Do you like JPalms latest projection?

[rrlbees]

Assuming no major upsets.

SU vs. LIU
SU vs. Kansas St/UVa
SU vs. Wisky/Fla
SU vs. UNC/Michigan

 

[CorduroyG]

In a word, No

 

[SU2NASA]

That would a turrrble draw.

 

[Frozen]

I don't like it. But as a one seed, we really have little to complain about. One seeds should beat the K-States of the world.

 

[690West]

In a word, yuck.

 

[MyMeloMyMan]

No, but we would be favored in all...UNC might be a pick em.

 

[Marsh01]

Wouldnt be the worst draw in the world but I have liked others better.

I also dont think Wisky and Florida would make it that far. I can see Wisky losing to Iona and Florida losing to Miami.

 

[stuckinbig11]

UNC would be the only real challenge.

 

[jr4750]

Don't want any part of UVA, Wiscy, or Fla again. UNC is probably a necessary evil, especially if Duke gets a 1 seed. No way we avoid them. Hate that stall ball of UVA and WIS, and FLA already has tape on us and is incentivized, moreso than by the obvious.

 

[jncuse]

Not that I am afraid of Long Island by any means, but they are pretty strong for a 16 seed.

At the end of the day, we would never meet a 16 seed that strong. With upsets in the conference tourney, the 14, 15 and 16 seed lines always weaken in the last week.

 

[texascpa]

Look, it won't matter who we draw as there will be a contingent of fans who are going to hate it. Just search for the thread of "teams you don't want to see in the tourney" and you will see practically every tourney-bound team listed. My point: these type of threads are worthless as you will get the same answer.

 

[NovaOrange]

Prepare for stall ball if we play UVA

 

[Frozen]

Not that I am afraid of Long Island by any means, but they are pretty strong for a 16 seed.

At the end of the day, we would never meet a 16 seed that strong. With upsets in the conference tourney, the 14, 15 and 16 seed lines always weaken in the last week.

You are probably correct. Some middling team from the NEC or MEAC or Patriot League is going to get hot and win the automatic bid, and the 16 seeds will be thrown off a bit from what we've been seeing in bracket projections. Happens every season.

 

[EastCoast2]

Cue the thread where every single D1 team was listed in the "I don't want to play them in the tournament" list

 

[Marsh01]

All I know is the threads on who would be a better matchup the 8 or 9 seed will be epic.

 

[MyMeloMyMan]

"Clearly the committee is screwing us with ________________...best 16 seed EVER! They are more like a 12 seed."

 

[baggerbob]

It isn't who we should be afraid of its everone else screaming about being put in our bracket and playing us on our home floor after all isn't Pittsburgh and Boston one of our hometowns?

 

[rrlbees]

Look, it won't matter who we draw as there will be a contingent of fans who are going to hate it. Just search for the thread of "teams you don't want to see in the tourney" and you will see practically every tourney-bound team listed. My point: these type of threads are worthless as you will get the same answer.

Thanks.

 

[Madbiker]

I have no fear of any team that plays an up tempo game (almost all the elite teams). SU historically has big problems with teams that control tempo by slowing the game to a crawl, using the entire shot clock and forcing a low number of possessions to keep the game in the 50's. So drawing UVA is bad and Wisky would be terrible for us.

 

[jdubs30]

I think unlike in year's past, we can win those stall-ball type games; I actually saw Wiscy vs. OSU and was thinking I'd like them as the 3 seed in our bracket...

 

[44cuse]

I think unlike in year's past, we can win those stall-ball type games; I actually saw Wiscy vs. OSU and was thinking I'd like them as the 3 seed in our bracket...

Funny, I was thinking the exact opposite.

AST/TO Ratio: 18th of 338 (believe we are 2nd btw)
TO/game: 2 of 338
Reb Marg: Wisc +2.9 (85th out of 338)
3 PT%: 35.8 (107 out of 338)
Off Efficiency: 55th (we are 12th)
Scoring: 63.6 per game (259th)

Off Rebounds: 228

When looking I think you see the following:

1. SU weakness: defensive boards. Not a Wisconsin strength. Very significant because one of our greatest weaknesses is not their strength.
2. Scoring: They are going to slow it down. We would rather run and look to turn you over.
3. Turnovers: They don't turn it over. This would be a huge problem as we know that we are at our best when we are turning teams over and scoring in transition.

So what you have is a fairly efficient offense with decent 3pt shooting who slows the game down. If they were a better Off Rebounding team, it could be a disaster. They start 3 JR's, a Sr, and a SO which means they have decent experience but not like facing a SR team. I'm not JB and he knows far more than I will ever know about basketball so let's just get that out there right now. But I can see this being one of those games where we play to the pace of our opponents instead of dictating tempo.

I'm a firm believer that we can run almost anyone out of the gym. With the depth we have, I have been surprised we have not pressed more this year. There is no better way to turn teams over than to press and trap (clearly the later we have done a lot of those year). If we were looking to dictate tempo in this game, which I would hope we do in the tournament across the board, we'd likely want to turn up the pressure on these guys and rattle them.

Just my opinion.

44cuse

 

[Marsh01]

I'm a firm believer that we can run almost anyone out of the gym. With the depth we have, I have been surprised we have not pressed more this year. There is no better way to turn teams over than to press and trap (clearly the later we have done a lot of those year). If we were looking to dictate tempo in this game, which I would hope we do in the tournament across the board, we'd likely want to turn up the pressure on these guys and rattle them.

Just my opinion.

44cuse

We havent pressed more because of trying to keep Melo out of foul trouble. While our press has beeen decent at times this year it really isnt a great press and if we dont get a trap right away its easily broken and then you most likely have a lot of 2 on 1's which is a recipe for disaster when you are leaving Melo alone back there. Getting Keita in the game after made FT's is a strategy I have noticed JB do a lot this year when they want to press. Plus we havent been behind a lot where we need to use it.

 

[CorduroyG]

the board was pretty mixed last year on who we'd rather play in 2nd round xavier or marquette. i personally wanted marquette. xavier is always a team that has good tourny success, and even though we had already lost to marquette we pretty much owned them since they joined big east. be careful what u wish for..

Sent from my SCH-R720 using Tapatalk

 

[44cuse]

We havent pressed more because of trying to keep Melo out of foul trouble. While our press has beeen decent at times this year it really isnt a great press and if we dont get a trap right away its easily broken and then you most likely have a lot of 2 on 1's which is a recipe for disaster when you are leaving Melo alone back there. Getting Keita in the game after made FT's is a strategy I have noticed JB do a lot this year when they want to press. Plus we havent been behind a lot where we need to use it.

Not sure I buy that. I actually think our press has been pretty good this year. There probably isn't a large enough sample size either way to draw a conclusive opinion. Actually, I know there isn't a large sample size. Very surprised JB did not press more this year which is a part of my season long position that getting Rak and Keita more minutes was important because we'll need them at some point (as a result of my belief that we are better team when we can turn teams over and that we could be a very good pressure team).

Any production out of either one of those two guys would allow us to press more because, as you accurately point out, Fab in foul trouble is not good. For all of our talk about depth, the depth on the front line is not good. Length...yes. Depth...no. Keita can't catch the ball which is literally amazing to me.

But the point is, we have played this season largely to our opponents pace. Pressing will change that up and as I have been saying for a couple of weeks, will be interesting to see if JB goes there in the tourney. If not, the Wisci game (if it happens of course) is a 51-50 nail bighter.

44cuse

 

[MyMeloMyMan]

I just hope, if we get in one of those half court grinders and are struggling in the 2nd round... JB turns it into a helter skelter affair. No way a team in the second round can compete with our athletes in a fast paced affair with lots of full court pressing mixed in.