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Message: [QUOTE="caw, post: 5230938, member: 563"] Had me until the last sentence. UF is not only one of the best teams in the country but has the best offense in the country over the last few weeks (at least). While UConns defense has been much improved over the last 5-10 games it’s still not nearly as good as we all would like. While it’s good enough to handle a mid OU team and most teams seeded 5 or lower, UF is not that. This will be a struggle, maybe one UConn can win. If UConn does, I expect it to fall on the fairly capable hands of Diarra. He needs to control tempo, run the offense AND limit their best player. He’s been called on to do that all season, but Clayton is a different type than most of the star guards he has defended. Most have been attack the rim guards where Clayton is much more of a shooter with over half his shots from three. On the plus side he’s not as big and long as some of the guards who have terrorized UConn. Offensively he’s a taller Bazz, defensively he’s a sieve who they scheme to protect. UConn can win by limiting possessions on both ends. Offensively that’s not a problem. Defensively they will try and speed it up. If UConn can get them to take quick shots to try and speed it up, that’s a good thing because as previous noted they run a very good offensive scheme. UConn cannot run with them. They do this really well by having two very good defensive guards starting next to him and two bigs clogging the paint. I expect them to have one parked in the paint at all times on defense unless UConn goes small. Chinyelu is their best inside defender IMO. Hes a pretty classic raw offensive player who is big and a menace on defense with his size and length. I don’t care what the stats or metrics say they are their best defensively with him anchoring the paint. He does a ton of little things that contribute to winning. UConn (on paper) rebounds the ball better but they crash the O-boards slightly better. So they might be a bit more susceptible to giving up a rebound on defense. But that will leave some opportunities for them to run. Watching the last game they beat Tenn and Tenn missed a ton of open shots to start the game. Shots they got by getting UF in rotation with quick ball movement. The first five minutes I think Tenn went like 2-7 from three with all of them being open shots. It was great execution and horrible shot making but it did show that UF does have holes defensively. [/QUOTE]

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