BUFFALO — No, Matt Bouldin will not be duped. He knows how these practices go for so many teams. In prepping for the 2-3 zone, everything comes so easy. Pass-pass-shoot zone-busting is a breeze in practice.

 

‘Teams are probably cutting up and thinking, ‘Hey, we’re gonna be fine,” Bouldin said. ‘But it’s not Syracuse. They’re really active and really long. They get after it.’

 

So that’s the antidote to an upset — decode the zone. One game after patiently dissecting one of the nation’s best man-to-man defenses in Florida State, the ‘Zags collide with one of the best zones in top-seeded Syracuse. Gonzaga prefers to turn games into a never-ending three-man weave drill. But for Sunday, Bouldin repeated that the ‘Zags must be calm.

 

With Arinze Onuaku (knee) likely out, the Bulldogs won’t be quick to shoot. Instead, Bouldin wants his team to stay under the speed limit when need be.

 

‘You don’t want to slow down in terms of getting break points or attacking them,’ Bouldin said. ‘But in terms of the halfcourt set, we really need to move the ball better, slow down and make simple plays.’

 

Bouldin — the latest great Gonzaga guard — is the difference-maker. He’s half-point, half-shooting guard. A player capable of altering the mood of a game. Against Florida State, Bouldin scored 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds. But more importantly, he set a methodical tone against the Seminoles’ long defense. FSU — powered by overgrown men at every position — had gone 67 straight games holding an opponent under 50 percent from the field.

 

With Bouldin making crisp decisions, Gonzaga shot exactly 50 percent (21-of-42). Each possession was savored. And when Florida State nearly wiped out Gonzaga’s 18-point lead, Bouldin made clutch free throws.

 

Syracuse assistant coach Rob Murphy agrees. Gonzaga’s offense runs through Bouldin. He’s a rare talent capable of speeding up or slowing up the game. Of course, this isn’t groundbreaking news. For more than a decade, Gonzaga has filtered game-changing guards through Spokane, Wash. The likes of Dan Dickau, Blake Stepp and Adam Morrison have all made the ‘Zags national darlings.

 

Bouldin may be the best of them all.

 

‘He’s right up there with those guys,’ Murphy said. ‘He has an all-around game. He can play the point, the two and shoots the ball well. He’s a great passer. I think he’s one of the better players in the history of Gonzaga.’

 

For Bouldin, this is it. This is his last chance to lift Gonzaga from chic bracket-buster to legitimate contender — something the guards before him were unable to do.

 

He saw all the close calls of seasons past. Bouldin watched Stepp ricochet a potential game-winner off the backboard against No. 1-seeded Arizona in a double-overtime loss in 2003. After all, the way Stepp played lured him to Gonzaga in the first place. He embraced the underdog, close-knit ‘Zags community, watching three Sweet 16 runs and playing in one himself.

 

Now, he has an opportunity to take the program to new heights.

 

‘Just have fun, compete and play as hard as I can and leave it all on the floor,’ Bouldin said. ‘As soon as we’re out, I’m done playing at Gonzaga so I’m trying to utilize every second of it.’

 

To extend his career, the only answer is to break Syracuse’s zone. Again and again, Bouldin repeated that Gonzaga cannot shoot prematurely. That’s what Syracuse wants, he said. He won’t let his team fire away too soon.

 

‘We can’t settle for 3’s early,’ Bouldin said. ‘We’re going to take 3’s but we can’t settle. We can’t be afraid to throw it inside and get our post touches.’

 

The environment won’t help. During his team’s win over Florida State on Friday night, Bouldin looked around. What he saw was quiet preview of what Sunday would entail. Orange dominated the blue seats inside the arena.

 

Only this time, as Gonzaga’s trying to chip away at SU’s zone, those same fans will be in loud opposition.

 

‘It’s just another road game,’ Bouldin said. ‘We have to go in with the mindset that we would for any other road game.’

 

Sitting on the opposite end of the locker room Saturday, freshman Kelly Olynyk pointed out all the weapons. Like Syracuse, the Bulldogs are deep. Four players average in double-figures. Bouldin is averaging 15.8 per game, Elias Harris is at 14.7 and seven-foot Robert Sacre averages 10.1.

 

Olynyk agrees with Bouldin. Possession-by-possession patience must be contagious if Gonzaga is going to mimic Northern Iowa’s upset of Kansas. Syracuse will try to rush the Bulldogs into errant shots.

 

‘Florida State played a great man defense,’ Olynyk said. ‘They were big-bodied and long and athletic, much like Syracuse. (SU) just plays a zone, so we’ll have to pack it them inside out and take shots on our terms again.’

 

And like that Florida State game, chances are the ball will be in Bouldin’s hands if the game is close. He’s not a megaphone-leader, not one to go hoarse in the huddle.

 

But he’s the player Syracuse must bottle up.

 

‘He’s not a big vocal guy. He wants to lead more by his actions,’ Olynyk said. ‘He steps up and makes plays in the clutch.’

 

thdunne@syr.edu

 

Published on March 20, 2010 at 12:00 pm