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Message: [QUOTE="gsmooth, post: 4953914, member: 9355"] I finished watching the North Carolina-Alabama game in the Sweet 16. I was at TD BankNorth Garden watching Iowa St-Illinois live while the North Carolina-Alabama game. Some tidbits and observations: -don't be surprised if Alabama parks Grant Nelson in the paint while guarding Stephon Castle. Nelson did this while guarding Eliot Cadeau or Seth Trimble. UConn can counter this by having Castle perform dribble handoffs to Newton, Spencer, or Karaban within their usual intricate offensive sets or some pick and rolls involving the same players. I am not opposed to Castle shooting a wide open 3, but he should do it when he feels comfortable not because he feels compelled to. Also, putting Castle in the dunker's spot, a la Jackson last year, Castle will be able to get some easy shots at the rim to convert for layups or dunks. -Mark Sears and Aaron Estrada are very good left handed good guards .... offensively. They will, along with the others on that team, will bomb away from 3 and Sears can hit them far behind the 3 point line. They are good at driving to the basket as well, but they are left handed and very rarely finish layups or dunks going right. In fact, when they both go right, they are doing so with the purpose to spin dribble and go back to this left and finish with the left hand. Or when they go right they will step back and shoot even near the hoop for a 5-7 foot shot. I think UConn will have their hands full defending against them, but are well equipped as well. They have experience playing against left handers such as Kolek, Kam Jones, and Baylor Schieirman. It was clear North Carolina in the first 10 minutes of game time were not used to defending against left handers as they allowed Sears and Estrada to go to their left. They adjusted late in the first half. Defensively, these Alabama guard are not all that good and they are short. As long as UConn solves the dorking defense Alabama will do, they should be able to score. -Alabama uses a lot of pick and roll to free up Sears and Estrada. If Clingan's man sets the picks, Clingan can still play his drop coverage, but he shouldn't drop too far where Alabama shooters can shoot immediately dribbling off the pick. Alabama will run this for Rylen Griffen and I am sure they will do this for Latrell Wrightsell who missed the last 2 games. Hopefully, UConn's 3 shooting is on. They have been missing too many open 3s. That has to change as we all know. I know I am Captain Obvious on this last point. [/QUOTE]

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