Figured i may be able to help out some when making their pick for this game as it's my 2 favorite teams facing off (gonzaga being my #1 of course).. I live 10 minutes from gonzaga and about 1.5 hours from Washington state (no i don't actually live in the bahamas.. spokane 
)
A lot of people are looking at this match up and seeing it's in Pullman and pointing to washington states great defense (they do play good d) as a reason to choose them. Also citing last years matchup where they held the zags to just 47 points at home.
I think the zags will win this game by 10+ and i'll tell you why..( oh and i wouldn't bet them -10.. opened at -4.5.. thats an easy decision for me)
In years past gonzaga has been accused of not playing good defense.. you can't really accuse them of that this year.
Gonzaga averages 8.3 steals, 6.7 blocks, 42.8 rebounds per game.
WSU averages 6.8 steals, 4.9 blocks, 39.8 rebounds per game.
Obviously WSU is gonna run like 25 seconds off every shot clock but those are compareable. You can check out Efficiency ratings here as well where gonzaga does not fall far behind WSU
http://kenpom.com/factors.php?y=2009&t=d
These are two vastly different teams from last years match up.. Gonzaga has had a huge improvement while WSU has more of a learning process right now with 8 freshmen on the team.
Josh Heytvelt did not play in the game last year leaving a small way less skilled gonzaga team on the floor (kuso, pendergraph). Well josh is back this year and the leading scorer on a team with 6 players averaging double figures.
Starting lineup for the zags
G- Jeremy Pargo 6'2 - 10.2 PPG 7.2 APG
G- Matt Bouldin 6'5 - 11.7 PPG 2.8 APG
G- Micah Downs 6'8 - 11.5 PPG 6.2 RPG
F- Austin Daye 6'10 - 11.8 PPG 6.3 RPG
F- Josh Heytvelt 6'11 - 15.3 PPG 6.5 RPG 62.5% FG%
This along with sharpshooter Steven gray coming off the bench along with 7 footer Rob Sacre. Scrappy, great defenders Ira brown and Demetri Goodson. this is a DEEP BALANCED team that i believe to be the 2nd best in the nation at this point in time.
Washington state with there Lineup last year of
Cowgill
Lowe
Weaver
Baynes
Rochestie
Beat the zags by 4 but losing an NBA player in weaver and 2 great 4 year players in Lowe and cowgill didn't make the cougars any better.
Klay Thompson is an awesome Freshmen and leading scorer for the team, he will be a big time player for the cougs in the future and is easily the biggest offensive threat for them this year. Harmeling is a good, but streaky shooter. Rochestie running the point is inconsistent at best. Looking down the list the zags have the advantage at every position in this game, as well as the bench as only 1 player will come off the bench to play any significant playing time for the cougars and that is Freshmen Deangelo Casto (3.3 ppg)
Another note: against Baylor the cougars got 3 points off their bench
My pick is the Zags at (-4.5) but i believe they should win by about 10. Although it could be more. Yes they will score less points then they are used too as WSU is a well coached team thats gonna slow it down because thats what they do.But in the end the zags have to much firepower and are the deepest team these cougars will see all year.
Also believe Gonzaga will score into the low 70's on this team
GL ALL
ope:
)A lot of people are looking at this match up and seeing it's in Pullman and pointing to washington states great defense (they do play good d) as a reason to choose them. Also citing last years matchup where they held the zags to just 47 points at home.
I think the zags will win this game by 10+ and i'll tell you why..( oh and i wouldn't bet them -10.. opened at -4.5.. thats an easy decision for me)
In years past gonzaga has been accused of not playing good defense.. you can't really accuse them of that this year.
Gonzaga averages 8.3 steals, 6.7 blocks, 42.8 rebounds per game.
WSU averages 6.8 steals, 4.9 blocks, 39.8 rebounds per game.
Obviously WSU is gonna run like 25 seconds off every shot clock but those are compareable. You can check out Efficiency ratings here as well where gonzaga does not fall far behind WSU
http://kenpom.com/factors.php?y=2009&t=d
These are two vastly different teams from last years match up.. Gonzaga has had a huge improvement while WSU has more of a learning process right now with 8 freshmen on the team.
Josh Heytvelt did not play in the game last year leaving a small way less skilled gonzaga team on the floor (kuso, pendergraph). Well josh is back this year and the leading scorer on a team with 6 players averaging double figures.
Starting lineup for the zags
G- Jeremy Pargo 6'2 - 10.2 PPG 7.2 APG
G- Matt Bouldin 6'5 - 11.7 PPG 2.8 APG
G- Micah Downs 6'8 - 11.5 PPG 6.2 RPG
F- Austin Daye 6'10 - 11.8 PPG 6.3 RPG
F- Josh Heytvelt 6'11 - 15.3 PPG 6.5 RPG 62.5% FG%
This along with sharpshooter Steven gray coming off the bench along with 7 footer Rob Sacre. Scrappy, great defenders Ira brown and Demetri Goodson. this is a DEEP BALANCED team that i believe to be the 2nd best in the nation at this point in time.
Washington state with there Lineup last year of
Cowgill
Lowe
Weaver
Baynes
Rochestie
Beat the zags by 4 but losing an NBA player in weaver and 2 great 4 year players in Lowe and cowgill didn't make the cougars any better.
Klay Thompson is an awesome Freshmen and leading scorer for the team, he will be a big time player for the cougs in the future and is easily the biggest offensive threat for them this year. Harmeling is a good, but streaky shooter. Rochestie running the point is inconsistent at best. Looking down the list the zags have the advantage at every position in this game, as well as the bench as only 1 player will come off the bench to play any significant playing time for the cougars and that is Freshmen Deangelo Casto (3.3 ppg)
Another note: against Baylor the cougars got 3 points off their bench
My pick is the Zags at (-4.5) but i believe they should win by about 10. Although it could be more. Yes they will score less points then they are used too as WSU is a well coached team thats gonna slow it down because thats what they do.But in the end the zags have to much firepower and are the deepest team these cougars will see all year.
Also believe Gonzaga will score into the low 70's on this team
GL ALL
ope:
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