San Diego St. Matchup | Page 3 | The Boneyard

San Diego St. Matchup

You don’t get the finals being a weak team. Don’t think for a second they don’t believe they can’t beat us and they are going to go after it on D and the boards. Getting second and third shots is the great equalizer for an O challenged team. We need to dominate the boards and punish them inside out.
 
auror said:
Offense, maybe Alabama (though Miller was hurt). Bediako isnt either of our bigs though.
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Yeah I thought about Miller but he isn’t like Adama, who has at least 40 pounds on him. They play different games. I’m talking about players who do most of their work in the paint.
 
giddyup said:
You don’t get the finals being a weak team. Don’t think for a second they don’t believe they can’t beat us and they are going to go after it on D and the boards. Getting second and third shots is the great equalizer for an O challenged team. We need to dominate the boards and punish them inside out.
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Excellent post. I remember when I was in St. Petersburg in 1999 for all 3 Final Four games. When I asked the Duke fans on Monday morning at a restaurant if they were excited for a good game in the championship, they arrogantly said, “Mich st gave the closest chance to beat them and that the championship vs UConn won’t be close”. I just remembered the arrogance that oozed out of them like Duke winning was a foregone conclusion.

I don’t want us mimicking that and then getting humbled. Let’s not be like those Duke fans. San Diego St is a very good team that deserves respect for what they have accomplished so far. Respect all, fear none.
 
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I've watched their last threes games and I've come away with the same thought each time. I have no idea how they are winning. They don't appear super tall, nor are they fast, nor do they shoot great. But they are very strong and scrap like crazy.

They've been able to out muscle taller, but lighter teams. I feel that sanogo and Clingan will be too much for them.

It also feels like another game where Karaban could get out muscled by an older stronger body. Although, it's been a bit since that's happened.
 
This could end up being the most physical game for us in the tournament. We will most likely struggle offensively a lot more in this game because of how elite their defense is. They will want an ugly game, we have to take advantage of our scoring opportunities and continue playing the elite defense that we've also displayed this entire tournament.
 
Make the players watch the Creighton game at least twice. Creighton let SDSU off the hook on all of their hand checking and bumping by not forcing officials to make a call. We have to go right into the SDSU defender's arms every time they try to grab UConn. We should be in the bonus with 8-9 minutes left in both halves.
 
If we play our game, we should be ok. My concern is what happens if the game is close? The SDSU style of play gives them the best chance to keep it close. Are our guys going to play tight if the shots aren't falling? I'm cautiously optimistic and expect a great game on Monday night.
 
I have
NDakotaHusky said:
I've watched their last threes games and I've come away with the same thought each time. I have no idea how they are winning. They don't appear super tall, nor are they fast, nor do they shoot great. But they are very strong and scrap like crazy.

They've been able to out muscle taller, but lighter teams. I feel that sanogo and Clingan will be too much for them.

It also feels like another game where Karaban could get out muscled by an older stronger body. Although, it's been a bit since that's happened.
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Watching their defense, it is impressive. They are the opposite of Miami. Miami ball watched and tried to play passing lanes. SDSU stays connected and does a very good job of tracking man and ball. I haven't seen them play a game against a team that runs as much off ball action as UConn, but you can see them tracking ball and man at all times. The few minutes of off ball action I've seen them defend they fight around screens to get after their assignment. I could see Hawkins getting fouled with how quickly he stops and pops off the screen and how quickly they chase after the shooter.

As most teams don't run stuff UConn does, it's a bit hard to tell how well they will do against UConn's actions but they do a good job of doing what UConn does defensively. They track man and ball. They stay between man and basket. They fight over screens. They challenge but try not to foul on jumpers and they have their big's challenge at the rim on help.

They are also deep. They will go for steals but in the tournament they seem to have played more of a set defense than a pressing defense. Not saying they can't, as they go 9 deep, but they haven't much so far in the tournament.

Offensively, they grind points. No other way to put it. They work the possession and try to get an open shot and it doesn't seem anyone is shy about taking the shot if open. They aren't particularly good passers or shooters but they do just enough in conjunction with their defense.

They will, or have during the season gotten a bit of a rep of playing a bump and grind/clutch and grab game but honestly I didn't see a ton in any of their games. Or at least nothing like ISU and OKST, nor even PC.

Have to watch a few more of their games to get a better idea but that's what I've seen based on the tournament.
 
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businesslawyer said:
There is no such thing as an awful championship game that you win. It’s binary — you win and it’s great or you lose and it’s awful. We get confused because we’ve never lost a championship game, but if you lose one you stop worrying about how you win.

If we beat them 15-12 Monday night, it will still put us ahead of Kansas and level with Duke and Indiana, tied for 4th, for most championships EVER.
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If we beat rhem by any score it will be a championship. If we win 15-12 it will be the year 1923 and a lousy game to watch. But i agree with your sentiment.
 
They’re a very mature and very physically strong basketball team. They play 2 bigs often who can defend, clog the lane and rebound.

Don’t sleep on the Aztecs. If the refs let them play as they have been this will be a big East type battle.

I like ours!
 
businesslawyer said:
There is no such thing as an awful championship game that you win. It’s binary — you win and it’s great or you lose and it’s awful. We get confused because we’ve never lost a championship game, but if you lose one you stop worrying about how you win.

If we beat them 15-12 Monday night, it will still put us ahead of Kansas and level with Duke and Indiana, tied for 4th, for most championships EVER.
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Yes, I am aware and in agreement. I also like to watch basketball played in a way that showcases skill. SDSU has gotten here by taking that away as much as possible. That said, FAU went over 70 and lost. SDSU shot 50% from 3 or FAU wins comfortably.

Here is the wild stat. FAU had 6 assists. SDSU had 8. UConn had 5 last night on our first 5 made FGs on the way to 19 for the game.
 
HuskyHawk said:
They play very tough defense and can’t shoot a lick. It might be even more awful than the Butler NC.
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They just made 9 threes, but we are not playing tight and we are tourney broken in. We won with AJAX having a so so game of just 2 rebounds, 6 points and 4 assists only 22 minutes. . Hawk being sick went for on 3 boards and 13 points. Shows how it can be different players any given night picking up the slack. Karaban was huge with 9 boards.
 
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Rico444 said:
This insight into their roster and play style is all well and good, but it's irrelevant. I just want to know how big their hands are.
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Not big enough to hold our jock
 
gsmooth said:
Excellent post. I remember when I was in St. Petersburg in 1999 for all 3 Final Four games. When I asked the Duke fans on Monday morning at a restaurant if they were excited for a good game in the championship, they arrogantly said, “Mich st gave the closest chance to beat them and that the championship vs UConn won’t be close”. I just remembered the arrogance that oozed out of them like Duke winning was a foregone conclusion.

I don’t want us mimicking that and then getting humbled. Let’s not be like those Duke fans. San Diego St is a very good team that deserves respect for what they have accomplished so far. Respect all, fear none.
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I also remember a George Mason team that was supposed to be a walkover, especially given the greatest talent UConn put on one team.

I like our chances, and if UConn plays it’s game we should win on paper. But SDSU is tough, resilient, and mature. They will come out with a belief they can win. They won’t just give this NC to UConn.

I think the staff has this team focused and ready to play. The players don’t seem phased by who the competition is.
 
uconnyankee said:
I also remember a George Mason team that was supposed to be a walkover, especially given the greatest talent UConn put on one team.

I like our chances, and if UConn plays it’s game we should win on paper. But SDSU is tough, resilient, and mature. They will come out with a belief they can win. They won’t just give this NC to UConn.

I think the staff has this team focused and ready to play. The players don’t seem phased by who the competition is.
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They do seem George Mason like in appearance and physical strength.
 
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They defend the 3 really well, low percentage and don't allow a lot of attempts. I still think we'll be able to get points that way, but the key is going to be making some shots when they force guys like Hawkins or Calcaterra to drive
 
auror said:
We killed them by reb%, which is the only rebounding stat that matters. We didn't miss enough shots to get more orebs.
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This This This! They got 14 offensive rebounds on 42 missed field goals. That's 33%. We got 13 on 29 missed field goals. That's 45%. They got one more offensive rebound than us with an extra 13 chances. When you're shooting almost 50%, there's just not as many offensive rebound opportunities.
 
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