WSU VS. LOUISVILLE PREDICTIONS AND PREGAME DISCUSSIONS

[shockmonster]

He seems legit to me. Leave him alone.

Dr. Dunkenstein, Pervis Ellison, Milt Wagner, the McCray brothers, etc. Louisville takes a backseat to no one in tradition. I remember watching Junior Bridgeman and the boys when they came to the roundhouse. Good times.

Forgot Wes Unseld and Butch Beard

[another shocker]

Last reply to this type of worthless post. The WVU sig is a lost bet with WVU fans on if UofL would end up in the B12.

http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=17&up=KirkUofLGrad

wait a minute. come back when you learn how to spell wichita.

[Snapshot9]

Kirk ... Glad you explained that because I was perceiving that as an arrogant needle to intentionally piss me off, especially after you had been corrected multiple times. If you picked us in the Elite Eight, you should have known how to spell Wichita. You, also, spelled 'legit' wrong after just quoting a correct spelling of it.

Makes me wonder what else you have wrong too? Suffice it to say, Pittsburgh is no cake walk, and Gonzaga and Ohio State are both great teams, and we beat them all.
They all seem to have an off night against us. Why do you think that is?

[ABC]

he seems legit to you? really? that phony clown witchita troll seems legit to you?

Another Shocker, you need to take a chill pill. Exactly what did KirkUL state it is anywhere near a "troll"?

[KirkUofLGrad]

Kirk ... Glad you explained that because I was perceiving that as an arrogant needle to intentionally piss me off, especially after you had been corrected multiple times. If you picked us in the Elite Eight, you should have known how to spell Wichita. You, also, spelled 'legit' wrong after just quoting a correct spelling of it.

Makes me wonder what else you have wrong too? Suffice it to say, Pittsburgh is no cake walk, and Gonzaga and Ohio State are both great teams, and we beat them all.
They all seem to have an off night against us. Why do you think that is?

Lol, if you are going to grade me on spelling you are in for some fun for sure. I assume the corrected part you are talking about is in relation to spelling Wichita? I didnt even see those comments when I made the additioanl posts. I started at the top and went through the post commenting on the ones that interested me and didnt get to the later post until I reached that point in the thread. Since this was taken as an insult I went back through my post and corrected the spelling. I am a piss poor speller that types fast and doesnt necessarily proof read.

In one of my brackets I did indeed have Wichita State in the elite eight even if I did mispell it. You don't have to believe me. Anyway, my posting in this thread has derailed it enough. I don't want to be the cause of more discussion about me instead of the game. Back on your topic. Frankly I was not impressed with Pitt or the Zags and thought your team was better then both. So no I dont believe those teams had off nights I believe Wichita State is the better team. As far as OSU goes I actually thought New Mexico was going to take them and incorrectly had New Mexico beating yall. That is in this one bracket. I am very impressed in Wichita State run. Yall have had to beat a lot of very solid clubs to make it to the FF.

[another shocker]

Another Shocker, you need to take a chill pill. Exactly what did KirkUL state it is anywhere near a "troll"?

no, i don't. not at all. spell it witchita over and over on this board, and you have to go. where is he from cyprus? if i was kai, i'd have already dropped him *plop*. oh, here it is, loseiville

[Kung Wu]

Did @ShockerFever: spawn a demon child and didn't tell us?

[another shocker]

Did @ShockerFever: spawn a demon child and didn't tell us?

that's twice. shame on you, of all people. good news is, i'm here to tell you the shockers can handle that press. if you don't know how to spell wichita, and insist on spelling it wrong, well.. whatever.. i guess nobobdy else here cares about it.

but louisville is going down to wichita state. i'm not mincing those words.

[Kung Wu]

that's twice. shame on you, of all people. good news is, i'm here to tell you the shockers can handle that press. if you don't know how to spell wichita, and insist on spelling it wrong, well.. whatever.. i guess nobobdy else here cares about it.

but louisville is going down to wichita state. i'm not mincing those words.

I'm down with that! I'm hope HC3GM is cookin' up sumptin' good!

[KirkUofLGrad]

that's twice. shame on you, of all people. good news is, i'm here to tell you the shockers can handle that press. if you don't know how to spell wichita, and insist on spelling it wrong, well.. whatever.. i guess nobobdy else here cares about it.

but louisville is going down to wichita state. i'm not mincing those words.

I fixed it can that topic end?

I think it is more important for Wichita State to stop UofL ability to penetrate the lane then it is to get by the press. That and prevent rebounds. Also UofL gets a lot of turnovers not out of the press but out of the match-up zone and man-man defense. I actually don't think the press is going to be much of a factor in this game because I expect Wichita State to be able to handle it and to have the depth so that it doesn't wear the team down.

Against OSU Wichita State slacked off the guard play a lot. I am interested in how well that works against UofL pick and roll or pick and roll with double screne. Also interested in seeing how you all play against the SF, PF, and C positions. Will you really cram the paint and hope the mid range game is not there from those positions or what will happen there. I think when UofL is on offense this is the part of the game to watch and will determine the winner.

When Wichita State is on offense I don't think the press is the interesting or determining factor. It will speed the game up unless you all follow the Duke method of slowing it down but I dont think it will be any kind of real factor. I think the interesting part will be if you all can take advantage of the gaps in the match-up zone and switching man-man that UofL plays which sometimes leaves the SF open for 3pt shots. Also interested in seeing if you all can score in the paint against Dieng. I know you have some solid forwards. Will be interesting to see.

[MadaboutWu]

Figuring out the match-up zone and switching defenses will be a key. Zone has been our achilles heel. We have done well against them since Baker's return, but it isn't like we have faced them a lot.

[The Mad Hatter]

Against OSU Wichita State slacked off the guard play a lot. I am interested in how well that works against UofL pick and roll or pick and roll with double screne. Also interested in seeing how you all play against the SF, PF, and C positions. Will you really cram the paint and hope the mid range game is not there from those positions or what will happen there. I think when UofL is on offense this is the part of the game to watch and will determine the winner.

I agree that how we play the pick and roll will be a big deal in this game. As you noted, we played off of Craft against Ohio State, having Mal go under screens and prevent his penetration (while having everyone else fight their way over the screens). I wondered earlier in this thread whether we might try the same thing against Siva. It should be noted, however, that this is not the way we usually play. All year we have had our bigs hedge hard on ball screens out top. If we take that approach to UL, we had better make sure that Siva gets pushed way away from the basket, because if he beats the hedge it will open up opportunities for him to drive or dish to the big going to the basket.

As for how we will defend the 3-5 spots, it is not in our DNA to generally play off of guys, so normally I would say that we would play tight man D on all 3 positions, but, given the danger of Siva and Smith driving, the normal approach might be altered. Even without the alteration, we usually do a good job on defensive rotation and getting a weak side shot blocker in place (we are averaging slightly more blocked shots a game than UL), and how well we can continue to do that will obviously also be a major key in trying to contain the UL backcourt.

[The Mad Hatter]

Also, forget all this talk about basketball strategy (can we defend Smith and Siva, will we protect the ball, can we beat a match up zone, etc.) and focus on the real problem that we all have been thinking about but no one has had the guts to say:

We play poorly against teams whose names end in 'ville.

Too soon?

[Shoxfan11]

Also, forget all this talk about basketball strategy (can we defend Smith and Siva, will we protect the ball, can we beat a match up zone, etc.) and focus on the real problem that we all have been thinking about but no one has had the guts to say:

We play poorly against teams whose names end in 'ville.

Too soon?

However, we are 3-0 this season against teams whose mascot is a bird of the color red.

[shoxlax]

Scouting report on some of the Louisville players:

http://www.draftexpress.com/article/Top-NBA-Prospects-in-the-Big-East-Part-Three-4035/

While it is geared for pro potential, some interesting statistics with Siva mentioned.

We will sag off of him...but we won't have the same guy playing him more than a few possessions in a row.

Also, watch how Jacobson defended him in the UNI game. Very interesting.