JeremyCuse
Renowned lacrosse analyst
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After the announcement on Sunday I have been doing some research on Asheville and afer reading Marsh's breakdown as well as numerous other articles, intereviews etc I wanted to outline some of my thoughts on this game along with a few concerns I have.
First of all being an SU fan a little piece of me cringes whenever we are a 16 seed, not because I think we are destined to lose or will lose but I fear the non stop nightmare the aftermath of any loss would be, I honestly feel bad for whatever 1 seed that actually does lose if ever to a 16, ESPN and other media outlets would be just a nightmare to watch for years after not to mention message boards of opposing teams and fans.
Anyway onto the game, to me Asheville is a weird weird team. There height issues are well documented by this point but they still are a good rebounding team and have actually out rebounded there opponents this year despite having no one with a pulse over 6'5. What I also find odd is that while you would think Asheville would not shoot a lot of threes based on the fact there not a great 3 pt shooting team they actually take a ton and have shot 650+ threes on the year despite the fact no one is over 40% and they seem to only have two good shooters, Dickey and JP Primm. I was hoping that there offensive game plan would be more like Vermont's in 2010 in that they would try to score in a bunch of different ways versus just simply bombing away. However, after thinking about it I don't see what other game plan they could possibly have at this point, there own beat writer in an interview with teh Daily Orange pretty much conceded they needed to make 15 3's to have a shot. While I think he overestimated the number I would say there going to need at minimum 10 3's. Not sure what other game plan would work for them as they have no inside game and I am not sure fastbreak points will be that plentiful. Will be interesting to see who they put at the foul line to try that mid range jumper.
For Cuse I think we simply need to play our game and take advantage of the fact they like to run. I worry a bit about Melo though from an O standpoint, Rick Jackson or AO would have creamed there pants for this matchup and probably have a double double at half. With Melo I am not so sure, he doesnt really have an offensive game at this point and while he will have a 6 inch height advantage I am pretty sure this isnt the time to start trying to run our O through him, not to mention the fact I am sure hes going to get stripped by some 6'2 guard multiple times when he puts the ball on the floor despite JB's warnings
Only other thing that concerns me is if we are having another horrible shooting night. Again Asheville has pretty much announced there going to play zone so we will be jacking 3's. I like the fact Scoop made a couple late on Fri Night, I think it sets him up well for Thursday, Dion on the other hand is a bit of a concern, I hope he doesnt fall into the trap of bombing away even though he was 6-8 or whatever it was Fri night thats still not his game and he can be much more effective driving to the hole. I would love to see us post up KJ to attack the Rim but I fear he may try his Kobe impersonation. I think Fair should have a huge game on the glass and hitting that little jumper, we need him to step up I know he was sick but was atrocious in the BE Tourney along with Scoop. I also would like to see James take that mid range jumper more Thursday, he should be able to shoot over everyone due to Ashevilles height issues, also he needs to attack the glass there will be plenty of opp for O rebounds and James has shown the willingness to battle inside. Also I would love to see Brandon get a little back on track in this game shooting wise. Dont know what happened but his overall shooting especially from 3 has fallen off a cliff the past few weeks, he missed more then half a dozen wide open looks last week in NYC, he needs to make that in the tourney we need him to make a few threes a game.
Overall I obviously like Cuse to win comfortably but I think this game will be a lot closer then it probably should be. Asheveille is a Senior laden team with tourney experience who wont be afraid or intimidated to play SU. I think its going to be key we capitalize on every opp to build early leads and stretch runs as they are going to be bombing 3's for most of the game. Also our transition D needs to be a lot better Thursday as they are an unbelievable free throw shooting team and we should avoid sending them to the line if possible. I would like to see Coach B extend the zone out early and keep making Asheville shoot from farther out, Also Fair and KJ need to stay home and not collapse on that Ft line pass as there going to be looking to kick it back out to the wings for wide open 3's. Most important we simply need to play like the 2 loss team we are, coming out and laying the hammer early is key, a message needs to be sent that were not playing around and were squashing any upset thoughts before they start.
First of all being an SU fan a little piece of me cringes whenever we are a 16 seed, not because I think we are destined to lose or will lose but I fear the non stop nightmare the aftermath of any loss would be, I honestly feel bad for whatever 1 seed that actually does lose if ever to a 16, ESPN and other media outlets would be just a nightmare to watch for years after not to mention message boards of opposing teams and fans.
Anyway onto the game, to me Asheville is a weird weird team. There height issues are well documented by this point but they still are a good rebounding team and have actually out rebounded there opponents this year despite having no one with a pulse over 6'5. What I also find odd is that while you would think Asheville would not shoot a lot of threes based on the fact there not a great 3 pt shooting team they actually take a ton and have shot 650+ threes on the year despite the fact no one is over 40% and they seem to only have two good shooters, Dickey and JP Primm. I was hoping that there offensive game plan would be more like Vermont's in 2010 in that they would try to score in a bunch of different ways versus just simply bombing away. However, after thinking about it I don't see what other game plan they could possibly have at this point, there own beat writer in an interview with teh Daily Orange pretty much conceded they needed to make 15 3's to have a shot. While I think he overestimated the number I would say there going to need at minimum 10 3's. Not sure what other game plan would work for them as they have no inside game and I am not sure fastbreak points will be that plentiful. Will be interesting to see who they put at the foul line to try that mid range jumper.
For Cuse I think we simply need to play our game and take advantage of the fact they like to run. I worry a bit about Melo though from an O standpoint, Rick Jackson or AO would have creamed there pants for this matchup and probably have a double double at half. With Melo I am not so sure, he doesnt really have an offensive game at this point and while he will have a 6 inch height advantage I am pretty sure this isnt the time to start trying to run our O through him, not to mention the fact I am sure hes going to get stripped by some 6'2 guard multiple times when he puts the ball on the floor despite JB's warnings
Only other thing that concerns me is if we are having another horrible shooting night. Again Asheville has pretty much announced there going to play zone so we will be jacking 3's. I like the fact Scoop made a couple late on Fri Night, I think it sets him up well for Thursday, Dion on the other hand is a bit of a concern, I hope he doesnt fall into the trap of bombing away even though he was 6-8 or whatever it was Fri night thats still not his game and he can be much more effective driving to the hole. I would love to see us post up KJ to attack the Rim but I fear he may try his Kobe impersonation. I think Fair should have a huge game on the glass and hitting that little jumper, we need him to step up I know he was sick but was atrocious in the BE Tourney along with Scoop. I also would like to see James take that mid range jumper more Thursday, he should be able to shoot over everyone due to Ashevilles height issues, also he needs to attack the glass there will be plenty of opp for O rebounds and James has shown the willingness to battle inside. Also I would love to see Brandon get a little back on track in this game shooting wise. Dont know what happened but his overall shooting especially from 3 has fallen off a cliff the past few weeks, he missed more then half a dozen wide open looks last week in NYC, he needs to make that in the tourney we need him to make a few threes a game.
Overall I obviously like Cuse to win comfortably but I think this game will be a lot closer then it probably should be. Asheveille is a Senior laden team with tourney experience who wont be afraid or intimidated to play SU. I think its going to be key we capitalize on every opp to build early leads and stretch runs as they are going to be bombing 3's for most of the game. Also our transition D needs to be a lot better Thursday as they are an unbelievable free throw shooting team and we should avoid sending them to the line if possible. I would like to see Coach B extend the zone out early and keep making Asheville shoot from farther out, Also Fair and KJ need to stay home and not collapse on that Ft line pass as there going to be looking to kick it back out to the wings for wide open 3's. Most important we simply need to play like the 2 loss team we are, coming out and laying the hammer early is key, a message needs to be sent that were not playing around and were squashing any upset thoughts before they start.
