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Defending Gonzaga’s Schedule and 1-Seed Validity

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There are numerous misconceptions surrounding this year’s Gonzaga Bulldogs. One is that they aren’t as good as their rankings (#3 in the AP poll, #2 in USA Today’s Poll). Another is that if they played in a “real” conference, they wouldn’t be nearly as elite.

This is all fueled by late start times for the folks who live in a world of East Coast bias on America’s eastern seaboard and don’t actually watch Gonzaga. The perception is also fueled by a lack of recent tournament success in recent years and a perceived lack of quality wins.

We’ll start with the conference issue.

The Bulldogs play in the West Coast Conference, a conference which should simply be called Gonzaga’s conference. GU has won every regular season championship since 2001 with the exception of 2012. With the exception of 2003 and 2012, they’ve also won every conference tournament since 1999.

Just by those comments, the perception the WCC is that it’s weak. And while it isn’t the Big East in its prime, it’s still a solid league. St. Mary’s has developed into a high-end mid-major close to, but not on the level of Gonzaga or Wichita State. BYU’s recent inclusion has also boosted the overall profile of the league. And while Gonzaga is the conference’s lone NCAA tournament lock at the present, the league is still a good league.

To judge the WCC’s worth, you have to compare it to similar leagues. Other west coast leagues include the likes of the Pac-12, Mountain West, Western Athletic Conference and the Big West. The WCC is head and shoulders above both the WAC and Big West this season. Additionally, in non-conference games, the Mountain West only won eight of a total 14 games against the WCC. Only three of those games involved one of the West Coast Conference’s top four teams.

Now to compare the head-to-head with the Pac 12.

While it’s true that the Pac-12 went 9-4 against the WCC and two of the WCC’s four wins were by Gonzaga, there’s more to see than simply a 9-4 record. Of those nine wins by Pac-12 teams, five were against WCC cellar-dwellers Pacific, Loyola Marymount and San Francisco. I don’t care what conference you come from, whether it be the SEC or the MAAC, the basement-dwelling teams are going to be bad.

An additionally victory, notched by Arizona against Gonzaga in overtime in Tucson. Gonzaga controlled that game for a majority of the contest.

So you see, the WCC isn’t as bad a people think. Sure it could be a stronger, but it surely isn’t bad.

The Zags have made the NCAA Tournament every year since 1999. In other words, the last time Gonzaga missed the NCAAs, I was two. However, Gonzaga has made the Sweet Sixteen two times since 2002. That run included tournament upset losses to #11 seed Wyoming in 2002, #10 seed Nevada in the second round in 2004, and #10 seed Davidson in 2008. This is where the criticism starts to creep in, with the exclamation point in Gonzaga-disbelievers’ arguments being the team’s inability to take care of business as a number one seed in 2013, losing to Wichita State in the third round.

While there have been some notable upset losses sustained by Gonzaga, it can also be said that the team has been extremely unlucky in the tournament. Of their tournament losses since 2007 two were to phenom-led teams in Stephen Curry’s Davidson squad in 2008 and Jimmer Fredette’s BYU team in 2011. The same “phenom” label can be applied to that 2013 Wichita State team that made the Final Four.

Since ’07, GU has lost to two other Final Four teams, the 2012 Ohio State Buckeyes (a game decided by only seven points) and the eventual National Champion North Carolina Tar Heels in 2009. Gonzaga has also had its fair share of losses to #1 seeds against Syracuse in 2010 and Arizona in 2014.

Lastly, Gonzaga is lambasted for their lack of elite wins. Overly-critical pundits will point to the Arizona loss as just another example of the Zags not being able to get it done against top competitions.

Contrary to popular belief, GU has quality wins. The Arizona game would have been the team’s marquee win, but the loss may help the team more in the long run in terms of removing the pressure of going undefeated.

The Zags destroyed the best team the American Athletic Conference has to offer, beating SMU 72-56. Mark Few and company also boasts double-digit wins over UCLA, St. Mary’s, Georgia and Memphis. They also have a win over Saint John’s on their resume. St. Joseph’s, a school that has beaten bubble teams like UMass and Davidson, lost to Gonzaga 94-42.

Gonzaga may not have the resume that a team like Duke does, but they’re still worthy of a top seed. 26 victories and counting certainly don’t hurt either.

Like it or not (barring a massive) Gonzaga will be back on the top line in the NCAA Tournament. People may not like it, but GU is worthy of the achievement. They don’t actually play in an awful conference, and they do in fact have quality wins.

What We Learned from Gonzaga’s Win over Southern

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It shouldn’t have been as close, or maybe it should have, or maybe it shouldn’t have. Gonzaga would have won by more for a few reasons.

  • One, Elias Harris was 2-10 from the field. I think around five of those shots were blocked at the rim. SU’s front line combined for seven blocks. Seemed like all of the blocks were on Harris.
  • Two, the refs made some iffy calls Continue reading →

Future Sonics Need to Go Get a Big Name or Two

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The Kings have won 17, 25, 24, 22 and 19 games the past five seasons. Obviously the second to last number was during a lockout-shortened season, but the winning percentage still equates to .333. Not very good. Not at all.

The Kings’ current group isn’t cutting it.

Last month I wrote a piece on the Kings’ to-do list. In it I said the team should start Thomas Robinson. That obviously isn’t going to happen. Robinson is gone, off to Houston, and the return is Cole Aldrich, Toney Douglas and Patrick Peterson. Not the biggest or best return, but fantastic if you consider that Francisco Garcia and Tyler Honeycutt’s collective contracts are gone.

The idea was inspired by an audio trinket on ESPN’s website. On it Bill Simmons and Ryan Russilo talk about trades they would make.

Simmons brought up a deal that would send Rondo to Sacramento Seattle for DeMarcus Cousins, Jimmer Fredette and one of the Kings’ Sonics’ bad contracts to Boston.

This is what Seattle needs, a big time player to build their team around Continue reading →

The Kings’ To-Do List

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Seattle is likely getting the Sacramento Kings.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

(Excuse my brief Super Mario impression.)

We are finally getting the NBA back, and I’ll be darned (wanted to use another word there) if the board of governors, or whatever they call themselves, votes against it.

Key Arena: The Sonics soon to be temporary home.

Key Arena: The Sonics soon to be temporary home.

(It doesn’t matter if the Kings weren’t coming to Seattle, they need to make some changes purely from a team standpoint to be successful.)

With the assumption that the Kings are coming to town, let’s take a gander at the Sacra-soon-to-be-Seattle-mento’s roster and see who’s worth keeping and who should be plying his basketball trade somewhere other than the Pacific Northwest next year.

(Side note, I have no idea what will happen with front office and coaching roles. Those are a little trickier to sort out.)

We’ll start in the back court where the Kings need to do a little tidying. The team currently employs Isaiah Thomas, Aaron Brooks (both Seattle-area natives I should point out,) overrated, but underrated Marcus Thornton, brick layer Jimmer Fredette, contractual albatross mini me Francisco Garcia and Tyreke Evans, who by the way happens to be the definition of an enigma.

Thomas is a keeper on a small, exceedingly cap-friendly contract while Brooks may be hung on to due to the fact that he might play like his old self in his hometown.

Thornton has the potential to score in bunches, but probably works best as a sixth or seventh man on a title contender. Garcia has the talent to be a really useful stat-sheet-stuffer off the bench, but his contract makes him a tad bit scary. There could be actual value in keeping Garcia. While a two-year 12 million dollar deal is bad, a one-year six million dollar one is much more friendly. We often see teams acquire an established player for a draft pick, young talent and an expiring contract that generally matches up with the established player. That way the acquiring team gets a future draft pick, a cheap, controllable asset and the chance to clean their hands of the long-term money owed to the established player.

That’s long hand for “large-ish expiring contracts are valuable.”

The Kings’ frontcourt is curious, yet appealing. DeMarcus Cousins has the potential to be the best big man in the entire league. Dwight Howard or no. But, you’ll notice the emphasis on potential. Cousins has to start putting it together to reach the point where he can be.

Knowing that Cousins is a keeper, the rest of the frontcourt, however, might actually follow suit. Thomas Robinson and Jason Thompson are the two players inhabiting the power forward section of el depth chart. Robinson is obviously the long-term choice, but Thompson has a ton of value and potential as a third big man. A role he could like fill and exceed at with nearly any club at this point in time.  Chuck Hayes is the last big on the roster. Hayes is a 6’6 center. Hayes is a 6’6 center. (That was so you don’t have to re-read it. I wrote the second part of the double take for you, aren’t I generous?) Anyways, Hayes has some value in the short term, but in the long term probably isn’t in the teams’ plans.

We’ve discussed the bigs, and we’ve discussed the smalls. Now let’s delve into the one position on the court that should be called “tweener,” the small forward position. There are a good number of cases where teams will play an athletic four-man or a big shooting guard on the wing. Sacramento Seattle, though, has some interesting contracts. James Johnson could be valuable down the road as a back-up tweener who can play both forward spots. A la a fifth big. Nonetheless he is on an expiring contract and might sign for more cash elsewhere. Now we get to the ugly part. John Salmons and Travis Outlaw, while talented, might have the worst collective contracts in the NBA in terms of worth. Both guys are being paid a grand total of 33 million buckaroos over the next three years. Did I mention that they exchange Christmas cards with the Yankees every year?

I’m no GM, but if I were the Sonics’ GM (come on Chris Hansen, the Grizzlies hired Hollinger!!!)(To be fair, Hollinger created a fantastic stat, I have, well you know…) I’d try to unload Salmon’s and Outlaw’s collective contracts. Let Johnson walk and only resign him if his market value doesn’t get absurd in free agency. I’d trade Tyreke Evans (whom I forgot to mention due to the fact that he could bring in a hefty return in a trade. Other teams are apparently mystified with the enigma) for a great return. Sell Fredette’s rights to a Chinese team where he will not only break Quincy Douby’s newly-minted record for points in a game, but also shatter the record for most shots in a game, probably 65. Cut Tyler Honeycutt to open up roster space. Keep around Francisco Garcia until next year’s trade deadline and flip him for a solid return to a team looking to unload money. Keep the All-Seattle Area point guard pairing of Thomas and Brooks. And finally, move Thompson and Thornton to the bench as the team’s respective sixth and seventh men, start Robinson and find a legitimate shooting guard who isn’t on a crap contract.

The Kings are moving to Seattle. The Sonics are coming back. I cannot convey my excitement with another Super Mario Brothers impression, but I can convey my excitement without one. YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!! Anyways, the Sonics are coming back. I’ll see you there opening night.