Be Honest Now (SUNJ vs Houston)

[Orangezoo]

What I worry about is Houston throwing shots at the rim and gathering mega misses and they get us into foul trouble. If there is a game we need Griffin to step up...this is the game.

Bras IMHO is our secret weapon today...having a 6'8" guy who can make the 3 will really cause Houston match up problems outside.

Yeah Griff being undersized is less of a weakness vs a team like UH. His tenacity going after rebounds would be huge and he won't be outclassed height wise for a change.

 

[CousCuse]

The final four is our destiny.

Buckets, it is your destiny.

 

[rrlbees]

I saw lots of folks happy Rutgirls lost...I was momentarily happy too (for about 5 mins) until I saw what Houston brings to the fight. We would have had a much easier time beating the girls than the Cougars. We'd be the favorite vs Ruttie.

Houston played their horrible game last weekend and won...we are the underdog tonight for a reason. We need an A game to have a chance.

like I said in The Who do we want to win thread, I wanted Rutgers because Houston is the better team. Rutgers is beefier and played the better schedule, but Houston is 6th in the country in rebound margin while Rutgers is 224th. That’s a huge difference regardless of schedule.

 

[CousCuse]

like I said in The Who do we want to win thread, I wanted Rutgers because Houston is the better team. Rutgers is beefier and played the better schedule, but Houston is 6th in the country in rebound margin while Rutgers is 224th. That’s a huge difference regardless of schedule.

FSU is 49th in rebounding margin. If they played in the AAC, they'd be no.1.

 

[DaytonCuse]

We rebound, We WIN

 

[Col. Bleep]

Yeah Griff being undersized is less of a weakness vs a team like UH. His tenacity going after rebounds would be huge and he won't be outclassed height wise for a change.

That's a good and largely overlooked point about Alan Griffin's value.
But not if he forces bad shots.

This is interesting matchup because Houston is great (offensive rebounding) where the Orange are weak and SU is strong (outside shooting) where Houston is relatively weak.
The concern is also that their strength on the boards will result in too many Orange fouls.

Gotta gun 'em down and play strong D.

GO ORANGE!

 

[690West]

We rebound, We WIN

We play today, we win today. DAS IT!

 

[DaytonCuse]

Or as Lily from AT&T says the team that scores the most points wins

 

[Orangezoo]

So if you look through UH's season they have some huge rebounding margins vs bad teams and decent margins vs good teams overall. Here are some notables. The 20 plus margins otherwise were vs cannon fodder.

They were
+5 vs Texas Tech(W)
+23 vs Boise(W)
+6 vs South Carolina(W)
+3 vs Tulsa (L) and +28 in second game(W)
+4 vs Wich St (W) and -2 in second game (L)
+13 vs SMU and +12 in second game both We
+1 vs ECU(L)
Even vs Western Kentucky (blowout win)
+8 vs Memphis and +6 (both wins)
+ 14 vs CL ST(NCAA)
+10 vs RU (NCAA)

 

[rrlbees]

So if you look through UH's season they have some huge rebounding margins vs bad teams and decent margins vs good teams overall. Here are some notables. The 20 plus margins otherwise were vs cannon fodder.

They were
+5 vs Texas Tech(W)
+23 vs Boise(W)
+6 vs South Carolina(W)
+3 vs Tulsa (L) and +28 in second game(W)
+4 vs Wich St (W) and -2 in second game (L)
+13 vs SMU and +12 in second game both We
+1 vs ECU(L)
Even vs Western Kentucky (blowout win)
+8 vs Memphis and +6 (both wins)
+ 14 vs CL ST(NCAA)
+10 vs RU (NCAA)

+10 vs Rutgers

 

[rrlbees]

FSU is 49th in rebounding margin. If they played in the AAC, they'd be no.1.

are we a good rebounding team? No. We were in the 250s. That sucks as does 224th.

 

[pearl31]

are we a good rebounding team? No. We were in the 250s. That sucks as does 224th.

Buffalo, Georgetown, UNC, SD St, and WVU are all excellent rebounding teams.

 

[IthacaMatt]

I saw lots of folks happy Rutgirls lost...I was momentarily happy too (for about 5 mins) until I saw what Houston brings to the fight. We would have had a much easier time beating the girls than the Cougars. We'd be the favorite vs Ruttie.

Houston played their horrible game last weekend and won...we are the underdog tonight for a reason. We need an A game to have a chance.

I see your point, Mark, but Rutgers has already played against our zone once this year and beat it. Now, granted that might have been without Buddy, but they have film of their guys successfully attacking the zone, and let's be honest, Buddy's primary value is on the other end of the floor.

Houston, while more talented on paper, put up those gaudy stats playing against a crappy league and mediocre competition for the most part. They have not seen the zone. They have not seen the length of our guys, or their knowledge of the rotations, traps in the corner, etc.

I think the surprise factor beats the talent factor here. Plus, they are not great outside shooters. They are likely to miss a bunch of threes (except for 1 or 2 guys), and then it comes down to whether we can keep them off the offensive boards.

Their best 2 "bigs" are 6-7 and 6-8, and they both weigh about 225. These are not the beefy guys of North Carolina or Florida State who usually push us around inside.

Their other best rebounders are 2 of their guards, who both go about 6-5, 200.

I really like our chances in this game.

 

[bballbeadle]

I just want us to go up by ten and then stay up by ten the entire game. Is that too much to ask?

 

[rrlbees]

Buffalo, Georgetown, UNC, SD St, and WVU are all excellent rebounding teams.

yes they are. Not saying we can’t win because we certainly can. My two points were that houston is a better team and better rebounding team than Rutgers and I’d prefer to be playing Rutgers.

 

[Orangezoo]

+10 vs Rutgers

Given the transitive property doesn't work I wouldn't over analyze this though. RU wasn't great rebounding all year ( plus 1 in margin where we were -1) and we were into our first few games without Sidibe.

We have to defend like we did vs UNC and WVU where the rebounds don't turn into points. We have done a good job at least in that dept.

 

[007]

Houston plays hyperaggressive in your face defense (just like WVU and SDST), block shots and pound the offensive boards. The latter is going to create a problem for Marek and Q in terms of fouling on put backs.

The game will swing on our shooting percentage and, hopefully, Buddy's incredible run to stardom.

 

[rrlbees]

Given the transitive property doesn't work I wouldn't over analyze this though. RU wasn't great rebounding all year ( plus 1 in margin where we were -1) and we were into our first few games without Sidibe.

We have to defend like we did vs UNC and WVU where the rebounds don't turn into points. We have done a good job at least in that dept.

just showing that big bad tough Rutgers didn’t fare very well against Houston.

 

[pearl31]

just showing that big bad tough Rutgers didn’t fare very well against Houston.

eh they had that game won, controlled it throughout, and choked it up at the end

 

[Orangezoo]

just showing that big bad tough Rutgers didn’t fare very well against Houston.

As long as we make out Houston to be Gonzaga in our heads all will be well. Easier to lose to a likely national title contender.

 

[721Comstock]

As long as we make out Houston to be Gonzaga in our heads all will be well. Easier to lose to a likely national title contender.

That works.

We beat the Zags last time we played them, to earn a spot in the Elite Eight.

 

[Ozone!]

Cuse wins!

 

[rrlbees]

eh they had that game won, controlled it throughout, and choked it up at the end

yep. They choked it like hell. Which is too bad.

 

[CuyahogaCuse]

I saw lots of folks happy Rutgirls lost...I was momentarily happy too (for about 5 mins) until I saw what Houston brings to the fight. We would have had a much easier time beating the girls than the Cougars. We'd be the favorite vs Ruttie.

Houston played their horrible game last weekend and won...we are the underdog tonight for a reason. We need an A game to have a chance.

Reverse psychology angle, I see.

I like it. Let’s go Orange!

 

[jdubs30]

Yeah Griff being undersized is less of a weakness vs a team like UH. His tenacity going after rebounds would be huge and he won't be outclassed height wise for a change.

If Griff scores an efficient 18pts, to go along with 6 boards, 2-3 blocks and limits the turnovers ... I’d love our chances and all will be forgiven!