I wasn’t able to watch the game and I didn’t have the will power to avoid checking the score before watching the recording. So without watching the game, but reading all the recaps and the 5 pages of post on here I came to a few conclusions.
1) Trent is a legitimate big time player at this level. The young man just shows up in the biggest moments. Forget all of his mistakes and the few forced shots he takes. I didn’t even see the game, but I can tell you without him last night it is a 20+ loss.
2) Before the season people, not all, but most, were making fun of GB for only being able to dance and play against orange cones. Expectations were slim. Thank God we hired BU and none of us are the talent scouts. Giorgi will be a great player for us and he has proven to be a pretty good one just three games into his career here.
3) AJ has 8pts and 10reb!!! He is 6’4 ish and not all that athletic. Can’t comment on the missed 3’s or FT, but if your senior leader can give you 8 and 10 against a team where every person he is playing against is more physically gifted and has better skill- you will take it. That is a state line you want from your lone senior in a game like this.
4) Looking at the comments and stats alone. Ayo and Feliz had an off game and they are freshmen. Consistency will be the biggest challenge for them this year. They will both be good players. Ayo has the physical and skill set to be great.
5) Anyone that has expectations for Kipper this year are setting themselves up for disappointment. I have heard he is a great kid and a positive in the locker room. Talent and potential are undeniable. Unfortunately, Kipper just doesn’t have that “it” that it takes to show up and perform at a high level each and every night. There will be flashes like last year, but tonight proved he just isn’t someone to rely on in big games or any game for that matter.
6) This team will be very good by the end of the year. I said this before the season. We have one veteran leader and a bunch of young guys that can play or are athletes and learning to play at this level. They will continue to get better. We will compete every night and that is a compliment to the coach and the type of kids he is recruiting and his culture. We will win some this year that we weren’t expected to and we will lose some that we weren’t expected to. That is youth and inexperience. Our youth isn’t “Duke” level talent as those kids should be playing in the NBA.
What I find funny and ridiculous is there are a number of people that said they would be happy with just being competitive in this game and keeping it close. Now, because we kept it close, some of those same people are finding fault in the performance and saying we still can’t find a way to win the close game. Or, I saw a hint that maybe Gonzaga is just overrrated? What’s wrong with just watching your team of young men try their hardest and leave everything out there against a team that is obviously better anyway you want to measure it and come up short. Walk away from that game and just say, “they played hard and we got beat by a better treat”????
Too many statistics and metrics today. People think everything is won or lost because of some number that didn’t match up with the expected outcome. At the end of the day, the ball is tossed up and the kids decide the outcome. Just support that and you might enjoy the game a little more whether they win or lose. Sorry for the morning rant. Pissed I missed a great game and effort by our team last night and then read people finding anyway to find fault with it.
