Mark Few is now making calls to every NBA agent and team to not recruit VJ Edgecomb. lol
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From the Athletic:
Best game of the day
The best game I watched on Monday was Santa Claraâs 85-78 win over Saint Louis at the Sanford Pentagon in South Dakota. The Broncos have big talented wings, a skilled low-post scorer in German 7-footer Christoph Tilly and legit depth. Adama-Alpha Bal, who started his career at Arizona, led the Broncos with 24 points and looked like a pro. The Broncos have a solid nonconference schedule, with upcoming games against high-majors Arizona State (on Friday), Stanford and TCU. Saint Maryâs is usually the second-best team in the WCC behind Gonzaga, but donât be surprised if Santa Clara is that team this year and competes for an at-large bid.
The Billikens should also be relevant, as Josh Schertzâs offense continues to be must-watch TV with Robbie Avila as his hub. Avila rolled his right ankle with 4:36 left in the game and returned to the bench with it wrapped in ice. Hopefully heâs not out for long. Both he and fellow Indiana Statetransfer Isaiah Swope, who had 24 points in his SLU debut, should be two of the best players in the Atlantic 10. This win should age well for Santa Clara, assuming Avilaâs ankle injury isnât significant, and it shouldnât be a bad loss for the Billikens. Make it a point to watch both. Theyâre DVR-worthy.
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I only stayed up for the 1st half, but the Zags absolutely steamrolled Baylor. BUâs only highlight was that poster dunk. LOL. To me, the Zags seemed soooo physically strong, big and confident at every position. The latter is what impresses me about Fewâs teams. They go in every game with the will to win.
I appreciated the Athleticâs props, but in contrast to the Zags, the Broncos seemed to play erratic, unorganized and lacked confidence at times. I was surprised we had so few turnovers.
Quite possible that I have no idea what I am talking about (and the crappy YouTube feed vs. crisp ESPN broadcast could be to blame for the perception), but that was my takeaway contrasting the two teams.
That said, it was REALLY GREAT to see the Broncos get a W to start the season against a team that is highly regarded and is not named Holy Names or Notre Dame De Namur. As I was looking at the rest of the WCC and other Monday kick-off games, I was glad Herb & Co were able to get a solid match up and not start the season with Utah Tech, Jessup, or Life Pacific, despite it being in South Dakota.
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Weave, I donât think your perceptions were colored by the feed. . The Broncos are far from the finished product the Zags already seem to be. Thereâs work to be done, but the pieces are there to do it.
I suspect/hope Stewart will relax and not force the issue and over dribble. I was glad he hit the final two free throws after his 0-fer, if just for the positive vibes. Tilly and Tongue were both exemplary, but Avila might be the worst defensive big Iâve seen. Still, they took advantage of it and won the post war. Hopefully the trajectory continues upward as we visit Vegas and take on ASU.
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Much like my opinion that this is the deepest and most talented SCU team in 25 years, the same can be said for Gonzaga (and thats saying a lot). For anyone who watched them last night, they look like they could step into the NCAA tourney right now and steamroll.
Although the season has just started, after watching them last night against a really good Baylor team, if I was forced to pick a national champion right now it would be Gonzaga, hands down.
Judging from yesterday lets just say Im glad SCU has 2 months before they play Gonzaga.
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I didnât watch the game so will defer these questions to those that did. Based on box score, Bal, Tilly, Bryan, Cam, and Mahi were solid. It was great to see 5 guys post double digit points. As to questions:
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OâNeill & StewartâŚSomeone commented that Carlos looked to be pressing. Was OâNeill just a non factor, even defensively?
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Who handled PG duties with Carlos off the floor? Knapper and Bal?
From what I saw, I thought OâNeil did a nice job defensively.
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One thing I neglected to askâŚWas the Broncos defense particularly weak on the perimeter, allowing guards to blow past them and into the paint? Maybe it was the pace of the game on both ends, but I wasnât enthralled with the perimeter D. Seemed like a bunch of windmills out there.
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That you can credit to Herb. He has the kids playing man D with minimal help, and it sure seems like he has coached them to avoid any contact with the opponent (although Cam smartly doesnât listen to that⌠Mahi either for that matter). If youâre sold on playing strictly man D you better body up. Herbâs âno contactâ D lead to some super easy SLU buckets (and the same could be said for every single game last season).
Not a great solution either⌠work hard on offense to get an open shot, and then play passively on D and let your opponent get easy ones. That said, it worked yesterday as SCUâs talent and depth was that much better than SLUâs.
Thanks. I am going to watch that closely. Lazy D as far as i am concerned.
woof ASU looked horrendous in their opener vs Idaho State, winning 55-48
Theyâve got some physical athletes that do present issues in BJ Freeman, Jayden Quaintance, and returning leading scorer Adam Miller who only shot the ball twice
Santa Clara will definitely need to not wilt at the physicality ASU will show, Quaintance had 7 blocks by himself in game 1
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I wonât call it lazy⌠the kids are hustling. Itâs just the parameters of not playing a body bumping style of man D just seems to be awfully helpful to an opponent. Itâs like Sendek think fouls are much worse than giving up open looks at the basket.
Thank God that Cam just canât quite seem to play that way on D (probably drives Herb nuts though).
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yeah, I chose the wrong word. It just looks like the boys are exerting the wrong energy chasing ball handlers like dogs chase squirrels instead of bodying up and cutting off lanes.
Good call on Cam. Yes, he seems to be the outlier defying the directive.
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Thatâs a pretty good anaology with dogs and squirrels (Im with ya there). Even though we didnât get much of Mahi he played with much of the same physical presence on D as Cam. Seriously without those 2 guys the result would have been much different. Together they combined for about 30 points in 30 minutes on top of being tough as nails on D.
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I wasnât able to watch the game, but Cam is my favorite player because of his physicality. If we played old time Big East basketball weâd be very successful.
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Letâs just say heâs never been starter material for the Broncos. 
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