Gonzaga Scouting Report + A Hypothetical Game against UW

By Kevin Neuzil

The Gonzaga Bulldogs are the winners of the 2009 Maui Invitational with an exciting come-from-behind vicotry over the Cinncinati Bearcats. Exciting, however, is not a synonym for quality. This young team has a lot of potential, but a lot of work to do as well.

Positives:
Stephen Gray-Pretty self-explanatory, just a clutch player. Hit some bigs threes and showed some real composure late in the game. A great competitor and makes everyone around him better.

Post Play- Harris and Sacre played very well especially in the second half, making some timely baskets and coming up big on defense, notably Sacre's play on the last play in regulation that would have won the game for the Bearcats.

Negatives:
Matt Boldin- I didn't get a chance to watch him in either of the first two games, but he looked terrible. He was antsy when pressured and shot selection was awful. He hit one key three pointer and had a few good rebounds, but as the leader of this team he needs to step up and be more consistent.

Depth- Only seven players played in the second half. The two non-starters combined got about four minutes. Against Cinncinati they got by, but facing better teams, this will be their achilles heel.

Context- It's Cinncinati. They got away with a pretty obvious foul at the end of regulation and Vaughn missed two free throws near the end of regulation that would have put the game away even if he only made one. This team is getting a lot of attention recently with a close game with Michigan State and now this win. That's not to say the attention isn't deserved, but it has to be taken with a grain of salt.

My MVP(s) of the championship game: Harris and Gray

Hypothetical Matchup
As a local Seattle hoops fan, I cannot resist pairing the Zags up with the Huskies. They do not play this year, but it is always fun to make these kind of comparisons.

At first glance, the Bulldogs create some matchup issues for the Huskies. Bryan-Amaning is the Huskies tallest player at 6'9", where Gonzaga has two players over seven feet. That being said, Sacre is very good on defense as said earlier, but very indecisive in the post. He has the size and skill set to be dominant, but I did not see it against a weaker Cinncinati opponent.

In the game I would expect Gonzaga to get an early lead but Washington to prevail because of a combination of UW's athleticism, up-tempo play, and depth. The Huskies will run teams into the ground because they rotate 9-10 guys who can all play, and I do not expect Gonzaga to keep up because of their lack of quality bench players.

 In addition, from what I saw, Boldin made some bad decisions, and against a better defender like Overton, I do not trust him with the ball. Finally you have Quincy. The Zags don't have anyone who can matchup with his combination of size and speed. The game comes down to the defense of Amaning and Gant, along with the Zags' answer to Pondexter. I'll take the Huskies in this one, 65-60.