re: Game Thread: Arkansas 87 vs Minnesota 73 l FINAL l ESPN2 l Maui Invitational

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why no other fans jump into thread now?

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Because we can't win away from BWA, we need to learn to accept this.

You don't want to talk about quality losses when Arkansas can talk quality wins.

One or the other, I'm sure.

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Is Bryant around today

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Hog wins don't sit well with her.

Jumpball is dead after a win.

Melts down after a loss.



Imma go get some work done.

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Hopefully Minnesota ends up being a quality win. Gonzaga definitely would be.

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Minnesota will play all the good B1G teams, they fricked around and beat Indiana last year.

Should be a great RPI/SOS boost later in the year.

I don't think we win..

Gonzaga is pretty good. Even though they did lose to Dayton.

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Why don't y'all go over the gonzaga matchup?

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I'll copy and paste an analysis from another board, since its mostly would I would end up typing anyway.

Gonzaga knows how to schedule. The Bulldogs (5-1) have played nobody below 195th in Pomeroy rating, probably finishes with only one sub-250 opponent. Excluding Chaminade, which doesn't count in any rating system.

Gonzaga - beat Bryant by 24, beat Colorado State by 32, beat Oakland by 15 (a lot better than Cal did), beat Washington State by 16, lost to Dayton by 5.

Mark Few's offense is great. They shoot wonderful % from inside and out and at the line too. High-efficiency scoring team. Great ballhandling, great defensive rebounding (until it isn't, which it was not against Dayton). Big key = perimeter defense against them, but they also get back cuts. Very experienced basketball team.

Weak spots -- Zags have been fouling a lot and not doing well on defense. Three fouled out against Dayton. They don't play their bench a lot.

Starters

F Sam Dower - 6-9, 243 sr - top rebounder
C Przemek Karnowski - 7-1, 296 so - good on boards, worst ballhandler
G Kevin Pangos - 6-2, 180 jr - excellent outside shooter, good with the ball, all-around strong
G Gary Bell - 6-2, 204 jr - entered Maui hitting 60% from 3-pt range
G David Stockton - 5-11, 165 sr

First off the bench

F Drew Barham - 6-7, 200 sr - another great outside shooter, Memphis transfer
G Kyle Dranginis - 6-5, 204 so
G Gerard Coleman - 6-4, 170 jr - transfer from Providence

Kyle Wiltjer is sitting out as a transfer from Kentucky.

Gonzaga is huge inside. The guards go to the basket well when they are not camped outside the arc waiting for a kickout.

Dayton dominated the boards on both end and held the Bulldogs to 26% from 3-pt range. Gonzaga could not stop Jordan Sibert, Dayton's excellent 6-4 shooting guard. Anthlon Bell and Michael Qualls will get their chances.

This probably is a bigger challenge than California was. Arkansas played one good game, one not so good. Feels like we get to take the Cal test over again.

I want to beat Few after the BS he has spewed about Arkansas in the past...

Congrats on finally winning a game away from BWA, Hogs!

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Why don't y'all go over the gonzaga matchup?

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It boils down to three things...

1. We MUST take and make good shots, to give us the opportunity to set up our defense (as well as needing the points of course.)

2. We MUST not let them rain uncontested 3's on us.

3. Rebounds. We must at least stay even with them on rebounds. Out rebounding would be even better of course.

Yeah, as I wrote this, I realized that are the keys to EVERY game, but the first one is particularly critical in this one.

Soon