NCAA Tournament - WSU vs Drake Pre-Game Predictions and Discussions

[Stickboy46]

If he plays and goes off on Dexter hats off to dude

Absolutely .. that would be something even Cade Cunningham couldn't do.

[ABC]

Drake now favored by 1 via Vegas

[SB Shock]

Drake now favored by 1 via Vegas

So that means the betting has been on Drake to win and they need to push people to WSU (Drake has been the popular pundit pick so far).

[SHOXAAC]

Drake now favored by 1 via Vegas

My head hurts by thinking how a MVC regular season runner-up is favored over the AAC regular season champion. My sobriety will have to wait!!!

[pinstripers]

I hope that HCIB and the guys are taking this game more seriously than the fans are.

[shock-it-to-me]

My head hurts by thinking how a MVC regular season runner-up is favored over the AAC regular season champion. My sobriety will have to wait!!!

No doubt, particularly when you consider they are missing their second best player and their first best player may or may not play and will certainly be rusty at best.

[ShockerPrez]

I think a lot of people want to believe Drake is the favorite. It's a crazy year, Drake has a gawdy record compared to a lot of teams.

Its the NCAA tourney. Tons of money flies in on the underdog. There are only 4 games to bet on in the round, so more money than usual is being bet on the game. WSU looked like poo poo against USF and Cincy. Drake wants to rep the Valley and stick their Valley foot up our posterior to prove us wrong for leaving.

Drake could very easily win this game. Its gonna be close. I think the majority of the viewing audience will be rooting for Drake, (maybe a very strong majority). Hence the money following suit. Makes sense.

[shockersx]

I expect us to come out focussed.. at first. But then as the game progresses, I can see hero ball taking over. Guys wanting to look good on the big stage and getting full of themselves and just start chucking shots. If that happens, we lose, possibly badly. But if we actually stay focussed the WHOLE game, run an OFFENSE, tie up the DAWGS for a bit, then this is a team we can pull away from. It's all about playing 40 minutes, something this team hasn't done all season. I'm not sure if that's coaching or what, but it's the most disconcerting thing about this team. If we get a disciplined, focussed, I like our chances a lot. If we start chucking, hunting, and DAWGing, prepare for Valley embarrassment.

What’s with the constant “dawg” comments? Lol it was something that *literally* one former player said once. Going a bit overboard with it, no?

[MikeKennedyRulZ]

[ShockingButTrue]

Absolutely .. that would be something even Cade Cunningham couldn't do.

WSU sure can't afford to have the Dex from 4 (and 5 really) days ago show up tomorrow. Williams was headed for a big game before he got pulled...

[Shockm]

He should be a big help, especially on defense with their big Center. Brodie would just bull Wade if he has to play the post. If they pull Brodie for fouls or rest, Wade may come in and play the post some, but I'm not sure we wouldn't have a bigger advantage with their smaller posts against Mo.

[RoyalShock]

One thing about Hemphill is he doesn't shoot from outside the arc (only three attempted 3FGs this year), so hopefully Dex can focus on denying him a route to the basket and receiving the ball in a scoring position.

If Mo can draw a few fouls on Brodie that would be a huge factor, IMO.

Don't let Yesefu have a career game. The guy takes a lot of shots (16 attempts per game in his last seven) and from his game log appears to be either hot or cold from beyond the arc. He also has games where he gets to the FT line. In 3 of his last 5 games he's taken 10 FTs and is an 80% FT shooter. He seems to have tried to replace Penn's assists by scoring more. He only has more than two assists in two games since Dec 27th. Wilkins is the guy who's assist numbers picked up after Penn went down.

I think how well Gilbert defends Yesufu will be the biggest key of the game.

[Stickboy46]

I think a lot of people want to believe Drake is the favorite. It's a crazy year, Drake has a gawdy record compared to a lot of teams.

Its the NCAA tourney. Tons of money flies in on the underdog. There are only 4 games to bet on in the round, so more money than usual is being bet on the game. WSU looked like poo poo against USF and Cincy. Drake wants to rep the Valley and stick their Valley foot up our posterior to prove us wrong for leaving.

Drake could very easily win this game. Its gonna be close. I think the majority of the viewing audience will be rooting for Drake, (maybe a very strong majority). Hence the money following suit. Makes sense.

Many Many people don't think WSU deserved to be in ... I've seen it all over " BUT THEIR NET!!!!" ... while ignoring the rest of the resume was better than Drakes.

[Horn28Clem30]

One thing about Hemphill is he doesn't shoot from outside the arc (only three attempted 3FGs this year), so hopefully Dex can focus on denying him a route to the basket and receiving the ball in a scoring position.

If Mo can draw a few fouls on Brodie that would be a huge factor, IMO.

Don't let Yesefu have a career game. The guy takes a lot of shots (16 attempts per game in his last seven) and from his game log appears to be either hot or cold from beyond the arc. He also has games where he gets to the FT line. In 3 of his last 5 games he's taken 10 FTs and is an 80% FT shooter. He seems to have tried to replace Penn's assists by scoring more. He only has more than two assists in two games since Dec 27th. Wilkins is the guy who's assist numbers picked up after Penn went down.

I think how well Gilbert defends Yesufu will be the biggest key of the game.

I wonder if Hemphill is hampered if you see TE and AG guard him a bit more and let DD lock down Yesufu

[Shockm]

The truly educated NCAA follower realizes that the NET just can't trusted this year. But I've seen a good number of followers/so called experts who aren't very educated on it. If I weren't from a school who has been totally jobbed by this metric, I probably would have skated past it too. However, in the future, I will watch this metric very closely.