I watched NCST beat Villanova Saturday and my thoughts on NCST.:
First, Villanova took a lot of bad shots in that game. Kept jacking up 3's early in the shot clock. Having said that, the Wolfpack are puzzling. They are a really talented team. They have size, quickness, athleticism and have some good outside shooters. Cat Barber has really blossomed at the point. Not a really deep team but can go 7 or 8 deep. When watching them play I wonder how did these guys loose more than 5 or 6 games. I have not analyzed their season stats. I'll leave that to Zipp because he will do a much better job than I would. I think for the cards to win, a 3 things have to happen for the Cards to win.
1) We have to be patient on offense. That's what we were in the 1st 30 minutes of the NIU game. When we started getting inpatient midway through the 2nd half our offense started to stall and we got into scramble mode. We got away with that against NIU. We won't against NCST. It will lead to layups or 3's in transition because our floor balance will be out of whack and Barber and Lacy will thrive.
2) On defense we have to turn Barber into a jump shooter. He is a capable shooter. But his penetration and passing is what kills opponents. He gets a lot of easy baskets for their 4 & 5's and also kicks the ball out for their best looks at 3's. If he penetrates the way he did in our game earlier this year it will be very difficult to beat them.
3) Keep NCST off the offensive boards. Their big's do a good job of cleaning up the misses.
The thing about State is they will take some tough shots. Especially Lacy and Turner. Lacy hits more tough shots than any player I have seen in college basketball this year. We want them taking the step back 3's and the 3's way behind the arc. Otherwise its going to be a long night.
First, Villanova took a lot of bad shots in that game. Kept jacking up 3's early in the shot clock. Having said that, the Wolfpack are puzzling. They are a really talented team. They have size, quickness, athleticism and have some good outside shooters. Cat Barber has really blossomed at the point. Not a really deep team but can go 7 or 8 deep. When watching them play I wonder how did these guys loose more than 5 or 6 games. I have not analyzed their season stats. I'll leave that to Zipp because he will do a much better job than I would. I think for the cards to win, a 3 things have to happen for the Cards to win.
1) We have to be patient on offense. That's what we were in the 1st 30 minutes of the NIU game. When we started getting inpatient midway through the 2nd half our offense started to stall and we got into scramble mode. We got away with that against NIU. We won't against NCST. It will lead to layups or 3's in transition because our floor balance will be out of whack and Barber and Lacy will thrive.
2) On defense we have to turn Barber into a jump shooter. He is a capable shooter. But his penetration and passing is what kills opponents. He gets a lot of easy baskets for their 4 & 5's and also kicks the ball out for their best looks at 3's. If he penetrates the way he did in our game earlier this year it will be very difficult to beat them.
3) Keep NCST off the offensive boards. Their big's do a good job of cleaning up the misses.
The thing about State is they will take some tough shots. Especially Lacy and Turner. Lacy hits more tough shots than any player I have seen in college basketball this year. We want them taking the step back 3's and the 3's way behind the arc. Otherwise its going to be a long night.
