First of all. What an accomplishment, it's starting to sink in but it still hasn't and likely won't for some years. This team is solid, at every level and in every facet of the game. However, I have some concerns going forwards as I am sure most of you do.
1. Rebounding: Yes we are dominating teams on the board this year but I am concerned about it. It seems too often these past couple of games that when there has been physical rebounding play we haven't always been able to secure the board. The teams in the dance will be physical, obviously. I do think that the pundits realize just how physical the valley has been playing WSU - especially the last part of the season. It seems that whom-ever we have played they have tried to physically muddy up the game. So I'm not totally buying the fact that WSU hasn't seen physical play on the levels of what we will see in the dance because even Valley teams have large oafs they can throw out there and be told to try to just be a large physical prescence. Mockevicius's domination of Darius Carter at Evansville is of large concern on that front, but I think we will be fine.
2. Type of Play : The type of play we have been able to get away with in the valley, especially in the second half of blow-out games, might not be conducive to success in the NCAA tournament. Holding the ball down till the last 7-8 seconds of the shot clock consistently in the second half of games in the tournament isn't exactly a recipe for success. There will be times where we will need to shoot quickly, answer quickly, etc. We've passed up wide-open shots in the second half of games specifically to run more clock. I trust the guys that they will know when to "turn it on" in the tournament but it does still worry me.
3. Foul Trouble : This one is fairly obvious and every team in the NCAA tournament will have to face it but we are significantly worse with Ron and Fred out with foul trouble. This isn't exactly ground breaking analysis but they have to be smart with their fouls
4. Outside Shooting : Of all the ones listed here this is probably my least concern. We will hit our fair share of 3's in the tournament but are we good enough to keep scoring on the inside when opponents can sag-off on a bad shooting night? Who knows.
That's about all I got, anyone else have any concerns?
Let me end this by saying that I am not trying to be negative. This team, compared to most teams, does not have as many issues as other. Hence 31-0, but as with every team there are concerns.
1. Rebounding: Yes we are dominating teams on the board this year but I am concerned about it. It seems too often these past couple of games that when there has been physical rebounding play we haven't always been able to secure the board. The teams in the dance will be physical, obviously. I do think that the pundits realize just how physical the valley has been playing WSU - especially the last part of the season. It seems that whom-ever we have played they have tried to physically muddy up the game. So I'm not totally buying the fact that WSU hasn't seen physical play on the levels of what we will see in the dance because even Valley teams have large oafs they can throw out there and be told to try to just be a large physical prescence. Mockevicius's domination of Darius Carter at Evansville is of large concern on that front, but I think we will be fine.
2. Type of Play : The type of play we have been able to get away with in the valley, especially in the second half of blow-out games, might not be conducive to success in the NCAA tournament. Holding the ball down till the last 7-8 seconds of the shot clock consistently in the second half of games in the tournament isn't exactly a recipe for success. There will be times where we will need to shoot quickly, answer quickly, etc. We've passed up wide-open shots in the second half of games specifically to run more clock. I trust the guys that they will know when to "turn it on" in the tournament but it does still worry me.
3. Foul Trouble : This one is fairly obvious and every team in the NCAA tournament will have to face it but we are significantly worse with Ron and Fred out with foul trouble. This isn't exactly ground breaking analysis but they have to be smart with their fouls
4. Outside Shooting : Of all the ones listed here this is probably my least concern. We will hit our fair share of 3's in the tournament but are we good enough to keep scoring on the inside when opponents can sag-off on a bad shooting night? Who knows.
That's about all I got, anyone else have any concerns?
Let me end this by saying that I am not trying to be negative. This team, compared to most teams, does not have as many issues as other. Hence 31-0, but as with every team there are concerns.
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