
   
   
2. I love Hass -- he might be my favorite player on the team. He's getting people involved, limiting his turnovers, and playing tough minded defense. But the one thing I haven't liked is the execution near the end of halves/games. Far too many times Hass has just thrown up a contested three-ball and that happened again at the end of the first half. The only time I can remember a good decision being made was at the end of regulation against Memphis and he found Solo for a game-tying three. This isn't all on Hass -- his teammates need to get open too. But considering how efficiently our offense operates during the games, I hope we can apply that to end of half/game type situations too. And maybe it means leaning more on Liam to create his own offense.

Love Hass too - has every intangible quality you want in a player. His spin move in the lane for 2 yesterday was unreal.

Touché Goodman!

 

[JMick]

Massive overreaction.

In what way? He took some bad shots and looks like he's forcing it. He shoots like 10% from a few feet off the NBA line and that's where all his takes were from.

 

[HCCForever]

Shout out to Diarra. Not the best scoreline and the ill-advised 3, at the end, stands out, BUT, the guy is a warrior. Lot's of minutes doing probably the most essential job on a team. Played all but 4 minutes, hustled and delivered early to Samson and always great for 1 spectacular (spin in the lane) moment. UConn fans are so spoiled and have such a high standard, his play goes almost unnoticed.

Diarra's spin move off the rebound was unbelievable. The head scratcher came late in the game. He caught the inbounds close to the left sideline and then somehow escaped the double team and dribbled past mid-court. Why he chose to pick up his dribble in the frontcourt and trap himself along the sideline is beyond explanation. On balance, a very good game for Diarra.