DanMcQ
Moderator 
Posts: 30,598
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Post by DanMcQ on Nov 28, 2011 20:56:28 GMT -5
post here...
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alleninxis
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 2,216
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Post by alleninxis on Nov 28, 2011 21:18:48 GMT -5
Alabama has kind of become my 'adopted' team the past year and a half. Just really like Anthony Grant and LOVE Tony Mitchell as a player.
We do match up okay here.
Henry is going to have to play big and while Jamychal Green gets quite a bit of publicity and his stat lines are nice, he can get frustrated against length. Henry has to make him work and hold his ground, and if he wants to face up (tending to do so more this year) let him. Also is prone to foul trouble, so that'd be nice. He will get offensive rebounds and get a few dunks, might end up with 16 and 10 but at times it's not the most efficient 16 and 10. Just make him work.
Tony Mitchell -- if anyone wondered who you could compare Troy Williams to, this guy might be it. Awesome athlete, somebody is likely to get dunked on or have their shot sent back to D.C. and there will be no shame in it, he catches somebody at least once a game. That said, the game has slowed down for him and he's starting to shoot the ball better and making plays off the bounce. Really a tough assignment for Nate with his quickness and if he can't handle it, Otto or Hollis aren't too overwhelmed since Mitchell is not a guy that is going to post up and he's not a blow by guy off the bounce, at least compared to facing Otto/Hollis rather than Nate. He is a SF playing PF out of necessity.
Releford vs Starks -- this is a draw in my mind. Don't really have to worry about Releford being a guy that carves up our defense off the bounce, he can be effective off the bounce but not overly quick. Can hit an open shot, but not a marksman.. Good handle, overall a solid PG.
Advantage comes on the wings. Alabama has 3 FR playing in these spots. Cooper and Randolph start with the more heralded Lacey in a 6th man role. Amazing how well they've bought into playing defense as FR. Seem to be grasping things well (like our FR). Cooper and Randolph can't really shoot or are much of threats on offense at this point. But they defend. Lacey is the shooter.
Team is not very deep, Nick Jacobs has come along okay up front..big, physical kid that has begun to get the most minutes up-front off the bench. It's why it'd be very nice to get Green in foul trouble, there's just not much behind him.
As alluded to in another thread, they will throw pressure at us. On offense, they very rarely look to push the ball.
To sum it up: Numbers don't lie. They defend really, really well. They dig in and You just don't see any blow assignments from them. They do extend pressure in the half court, so possible to take advantage on some back cuts with a system they're not familiar with. I would say it can confuse the FR in Cooper/Randolph as well, but again, they really have come ready to play. On offense, they can't shoot and are likely to work through Green. Have to keep them off the O boards.
Do like our chances, but there are going to be stretches where Jason and Hollis have to keep us going with shot-making.
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thebin
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 3,848
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Post by thebin on Nov 28, 2011 22:12:15 GMT -5
Where were they predicted to fall in the sec at yearend?
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gutuna
Bulldog (over 250 posts)
Posts: 339
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Post by gutuna on Nov 28, 2011 22:40:28 GMT -5
We do match up okay here. I agree we match up well. Perhaps most importantly, Alabama shoots terribly from three, around 30% as a team. If we throw a lot of the 2-3 zone at them with our length to deny the ball entering the paint, we could be very successful. The key, as always, is rebounding out of the 2-3 against some athletic players. Against VCU, both VCU's press and extended zone bothered the Crimson Tide. Alabama is definitely a consistently excellent defensive team. However, we've proven offensively to be well ahead of where I thought we would be this year with a young team. The key will be to continue our trend of keeping our turnovers down. If we don't make the silly plays that limit our attempts and give Bama easy offense with runouts, I still have confidence we're efficient enough offensively to put up enough points. |
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Post by HoyaSinceBirth on Nov 28, 2011 23:32:28 GMT -5
My fear in this game is they shut us down on defense and then just get lots of offensive rebounds all game against us. If we can avoid those two things I like our chances.
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rosslynhoya
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 2,595
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Post by rosslynhoya on Nov 29, 2011 0:38:56 GMT -5
Where were they predicted to fall in the sec at yearend? Fourth, behind KY, Vandy, and UFla. They are currently #12 in both polls. |
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GIGAFAN99
Diamond Hoya (over 2500 posts)
Posts: 4,487
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Post by GIGAFAN99 on Nov 29, 2011 7:27:04 GMT -5
My fear in this game is they shut us down on defense and then just get lots of offensive rebounds all game against us. If we can avoid those two things I like our chances. I pretty much agree 100%. Force bad shots from Alabama that don't end up as passes to weak side rebounders and we are in good shape. Alabama is actually kind of terrible on offense so this is a classic contrast of styles. I would prefer some more simple stuff out of our offense because over-passing could be death. Every pass is one pass closer to a turnover against 'Bama, so we have to take the first good shot. |
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Post by lancasterhoyafan on Nov 29, 2011 8:08:55 GMT -5
This will be the first really rowdy crowd our Freshmen face. Anxious to see the response.
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Post by BubbleVisionBiff on Nov 29, 2011 8:21:50 GMT -5
This will be the first really rowdy crowd our Freshmen face in North America. Anxious to see the response. Fixed it for you. |
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OldHoyafan
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Posts: 1,387
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Post by OldHoyafan on Nov 29, 2011 8:33:31 GMT -5
Alabama under Gotfried always had great athletes who could run and rebound with the best of them, and won by playing volley ball on the boards. Grant has the same athletes now but has added a stiffling pressing defense, that they are very good at. Markel, Jabril, and Porter will be key to this game. Markel has the speed and handle to deal with the initial press, but must be strong enough to handle the bumps he will get without losing ball. Jabril has a good handle and is strong enough to handle the initial bump by presssing guard and is capable of going all the way to the rim. Porter has the handle to take the pressure off the guards by bringing the ball upcourt at PF. Very good early test for the team. Henry and Nate must follow penetrating Markel, Jason, or Jabril to the rim for possible offensive put back.
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sleepy
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 6,079 
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Post by sleepy on Nov 29, 2011 9:12:14 GMT -5
Will be very interesting to see how this backcourt deals with full court and half court pressure. Surprisingly we haven't seen much if any to date. After watching the second half of 2008
L' Ville kind of brings back some scary moments.
Our Zone defenses are still a real work in progress. We get caught pressuring in the half court leading to penetration and our rotations as expected with a young group are far from being even adequate at this point.
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Post by HometownHoya on Nov 29, 2011 9:48:31 GMT -5
Will be very interesting to see how this backcourt deals with full court and half court pressure. Surprisingly we haven't seen much if any to date. After watching the second half of 2008 L' Ville kind of brings back some scary moments. Agreed sleepy, pressing teams are going to be interesting for us. Fortunately, I'm hoping that our length will help overcome any ball-handling short-comings. I believe that passing out of a press is more effective for breaking it then dribbling out, so lets hope thats what we do instead of hoping our committee of ball handlers can keep the ball. Also, great info Alleninxis! Thanks!! |
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idhoya
Platinum Hoya (over 5000 posts)
Posts: 6,177
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Post by idhoya on Nov 29, 2011 10:15:46 GMT -5
Bama is not deep, so the press will be used spottingly. Also, they're not a big team; Green and the back up go 6'9 and 6'8. Hoyas can get them in foul trouble. I think Hoyas length bother them up top, as there are freshman they play too. Their PG is solid, but not overly quick and rarely looks to score with J's. he will try to bully to the rim. Hoyas bigs just need to be solid and backcourt needs to do its job. Crowd may be a factor cause football is over for now, so kids will be there. All that said, they are not a jauggernaut and don't shoot very well from outside. As said earlier, they WILL DEFEND, so Hoyas need to be aggressive not passive when attacking. They haven't seen the type of lenght Hoyas have and they have to guard against back cuts. Not sure they're that disciplined to completely shut that down like Kansas did. We'll see....
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Post by RockawayHoya on Nov 29, 2011 10:21:41 GMT -5
Great writeup, Allen.
Given that they don't have much depth, but are strong defensively, could this be very similar to the Kansas game? If so, I hope the experience we gained in Maui helps us for this game.
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Just Cos
Golden Hoya (over 1000 posts)
Eat 'em up Hoyas
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Post by Just Cos on Nov 29, 2011 10:29:20 GMT -5
This will be the first really rowdy crowd our Freshmen face. Anxious to see the response. The team got a taste of it during the Kansas game. |
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lichoya68
Blue & Gray (over 10,000 posts)
OK YOUNGINS ARE HERE AND ARE VERY VERY GOOD cant wait GO HOYAS
Posts: 17,440
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Post by lichoya68 on Nov 29, 2011 10:32:09 GMT -5
MUST PLAY AT LEAST 40 MAYBE MORE tough hard hustling minutes A+ GAME to have a chance to pull off our biggest upset to date they havent lost at home since...... dfw please fill in the blank LONG TIME me thinks need to play d rebbie press and HIT SHOTS to win DEFENSE IS KEY gohoyas  |
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Post by crashdavis on Nov 29, 2011 11:03:16 GMT -5
The Hoyas are going to need to come out with more effort and focus than they did last night.... can't afford to be playing from behind against a good defensive team like Bama on the road.
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Post by grokamok on Nov 29, 2011 13:33:52 GMT -5
The Hoyas are going to need to come out with more effort and focus than they did last night.... can't afford to be playing from behind against a good defensive team like Bama on the road. Absolutely. Would really like to see a plan in place for the first few minutes. Though the later adjustments were nice to see, watching both Kansas and Memphis get out in front of us simply from our playing to their strengths was frustrating. |
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Post by glidehoyas (Inactive) on Nov 29, 2011 13:36:56 GMT -5
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Post by glidehoyas (Inactive) on Nov 29, 2011 13:38:22 GMT -5
My fear in this game is they shut us down on defense and then just get lots of offensive rebounds all game against us. If we can avoid those two things I like our chances. I pretty much agree 100%. Force bad shots from Alabama that don't end up as passes to weak side rebounders and we are in good shape. Alabama is actually kind of terrible on offense so this is a classic contrast of styles. I would prefer some more simple stuff out of our offense because over-passing could be death. Every pass is one pass closer to a turnover against 'Bama, so we have to take the first good shot. "Fear is a darkroom where negatives develop." ~Usman B. Asif |
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