Alright, let's head down to the cellar and tap the triple strength Kool-aid and find our way to victory here.
Their season:
- Don't let the ranking fool you, this is one of the best teams in college basketball. #8 in Torvik, #7 in KenPom
- Very tough schedule, of their six losses, three are to top ten teams (Arizona, Duke, Uconn)
- BUT, some mediocre losses. Neither TCU or nor Mizzou figure to be tournament teams.
- In some ways, they're like if someone assembled the perfect roster for Buzz Ball. They are huge, and as a result they finish well at the basket. #22 in the country in 2pt%. Otherwise this is a fairly mediocre offense except for one thing, they are ELITE at offensive rebounding. Their 43.3% offensive rebounding percentage is almost two whole percentage points better than our nation-leading 41.4% last year.
- Outside the paint, this is an absolutely terrible shooting team. At 28.9% they shoot threes almost two percent WORSE than we did last year.
- Free throw rebounding could make a huge difference in this game. Florida shoots a lot of free throws but they're not very good at them, shooting at 69.9%. We can't let them off the hook by letting them rebound their own free throw misses. Gotta figure this out.
- One area there they're not a Buzz-like team is they do like to play pretty fast. Unlike Georgia and Alabama they're slower than us, but not by much. Currently #63 in tempo.
Individual notes:
- They have two consistently shooting threats, Thomas Haugh (35% from 3) and Urban Klavzar (37%)
- Lee and Fland are basically their Wade Taylors. They're worse shooters than Wade, especially Fland, but they put up shots when they're open because they know they'll rebound them at a high rate. Can't let these two hit threes or we're probably toast. Also have to keep Fland away from the basket. One of the things that both Lee and Fland do is finish around the basket at a high percentage, but especially Fland who makes 72% of his close twos. (Our best guard at finishing around the basket is Marcus Hill at 66%)
- This game probably comes down to what we can do against Rueben Chinyelu. He's been an absolute terror around the basket on both ends. Averaging 14 points and 14 boards in league games, including averaging more than four offensive rebounds per game.
Stray thoughts:
- After you take your kool aid shots, let me paint you a picture. If it's hard to see, take a few more shots.
- One thing Florida isn't is deep. Haugh, Condon, Fland all play more than 30 minutes a game in conference games and Chinyelu plays 26. Only eight players play more than 10 minutes a game, and nobody beyond those eight plays more than three.
- Of those eight, four of them are 6-9 or taller, and they can't all guard Agee. Those big trees have to guard Dominguez, Griffen, Dibba, and everyone else we throw out there at the 3/4 positions
- Speed them up, spread them out, make them defend smaller players, hunt threes in transition, have everyone be one notch better on the boards, and this can happen.
- Still don't see it? Fine, don't worry about all that, this is a vibes game, this is likely to be the one of the largest crowds at Reed in the last few years. Get it cranked up, give our guys an extra boost, and just find a way to pull this one off.
Their season:
- Don't let the ranking fool you, this is one of the best teams in college basketball. #8 in Torvik, #7 in KenPom
- Very tough schedule, of their six losses, three are to top ten teams (Arizona, Duke, Uconn)
- BUT, some mediocre losses. Neither TCU or nor Mizzou figure to be tournament teams.
- In some ways, they're like if someone assembled the perfect roster for Buzz Ball. They are huge, and as a result they finish well at the basket. #22 in the country in 2pt%. Otherwise this is a fairly mediocre offense except for one thing, they are ELITE at offensive rebounding. Their 43.3% offensive rebounding percentage is almost two whole percentage points better than our nation-leading 41.4% last year.
- Outside the paint, this is an absolutely terrible shooting team. At 28.9% they shoot threes almost two percent WORSE than we did last year.
- Free throw rebounding could make a huge difference in this game. Florida shoots a lot of free throws but they're not very good at them, shooting at 69.9%. We can't let them off the hook by letting them rebound their own free throw misses. Gotta figure this out.
- One area there they're not a Buzz-like team is they do like to play pretty fast. Unlike Georgia and Alabama they're slower than us, but not by much. Currently #63 in tempo.
Individual notes:
- They have two consistently shooting threats, Thomas Haugh (35% from 3) and Urban Klavzar (37%)
- Lee and Fland are basically their Wade Taylors. They're worse shooters than Wade, especially Fland, but they put up shots when they're open because they know they'll rebound them at a high rate. Can't let these two hit threes or we're probably toast. Also have to keep Fland away from the basket. One of the things that both Lee and Fland do is finish around the basket at a high percentage, but especially Fland who makes 72% of his close twos. (Our best guard at finishing around the basket is Marcus Hill at 66%)
- This game probably comes down to what we can do against Rueben Chinyelu. He's been an absolute terror around the basket on both ends. Averaging 14 points and 14 boards in league games, including averaging more than four offensive rebounds per game.
Stray thoughts:
- After you take your kool aid shots, let me paint you a picture. If it's hard to see, take a few more shots.
- One thing Florida isn't is deep. Haugh, Condon, Fland all play more than 30 minutes a game in conference games and Chinyelu plays 26. Only eight players play more than 10 minutes a game, and nobody beyond those eight plays more than three.
- Of those eight, four of them are 6-9 or taller, and they can't all guard Agee. Those big trees have to guard Dominguez, Griffen, Dibba, and everyone else we throw out there at the 3/4 positions
- Speed them up, spread them out, make them defend smaller players, hunt threes in transition, have everyone be one notch better on the boards, and this can happen.
- Still don't see it? Fine, don't worry about all that, this is a vibes game, this is likely to be the one of the largest crowds at Reed in the last few years. Get it cranked up, give our guys an extra boost, and just find a way to pull this one off.
