For Marsh and others on Wisconsin...

[A Clockwork Orange]

Marsh has mentioned a couple of times he would much rather play Wisconsin than Vanderbilt. I've been scared of Wisconsin since the brackets came out, so I'd love to hear from some as to why they are the better match up.

I've always thought Coach B's tourney record is a product of preparation time for the zone. As I recall, the team has always done well in the round of 32 and when we make it, the Elite 8. It seems when teams only have two days to prepare they often times come out lost, as K. State did yesterday.

When a team has 5 days, they obviously seem better prepared. This seems especially true for "smart" teams. I consider Wisconsin a smart team because they take care of the ball, limit turnovers, and dictate tempo.

Smart teams understand where the seams in the zone are, and have the wherewithal to stick to a plan for a long period of time. It's the teams that get frustrated and start chucking up threes that have difficulty with the zone. I don't think Wisconsin will get frustrated and will do a good job penetrating into the interior of the zone.

They also shoot the '3' ball at a decent clip. Their offensive tempo is going to give us fits, and they will try and play this game in the 50s.

I understand that Vandy is more athletic, but Wisconsin plays a style where their players don't need to be as athletic to compete.

I like the idea of playing a team that won't zone the entire game (or even parts of it) but I have concerns that their defensive style and slow it down offense will give them exactly what they want - a close, low scoring game that they'll have a chance to win at the end.

So because of that trepidation, why should I not be worried?

 

[SUskibum]

your last quote "I like the idea of playing a team that won't zone the entire game (or even parts of it)" is the reason i am personally more happy to play wiscy. I beleive as you do that wiscy will score more efficiently against the zone than most teams. However against a less athletic, shorter team that plays man, i can see the Orange out scoring the badgers in this one.

It is also a team taylor made for CJ and Triche to get back on track due the size/athletisism advantage they both need to play well IMO.

 

[A Clockwork Orange]

That's true, and that's the reason I think SU will pull it out in the end. I just looked at Wisconsin's losses this year, and they had two double digit losses to Mich. State and Michigan. Otherwise, every single one of their games were close. I think regardless of what we do, this game will be a 4-8 point game at the end.

 

[Alsacs]

Wisconsin doesn't have a Fetus Ezeli. When you think of Ezeli you think of Gates on Cincy, or Cooley on ND, or Drummond on UConn. With Fab Melo we have a body who could bang with Ezeli without Melo we don't have a body to bang with Ezeli. When we played Cincy in the BET semis Fab Melo sat for 3 minutes in the first half Gates ate Christmas up 3 possessions in a row and JB immediately subbed Melo in and Gates was shutdown the rest of the first half. Vandy also has three 3 pt shooters who shot 38% including 2 over 40% Tinsley, Jenkins, as well as Goulborne who can shoot. Also, it is likely Vandy would have zoned us and we aren't good against zones.
When you look at Wisconsin first off they aren't as athletic, second they will play man to man defense. Its a Bo Ryan specialty. Third, Wisconsin's bigs are more pick and pop types. While they can shoot they aren't dominant post players thus if bigs are shooting jump shots there are less guys to crash the boards. Wisconsin doesn't attack the offensive glass they get back on defense to prevent transition. So, while we may not get transition points we should do fine on the defensive glass. Fourth, Wisconsin shot 33 3's pointers against Vandy. 33 3pt FGA. Only making 10 of 33 with only 8 offensive rebounds. Wisconsin's center shot 6 3pt attempts. So while Wisconsin will force tempo against us they are a better matchup for us. SU grinds out a 64-58 game against Wisky.

 

[longislandcuse]

Wisconsin doesn't have a Fetus Ezeli. When you think of Ezeli you think of Gates on Cincy, or Cooley on ND, or Drummond on UConn. With Fab Melo we have a body who could bang with Ezeli without Melo we don't have a body to bang with Ezeli. When we played Cincy in the BET semis Fab Melo sat for 3 minutes in the first half Gates ate Christmas up 3 possessions in a row and JB immediately subbed Melo in and Gates was shutdown the rest of the first half. Vandy also has three 3 pt shooters who shot 38% including 2 over 40% Tinsley, Jenkins, as well as Goulborne who can shoot. Also, it is likely Vandy would have zoned us and we aren't good against zones.
When you look at Wisconsin first off they aren't as athletic, second they will play man to man defense. Its a Bo Ryan specialty. Third, Wisconsin's bigs are more pick and pop types. While they can shoot they aren't dominant post players thus if bigs are shooting jump shots there are less guys to crash the boards. Wisconsin doesn't attack the offensive glass they get back on defense to prevent transition. So, while we may not get transition points we should do fine on the defensive glass. Fourth, Wisconsin shot 33 3's pointers against Vandy. 33 3pt FGA. Only making 10 of 33 with only 8 offensive rebounds. Wisconsin's center shot 6 3pt attempts. So while Wisconsin will force tempo against us they are a better matchup for us. SU grinds out a 64-58 game against Wisky.

Exactly, just extend the zone. I dont want to see open Wisconsin shooters, no reason. They cant beat us inside, only way they win is by grinding it out and hitting a ton of threes. Extend the zone and clamp down the perimeter.

 

[elkeed]

Sconsin can not guard us period. The second half of Kstate all over again. All week the talk will be about what will the 2/3 do to Sconsin. The real question is how will Sconsin stay in front of four guys that can take you off the dribble in man to man half court sets. They can't.

 

[Ward]

Wisconsin doesn't seem to have any true big body low block scorers. As mentioned before a lot of their bigs prefer to play a face up game and not a true power in the paint type presence. Watching them against Vanderbilt it seemed a majority of their offense was reliant on off the ball movement and screens, not dribble penetration, that freed up shooters. They had their big guy on the perimeter which forced Ezelis to come out to the perimeter and opened up the lane entirely. That strategy doesnt work against a zone because our bigs can stay home inside.

Our zone is vulnerable to three's when teams have guards who really attack the seams and force everyone to collapse or dig and then the zone flattens which leaves spot up jumpers on the perimeter. Taylor is very good, but other than him I just don't see anyone on Wisconsin able to really beat our guys off the dribble and get into those seams. Teams don't shoot a great fg% against us, they score because all of the offensive rebounds give them extra possessions which usually equals more fga. Wisconsin doesn't look like they really have any guys that pound us inside or pin their ears back and crash. The teams that killed us the most on the boards off the top of my head, WVA GTown K State Cooley from ND, they all have some beasts who love that junkyard style. My only concern is Bo Ryan put Evans at the high post because I think he's fairly skilled and can hurt us there. Us playing such a great zone really neutralizes their big guys usual advantage of taking opponents bigs out to the three point line and opening up the floor.

 

[Marsh01]

One thing that hurt vandy in playing man was having their bigs forced to cover wiskys big men who are three point shooting threats. Then on the weak side they crash the boards and are successful because their opponents main rebounders are now not in position. That will not be an issue for us.

Their strength is three point shooting and are the poster child team for live by the three and die by the three. They attempted 33 shots from three point range last night. On 4-6 occassions they were able to get offensive rebounds for putbacks which really hurt vandy. If this team shoots it poorly we will run them out of the arena. We need to find their shooters all night long.

They are a classic meat grinder team on the defensive end however vandy did a poor job of using ezellis atbleticism inside and really settled for too many perimeter shots. We can beat them off the dribble like kstate and that is how we should attack them.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk

 

[longislandcuse]

Sconsin can not guard us period. The second half of Kstate all over again. All week the talk will be about what will the 2/3 do to Sconsin. The real question is how will Sconsin stay in front of four guys that can take you off the dribble in man to man half court sets. They can't.

This. KJo/Scoop/Dion will just drive drive drive. I really think the lineup of Scoop/Dion/KJo/Southerland/Rak is becoming a dominant rotation. Just make sure we extend the zone and clamp down the perimeter.

 

[OrangeinBoston]

Marsh has mentioned a couple of times he would much rather play Wisconsin than Vanderbilt. I've been scared of Wisconsin since the brackets came out, so I'd love to hear from some as to why they are the better match up.

I've always thought Coach B's tourney record is a product of preparation time for the zone. As I recall, the team has always done well in the round of 32 and when we make it, the Elite 8. It seems when teams only have two days to prepare they often times come out lost, as K. State did yesterday.

When a team has 5 days, they obviously seem better prepared. This seems especially true for "smart" teams. I consider Wisconsin a smart team because they take care of the ball, limit turnovers, and dictate tempo.

Smart teams understand where the seams in the zone are, and have the wherewithal to stick to a plan for a long period of time. It's the teams that get frustrated and start chucking up threes that have difficulty with the zone. I don't think Wisconsin will get frustrated and will do a good job penetrating into the interior of the zone.

They also shoot the '3' ball at a decent clip. Their offensive tempo is going to give us fits, and they will try and play this game in the 50s.

I understand that Vandy is more athletic, but Wisconsin plays a style where their players don't need to be as athletic to compete.

I like the idea of playing a team that won't zone the entire game (or even parts of it) but I have concerns that their defensive style and slow it down offense will give them exactly what they want - a close, low scoring game that they'll have a chance to win at the end.

So because of that trepidation, why should I not be worried?

Wisconsin is an absolutely SUCKY offensive team. If SU gets a lead on them, they're cooked.

 

[jdubs30]

They don't have Jack Cooley.

I think we press them early and often

 

[mark79]

If this game is close at the end, which I expect it to be, I really like our chances. With Dion, we really do have a guy who can flat out beat his man in an iso situation. I think that is a huge advantage in end-game situations.

I also think if we continue to drive and not hoist constant threes we could get to the foul line a lot like we did against KS as well. Tough waiting until Thursday!!