Good stuff. I’m expecting Richard to have a big game. They have to focus on Clayton by trapping and doubling. As someone pointed out, Martin is probably the strongest guard in the whole tournament, so they have to somehow scheme to keep him out of the paint. And their 2 taller guys will be undersized and having to work hard. Which suggests Richard will have a really good night. Only 7 more hours!
I watched the Duke game and they were running on Houston early, which was getting them open looks at the three and some quick layups/dunks. They built their lead with this style of play. In the second half, they were content on protecting the lead and playing in the half court. I'm not sure they would have been able to keep running though, because that was a very exhausted Duke team at the end with very tired legs. Even Flagg wasn't getting up as high on his releases. We, on the other hand, are much more in shape with rotating our bigs. We can continue running and making it hard for them to get in defensive position. The key is to get them missing and running after rebounding. However, If they are making shots, their D is too good to get in a half court battle. This is how they run. They are very quick down the court after makes. I think we can do this. I think our bigs are very bouncy compared to what I saw in Duke's bigs. If we can just stay even with them in the offensive boards, then I think we win going away. If they out rebound us though, then I can't see us pulling it out as easily. It would take heroics from Clayton once again. No matter what, this has been an awesome ride! Now lets Get up and Go! Leave it all on the court and lets see if you can become legendary as the third team in history to get us a Natty in Basketball. If you want to be the best, you have to beat the best. In this case, it is beating the best team statistically in defense. I believe! This team believes! Will it be enough? I can't wait to find out. Go Gators!!!
Hitting shots early might open things up a little. I like what Walt said about Haugh hitting a three vs Auburn & that causing the defense to respect his shot. That opens the floor for everyone. Hopefully we can get off to a hot start.
We win when others contribute to the scoring. If we drive the ball make them foul us. I'm not sure how deep they are with bigs. We HAVE to contend every 3 point shot, them making 3's gets the crowd into it and increases their confidence. Making them miss will frustrate them and lends itself to fast break points for us.
Limit Houstons three point makes...they have been taking a ton of them and Duke gave up too many open looks to them from 3
I'm sure they are still a little gasses from the Duke excitement and they haven't played a team with Florida's depth.
How wacky a world would it be if it turned out the Gators needed minutes from Klavzar ... and found a way to keep getting him the ball with separation?
I really like your #1. They like to hit the offensive glass as much as we do. We have to make them pay for that aggression by getting out in transition.
I actually think this has the POTENTIAL to be a good matchup for us. We have played some very good 3pt defense this year, seamless switches and suffocating. Like we did at home against Tenn. We also have a size and depth advantage inside. Chinyelu needs to be a BEAST on the defensive glass and Condo and Micah need to be monsters on the offensive boards. Hit them with wave after wave on the offensive boards and on the defensive end play scrappy as hell defense above the arc - with Martin and Richard leading the way. If we can get 10-12 fast break points on them that might be the difference in the game. This will all come down to whether we play OUR game and impose OUR will against these guys. Take the rock fight to the bullies. We have 3 ex-football players and 1 ex-Aussie rules player in our top 6...treat this like a football game
If they defend that aggressively, which they probably will, I want to see Tommy slip the screen, receive a quick pass and attack the basket 4 against 3.
We are really good defending the 3 in a half court set but if we give up an offensive rebound it is really hard to cover all the shooters. Control the defensive glass and we take away a big part of Houston's attack.
So... we need to score more points? Gotcha... Lol. J/K. We need to play like we play... balls to the wall, hair on fire fast.
He was asking how Duke got up 14 and how we can replicate that. I totally looked at the TV during that time while they got that lead, but I definitely wasn't watching. Was mostly shocked, drunk, and wowed.
