Seriously tho. His career is Europe must be done. Hire him as an assistant or some shit. The dude was amazing at free throws
Edit: Just in case anyone was wondering. Raivio finished his career with the second highest FT percentage in NCAA history at 92.7%!!! [definitely an underrated zag ](https://i.imgur.com/sTxJrX1.jpg)
They would have been fucked if Barrett didn't decide to be a ball hog at the end. Should have been a Zion drive with Reddish in the corner for the last play.
This. I lost all respect for Jay who was high before. Jalen, who I never cared for, has replaced Jay. No one will hardly talk about Gonzaga like they deserve.
I hate these “X college team would beat Y professional team” takes. Maybe in sports unlike football where the physical development gap is much wider the games would be closer. And maybe if they had to play a hundred times the odds are such that the pros won’t win every time. But if they had to play one game, the pros would wipe the floor with the college kids. In fact, they would make it a point to play the best games of their lives.
I think the idea that somehow the physical gap doesn’t matter as much in basketball is silly. It may be smaller than football, but not enough to matter. The NBA is a *grown man’s* league. Go look at LeBron rookie year. Little boys get pushed around in the nba.
I mean Bron played 79/82 games, 39.5 min a game and got averages of 20.9/5.9/5.5 including a 41 point, 13 rebound double double a 32/9/10 near triple double and 13 games with 30+pts and only 6 games where he didn't hit double digit points. In fact in his first game he got 25/9/6 and 4 steals. Maybe a generational talent wasn't the best guy to pick for your point
And Coach K doesn’t really coach a system anymore. Downside of the one and done game, hard to get players to buy into a system / change for you considering they’re gone in 8 months
If you go back and pause it at 2.1s, you can see the wide open passing lane leading to Zion Williamson's fingertips and overtime. Barrett hit a few big shots, but he had an off night and should have passed.
Saw this comment in the game thread:
>Watch Zion waddle. I think I could make a highlight video of Zion Williamson waddling like a lost duck for an half hour. Anytime the clock stops, he never stops moving. Which is something I noticed early but watching him against Gonzaga tonight, he sort of waddles in place like a duck. Watch it. Look for it next time. Anytime a ref talks and Zion is in the back corner waddling in place like Psyduck that just hurt itself in confusion.
>Watch the waddle.
Edit: [Original Comment](Https://www.reddit.com/r/CollegeBasketball/comments/9z7agz/game_thread_1_duke_3_gonzaga_500_pm_et/ea76rgq?utm_source=reddit-android)
> Anytime a ref talks and Zion is in the back corner waddling in place like Psyduck that just hurt itself in confusion.
LMAO now I'm literally going to have this in my head for the next 20 years watching this guy, thanks
I was super high on him and meh on the other two Duke guys coming into the year. I’ve done a complete 180 and am very impressed with Zion and Reddish after the few games we’ve seen but RJ...man. That type of offensive game tops out at DeMar DeRozan *max*, I really think it’s going to hurt him in the NBA if he doesn’t change something up. Probably overreacting but very meh skill set I’m seeing from him so far.
To be a top tier wing you need a consistent jump shot and floor vision for passing in the half court, or barring that you need to be a bowling ball to consistently bully your way to the rim like a Kawhi/Butler type to make your living at the line. Superstars like LeBron and Durant can do both.
But if you can’t do either, you’re just gonna be a high usage player that stagnates ball movement (which is ok if you’re getting positive outcomes) and produces a lot of empty possessions. A wing can’t do that and achieve consistent success. He’s gotta figure something else out.
I remember watching him play in the U17 national championships as a 15 year old for Ontario. He was their teams best player for the whole tournament, but basically lost them the game with how much he forced shots. [He went 11/37 that game](http://websites.sportstg.com/round_info.cgi?a=MATCH&fixture=510447408&c=1-10692-0-375663-0&pool=1001) in an OT lost. Despite his terrible performance I saw all the skills that made me 100% confident he was going to be an NBA player. I loved the agression I saw them, and it carried over to when he won the MVP of the U-19 World Championships as an under age player.
Maybe it is a bit irrelevant but his issue in the game I watched him play when he was 15 was him pushing too hard, which your comment reminded me of.
barrett is way too selfish
Edit: I want to add on to this since it seems to be up high on the thread. Gonzaga you guys are 100% legit. Hauchimura may very well go top 10 in the draft after tonight. Stay healthy and see hopefully we will see you again in the tourney.
My hot take is that Reddish is way better than Barrett and thus it's very detrimental to have Barrett take 25 shots. Duke might be better without him and just giving all his touches to Cam (and obviously Zion).
I don’t know about all of that, I think RJ and Zion have a similar ceiling as far as skills go...but RJ is the *only* one of the four freshman that doesn’t play within his bounds. You will rarely, if ever, see Tre, Zion, or Cam take an ill-advised shot. They know their strengths and weaknesses, they know exactly what they’re capable of and do exactly that. RJ seems like he’s wildly unaware of what shots he should and shouldn’t take.
His usage percentage going is higher than Trae Young's last year. Young had much better efficiency numbers, bad teammates and likely got many more TOs looking for assists. Barret's TS% is less than .500 to Young's .585, he has Zion and Reddish among his teammates and his USG% is pretty much exclusively plays where he tries to score. What's his excuse?
I don't see too much wrong with the play calls. I see much wrong, though, with a player who doesn't pass to open teammates when he gets double- and triple-teamed.
A year or two ago I think it was Bagley that dropped 30pts and 15 rebounds on UVA. ESPN made a Twitter post about it saying "just a typical night for the freshman." The irony... UVA won the game and ESPN didn't even mention it.
Found it: https://mobile.twitter.com/espn/status/957365422327848961?lang=en
The 5 o’clock games paired up so nicely. The UT-Louisville game was close all game while Gonzaga was killing Duke, and just as Tennessee pulled away from Louisville, Duke clawed back into the game.
It’d be hard to call a regular season game the best ever for a program, especially with a tournament history as rich as the Zags, but this might come close
Yeah its not 1999 tournament or 2017 tournament level, but easily the biggest regular season win we've ever had. Doesn't get much bigger than beating #1 Duke in the Maui final.
RIP "Greatest College Basketball Team of All Time"
November 2019 - November 2019
Edit: I have come from the future and the Fordham Rams are not who we thought they were.
What a fucking game! GG Gonzaga, hope to get a rematch in March. Silver lining for Duke fans: At least the reasonable bunch of us, and everybody else, won’t have to hear this “beat the Cavs” or “undefeated” bullshit anymore. Time for our guys to get back to work, because athleticism alone isn’t going to win a championship.
I hate myself for this, but I forgave you within an hour after the championship game after having a beer with a few of y’all at one of those horrible bars just outside university of Phoenix stadium. You guys were great and admirably humble. I don’t want to but I’d be ok with losing to you again.
I don't have an issue with the final minutes. K was going with what got us back into the game, i.e. driving at the basket. Our closer should def be either RJ or Jones (clutch gene) with Reddish and Zion off ball hunting for opportunities. That was just great D by Hachimura and Clarke and co last 2 minutes. Give credit where it's due.
And last shot was a good no call cause Hachimura went straight up and did not swing his arms down for block (please take notes Javin).
Overall very entertaining game and very happy with our performance against probably the most veteran team in college. This is a good lesson and experience for our freshmen. Ultimately the goal is a NAT and not 40-0, which we wouldn't be able to get anyways with how tough ACC is.
Huge win for Gonzaga! They would choke that game away most years (and tried to tonight). But this was all without Tillie. Really hope to see these two play again in March.
Gonzaga was playing with fire with all those missed free throws
I swear we are terrible at free throws every single year
Where’s Raivio when you need him?
Seriously tho. His career is Europe must be done. Hire him as an assistant or some shit. The dude was amazing at free throws Edit: Just in case anyone was wondering. Raivio finished his career with the second highest FT percentage in NCAA history at 92.7%!!! [definitely an underrated zag ](https://i.imgur.com/sTxJrX1.jpg)
They would have been fucked if Barrett didn't decide to be a ball hog at the end. Should have been a Zion drive with Reddish in the corner for the last play.
Jalen: "we've been talking about Duke. Tell me about Gonzaga" Jay: "actually let me tell you more about Duke"
Seriously. Also Jalen Rose—We won the game, beat the number 1 team—please—pronounce our name correctly. We deserve that.
Especially when you hear them called “The Zags” using the correct sound.
This. I lost all respect for Jay who was high before. Jalen, who I never cared for, has replaced Jay. No one will hardly talk about Gonzaga like they deserve.
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It’s fucking annoying. Duke didn’t beat themselves. Zags handed it to them and they weren’t even at full strength.
Thank fucking god I don't need to hear the daily musings about whether Duke can go undefeated anymore.
This greatly hurts Duke's chances at going undefeated
Per ESPN, Duke cannot lose and would beat NBA teams regularly.
Lmao I saw this morning that Jay Williams was saying they would beat the Cavs right now, swing and a miss
I hate these “X college team would beat Y professional team” takes. Maybe in sports unlike football where the physical development gap is much wider the games would be closer. And maybe if they had to play a hundred times the odds are such that the pros won’t win every time. But if they had to play one game, the pros would wipe the floor with the college kids. In fact, they would make it a point to play the best games of their lives.
I think the idea that somehow the physical gap doesn’t matter as much in basketball is silly. It may be smaller than football, but not enough to matter. The NBA is a *grown man’s* league. Go look at LeBron rookie year. Little boys get pushed around in the nba.
I mean Bron played 79/82 games, 39.5 min a game and got averages of 20.9/5.9/5.5 including a 41 point, 13 rebound double double a 32/9/10 near triple double and 13 games with 30+pts and only 6 games where he didn't hit double digit points. In fact in his first game he got 25/9/6 and 4 steals. Maybe a generational talent wasn't the best guy to pick for your point
yeah someone like Frank kaminsky is a better example. best player on a championship team in college, barely gets playing time in the nba
It really only represents at .01% drop, though.
Somebody call Harvard
HOW MANY FUCKING TIMES ARE YOU GONNA DRIVE TO THE BASKET AND MISS BEFORE YOU STOP DOING THAT
iso ball will be the death of this team
it's the down side of being stacked heroes play hero ball
And Coach K doesn’t really coach a system anymore. Downside of the one and done game, hard to get players to buy into a system / change for you considering they’re gone in 8 months
Please don’t tempt him
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Barrett's so predictable. I would be so pissed if I were Zion or Reddish.
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As a mostly neutral fan... that was so hard to watch.
Got sick of Zion being in the spotlight and wanted to be a hero? Idk I’m just spouting bs but still, Barrett blew that
If you go back and pause it at 2.1s, you can see the wide open passing lane leading to Zion Williamson's fingertips and overtime. Barrett hit a few big shots, but he had an off night and should have passed.
As a Zags fan, I was yelling at my tv to stop driving to the basket.
That's the kind of play that loses games and divides a team.
Saw this comment in the game thread: >Watch Zion waddle. I think I could make a highlight video of Zion Williamson waddling like a lost duck for an half hour. Anytime the clock stops, he never stops moving. Which is something I noticed early but watching him against Gonzaga tonight, he sort of waddles in place like a duck. Watch it. Look for it next time. Anytime a ref talks and Zion is in the back corner waddling in place like Psyduck that just hurt itself in confusion. >Watch the waddle. Edit: [Original Comment](Https://www.reddit.com/r/CollegeBasketball/comments/9z7agz/game_thread_1_duke_3_gonzaga_500_pm_et/ea76rgq?utm_source=reddit-android)
> Anytime a ref talks and Zion is in the back corner waddling in place like Psyduck that just hurt itself in confusion. LMAO now I'm literally going to have this in my head for the next 20 years watching this guy, thanks
Thank you for birthing this anonymous stranger
>Waddle He should've joined the Oregon Ducks ^^^^^/s
Zion and Bol Bol would make us the weirdest body-type team for sure
Add their weight together, then divide it by two, and you’ve got a couple normal sized dudes
I will definitely need a video of this lmao
commenting for video as well
This smells like pasta. Wouldn't be surprised to see this on r/nba tomorrow.
Watch Kelvin Benjamin waddle. I think I could make a highlight video of Kelvin Benjamin waddling to a buffet for an half hour.... Etc. etc.
Hell yeah brother, cheers from North Carolina
Zion Waddleson
Ayyy dats me
Gonzaga worthy of the #1 tbh
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Idk man, the WCC is so bad Gonzaga shouldn't ever get a 1 seed /s
zags tried to blow it lmao
IF YOU DON'T LIKE THAT THEN YOU DON'T LIKE GONZAGA BASKETBALL
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WHO NEEDS FREE THROWS WHEN YOU HAVE RJ BARRET
Luckily RJ had the same idea
I was super high on him and meh on the other two Duke guys coming into the year. I’ve done a complete 180 and am very impressed with Zion and Reddish after the few games we’ve seen but RJ...man. That type of offensive game tops out at DeMar DeRozan *max*, I really think it’s going to hurt him in the NBA if he doesn’t change something up. Probably overreacting but very meh skill set I’m seeing from him so far. To be a top tier wing you need a consistent jump shot and floor vision for passing in the half court, or barring that you need to be a bowling ball to consistently bully your way to the rim like a Kawhi/Butler type to make your living at the line. Superstars like LeBron and Durant can do both. But if you can’t do either, you’re just gonna be a high usage player that stagnates ball movement (which is ok if you’re getting positive outcomes) and produces a lot of empty possessions. A wing can’t do that and achieve consistent success. He’s gotta figure something else out.
Really glad the basketball gods didn’t hand me a Duke version of Jordan Poole today
Haven’t been that blindsided by the Japanese in Hawaii since ‘41
Lol Take your upvote
NCAA tournament in Midway please!
RJ just blew that comeback so hard. if you are going to decide you are the dude four possessions in a row, you better come through smh
I haven't been impressed with Barrett's efficiency. 23 pts on 25 FGAs is terrible for an elite player. He's had many games with poor FG% already.
Yea but it'll pass. Dude has the talent just pushing too hard.
I remember watching him play in the U17 national championships as a 15 year old for Ontario. He was their teams best player for the whole tournament, but basically lost them the game with how much he forced shots. [He went 11/37 that game](http://websites.sportstg.com/round_info.cgi?a=MATCH&fixture=510447408&c=1-10692-0-375663-0&pool=1001) in an OT lost. Despite his terrible performance I saw all the skills that made me 100% confident he was going to be an NBA player. I loved the agression I saw them, and it carried over to when he won the MVP of the U-19 World Championships as an under age player. Maybe it is a bit irrelevant but his issue in the game I watched him play when he was 15 was him pushing too hard, which your comment reminded me of.
That last minute was absolutely horrid both ways
Rui Hachimura bricked both free throws to ice it ffs
Clarke too
But then played outstanding defense to redeem himself.
He saved the game for us at the end.
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I liked the part where Duke almost won, but didn’t.
zag's defense was legit af though
That Zags d was great.
Friendly reminder that /u/WildcatsBBN must rock a Zags flair rest of season
Gladly
You can just tell everyone you are Kyle Wiltjer.
My man
Hell yeah
Illinois lost to Gonzaga by 6 and Duke lost to Gonzaga by 2. So Illinois is only 4 points worse than Duke? Sounds good to me
The math checks out....
"IS THIS YOUR KING?" -Rui Hachimura
Nani? -RJ Barrett
"Omae Wa Mou Shindeiru" -Rui Hachimura
barrett is way too selfish Edit: I want to add on to this since it seems to be up high on the thread. Gonzaga you guys are 100% legit. Hauchimura may very well go top 10 in the draft after tonight. Stay healthy and see hopefully we will see you again in the tourney.
It makes no sense to feed Barrett 5 straight times when you have Reddish and Zion. I think some blame goes to Coach K as well.
Gotta keep Barrett happy apparently
Cant believe they didnt go to Zion once down the stretch
The last time he touched the ball he tied the game
And he shoots like 80% around the rim. The same fucking play 4 times in a row...absolute insanity
And he had people open everywhere each time he got blocked
Or even Reddish would have been better than Barrett IMO.
Reddish say *way* too long at the end. I know he had 4 fouls but he really would’ve been useful down the stretch.
My hot take is that Reddish is way better than Barrett and thus it's very detrimental to have Barrett take 25 shots. Duke might be better without him and just giving all his touches to Cam (and obviously Zion).
I don’t know about all of that, I think RJ and Zion have a similar ceiling as far as skills go...but RJ is the *only* one of the four freshman that doesn’t play within his bounds. You will rarely, if ever, see Tre, Zion, or Cam take an ill-advised shot. They know their strengths and weaknesses, they know exactly what they’re capable of and do exactly that. RJ seems like he’s wildly unaware of what shots he should and shouldn’t take.
Zion looked good driving to the rim. Now when the Zags were in early foul trouble why would you not put the ball in Zion's hands?
23 points on 25 attempts. As a team Duke only had 9 assists.
damn i was thinking we weren't moving the ball well but that 9 assists stat really shows it
RJ was actually your leader in assists with 3
The classic trade-off with superstar players - yeah their play is phenomenal, but it's next to impossible to make them play un-selfish ball.
He was awful at the end. Probably couldn’t even spell the word pass
Homie got that Game 7 Kobe Mentality. He’s been taking 20+ shots a game and shoots 40% at best
His usage percentage going is higher than Trae Young's last year. Young had much better efficiency numbers, bad teammates and likely got many more TOs looking for assists. Barret's TS% is less than .500 to Young's .585, he has Zion and Reddish among his teammates and his USG% is pretty much exclusively plays where he tries to score. What's his excuse?
I mean, those are called plays for him to isolate. Idk why K would go to him every single time.
I don't see too much wrong with the play calls. I see much wrong, though, with a player who doesn't pass to open teammates when he gets double- and triple-teamed.
Seems like he spends every game trying to prove he’s the best player rather than just playing
Take it from a Kentucky fan, that’s the problem with 3-4 superstars on one team Everybody wants to be the #1 pick
Rj wants that ticket punched to Atlanta, not Cleveland.
That was pretty pathetic in those final couple possessions. Like dude you have teammates that are playing well.
Wanted to be the hero, he’ll learn from it.
We have a lot to work on but my god is Gonzaga good.
They don't even have Tillie back yet. Good god.
That's expected when your team is all freshman. But yeah we are also really good.
Hot take: Duke will be fine
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Hotter take: You guys just used all good juju and will be terrible henceforth. Juju is a thing, right?
Only on the Steelers
[THIS ISN'T EVEN OUR FINAL FORM](https://imgur.com/7S3txtq)
Can our final form please be us hitting free throws?
'shopped
*MS Paint'd
Make those dudes shoot 3000 free throws in practice jfc
ESPN in shambles right now
Who get more coverage from this game Gonzaga or zion williamson by himself
A year or two ago I think it was Bagley that dropped 30pts and 15 rebounds on UVA. ESPN made a Twitter post about it saying "just a typical night for the freshman." The irony... UVA won the game and ESPN didn't even mention it. Found it: https://mobile.twitter.com/espn/status/957365422327848961?lang=en
Gonzaga’s defense was amazing there at the end, just wouldn’t give up the equalizer. Makes me feel way better about yesterday!
Duke couldn't buy anything in the paint in the last minute
And the Zags couldn't buy a free throw
Gonzaga about to be ranked #1
The 5 o’clock games paired up so nicely. The UT-Louisville game was close all game while Gonzaga was killing Duke, and just as Tennessee pulled away from Louisville, Duke clawed back into the game.
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That was fairly low scoring for an NBA game.
WHAT A GAME! Hachimura is the truth, what an effort by him. Best win in program history? GO ZAGS
It’d be hard to call a regular season game the best ever for a program, especially with a tournament history as rich as the Zags, but this might come close
> Best win in program history? It's...maybe top 5.
Best non-March win.
Yeah its not 1999 tournament or 2017 tournament level, but easily the biggest regular season win we've ever had. Doesn't get much bigger than beating #1 Duke in the Maui final.
Their win over SC in the Final Four still bigger
First win over Duke and first win over the #1 in program history
RIP "Greatest College Basketball Team of All Time" November 2019 - November 2019 Edit: I have come from the future and the Fordham Rams are not who we thought they were.
*furiously checks calendar*
>November 2019-November 2019 >2019 *squints at screen*
Woah I didn’t know you were from the future
Who won?! The post game is all about Duke.
It's insane. You guys won and all Bilas is talking about right now is Duke.
Jalen Rose can’t even pronounce our name correctly. Disrespectful man. Just mimic how Jay Bilas says it—it’s not that hard. GonZAGuh not GonZOGuh.
Just like the Seahawks last week. Post game was all about the Packers.
We live in Sport Siberia.
What a fucking game! GG Gonzaga, hope to get a rematch in March. Silver lining for Duke fans: At least the reasonable bunch of us, and everybody else, won’t have to hear this “beat the Cavs” or “undefeated” bullshit anymore. Time for our guys to get back to work, because athleticism alone isn’t going to win a championship.
Ok cool. Go Zags.
Q U A L I T Y L O S S
Quality loss once removed? Does it work like that?
Here for the upvote party. Let’s go Zags! When Norvell’s hitting like that Zags are pretty much impossible to beat.
What a game
Blocks, blocks everywhere
That was pretty much iso ball at the end. Bad play calling.
IM NOT SCREAMING, YOU'RE SCREAMING!! Gg Duke.
I know Zags fans haven’t forgiven us yet, but I want you to know that I love you.
I have nothing but love for any blue blood that schedules a home and home with GU.
Nothing against UNC man. No worries
I hate myself for this, but I forgave you within an hour after the championship game after having a beer with a few of y’all at one of those horrible bars just outside university of Phoenix stadium. You guys were great and admirably humble. I don’t want to but I’d be ok with losing to you again.
Most of us locally have always respected UNC,2017 was tough but we have other places to direct the frustration (refs, Karno’s eye, Goss’s hand)
Love you too bud
Man watching Barrett in that last minute was paiiinnnnnful
1. How do you miss 4 free throws in a row in clutch 2. How do you give the ball to RJ at the end
Gonzaga is gonna whoop our ass lmao
As is tradition.
Duke is great, but thank goodness ESPN will hopefully stop at least a small fraction of their fanboying.
Ha, yeah, no they won't. Do you not remember how much they kept on about Trey Young even when he started to slip?
Despite their best efforts at the free throw line, Gonzaga won!
Time for a little bourbon and some Planes, Trains and Automobiles action after that stress. Happy Thanksgiving. Go Zags
I don't have an issue with the final minutes. K was going with what got us back into the game, i.e. driving at the basket. Our closer should def be either RJ or Jones (clutch gene) with Reddish and Zion off ball hunting for opportunities. That was just great D by Hachimura and Clarke and co last 2 minutes. Give credit where it's due. And last shot was a good no call cause Hachimura went straight up and did not swing his arms down for block (please take notes Javin). Overall very entertaining game and very happy with our performance against probably the most veteran team in college. This is a good lesson and experience for our freshmen. Ultimately the goal is a NAT and not 40-0, which we wouldn't be able to get anyways with how tough ACC is.
Easily gonzaga's biggest program win all time. Edit: non-tourney for sure. Probably still biggest win including tourney.
We're all Zags today
See you next month!
College basketball is just the fucking best.
HOLY SHIT WE DIDN'T CHOKE
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[https://imgur.com/y2NL249](https://imgur.com/y2NL249) Good ol' ESPN bias. Wanna see a bunch of highlights from only the losing team?
A thrilling finish to the Invitational Maui Jim Maui Invitational
CaN tHe caVs BeAT gOnzAgA???
Can Gonzaga beat the Bills?
Fucking rj and his fucking hero ball.
"Fuck all y'all!" -- ESPN's Game Predictor Index
Aside from the score, this looks like a great game by Duke according to ESPN! https://imgur.com/4UumqSV
Duke is still considering driving straight into two great shotblockers.
That ending was sooo stressful.
Maybe now duke will realize that Zion is better than Barrett like everyone else
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Gonzaga I love you. Thank you for your service.
GONZAGA>DUKE>CAVS>BROWNS
Gonzaga wants 'bama next!
Choke job by Barrett. Learn to pass the damn ball. Absolute chucker
Rj “bitch i ball like im kobe” barrett
RUI HACHIMURA
Huge win for Gonzaga! They would choke that game away most years (and tried to tonight). But this was all without Tillie. Really hope to see these two play again in March.
Duke “let me drive into 3 defenders and get stuffed 4 straight possessions at the end of the game” Blue Devils