That was my thought as well. The other thought is that maybe we use both Clingan and Johnson together a bit to change things up/have Johnson's athleticism and quickness confuse/frustrate Dickinson. I think if you get in Dickinson's head he could fall to pieces on both ends and pick up 2 fouls in quick succession.
Who are you having Clingan guard then? If he's not quick enough to stay with Dickinson on the perimeter then it's only going to be worse against anyone else
Nah, Clingan is on Dickinson no matter what. I have full confidence Clingan can do as good a job on him as anyone else in the country. DC needs to go into his chest on offense and make him foul him or score on him. Dickinson is not a good defender.
I'm not worried about Donovan on him in terms of the offensive end - it's the defensive end that could pose issues for Donovan because as quirky as Dickinson is he always seems to be in pretty damn good physical position when on offense. It's a bit of the function of Dickinson not liking physical contact; he's able to use angles to get open and either take a good, open jump shot or slither his way towards the glass to get tip-ins/lay-ins. And his ability to play outside the paint will definitely be a challenge for Donovan. That's why I think a decent dose of Samson will be a good, effective change of pace on the defensive end.
Well we’re gonna get a decent dose of Samson regardless.
Rim protector and with his good footwork, Donovan can step out to walloff the hoop when a guard/wing tries to pentetrate. I'm not saying he would do this for his entire +/- 30 minutes but a good dose of it. I think Kansas is a team that can get confused on the offensive end and fall apart a bit when things don't go their way (sometimes when playing at home a team can expect things to fall into place and then get frustrated/lose focus when they don't). I think Kansas is going to be surprised how many blocks/shot alterations Donovan will produce when rim protecting/hovering in the paint.
So you're playing zone with 4 people and having Samson follow Clingan? Or just Clingan is playing zone and you're leaving 1 guy wide open on offense the entire time. Not sure this idea makes any sense honestly
I'm saying that over 40 minutes, I'd play some zone, some man to man with Donovan being a rim protector, some straight man to man, and some time with both Donovan and Samson in together to give Kansas some different looks. My point is that Kansas has shown difficulty shooting from distance and may over-rely on driving and cuts to the basket. Kansas has a couple of mismatches for us (Dickinson with his ability to play out of the paint and McCullars with his size and athleticism) so it's going to put Hurley in the position to have to throw different looks at Kansas and be flexible reacting to what Kansas is able to take advantage of.
Fair enough, I think most of those ideas would lead to us getting destroyed on the defensive end but we'll see what happens tomorrow night. Definitely need to throw a few different looks at them, I just don't think any of these have much chance of working.
I'm not that worried about it. I'm sure he has Proactiv or something that should clear that right up.
It's OK to be humble sometimes, really. I know we all want and even expect a win. But in the same sense, it's OK to be nervous because this is going to be a very hard game. UConn could lose, but let's hope for a win and of course, we should avoid a repeat of 95, that goes without saying. Regardless of who wins it is likely to be a very tight game under 5 point win for either side. Two very good teams with two excellent coaches going at it.
We're the defending National Champs (our FIFTH in 24 years) and just set the record for most double-digit out-of-conference wins in a row.
From my memory- Karaban last year had trouble at the rim with stronger & bigger 4’s- would get into foul trouble because they would over power him- as well on the glass.
Peak Boneyard? That’s a tough call. There are a lot of peaks in the world. There are peaks in the Himalayas and Andes which no human has ever climbed and many don’t even have names.
Yes we can absolutely win this one. Not the end of the world if we lose but I would hardly call it meaningless, even if it is this early in the season. Do you have any idea what it would do for the psyche of this team to walk into AFH and smoke them - not to mention the fanbase that STILL remembers that awful game almost 30 years ago!
