SDSU Scouting Report

[JaminShock]

Was checking out SDSU on Pomeroy's site, and some interesting things stuck out:

1. They are 13th in the nation at 2-pt % at 56.1, but middle of the road from 3 at 36.3%.

2. They are 10th in the nation in off. reb. %, which probably helps explain their high shooting percentage.

3. They haven't shot FT's well at all- 66.3%, 215th in the nation.

4. Two very key stats as to their style of play- they are 5th in the nation at avoiding blocked shots- only 4.3% get blocked AND they are 319th in the nation at FTA/FGA, which means they don't shoot very many FT's. This means that they shoot a lot of jump shots and don't pound the ball inside.

5. More style numbers- they are toward the bottom of the nation in both 3PA/FGA and Ast/FGM, which means that they don't shoot a lot of 3's, or get assists on very many baskets.

6. They are 301st in the nation in tempo, which means they don't run much at all.

What does it all mean? Without seeing a game, I can tell that the focus of their offense is on mid-range jumpers in halfcourt offense and crashing the glass. Since they seem to do a lot of one-on-one stuff, it will be really important for our guards to make them shoot tough 3's or long 2's and not get into the lane. And when they shoot jumpers, our big guys have to box out. (Coincidentally, we're 31st in the nation at not allowing off. reb, so this will be interesting to watch)

Thoughts, anyone?

[SubGod22]

Looks like he also only gives us an 18% chance of winning.

We're number 1 in A/FGM at 70.1

It'll be a tough game. I haven't seen them play but your analysis sounds good. Make them shoot jumpers and don't let them get their shots off around the paint.

Also sounds like we need to try to continue to push the tempo and make them run. Hopefully we'll also press a lot and make them work as it sounds as if they may not have the depth that we do based on other comments elsewhere.

[tropicalshox]

I watched about 10 minutes of their game last night. They are tough defensively in the lane. Durley and Blair will score some in close but we will need to hit our outside shots.

[The Mad Hatter]

Explain this to me, how is it that Billy White, SDSU's starting PF who is averaging 11 ppg, has the second most shot attempts on the team and shooting .638 from the field only has 3 freethrow attempts?

Furthermore, explain why teams haven't fouled him given the fact that he is 0-3 in those attempts (and shot .632 from the line last year - lower than he is shooting from the field this year)?

[notquiteBWing]

I think their lack of free throws come from guards not driving to the hoop.
Their big men are shooting the high percentages (and low % from FT) becasue they are getting on the glass and making easy shots.

Kawai Leonard is a beast. I look forward to rooting for him in the NBA.
As a freshmen i think he almost averaged 15 and 10.
I think he's only 6'7", but I know he handles the ball pretty well.

I watched them beat Gonzaga weeks ago.
and I watched them a few times last year.

Great team.

I do hope we set the pace instead of them.
if they crash the boards and fail, we will get out in transition and do damage.

They think they're deep (their message board said we weren't deep, I assumed they meant relative to their own team)
But we are deeper. I don't know this factually, I'm just assuming since we go 11 deep and normally a deep team is proud to play 9 guys.

I just hope this becomes a track meet. Make them tired.

[Kung Wu]

Explain this to me, how is it that Billy White, SDSU's starting PF who is averaging 11 ppg, has the second most shot attempts on the team and shooting .638 from the field only has 3 freethrow attempts?

Furthermore, explain why teams haven't fouled him given the fact that he is 0-3 in those attempts (and shot .632 from the line last year - lower than he is shooting from the field this year)?

Man, those are very good questions. If he is shooting .638 from the field and not getting fouled, you would think they are shots from outside. But you would think a shooter shooting .638 from outside would be a much better free throw shooter than he is. So he must be shooting from inside.

Maybe he has Graham Hatchitus and couldn't draw a foul even if the defender ripped his jockstrap out of his shorts?

Edit: Thanks 72 for the Grant --> Graham correction!

[calfan]

I think we are going to possibly have a match-up problem at the SF spot.
They go 6-9, 6-8, 6-7 on the frontline, if I read it right last night.
WSU goes 6-9, 6-8, 6-4 or 6-5. WSU will give up at least 2 or 3 inches at the SF position. It will be important for GH and Ben Smith to play good D.

I would also like to see WSU push the ball and play full court defense.

We'll see Saturday night if we are right.


I watched them play Gonzaga and they played O.K. Gonzaga did not play with any emotion or urgency to the game.
They also didn't go inside much that I remember.

[WuDrWu]

....... It will be important for GH and Ben Smith to play good D.

I promise you Graham Hatch will play good defense. Hatch's D will not cost us the game. If for some reason the guy Hatch is guarding goes off, he's just that good and that's the way it is sometimes.


Hatch's effort last night was incredible. If just 3 other guys played as hard, consistently as Graham does, we would be a threat to go to the Final 4.

[ShockerPrez]

Explain this to me, how is it that Billy White, SDSU's starting PF who is averaging 11 ppg, has the second most shot attempts on the team and shooting .638 from the field only has 3 freethrow attempts?

Furthermore, explain why teams haven't fouled him given the fact that he is 0-3 in those attempts (and shot .632 from the line last year - lower than he is shooting from the field this year)?

So put EO in the middle and make damn sure he knows that it's okay to foul him when he's in?

[1972Shocker]

Maybe he has Grant Hatchitus and couldn't draw a foul even if the defender ripped his jockstrap out of his shorts?

I think Graham and may even his brother, Grant, must have signed a wedgie waiver with the refs.

;-)

[Kung Wu]

Maybe he has Grant Hatchitus and couldn't draw a foul even if the defender ripped his jockstrap out of his shorts?

I think Graham and may even his brother, Grant, must have signed a wedgie waiver with the refs.

;-)

Bahaha! Thanks for the correction -- not sure what happened to my neurons there for a minute.

[SHOXAAC]

Explain this to me, how is it that Billy White, SDSU's starting PF who is averaging 11 ppg, has the second most shot attempts on the team and shooting .638 from the field only has 3 freethrow attempts?

Furthermore, explain why teams haven't fouled him given the fact that he is 0-3 in those attempts (and shot .632 from the line last year - lower than he is shooting from the field this year)?

For a frontcourt player it is odd to have more offensive rebounds than defensive, but White has 2 more offensive boards than defensive. And maybe when the guards do slash to the paint, White gets the lions share of the dump offs and doesn't get fouled. Other than that, I don't have a f*#king clue as usual.
;-)

[SHOXAAC]

I think in another thread our poster quoted a SDSU poster regarding SDSU depth. They play only 7 players (15+ minutes per game). We have 10 players with 15+ minutes per game. The beauty of going 10 deep is that on most nights lets say only 7 or 8 of those players are playing at a solid level. When you have a 7-man rotation, you don't have the leisure of any of your guys having a bad game.

Once again SDSU vs. St. Mary's only had 10 assists for 27 made FG's. White led them in assists for crying out load with 4. That's terrible. Their game plan is to take your guy on the dribble or get a ball screen, chuck it up and if it doesn't go in crash the boards. We will know come Saturday if our players have really worked on keeping their guy in front of them.

[fastbow]

Maybe he has Grant Hatchitus and couldn't draw a foul even if the defender ripped his jockstrap out of his shorts?

If that's the case, this might turn into a game of "I went to the fights and a basketball game broke out."

[capnkirk]

I can't help but think that if we are trailing for most of the game, we should start testing their free throw shooting ability extensively........