Sec basketball tourney

[parabrave]

One defensive difference I noticed yesterday. There was a play in the 2nd where we swatted the ball and stole it. In the beginning of the season we did alot of that. Hubb and Harris were in the face of the ball handler when they got to the top of the key swatting the ball and stealing it or disrupting their flos. As soon as conf play started we stopped being aggressive and started defending further back from the ball handlers. As a result the opp shooting % skyrocketed. Esp after the KY game.

[StarkVegasSteve]

I will be very interested to see how Missouri looks if we can get by LSU. They don't play really well on the road, only 3 wins all year, and have only played one neutral game and that was a loss. Then you would get Florida, who can look like the runaway number 1 team in the country one game and look like a team on the wrong side of the bubble the next game. If we can beat Mizzou, I think that may be enough to push us over the line and get a 7 seed. We closed like this last year and then got hot in Nashville. Hopefully we can do the same. We've got multiple guys that have played a lot of games in that building. That can help us this week.

[msstate7]

I will be very interested to see how Missouri looks if we can get by LSU. They don't play really well on the road, only 3 wins all year, and have only played one neutral game and that was a loss. Then you would get Florida, who can look like the runaway number 1 team in the country one game and look like a team on the wrong side of the bubble the next game. If we can beat Mizzou, I think that may be enough to push us over the line and get a 7 seed. We closed like this last year and then got hot in Nashville. Hopefully we can do the same. We've got multiple guys that have played a lot of games in that building. That can help us this week.

Wonder if an lsu loss would push us to a 10-seed.

[StarkVegasSteve]

Wonder if an lsu loss would push us to a 10-seed.

It's a possibility and it's something I considered but you don't want to be losing games at this time of year, especially in the SEC tournament where teams like OU and Arkansas are on the bubble and can hop you. You don't want to say that's not a big deal and then end up an 11 seed. Look at the end of the day we know if we get the 8/9, we probably can beat whoever the other team is. And then we'd get Duke or Houston. I'll break down that matchup if it happens, but let's get there first. Let's win a game in the tournament and then we can reevaluate where we're at.

[msstate7]

It's a possibility and it's something I considered but you don't want to be losing games at this time of year, especially in the SEC tournament where teams like OU and Arkansas are on the bubble and can hop you. You don't want to say that's not a big deal and then end up an 11 seed. Look at the end of the day we know if we get the 8/9, we probably can beat whoever the other team is. And then we'd get Duke or Houston. I'll break down that matchup if it happens, but let's get there first. Let's win a game in the tournament and then we can reevaluate where we're at.

I absolutely wanna beat lsu. I just want the best 1st round matchup for us we can get. Our perimeter defense and shooting just isn't good enough to get to the sweet 16 imo. Maybe we catch a team that's off or something though.

[StarkVegasSteve]

I absolutely wanna beat lsu. I just want the best 1st round matchup for us we can get. Our perimeter defense and shooting just isn't good enough to get to the sweet 16 imo. Maybe we catch a team that's off or something though.

Or maybe you find it for 2-3 games. Maybe something strange happens and for one weekend you just find whatever we left in Memphis on Dec. 21st. We haven't looked the same since. Matchup wise, we can match up with any team in the country. Just to run you through what would be the situations:

Duke

Proctor-Hubbard
Kneuppel-Kugel
James-Melendez
Flagg-Matthews
Malauch-Nwoko

Houston

Cryer-Hubbard
Uzan-Kugel
Sharp-Melendez
Roberts-Matthews
Tugler-Nwoko


Now Houston would be the better matchup for us from a height perspective because we would be taller than them at 4 of the 5 positions. I think our physicality could be key against Duke becuase you would tell Matthews, Jones, Melendez, and Murphy that there's 20 fouls between y'all. If Cooper Flagg steps in the lane, put him on his ass. Every time. You Jordan Rules him every time he gets in the lane. Because North Carolina just showed that if you frustrate him, he fouls. And without him on the floor, they aren't all that good. Without him on the floor they're a solid team, but not unbeatable. Again, this is all just guessing. At the end of the day, you have to beat good teams to advance. You want to hold off playing the best of the best as long as possible, but eventually you do have to play them. My point is, there's a way to beat them. It's not just the season is over. There's no UCONN in this field. Every team has a flaw, and a pretty big one.