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Message: [QUOTE="UConnStats, post: 3899247, member: 5842"] Awesome stuff [USER=1329]@auror[/USER]. Although I will say our offensive heat chart just makes me mad lol Interesting matchup for us defensively. Scott usually plays center. Whaley can guard him anywhere, but Sanogo defending him on the perimeter could be an issue. And Wiggins at the 4 could give either of our bigs issues. Maryland is 45th in 3PA Rate, so it would be nice for Hurley & co. to stick to his brand and take away the 3 point line. In this sense they’re reminiscent of Creighton, but hopefully here we can actually put the ball in the hoop on the other end. The flip side to Maryland’s lack of a true big is that there isn’t a single player on that team that should be able to defend Sanogo well in the post. We have to keep pounding it with the big boy. Scott is the only person with the size to hold his ground out of the major minute players, but really can’t afford to get into foul trouble (which he rarely does). I’d be all for cuts to the rim too, but teams can sag off of the perimeter against UConn, that hasn’t been much of a factor this year. Bouknight making 3s would really open things up, but that hasn’t happened most of the season. Maryland’s guards are big. Most of the time the shortest player on the floor will be 6’5. Could be trouble for Cole, but he’s faster than Ayala. Bouk, Martin, and Jackson are a more athletic group than Maryland’s guards/wings too (Wiggins is the best athlete of that bunch). Maryland likes to slow teams down. In fact they barely even crash the offensive glass (327th) or gamble for TOs (289th). So any points we can steal in transition will be huge. While they’re a good defensive rebounding team (58th in the country), we’re going to have the height advantage inside. I think it’s a game where we should have the rebounding margin in our favor. I’m thinking it will be a rock fight. When UConn makes their 3s, they look like they can beat anyone. But they’re more likely to struggle to find ways to score outside of Sanogo post ups and Bouknight isolation than they are to have a 40% night from deep. As long as our defense plays up to par, I like UConn in a stressful one, but I wouldn’t be betting on this one. X Factors: 1) Can Polley guard Hart/Wiggins? Good offensive matchup if he can stay on the court defensively 2) Martin. I think he’ll play a lot due to Maryland playing 4 perimeter players. He’s 1/17 from 3 in recent games, but I’m not worried about that. We don’t need him to shoot. We can’t have him shooting 20% inside the arc like he did against Creighton though. No more layup woes. It’s tournament time [/QUOTE]

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