4* #760 MISSOURI over OREGON
We shifted gears with Mike Anderson and Missouri earlier this week – after the Tigers had been one of our best single-season meal tickets ever LY it was a 6* ticket with Vanderbilt on Wednesday night, when the Commodore inside game was too much for the Tigers around the basket. But we came away impressed once again with the Missouri chemistry and tenacity in the back-court – despite losing the battle of the boards 45-24, and allowing Vandy to shoot 24-41 on two-point attempts, they were still hanging around to the very end, even going on a late 11-0 run when they appeared on the verge of being blown out. And that means time get back on the Tigers here in what has become a most dynamic setting.Anderson and the Tigers are 33-0 on this court in non-conference games, winning by an average of 25.8 points, and while the reality of that is much less than those numbers, largely because of the weak schedule, it says a lot about the confidence level that they bring. That intense trapping and pressing style for the full 40 minutes becomes an intimidating factor in front of the home crowd, and as we noted so often LY it is not just frenetic energy – they play with a real sense of purpose. Even in losing at Vanderbilt that was most evident, with a solid ratio of 16 assists vs. 12 turnovers, while the Commodores were forced into 24 turnovers, and dished out only 13 assists. Now a young Oregon team brings only two upperclassmen in the playing rotation, one being SR Tajuan Porter, who sat out the last game with a sprained ankle and may not be 100 percent, and they are subject to all of the mistakes of youth in this atmosphere.Ernie Kent has some depth and quickness, and because of that has his team running and pressing as well, but they Ducks are a long way from developing, and in reality just play into Missouri’s hands here, especially without Joevan Catron and Matt Humphrey being available. Their only road game was an 88-81 loss at Portland in which the defense was exploited, and they were dumped 68-55 at home vs. Montana. Now they leave the state of the first time, and they get taken apart in the open court as the holes in their presses get exposed (from Kent - ”The difference being we have just become a pressing team. They have been a pressing team. … It’s more ingrained in their mentality to press and run and get after people. We’re still learning and working our way through some things.”) by the precision the Tigers bring to the table. But do not look for Kent to back off – this is a developmental game for his team, which makes the scoreboard only a secondary consideration. That is a break for the coach, because it is going to be an ugly scoreboard
6* #764 GEORGIA TECH over SOUTHERN CAL
Every once in a while a dark cloud can produce a silver lining, and
that was the case with our 4* Texas ticket going down against
Southern Cal on Thursday night. The extremely limited Trojans were
just as bad as we expected, with the lack of a true PG reducing the
offense to some ugly school-yard free lancing, and when the counting
was done they finished with a truly mind-numbing count of 17
turnovers vs. only two assists. We have never tracked a worse game in
terms of that ratio. But it was one of those nights in which the
Longhorns simply could not knock down open shots, going 2-11 from
3-point range and 19-34 at the free throw line. What should have been
an easy cover was not.
But going forward that works for us here, bringing a far shorter
price range that we should be seeing. Now Kevin O?Neill has to take
his basically six-player rotation even further across the country for
the second tough matchup in less than 48 hours, and they run into a
deep and talented Georgia Tech team that is not only playing with a
lot of confidence right now (that solid rout over Siena on Wednesday
was the kind of outstanding performance that gets lost in the early
marketplace), but also a sense of purpose ? this is a major revenge
affair for Paul Hewitt and his team after getting whipped 76-57 at
Southern Cal LY.
LY?s result, of course fires up the Yellow Jackets but actually means
nothing in terms of the balance of power of the programs. The Trojans
got 145 of their 200 floor minutes from DeMar DeRozan, Taj Gibson,
Daniel Hackett, and Keith Wilkinson in that win, and they are all
gone now. As stated above there is not a PG guard to either handle
the full-court pressure that they will face here, or to create open
looks when they do get a chance to set up the offense, and as bad as
the Assist to Turnover count was vs. Texas, it was also horrific
against Nebraska in Sunday?s home loss, with 17 giveaways vs. only
eight baskets created.
Tech will attack the Southern Cal weaknesses relentlessly. Hewitt has
the depth to press for the full 40 minutes, creating numerous easy
opportunities off of turnovers, and it will be a complete mismatch on
the boards, which also means easy points off of put-backs. And that
is before Trojan fatigue sets in. The second half becomes an ugly
rout-out once that happens.
