interesting battle, its soldout in Spokane, where zags have a 44-game winning skein alive in that city ...
i have been privileged to have coached against a number of players in this game, the most outstanding Rodney Stuckey, an absolute steal outta Kentwood HS (state 4A champs in 2004), I loved this kid, and he kicked our butt the only time we played them ... hes a 6'5 soph who tossed in 24.2 ppg last year (im pretty sure the highest avg for any frosh in D1) .... eastern also has 5 of their top 6 scorers coming back and a lil size... EWU is picked 3rd in the big sky and went 15-15 LY 9-5 in league ...
they won their only x-game 98-55 .... Their coach Mike Bruns said, "I thought Risper's effort tonight was phenomenal. When we are getting 22 points from Derek Risper on 8-of-9 shooting and then we're getting 12 points on 4-of-4 shooting from Brandon Moore - those guys combining to go 12-of-13 on the day - I think that's pretty good production. Derek was phenomenal, though; he energized the defense with some steals and was a force on the offensive glass. He was very good tonight.
"Rodney Stuckey has scored in double figures every time he has stepped on the court, so you always know what to expect from him. He's a special player who does special things."
More on Stuckey ...
Stuckey was named a first team selection on the collegehoops.net All-Underrated Team in September, who also ranked him as the 34th-best player in the nation (eighth among sophomores). Collegeinsider.com list him one of nation's top 16 players; and he was also selected to that web site's Mid-Major preseason All-America squad.
Another impressive accolade came from Lindy's Magazine, which ranked him as the third-best shooting guard in all of NCAA Division I.
USC's head coach Tim Floyd said, "Stuckey was the best NBA prospect we played against last season."
Stuckey set seven school records, and his 24.2 is a Big Sky record for a freshman and the seventh-best overall in the history of the league, best in 30 years, too. His average ranked eighth in NCAA Division I. He became the first player in Big Sky history and the 12th in Division I history to earn league MVP honors as a freshman.
The zags mightve lost a ton in their 2 aces morrison and batista, but dont get the lachrymal glands activated ... they have a handul of bigs ranging 6'9-7'3 .... and lotsa exp. coming back in the perimeter game.
They've won their x-games 97-52 and 89-53 .... Josh Heyfelt, a 6'10 soph has hit for 20 and 23 ... he has lotsa athleticsm but i always thought he was soft in HS; in 25 mins of one of the games he went 10/18 and had 8 rbs--this guy could be their diff. maker with a mean streak; the guy i love is pendergraft, a redheaded bull who doesnt give a damn about socks and tucked in shirts; zags also have ravio, pargo, and mallon who will all get bulk minutes; Pierre Marie Altidor-Cespedes and matt Bloudin will also contribute... Foster the 7'3 frosh kid outta white river might be redshirted, but i saw him play in HS and hes an interesting project ...
Fews comments after one game
"It's a different team this season, a different look than last year," Few said. "We have a long ways to go. I thought we played hard and that's all we wanted to do. We wanted to play with fire and I thought they did that. They made a lot of good plays out there but we still need to correct some stuff.
"I thought Bouldin had good moments," Few said. "If we can get Matt to play with instincts, he has phenomenal instincts and once we get him doing that he will be a phenomenal player. For their first time under lights, he did a good job."
this game is sold out like i mentioned, their x-games are sold out, there is a ton of fever for Zag ball ...
comments on game
EWU is catching 10.5 and tho im not betting the game, I know that CC Caper loves EWU, im sure he knows more about the game than I b/c i have no feel for it betting wise ...
I would be leery of Zags at home, tho; yes AM was an amazing player, but like any Kobe/AI force, others tend to stand and watch to the detriment of the team and no way thats fun being so subordinate; look for more team ball, cutting and possibly even harder to guard team ... I recall even commenting to a Zag assistant after they lost to TTech in the 2005 NCAA Tourney (he actually asked me what I thought) that I felt they became too predictable, asking AM to make it happen over and over in the last 5 mins of that TTech loss, and he agreed ... I think Batista might be as big a loss in many ways ... Teams got stoked to come and play Zags with AM, that might lighten up a tad; Few does a great job and as a bonus he might not be quite so hunted this year
EWU has never been afraid of playing good teams OOC, and they will get their chance to make a big splash while only taking a puddle jumper trip from Cheney ...
Its gonna be on TV here and Im not ruining the game by betting ...
gl to all, hope some of this helps
gregg
i have been privileged to have coached against a number of players in this game, the most outstanding Rodney Stuckey, an absolute steal outta Kentwood HS (state 4A champs in 2004), I loved this kid, and he kicked our butt the only time we played them ... hes a 6'5 soph who tossed in 24.2 ppg last year (im pretty sure the highest avg for any frosh in D1) .... eastern also has 5 of their top 6 scorers coming back and a lil size... EWU is picked 3rd in the big sky and went 15-15 LY 9-5 in league ...
they won their only x-game 98-55 .... Their coach Mike Bruns said, "I thought Risper's effort tonight was phenomenal. When we are getting 22 points from Derek Risper on 8-of-9 shooting and then we're getting 12 points on 4-of-4 shooting from Brandon Moore - those guys combining to go 12-of-13 on the day - I think that's pretty good production. Derek was phenomenal, though; he energized the defense with some steals and was a force on the offensive glass. He was very good tonight.
"Rodney Stuckey has scored in double figures every time he has stepped on the court, so you always know what to expect from him. He's a special player who does special things."
More on Stuckey ...
Stuckey was named a first team selection on the collegehoops.net All-Underrated Team in September, who also ranked him as the 34th-best player in the nation (eighth among sophomores). Collegeinsider.com list him one of nation's top 16 players; and he was also selected to that web site's Mid-Major preseason All-America squad.
Another impressive accolade came from Lindy's Magazine, which ranked him as the third-best shooting guard in all of NCAA Division I.
USC's head coach Tim Floyd said, "Stuckey was the best NBA prospect we played against last season."
Stuckey set seven school records, and his 24.2 is a Big Sky record for a freshman and the seventh-best overall in the history of the league, best in 30 years, too. His average ranked eighth in NCAA Division I. He became the first player in Big Sky history and the 12th in Division I history to earn league MVP honors as a freshman.
The zags mightve lost a ton in their 2 aces morrison and batista, but dont get the lachrymal glands activated ... they have a handul of bigs ranging 6'9-7'3 .... and lotsa exp. coming back in the perimeter game.
They've won their x-games 97-52 and 89-53 .... Josh Heyfelt, a 6'10 soph has hit for 20 and 23 ... he has lotsa athleticsm but i always thought he was soft in HS; in 25 mins of one of the games he went 10/18 and had 8 rbs--this guy could be their diff. maker with a mean streak; the guy i love is pendergraft, a redheaded bull who doesnt give a damn about socks and tucked in shirts; zags also have ravio, pargo, and mallon who will all get bulk minutes; Pierre Marie Altidor-Cespedes and matt Bloudin will also contribute... Foster the 7'3 frosh kid outta white river might be redshirted, but i saw him play in HS and hes an interesting project ...
Fews comments after one game
"It's a different team this season, a different look than last year," Few said. "We have a long ways to go. I thought we played hard and that's all we wanted to do. We wanted to play with fire and I thought they did that. They made a lot of good plays out there but we still need to correct some stuff.
"I thought Bouldin had good moments," Few said. "If we can get Matt to play with instincts, he has phenomenal instincts and once we get him doing that he will be a phenomenal player. For their first time under lights, he did a good job."
this game is sold out like i mentioned, their x-games are sold out, there is a ton of fever for Zag ball ...
comments on game
EWU is catching 10.5 and tho im not betting the game, I know that CC Caper loves EWU, im sure he knows more about the game than I b/c i have no feel for it betting wise ...
I would be leery of Zags at home, tho; yes AM was an amazing player, but like any Kobe/AI force, others tend to stand and watch to the detriment of the team and no way thats fun being so subordinate; look for more team ball, cutting and possibly even harder to guard team ... I recall even commenting to a Zag assistant after they lost to TTech in the 2005 NCAA Tourney (he actually asked me what I thought) that I felt they became too predictable, asking AM to make it happen over and over in the last 5 mins of that TTech loss, and he agreed ... I think Batista might be as big a loss in many ways ... Teams got stoked to come and play Zags with AM, that might lighten up a tad; Few does a great job and as a bonus he might not be quite so hunted this year
EWU has never been afraid of playing good teams OOC, and they will get their chance to make a big splash while only taking a puddle jumper trip from Cheney ...
Its gonna be on TV here and Im not ruining the game by betting ...
gl to all, hope some of this helps
gregg
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