WSU @ Davidson- Bracketbuster Matchup

[GarH]

Davidson is very, very tough at home and if you can beat KU in Kansas City you have some guys who can play.

I have not predicted a score this year and I am not about to start now, but I am expecting that this will be a very, very tough game. To steal a phrase from @WuDrWu:, I will be happy with the ugliest of 1 point wins.

:poster_shocks:

AMEN,

[Downtown Shocker Brown]

Davidson is very, very tough at home and if you can beat KU in Kansas City you have some guys who can play.

I have not predicted a score this year and I am not about to start now, but I am expecting that this will be a very, very tough game. To steal a phrase from @WuDrWu, I will be happy with the ugliest of 1 point wins.

:poster_shocks:

Like and respect both you guys. But this isn't the team of old. We still not getting the respect we deserve, and that has the boys PO'd.

We win this game easily. I don't mean an easy game, as Davidson is a good team, but we will bring our A game, and there aren't many teams that can compete with us.

Wichita State -- 76
Davidson -- 60

[RoyalShock]

They are close to a sellout. Only 500 tickets remain.

[jocoshock]

Looking at the box score from the KU and checking the individual players, they look to be much like the Shox - long and athletic - 7-8 players averaging 15-20 minutes or more, 4-5 guys in double figures. Very dangerous.

Two names of local interest. Frank Ben-Eze (who used to be discussed alot on our recruiting boards,not a major contributor), and Tyler Kalinoski, a freshman guard from Olathe.

The juxtaposition of Davidson's veteran poise -- four starters returned from last season's team -- with the inexperience of Kansas became evident. The Wildcats responded to adversity by scoring the next six points, and carried a 33-32 lead into halftime at a silenced Sprint Center.

http://espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=313532305

If we do lose to them, I will have them my Final Four (ala George Mason, VCU)...

But I expect US to win and fill that same bracket slot...

[SubGod22]

They are close to a sellout. Only 500 tickets remain.

How big is the arena?

[jocoshock]

Davidson has won 85 of 94 games in Belk Arena in the last six seasons and enter the 2008-09 campaign seven victories shy of 200 in the 20-year-old building. On the way to a 25-5 overall record in 1996, the ’Cats were a perfect 14-0 in the Southern Conference and 12-1 at home. In 2003-04, the Wildcats accomplished a new feat, posting a perfect 13-0 record in Belk Arena, and Davidson duplicated the effort with a 12-0 mark in 2007-08. Davidson owns an all-time record of 193-58 in the arena (.768 winning percentage).

The Baker Sports Complex and John M. Belk Arena — with 5,223 seats for basketball — is the centerpiece of the Wildcats’ athletics facilities.

http://www.davidsonwildcats.com/sports/2008/6/11/sidebar_368.aspx?path=mbball

Judging from this year's schedule, their only home loss was to Vanderbilt by 4 points on 12/7

[WuDrWu]

How big is the arena?

According to this, 5223.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_M._Belk_Arena

I expect a good number to be HCGM acquaintances.

[1972Shocker]

Like and respect both you guys. But this isn't the team of old. We still not getting the respect we deserve, and that has the boys PO'd.

We win this game easily. I don't mean an easy game, as Davidson is a good team, but we will bring our A game, and there aren't many teams that can compete with us.

Wichita State -- 76
Davidson -- 60

I'm rooting for you to be right, but I'm not expecting that it will be that easy. Game probably means a lot more to Davidson than it does to the Shocks in terms of NCAA ramifications, although I sure liked the fact that the guys did not treat the win over MSU last night as anything special.

[jocoshock]

More info on the arena.. including images....

http://www.stadiumjourney.com/stadiums/john-m.-belk-arena-s696/

[Ricardo del Rio]

For Davidson Basketball home page: http://www.davidsonwildcats.com/inde...ll&path=mbball

For Davidson Basketball schedule and results: http://www.davidsonwildcats.com/sche...x?path=mbball&

For Davidson Basketball roster: http://www.davidsonwildcats.com/rost...x?path=mbball&

For Davidson Basketball stats: http://www.davidsonwildcats.com/cust...TM?path=mbball

[ShockTalk]

The Team - Davidson: High Scoring 78.8 pg, ranked 15th (WSU 78.1 pg, 19th); Solid Rebounding 38.7, 27th (WSU 37.7, 41st); Assists 13.9, 93rd (WSU 15.0, 41st); and .448 FG%, 118th (WSU .487, 16th).

The Players:

Brooks: 6'7" 227lb Sophmore leads the team in scoring at 16.0 pg plays 22.5 mpg. Rebounds at 6.5 pg, team best .533 FG% including .395 from 3. Most consistent player having only 2 games under 8 points and 8 games 20+ points.

Cohen: 6'10" 235lb Junior averaging 13.5 ppg and 6.1 rpg playing 24.2 mpg. Shoots 2-3 behind the arc per game at a .379 clip. Also 1.5 blocks per game. While he has 7 games of 20+, he also has games where he disappears in the scoring column.

Cochran: 6'3" Junior, 11.4 ppg and 3.3 apg while playing 28.5 mpg. Almost a 90% FT shooter, leads the team at .408 from 3. However, only has a .406 FG% for about a 1-3 inside the arc.

Kuhlman: 6'4" Junior, 11.5 ppg, 3.8 rpg, and 3.0 apg with 31.7 mpg. 18 double digit games with one over 20 points, shoots .370 from the 3. Actually, scoring a little less this year than his first 2 years.

Czerapowicz: 6'7" 200lb Sophmore guard from Sweden plays 23.3 mpg, 10.2 pgg, .349 from 3, and 4.4 rpg. 15 double digit games with 2 20+ games. Hot over his last 5 games averaging 15.2 ppg and 18-39 from 3.

Droney: 6'6" Sophmore guard. While play 23 minutes pg, averages 4.4 ppg and 3.6 rpg.

Kalinoski: 6'4" Freshman from Olathe, KS plays 18.0 mpg. 4.8 ppg and has had 5 double digit games.

Mann: 6'8" Junior forward from Overland Park, KS, plays 15.8 mpg, 5.6 ppg, 3 rpg.

They spread the minutes, so they should stay fresh.

Possible chinks in the armour: Their opponents are shooting only 16 percentage points lower than they are, even closer from the 3, being only 10 percentage points lower at .344. Compare their opponents FG% at .432 to WSU's .398 for opponents.

They foul...a lot. 538 times so far (WSU 462). Brooks has fouled out 6 times with 6 four foul games; Cohen 6 foul outs and 6 at 4 fouls; Czerapowicz has 4 foul outs and 4 at four fouls; and Mann (playing less than 16 mpg) 3 foul outs and 6 four foul games. Between those 4 players, that's 19 foul outs and 22 four foul games.

[JaminShock]

Cohen is the only guy over 6'8'' and he's prone to foul trouble, so early and often to GS inside seems like the best strategy. If he's out, they will probably go zone or double every time GS touches it.

[Ricardo del Rio]

I thought their games won was a little gaudy due to weak competition.

[KC Shox]

They've lost one game at home this year to a pretty good Vanderbilt team (game was close). We all know they beat Kansas, I think they jacked up around 33 three-pointers that game and made around 11 or 12 of them. I don't know if this was an indication of what their offensive style is, but obviously they weren't afraid to shoot it.

Travel, game time, road game, solid program, are definitely big challenges for the Shox. They're playing really well right now, just hoping the momentum doesn't stall out on Saturday.

[im4wsu]

They are close to a sellout. Only 500 tickets remain.

That's only 90% of capacity.