Mercurial forward Josh Heytvelt and redshirt candidate Theo Davis have been suspended indefinately by Mark Few of the Zags because of their arrest last night on possession of a certain herb and a certain kind of mushroom, or something along those lines.
While this may seem like a disaster for the Zags chances for an at-large bid, it may not be necessarily so: The Zags have big players on the bench that now may get an opportunity to play, such as the their 7'3" slim center and the space-eater Burgess. As we have seen with Arizona's Jordan Hill, when you get the opportunity, you have a beter chance of delivering than when sitting on the bench or coming in for spot-up duty or in blowouts. The Zags can experiment with a big line-up but they can also go with a smaller team with Mallon, Kuso or even Pendo as the "center".
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Breaking news: Two Gonzaga players suspended
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4 comments:
Given the referees penchant for blowing the whistle everytime Abe Kuso moves, if you see me crying tonight, please pass the tissues.
This sucks.
I guess (to use a Jimmy Dykes term) "he looks like he is going to foul", so the refs call the fouls on him early and often.
I was a bit surprised that he didn't use Burgess/Foster, at least on the space-eater Omar Samhan (sp?). Maybe it was too early to incorporate them into the game plan, but he should probably give them a try against the space-eaters of Santa Clara on Big Monday. If he starts those guys, maybe they can save up on early fouls on Kuso...
Yeah, Coach Few decided to go the alternate route of just not giving Kuso any minutes.
Burgess and Foster just never play, but I was surprised as well to not see them play at all last night.
If Heytvelt is gone for the season, I can see Gonzaga having a possible cinderella run in the NCAA as a low-seeded underdog (assuming they qualify), just like they did a few years ago, before they started getting top 5 seeds in the tourney. It may depend on who they face, they have a better chance of winning when offense decides the game (eg a shootout with Oregon) than a slugfest with wrestlemania defense teams. The Zags have a few players that can score in bunches, and more minutes for Pendo means more toughness and consistency, but for a cinderella run they would need to get some production in the paint from the tall guys, not necessarily scoring, but rebounding, putbacks and defense. This Heytvelt suspension may also accelerate Micah Downs's in-season development.
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