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| All indications point to a rocking, shocking Charles Koch Arena for the CofC game |
After a crazy finish in Blacksburg, the Cougars will be traveling to someplace called Kansas to take on the Shockers of Wichita State. Being from Virginia myself I would've liked nothing more than to see my beloved Cougars further justify my reasons for leaving the Old Dominion by crushing the Hokies in VA. Ever since the refs at Tech crushed that dream, I'm gonna have to settle for an upset over WSU (yes I said upset, allow me explain).
WSU is an experienced team that shares the ball and demonstrates some of the most balanced scoring in the country. They play inside-out ball and have some beasts inside including All-Conference selection JY Durely and a 7 footer named Garrett Stutz. They rarely settle for threes and use a soft press defense coupled with a little man-to-man depending on their opponent's set. They rebound very well and this usually results in easy put-backs and layups.
Now let's look at what the Cougars do well. We have a highly potent backcourt combination of seniors who can score at will when guarded lightly. The majority of our shots are put up by one player and as he goes, the team goes. When he struggles, other players have the capability of stepping up. Our inside game is solid for the guard-heavy Socon, but the thought of Willis Hall trying to cover Goliath scares the hell out of me. Our coach let's the players play. This is not always a bad thing, as players have gotten so accustomed to each others games that they are good at complimenting one another.
There are some things that really scare me about this game. Let's go over the worst case scenario first:
BUT there is hope...
Wichita State is certainly beatable if the Cougars bring their best effort. Let me describe the best case scenario:
WSU is an experienced team that shares the ball and demonstrates some of the most balanced scoring in the country. They play inside-out ball and have some beasts inside including All-Conference selection JY Durely and a 7 footer named Garrett Stutz. They rarely settle for threes and use a soft press defense coupled with a little man-to-man depending on their opponent's set. They rebound very well and this usually results in easy put-backs and layups.
Now let's look at what the Cougars do well. We have a highly potent backcourt combination of seniors who can score at will when guarded lightly. The majority of our shots are put up by one player and as he goes, the team goes. When he struggles, other players have the capability of stepping up. Our inside game is solid for the guard-heavy Socon, but the thought of Willis Hall trying to cover Goliath scares the hell out of me. Our coach let's the players play. This is not always a bad thing, as players have gotten so accustomed to each others games that they are good at complimenting one another.
There are some things that really scare me about this game. Let's go over the worst case scenario first:
- The Cougars enter an extremely hostile Koch Arena and are immediately intimidated by the 10,000+ screaming Kansas-folk (Kansans?). Goudelock starts off slow like he did in the Dayton game. Wiedeman and Hall struggle to score inside. WSU controls the glass and gets a ton of second chance points. Durley goes off for a double-double and the Shockers go on to win by double digits.
BUT there is hope...
Wichita State is certainly beatable if the Cougars bring their best effort. Let me describe the best case scenario:
- Unintimidated by WSU's measly arena (pff, this is a team that has played in Chapel Hill, The Summit and College Park). Thriving in the underdog role once again, Drew hits a quick barrage of threes to silence the crowd. Wiedeman and Hall defend WSU's inside players like they're Noah Dahlman. On offense, Trent takes hack after hack and makes the Shock pay from the line. James Carlton comes off the bench to drop a thunderous dunk on that 7 footer. Cougars go on to win by 5-10 points.
Inconsistency is the reason why both these teams missed the Big Dance. We all know what happened to the Cougars. The Shockers dropped 4 games at home and couldn't get it done in the Missouri Valley Tournament. In order to win the Cougars must handle the crowd, force WSU's big men to foul (they've been prone to do so at times) and shoot lights out from three. If the stars aline just right, the Cougars move on to Madison Square Garden. It's going to take one of our best games of the season to top Wichita State in their own building. If not, it's game over.
I enjoyed reading your post. May I add that you should expect only the best Wichita locksmith service there? Good luck to all the teams.
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