Xavier

[Patrick Bateman]

KJ probably should start this game

Sure fire way to kill any confidence Cobb has left.

 

[Nayers]

KJ probably should start this game

That's a tough one, kjs d could help set a precedent early on but if Cobb can get going early that could also do wonders. Other than butler, Cobb typically came up big in big games.

I hate to say it but offiating will play a huge roll in this game. Given the infamous fight, I have a feeling it'll be tight, which doesn't favor UC.

 

[waterhead]

KJ probably should start this game

I don't know if he will start but he will likely get 25 minutes plus because we will need his d. We will need Cobb to drop some big buckets. If Evans is hurting...KJ could pick up minutes there too

 

[Bearcat513]

Still no update on Evans? I haven't heard/ seen anything.

 

[Patrick Bateman]

I wouldn't expect Mick to tip his hand about Evans until he absolutely has to.

 

[Cin City]

Abell will probably be the one guy that hits like 6 three's since he hasn't really done anything this year (that's how it goes right?) BUT...I'm thinking we actually show the grit and toughness that Mick has been talking about. UC by 12

 

[ucswais]

If we go straight man how do we guard the 1 big man lineup? Who guards Bluiett? I'm not sure Clark can guard him on the perimeter, so then it's shaq. Then who does Clark guard? He's not gonna guard a 6'4 guard.

Xavier plays 4 "small" guys plus a Reynolds or Farr. I'm not sure how we match up with that man to man unless Clark sits and Shaq plays the 4, but then we can't take one of our best all around players off the court.

Reynolds and Farr have only played together 3.5% of the time the last 5 games, so xavier is gonna have 4 guys under 6'7 on the court at all times.

Assuming X plays small, 80-90% matchup zone with Clark in the corner. I think that's a bigger problem for them in this case than for us. Clark is not an easy guy to defend with an undersized player, and that's not even getting into his rebounding. We'll be fine in the half-court on both ends.

Now, transition game they're lethal... do you call off the press entirely against these guys?

 

[Ryno99]

If they play small, we have to force the ball into Gary and he has to look to get to the rim and finish on almost every possession. If they double him find the open man for an open shot. Or if you're at the rim and they double you with 2 small guys finish over both of them.

 

[L-T]

If they play small, we have to force the ball into Gary and he has to look to get to the rim and finish on almost every possession. If they double him find the open man for an open shot. Or if you're at the rim and they double you with 2 small guys finish over both of them.

This game is pretty simple. If we don't make shots, we won't win. If our guards continue in the shooting funk they are currently in, we don't have a chance. We're launching a lot of 3s and we're not making very many. If we continue missing those, we don't have a chance. If we can hold them somewhere in the 70s, then we have a chance to outscore them in a shootout. If we can't keep Morgan St. under 66, then it will take a herculean effort to keep X low enough to defeat them....if....we continue missing shots.

Most of the guys playing defense are the same guys who were part of one of the best defenses in the nation last year. I doubt the loss of Jermaine Sanders devastated our defense. We just have to man up and play at the same intensity we did last year. We know it's there. Just do it. We've had a number of dream teams that were somewhat humiliated by X upsetting them. This may be the ultimate X team of all time (in their fan's eyes), and it sure would be sweet if we could beat them on their home court. We were always able to recover pretty quickly from X defeats. Their fans will never recover from this loss. That would be extremely sweet if it happens.

 

[waterhead]

There may be a few games where we purposely slow the game down this year and I am guessing this is one of them. I don't think we are going to try to run and gun them on their home court.

If we play with intensity on D, play with poise, slow the game and make a moderate amount of shots we can beat them.

 

[cincrulz11]

Now, transition game they're lethal... do you call off the press entirely against these guys?

I don't think so. They don't have any real ball handlers. Sumner turns it over a lot and Myles Davis is not a point guard at all. We have to make them uncomfortable dribbling the ball.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

Assuming X plays small, 80-90% matchup zone with Clark in the corner. I think that's a bigger problem for them in this case than for us. Clark is not an easy guy to defend with an undersized player, and that's not even getting into his rebounding. We'll be fine in the half-court on both ends.

Now, transition game they're lethal... do you call off the press entirely against these guys?

I'd say if KJ wants to pick up full court, that's fine. But I don't think we need more than that.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

I don't think so. They don't have any real ball handlers. Sumner turns it over a lot and Myles Davis is not a point guard at all. We have to make them uncomfortable dribbling the ball.

We can't wear our guards out though. Especially if Evans isn't 100%, we will probably have a 3 guard lineup at times. Pressing and falling back to zone is a recipe for disaster in this matchup imo.

 

[L-T]

I personally think it would be a mistake to slow the game down. Xavier's half court defense has looked very good. If we slow down to the point that we're trying to get good shots against their very good half court defense, I think we all know where that will lead (see last 9 years). I still go back to hitting shots. If we're hitting shots, I like our chances. We'll still have to play better defense than we have. If we shoot a little better than we have, and force them to shoot a little worse than they have, we win.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

I personally think it would be a mistake to slow the game down. Xavier's half court defense has looked very good. If we slow down to the point that we're trying to get good shots against their very good half court defense, I think we all know where that will lead (see last 9 years). I still go back to hitting shots. If we're hitting shots, I like our chances. We'll still have to play better defense than we have. If we shoot a little better than we have, and force them to shoot a little worse than they have, we win.

I agree.

 

[cincrulz11]

We can't wear our guards out though. Especially if Evans isn't 100%, we will probably have a 3 guard lineup at times. Pressing and falling back to zone is a recipe for disaster in this matchup imo.

If we don't force them to turn the ball over I don't think we can win. They are too good at half court offense and offensive rebounding. It's not like xavier is extremely deep.


xavier turns the ball over more than we do, I just feel like that's something we'll probably want to exploit for as many easy buckets as we can get.

 

[Bearcat513]

Both teams are turning the ball over about 12 times per game. The difference lies that our bigs turn it over about half of the time (Ellis, Clark and Shaq) whereas their guards do for them ( Sumner, Davis, and Blueitt).

I wouldn't be oppose to some kind of 3/4 court pressure dropping back into the zone for a bit. If Evans plays then we can, and should, turn to man if X shoots us out of the zone. Pick up full court pressure then.

 

[L-T]

Xavier is quite possibly deeper than us actually.

 

[jacobkdoyle]

Both teams are turning the ball over about 12 times per game. The difference lies that our bigs turn it over about half of the time (Ellis, Clark and Shaq) whereas their guards do for them ( Sumner, Davis, and Blueitt).

I wouldn't be oppose to some kind of 3/4 court pressure dropping back into the zone for a bit. If Evans plays then we can, and should, turn to man if X shoots us out of the zone. Pick up full court pressure then.

If X shoots us out of the zone, we lose. I'm not willing to even let it get to that.

 

[cincrulz11]

If X shoots us out of the zone, we lose. I'm not willing to even let it get to that.

If xavier shoots this year like the past 2 years it isn't going to matter what defense we play. 21-33 from 3 the past 2 years combined. That is more than getting open looks, that is shooting out of their minds.