For fans who thought Mika would be better than Davies now

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In defense of his defense, at least, last night's refs wouldn't let anyone play much defense.

Yndian wrote:
In defense of his defense, at least, last night's refs wouldn't let anyone play much defense.

Right on

Mika is obviously very talented. He has a long way to go before he is as good as a guy who is currently playing some pretty good minutes in the NBA.

Haters will be haters. And exagerants will be exagerants. I always thought freshman Mika would be better than freshman Davies. I think there were very few who actually and credibly taught Fr Mika would be better than Sr Davies. And until I see evidence of actual folks who fit in this category, this is is just trolling based hating at Mikas expense.

Yndian wrote:
In defense of his defense, at least, last night's refs wouldn't let anyone play much defense.

With the exception of anyone guarding Haws.

Cougs_Rule wrote:
Haters will be haters. And exagerants will be exagerants. I always thought freshman Mika would be better than freshman Davies. I think there were very few who actually and credibly taught Fr Mika would be better than Sr Davies. And until I see evidence of actual folks who fit in this category, this is is just trolling based hating at Mikas expense.

Trolling? There was a whole long thread about the subject as the season was approaching.

Schmoe wrote:

Haters will be haters. And exagerants will be exagerants. I always thought freshman Mika would be better than freshman Davies. I think there were very few who actually and credibly taught Fr Mika would be better than Sr Davies. And until I see evidence of actual folks who fit in this category, this is is just trolling based hating at Mikas expense.

Trolling? There was a whole long thread about the subject as the season was approaching.

Fair enough. I was too lazy to look it up. But, I don't think there were actually very many who thought this.

There were quite a few. If I recall those who thought Mika would be worse were in the minority.



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I'm guilty of predicting he'd be a better rebounder. Mika started well, but he has gone soft and he has really bad hands in the post.

Gunk wrote:
There were quite a few. If I recall those who thought Mika would be worse were in the minority.



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I don't blame the optimists on Mika but people only saw Davies flaws at the end. He did so many things so well we just came to expect it.

Mars wrote:


Dang exagerants.

I know. Seemed to fit. I was a Lazy-ist. :)

One thing I do remember about Davis is he used to disappear when we play a team with good bigs. Mika seems to do much better and that speaks a lot about his and our future. Last night Mika was a huge against the Zaggs three 7 foot monsters! Total body of work still is heavy in favor of Davis though.



Go Cougs!



L Hatton

Louisville, KY

KYCoug wrote:
One thing I do remember about Davis is he used to disappear when we play a team with good bigs. Mika seems to do much better and that speaks a lot about his and our future. Last night Mika was a huge against the Zaggs three 7 foot monsters! Total body of work still is heavy in favor of Davis though.



Go Cougs!



L Hatton

Louisville, KY

Again, to be sure, Mika freshman is not better than Sr Davies. A more realistic question though far less interesting which freshman is better?

But yes, Mika is not afraid to mix it up with these big guys. Great to see Luke W playing tough as well. We lose that game without his toughness and replacement minutes.

KYCoug wrote:
One thing I do remember about Davis is he used to disappear when we play a team with good bigs. Mika seems to do much better and that speaks a lot about his and our future. Last night Mika was a huge against the Zaggs three 7 foot monsters! Total body of work still is heavy in favor of Davis though.



Go Cougs!



L Hatton

Louisville, KY

Not so sure about this. If I recall, Davies' best game was against Baylor which had some NBA caliber bigs of their own.



Of course its easy for a guy like Davies to beat up on lesser talent. When up against other quality bigs, though, it's easy to forget that Davies still demanded double teams and was still a focal point for defenses which freed up Haws and others.



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Mika was a stud last night! Winder was awesome but my game ball would have gone to Mika. The energy and attitude he brought were game changers.



I couldn't help but think I was watching Ivan Drago vs. Harry Dunne (Lloyd's friend in Dumb and Dumber) going at it last night with Mika and Karnowski. :P

Stirfry wrote:
I couldn't help but think I was watching Ivan Drago vs. Harry Dunne (Lloyd's friend in Dumb and Dumber) going at it last night with Mika and Karnowski. :P

Haha, I was thinking the same thing.

Mika was great last night. As with most freshmen, he plays up and down. BYU was at home with a huge and engaged crowd. Several players commented that it was the wildest and craziest the Marriott Center has ever been.



Home Court matters for every team but matters a ton for this team. I read yesterday, that Vegas picked Gonzaga by 10 a few weeks ago in their house. And Zags exceeded that and won by about 15 iirc. Yesterday, according to what I read, Las Vegas had BYU favored by 2. BYU exceeded that and won by about 5 or so. Another 20 point swing Home vs Away for this BYU team.



It is partly because BYU plays better at home, gets more calls at home, and Gonzaga plays worse on the road - recall the choke they had just a week or so ago vs a good team on the road.



Gonzaga went after Haws and Collinsworth last night. Slowed them both down a bunch. Opportunity Winder and Mika. Both delivered.



BYU went after Zags 7 footer and Pangos. Slowed both Substantially. Opportunity Stockton and their Power Forward. Stockton came up short.



No need to bag on our players or get overly giddy about them either. It is all about strategy, matchups, and roles. And they do play better at home and when the opponent is focused on Haws and Collinsworth.

Mika has a great first half. And kind of disappeared on offense in the second. But he's was great at limiting the Gonzaga bigs. Roses move of bringing him off the bench to avoid early foul trouble was brilliant.