THE CHEAP SEATS WITH STEVE CAMERON: It's tough to try and run with the Zags
It’ll be tough to beat the Zags.
Duh.
The NCAA selection committee, fans and most media covering Gonzaga’s shot at perfection already knew that.
The Zags were the No. 1 overall seed for a reason.
I hate to bore you here, but the whole thing is a question of math.
Mark Few’s team is going to score a truckload of points. They’ve done it all year and they possess enough weapons keep up the barrage.
So, for you kids in my math class…
How do you beat Gonzaga?
Tactically?
Well, you can try to slow the game to a crawl.
Saint Mary’s did the best job of that all year, holding the Zags to 73 points – a terrific achievement which gained the Gaels a 14-point defeat.
Or…
You can try to outscore Gonzaga in a sprint-and-fire playground game.
Kansas did that in the season opener, pouring in 90 points, and losing by 12.
IN THE Zags’ second-round tournament game on Monday, Oklahoma tried a little bit of both strategies – sometimes breaking quickly and sometimes slowing down to burn off time and possessions.
The Sooners have a fantastic point guard in Austin Reaves, a gifted player who can score (27 points), distribute effectively and play at whatever tempo coach Lon Kruger dials up for given situations.
OU pretty much did everything you’d find in the “Beat Gonzaga” manual -- getting off to a hot start from behind the 3-point line, hurrying the Zags into some early misses, tagging Corey Kispert with two early fouls that sent him to the bench, and letting their own athletic big men block a bushel of shots.
That’s about all you can do.
For the game, Oklahoma held the Zags to 49.1 percent shooting from the floor, their least accurate conversion rate of the entire season.
All good.
Except that when it was time to sweep up Hinkle Fieldhouse and get folks back to their COVID bubble…
Gonzaga had turned around an early deficit with an 18-4 blitz, led by 12 at halftime, and more or less traded baskets the rests of the way to advance with 87-81 victory.
As noted philosopher Charles Barkley observed after the game, it’s going to take something special to beat the Zags, because…
“Those guys are a handful.”
WE NOW seem to be watching contests that start according to a familiar pattern.
The opposing team is amped up and comes out flying.
The Zags miss some easy shots (they bricked their first four against Oklahoma), give up a few open 3-pointers, and find themselves behind for the first seven or eight minutes.
After the OU game followed that same script, Few was asked in a postgame press conference about his mindset when – once again – the lads got off to a slow start.
“It’s a comfort,” Few said, “to know that they’re going to come on.”
Sure, because they always do.
Quite often the change of momentum involves more touches for Drew Timme in the middle.
The sophomore from Texas is the guy who lights the fuse for this explosive offense.
Timme is almost unstoppable one-on-one, so if a team like Oklahoma gives him enough single coverage, he’s going score a bundle.
On Monday, it was 30 points to go with 13 rebounds.
When you do double-team Timme, or try cheating with another defender making a quick run at him, well…
THE ZAGS are almost always properly spaced, and they make one excellent cut after another.
So, the ball zips back out, and around, until a wide-open shot appears.
It’s amazing how often the Zags get good shots.
Am I saying Gonzaga is unbeatable?
No, of course not.
But after watching Oklahoma do so many things right and have such a solid plan – only to lose by 16 – you DO sort of wonder what it will take for the nation’s only undefeated team to get turned over.
Timme missing in action through illness, injury or foul trouble would hurt, for sure.
Or maybe…
Everyone having a cold shooting game, continually missing everyday shots.
Perhaps a terrible night at the foul line – although the Zags hit around 74 percent as a team, and no one who would be on the floor at crunch time is less than a 70 percent free-throw shooter.
Still…
Things CAN go sideways.
It’s happened to a lot of great teams.
After watching the Oklahoma game, I don’t think I’m creeping too far out on a limb in saying that the Zags – who possess talent, savvy, and just the right attitude – have this thing in their hands.
Yes, it could slip away, but…
They look awfully damned determined to avoid such a thing.
Email: scameron@cdapress.com
Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays during the NCAA tournament. “Moments, Memories and Madness,” his reminiscences from several decades as a sports journalist, will return and run each Sunday after Gonzaga’s season is concluded.
Steve also writes Zags Tracker, a commentary on Gonzaga basketball which will be published each Thursday during the tournament.