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[QUOTE="IthacaMatt, post: 235001, member: 405"]
Playing Wisconsin would be like playing Notre Dame again. Their athleticism is not terrible, folks. They may be mostly white guys, but their bigs are not terrible; reasonably athletic. They're just too deliberate to play from too far behind. Playing Wisconsin is playing against Notre Dame's "slow burn" offense, but worse. Their offensive stats on the year as a team are quite terrible in a lot of respects - not many assists, really poor shooting percentages, not much rebounding. Their defense is better than Notre Dame's though.
 
Playing Vanderbilt would be a bit like playing Cincinnati again. Festus Ezeli is kind of like Yancy Gates - a big physical big man who can rebound and convert around the rim. Gates has more skills in the low post, though. Aside from the big man, not a lot of beef, but a group of good perimeter players. Vandy's shoot better than Cinci from 3, but their assist rate is low, meaning they don't create a lot of easy chances on offense. They don't rebound especially well either. Cinci's guys are better about driving the lane, though.
 
Our 2 losses on the season were to teams that are kind of similar to our two options for Thursday. I prefer Wisconsin.  Sitting Ezeli at the start allowed Wisconsin to get a lot of points early in the lane. That gave them more offensive confidence than they're used to, although they were 12-6 in the Big 10, which was pretty good this year.  Wisconsin has managed the lead well, even since Ezeli came back in for Vandy, as we approach halftime.
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