NCAA Basketball Roundtable: Gonzaga’s flaws, Iowa State’s rise and beating Purdue

After a brief hiatus, we’re back with another NCAA Basketball roundtable to talk about the latest storylines. We’ve had the number of unbeaten programs drop down to nearly single digits while having a new No. 1 team for the first time in their school history. Gonzaga had now played their fourth top-10 team in the season, while upsets continue to happen on nearly a nightly basis.

We have four talented contributors answering some key burning questions for NCAA Basketball, looking at both the good and bad of certain teams. Here’s who will be taking part here.

Bryan Mauro – @threecolorbeard

Jason Burgess – @Collegehoopsguy

Lauren Rosenberg – @lrosenberg101

Benjamin Zacher – @beezacher

1. What is Gonzaga’s biggest weakness at this point?

Mauro

The Bulldogs are having a hard time adjusting it seems.  They are also having a terrible time guarding the perimeter, which is killing them. Under head coach Mark Few Gonzaga has always been sound defensively, but they are losing that a little bit right due to some late rotations on the defensive end by some guys who have not been part of the program very long.  They have a ton of talent and they will get it figured out.

One thing that is deeper than just defending the perimeter is their continued struggle with athletic and mobile big men.  Paolo and Williams exposed them a great deal.  Any team with an athletic big is going to have an advantage against the Zags right now.

Burgess

Their biggest weakness right now is learning how to deal with teams that are physical with them and limit their open-court play. Baylor did it to them to win the title, and now Duke and Alabama have done it. Teams that can muscle them up have a chance to at least throw them off their game.

Rosenberg

I think Gonzaga’s biggest weakness is having the ability to spread the floor when Drew Timme is on the bench. Timme is obviously one of their most-used players but defenses still have the ability to take advantage of knowing Gonzaga will always look inside to him instead of swinging it out to capable shooters.

Zacher

The Zags are an absolute enigma, because they may still be the most talented team in the country – at least, on paper.  They’re solid defensively, and they’re one of the best offensive teams in the nation.  But both areas have some noteworthy drawbacks – they did give up 84 points to Duke and 91 to Alabama, after all.  They also put both teams on the line at least 22 times each.

There’s big-time work to do offensively, too.  The Zags are just average from beyond the arc at 34.0%, which includes just 6-21 against Duke and 4-19 on Alabama.  They’re also shooting 29-49 from the line in those two games.  In the wins over UCLA and Texas, Gonzaga was a combined 16-42 on three’s and 33-40 from the line.  That’s a big difference, to say the least – and that lack of inconsistency may be Gonzaga’s biggest weakness.  That’s without even mentioning the sluggish showing against Tarleton State.

There were times the Zags had some woeful stretches last year, but they never consistently struggled for multiple games in a row like this year’s team.   There needs to be consistent scoring across the board – and that, largely, needs to start with Andrew Nembhard upping his shooting percentages and becoming a reliable scorer.