[h1]Zags face a tough road[/h1]
posted: Monday, January 14, 2008 | Print Entry
LOS ANGELES --
Josh Heytvelt got a good sized ribbing Saturday night at Loyola Marymount's Gersten Pavilion.
So, too, did the rest of his Gonzaga teammates.
The Zags won the WCC opener handily 91-68 in front of fairly raucous 3,692 fans. But what isn't underscored enough is how Gonzaga's road trips are akin to what the following teams face away from home: Duke and North Carolina in the ACC, Kansas in the Big 12, Florida and Kentucky in the SEC, Michigan State and Indiana in the Big Ten, UCLA and Arizona in the Pac-10 and even Butler in the Horizon.
Team get up to play the Zags in the WCC and so do the fans. LMU's last home game against a solid Sam Houston State drew 1,230 fans on Dec. 30.
LMU head coach Rodney Tention was on the Arizona staff prior to landing the here so he knows all about how much the Zags have to have their A game every time out -- just like the Wildcats did when he was an assistant in Tucson. Still, Tention is convinced that if the Lions win they'll pack the house (LMU beat Gonzaga here a year ago).
"You can't describe it," Gonzaga sophomore guard
Matt Bouldin said of always going on the road and being a target. "We watch these games on TV … Georgetown and UConn looked so intense but our games are just as intense. You've got to come out to play. It's a challenge every game."
The LMU fans rode Heytvelt hard because of his arrest on a drug charge that ultimately got him suspended from mid-February on last season.
"You hear it, it made me laugh," Heytvelt said. "Everybody had something to say. I take it with a good heart and forgive and forget. But these people don't forget anything."
Heytvelt, who missed the first half of the season with a broken foot, scored a team-high 19 and grabbed five boards.
"I'm definitely starting to play better," said Heytvelt, who produced his most points since coming back from his injury on Dec. 20.
[h2]Random notes[/h2]
• The Zags finally feel like Matt Bouldin gets that he needs to be the go-to guy on the Zags. Once he embraces that role they feel they'll be fine in the NCAA Tournament.
• Clay Thompson was at the UCLA-Washington State game prior to the tip he said that the Cougars' No. 4 ranking gave him even more confidence about the decision to sign with WSU over Notre Dame.
Thompson, who is the son of former NBA player Mychal, said that the Cougars' team-oriented system would suit him fine. The perception used to be that the Bennetts couldn't land someone like Thompson.
• I kept hearing from scouts over the weekend that UCLA's
Russell Westbrook would get plenty of good looks if he were to declare. Also, if Gonzaga's
Austin Daye can ever get meat on his bones, the feeling is that he's skilled enough to be an NBA player.
• Delaware was my team of the week. And there needs to be even more discussion. The Blue Hens' turnaround is quite remarkable. Delaware's 5-0 start in the CAA will be severely tested over the next three games, all on the road at VCU Wednesday, at Northeastern Saturday and then at James Madison on Jan. 23.
This is the same team that lost by 33 at Central Connecticut State, by 19 at Ohio and by 30 at Maryland.
So, what happened? Well, the Blue Hens added Georgetown transfer
Marc Egerson and Nebraska transfer
Jim Ledsome eight games ago. The Blue Hens are 6-2 with them on the team.
"I made a mistake," said second-year Delaware coach Monte Ross. "I had never had mid-year transfers at Lehigh, Drexel or Saint Joe's. We all looked at them as saviors to the team and it was a debacle at Central Connecticut. But we've put it together since then."
The Blue Hens won only five games a year ago. But after losing the opener at Marist, Ross said sophomore guard
Brian Johnson told him he knew it was different than a year ago. He said the attitude was clearly more refreshing.
And if you're looking for yet another hidden-gem freshman then you'll find one at Delaware with
Alphonso Dawson (10.7 ppg). He scored 18 in the win at Drexel, 13 in the win over George Mason and 12 in the win over Old Dominion.
• Missouri's Mike Anderson's style is working of late. The Tigers are scoring at a furious pace. Missouri shot a combined 41 of 58 overall, 8 of 15 on 3s with a 28-to-13-assist-to-turnover ratio in the wins over UMKC and Texas. Missouri has nine players averaging 13.2 minutes a game. That means Anderson is running players in and out the way he wants.
• In talking to Maryland's Gary Williams late last week prior to the game at Virginia Tech, he was pleased the Terps finally had confidence after winning four in a row following a three-game losing streak. Williams said the Terps are so young that this season has been challenging. Still, the Terps needed confidence and Williams said the Terps had it heading into Virginia Tech. We'll see how losing a tough one by one point will affect Maryland against Wake Forest at home Tuesday before going to North Carolina and hosting Duke in the next two weeks.
Prior to Virginia Tech, Williams was feeling good about
James Gist scoring again, as well as
Bambale Osby, to give Maryland a needed inside threat.
Still, for Maryland to be 10-7, 0-2 in the ACC on Jan. 14 seems odd.
• Billy Donovan said prior to Florida's win over Auburn was he was looking to see how this team would find its identity. He said the locker room the past two years had its strong voice in Joakim Noah, its jovial voices in Corey Brewer and Taurean Green and its silent presence in Al Horford. He also was looking to see how this team would handle adversity. So far the Gators are 2-0 in the SEC, so the adversity hasn't come yet in the league.
• Robert Morris beat Boston College earlier in the week but then lost to Sacred Heart at home Sunday, 82-69, to drop to 3-2 in the NEC.
• Arkansas is looking like it should be a player in the SEC West now that the Hogs have won at Auburn and then beat Alabama Sunday in overtime.
•
Will Daniels' 28 points and winning shot with three seconds left gave Rhode Island the win over Duquesne Sunday. That's the kind of win that keeps a magical season going for a team that may end up on the bubble in March.
• West Virginia may end up being the classic tough out at home, but struggle on the road, as witnessed by beating Syracuse at home Sunday.
• Give Bruce Weber and the Illini credit for an outstanding effort to nearly clip Indiana Sunday in Bloomington. The season has been rough for the Illini so far but they showed they had plenty of fight still left.
• Oregon had to have the sweep of Cal and Stanford to stay in the hunt for a top three finish in the Pac-10.
