re: Tide Hoops | 25-12 (13-5)

Starting 3 guys that are 6'3" or shorter and only one guy taller than 6'6" seems like a bad idea.

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If Wrightsell is good to go, I think we should go with Sears, Estrada, Wrightsell, Griffen, and Nelson to start. Would love to see us do some point Nelson at the start of the game to see if we can get Clingan into some quick foul trouble, as well as to open up the cutting lanes. If Clingan starts to give us trouble on the other end or when Nelson gets his first is when I'd sub in Pringle and move Nelson down to the 4. I don't like that Pringle will allow Clingan to get comfortable in the paint, but the bright side to his minutes is that Pringle has been pretty impressive at drawing fouls in the latter half of this season.

Realistically we are probably going to need at least 12 threes to win this game. Being gritty on defense is important, but I think the offensive game plan is most important in this one (and should be prioritized in our lineups).

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I'm with you. I don't see any way we beat them playing them pretty straight up. They can play pretty much any style of basketball competently, but spacing and shooting are the areas where we can actually match or beat them so we need to highlight those things as much as possible. That means going with a smaller lineup rotation and giving something up defensively. If they outrun us and shoot better than we do then it will get ugly, but at least we would be playing our game instead of theirs.

Oats may go with the all speed and sharp shooting lineup.
Illinois tried to go inside and was totally unsuccessful.
Spread them out, make them run, stay hot on the 3's.
There last loss, Creighton made 14 3's.
We'll see if Oats goes this route.

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Spread them out, make them run, stay hot on the 3's. There last loss, Creighton made 14 3's. We'll see if Oats goes this route.

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This is the way. We’re not gonna win unless we make a bunch of 3’s anyway so we might as well shoot a ton of them.

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Illinois tried to go inside and was totally unsuccessful.

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It’s weird the game was super close going into half. They played pretty good defense but they made almost none of their shots, and they had good looks. It was just straight up missing open shots.

I'm really worried about shooting in the dome. Shooting percentages from 3 are consistently lower on those courts. Setting up a rim outdoors for practice this week might be something we should look at. I'm 100% serious. We don't need to hit 25 3s like some analysts are saying, but we need at least 15. We hit 19 against Purdue and lost, and they are the closest thing we've played to UCONN.

Plus, we know the NCAA wants UCONN and Purdue because of fanbase sizes and player fame. Have to hope a ref has money on us.

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. We don't need to hit 25 3s like some analysts are saying

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Who the frick hits 25 3s in a college basketball game?

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Who the frick hits 25 3s in a college basketball game?

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I think 15 is the record in the tournament

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We hit 16 on Saturday.

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I don't see any way we beat them playing them pretty straight up

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I posted the below in a different thread a day or 2 ago - not arguing the validity of your opinion, but Oats really believes in his system - and the players have bought in and believe in it too.....

Disclaimer - I am not a basketball X and O strategist - but I do have some appreciation for the mental toughness of this Bama team - I expect Oats will have the team run the normal offense with the confidence that they can win the game straight-up - take any/all open 3s and attack the rim - radically changing the offense for UConn sends a message of desperation and affects Bama's psyche' - play hard, play smart and try to make UConn play Bama's game - if the score is within 5 either way with less than 5 minutes to go, I expect Bama to win - and so do the coaches and players - mental toughness and disciplined, relentless execution - if that ain't enough, congrats to UConn - but the pressure is on UConn - Bama should be loose and confident - any way Bama wins is great, as is any loss where Bama plays well and just gets outplayed - RTR.