Davidson - Preview (Review added in thread)

[JwgreDeux 1,279]

No rest for the weary as our Tigers will be back at it tomorrow vs a stout Davidson team on a neutral floor in Annapolis at the Naval Academy. Our first game went about as expected, maybe a little more sloppy than hoped, but our newcomer's athleticism really showed and we will need to count on that night in and night out. This Davidson team is expected to challenge for the A10 title and make a NCAA tourney run. This preview is still based off of last year's team/stats as they have not played a real game yet (a lot of early season previews will be based on last year's stats and are more uncertain than later games after we can actually see a team). 

Davidson brings back almost everybody from last year's team and added a few new players they are excited about. They bring back their entire starting 5 and their 6th man, they bring back 7 of the 8 guys that average 8 or more minutes per game and they return all of their players that averaged more than 2 points per game, including 4 that averaged double digits per. Size-wise they are pretty average ranging from 6-3 to 6-5 guards, 6-5 and 6-6 wings and a pretty big center at 6'10'' 250lbs. Their scoring is balanced with 4 guys averaging 10+, but they have two guys who made them go as a team last year. A pair of 6-5 guards Grady and Gudmundsson lead the team in almost every category, Gudmundsson in particular led the team in points, rebounds and assists on the season. He is a senior and will likely be Okoro's assignment on defense. 

Now for some good news, even though they bring everyone back, they weren't a great team, solid but not great. Looking at them last season, they have a few things that jump out. They don't get up a lot of shot attempts and shoot a lot of 3's as compared to 2's, they actually gave up more attempts than they had last season. They ranked 189th in # of attempts and didn't shoot a great percentage either at only 45% (145th) from the floor. They 2 point shooting stats weren't good but their 3pt shooting was respectable ranking in the top 50 of 3pts attempted and made, shooting 35.4%. Their defensive statistics weren't much better ranking outside the top 50 in every category except steals per game . They were particularly bad in amount of field goal attempts allowed and their 3pt shooting defense was awful, ranking outside the top 250 in 3pts made and allowing opponents to make 33% of their 3's. (Now, many of you will say that our defense was statistically bad last season and we made the final 4, the important thing here is style of play. We were an uptempo volume shooting team so defensively we ranked poorly in the amount of shot attempts and makes we allowed, but we were superior in the number of shots we took and made ourselves. It fit our style).Davidson is not the same type team. They aren't a volume shooting team. 

This game is about how well we play, period. Do we handle our first road trip. How do we handle them clogging up the lanes and playing some zone? Do we let them dictate the pace? Do we turn the ball over? While I do expect Davidson to be improved as a team with all they return, I don't think they present anything we aren't able to handle, unless we just fail to perform. They will present some challenges. They will sag off the ball and make iso's difficult with their help and by playing zone. They will trap on pick and rolls which will present a challenge for a small guard like J'von, but also and opportunity with his quickness. Ball movement will really help us, but with new faces and new roles, could be a issue. 

 

WHich brings me to my keys to the game: 

• J'von needs a good start. Second half J'von was fine the other night, but first half J'von again will get us beat. 
• We need to make a few shots early to spread them out. 
• Against teams that sag off and/or play zone one thing that always helps is to get inside the defense and kick it out. I would like to see Okoro get the ball at the freethrow line/elbow and facilitate some offense. As @cole256 pointed out in another thread, his basketball IQ seems high for a freshman.
• Play fast. We need to push the pace and it will take its toll over the course of the game. Don't be surprised if it takes a while to get any separation. 
• Rebound, rebound, and rebound. We may actually be able to win this game with a dominating rebounding performance. Hit the boards. 

 

I actually feel better about this one matchup-wise than I did Ga. Southern. One major difference is it is a road trip to a neutral site. Go get it boys, War Eagle!

(more to be added in the thread as the game approaches)

[Tiger 8,819]

I'm worried about our team defense and the fact Davidson has a bunch of guys that have played together in their roles before. Also Bob McKillop is a fantastic coach. 

I hope Danjel shows out this game. He should be the most individually skilled player on the floor and I hope he makes it known and gives us 20 points.

[JwgreDeux 1,279]

The guards I mentioned Gudmundsson and Grady are both on the preseason Neismith watch list by the way. Gudmundson is coming off a player of the year award in their conference. These two guards accounted for almost half of the teams points per game, 34 of 71 per game. Lock either of them down and it should really change what Davidson wants to do offensively. Okoro, you're up. 

[JwgreDeux 1,279]

They will play a 4 out 1 in offense, with Pritchett and Frampton, both post/wings being their best shooters. We will likely put DP or another athletic wing on them and try not let them help off of too much.

They are deep in guards, but not in post players. If we do go inside to Wiley and/or Okoro, we may be able to get them into foul troubles there. If their returning big gets early fouls and has to sit, that could also disrupt their offense. 

[WarTim 3,456]

Great post!! Good to have someone on the board with basketball insight and knowledge. W D E

[doverstutts 1,643]

It will be their first game, other than an exh., so hopefully they will be a bit out of sorts like most teams are.  We did not defense the drive very well at times the other night, and I expect them to try to drive and kick out if we stop the drive....Somebody has to block some shots at the rim and make them think

[lost 452]

Preview  just out from  Charlotte

 

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/college/mens-basketball/article236992649.html

[Dual-Threat Rigby 8,662]

How did Jvon do defensively in the first game? I expect Samir’s defense to travel against everyone, especially against guys who shoot more than slash 

[mustache eagle 2,397]

Maybe our secret game at Troy will help a touch in this one ... as far as playing in an away gym.  Davidson gets to travel for their first game.  No way Davidson is as quick as GS so maybe our athletics and speed makes a difference.

also can we simply refer to Gudmundsson as G-son or just gson ... that’ll be a mouthful till post-game.

for no good reason I feel optimistic about this game being a solid win for us.

[Zeek 16,649]

We need to survive these early games while our chemistry builds. The game looked like an all-star game where players aren't used to playing together (which we're not yet). If this team gels and cleans up the passing/turnovers I think we can stay a consistent threat to anyone we play. The talent and shooting is there.

[SumterAubie 3,031]

5 hours ago, WarTim said:

Great post!! Good to have someone on the board with basketball insight and knowledge. W D E

I hope no jackleg runs Jwgredeux off

[jared52 4,354]

Great write up as always!

Just a reminder that this game is on the CBS College Sports Network so might be hard for some to find. 

[Tiger 8,819]

12 hours ago, jared52 said:

Great write up as always!

Just a reminder that this game is on the CBS College Sports Network so might be hard for some to find. 

Anyone know if this game will be on YouTube TV? 

[Mikey 16,577]

9 minutes ago, Tiger said:

Anyone know if this game will be on YouTube TV? 

It will be on CBS Sports network. Beyond that, you'll have to ask someone else.

[Tiger 8,819]

1 minute ago, Mikey said:

It will be on CBS Sports network. Beyond that, you'll have to ask someone else.

Just downloaded the CBS Sports App. You can chromecast from there for anyone that is wondering about this method as long as you have a cable/directv subscription with the channel included for anyone this applies to.

[WarEagleIn2010 38]

1 hour ago, Tiger said:

Anyone know if this game will be on YouTube TV? 

I have YouTube TV and the game is listed.  

[Tiger 8,819]

1 minute ago, WarEagleIn2010 said:

I have YouTube TV and the game is listed.  

Thanks, watching at gf's this evening and she has youtube TV as well -- just wanted to be prepared since I'll be watching as soon as I'm off work and didn't want to waste time figuring it out lol

[gravejd 3,270]

I'm going to be pleasantly surprised if AU manages to win this game. I think Davidson is exactly the kind of team that can and will give us trouble early in the season. Teams with lots of experience playing together and good guard play. I think they will move the ball well and we'll struggle to keep them from getting open shots. It will be frustrating because if this was a 1 on 1 type situation our guys win those matchups at positions 1 through 5. But we won't be playing 1 on 1 and i expect this will be a great lesson for our team on the importance of communicating and playing TEAM defense. On the flip side i don't know that we'll have the offensive fire power to win a game in a shoot out. We'll need several guys hitting some shots from the outside to keep up. Maybe Purifoy and some other guys can get hot from down town. 

One thing i hope to see is Wiley getting lots of chances on the inside. I think he matches up better against Davidsons bigs then he did with the smaller quicker bigs GA So brought to the table. The problem with this is that our advantage over Davidson is our ability to run so how do we balance the 2? That my friends is why we pay Pearl the big bucks! haha

[lost 452]

The talk before the season was that this year's club would not be the perimeter type shooting of last year.  That is why i am expecting to see a more inside push with Okoro and Wiley and McCormick and Doughty....  We will be a much more "uglier"( if that is a good description?) type club drawing a lot of fouls.  We just need to be efficient at the line.  Doughty will be so important with his ability to make something out of nothing.  You can expect Okoro to blossom quickly as he is the next "Chuma" with nba ability to defend and attack the rim.

[SumterAubie 3,031]

1 hour ago, Tiger said:

Thanks, watching at gf's this evening and she has youtube TV as well -- just wanted to be prepared since I'll be watching as soon as I'm off work and didn't want to waste time figuring it out lol

You'll be watching IF the gf says you will be watching. You might as well become accustomed to the rules now, as it will make the transition to losing all control of your life easier once you are married.

[Tiger 8,819]

1 hour ago, SumterAubie said:

You'll be watching IF the gf says you will be watching. You might as well become accustomed to the rules now, as it will make the transition to losing all control of your life easier once you are married.

Don't speak this into existence for me, Sumter!! You take that back!!

[AUMASTERS 555]

On 11/7/2019 at 2:00 PM, WarTim said:

Great post!! Good to have someone on the board with basketball insight and knowledge. W D E

We had another good one (GENE), and you all ran him off. J/K.

[WarTim 3,456]

1 hour ago, AUMASTERS said:

We had another good one (GENE), and you all ran him off. J/K.

Not me. I’m just a loveable teddy bear. 😎

[JwgreDeux 1,279]

On 11/7/2019 at 11:58 AM, JwgreDeux said:

No rest for the weary as our Tigers will be back at it tomorrow vs a stout Davidson team on a neutral floor in Annapolis at the Naval Academy. Our first game went about as expected, maybe a little more sloppy than hoped, but our newcomer's athleticism really showed and we will need to count on that night in and night out. This Davidson team is expected to challenge for the A10 title and make a NCAA tourney run. This preview is still based off of last year's team/stats as they have not played a real game yet (a lot of early season previews will be based on last year's stats and are more uncertain than later games after we can actually see a team). 

Davidson brings back almost everybody from last year's team and added a few new players they are excited about. They bring back their entire starting 5 and their 6th man, they bring back 7 of the 8 guys that average 8 or more minutes per game and they return all of their players that averaged more than 2 points per game, including 4 that averaged double digits per. Size-wise they are pretty average ranging from 6-3 to 6-5 guards, 6-5 and 6-6 wings and a pretty big center at 6'10'' 250lbs. Their scoring is balanced with 4 guys averaging 10+, but they have two guys who made them go as a team last year. A pair of 6-5 guards Grady and Gudmundsson lead the team in almost every category, Gudmundsson in particular led the team in points, rebounds and assists on the season. He is a senior and will likely be Okoro's assignment on defense. 

Now for some good news, even though they bring everyone back, they weren't a great team, solid but not great. Looking at them last season, they have a few things that jump out. They don't get up a lot of shot attempts and shoot a lot of 3's as compared to 2's, they actually gave up more attempts than they had last season. They ranked 189th in # of attempts and didn't shoot a great percentage either at only 45% (145th) from the floor. They 2 point shooting stats weren't good but their 3pt shooting was respectable ranking in the top 50 of 3pts attempted and made, shooting 35.4%. Their defensive statistics weren't much better ranking outside the top 50 in every category except steals per game . They were particularly bad in amount of field goal attempts allowed and their 3pt shooting defense was awful, ranking outside the top 250 in 3pts made and allowing opponents to make 33% of their 3's. (Now, many of you will say that our defense was statistically bad last season and we made the final 4, the important thing here is style of play. We were an uptempo volume shooting team so defensively we ranked poorly in the amount of shot attempts and makes we allowed, but we were superior in the number of shots we took and made ourselves. It fit our style).Davidson is not the same type team. They aren't a volume shooting team. 

This game is about how well we play, period. Do we handle our first road trip. How do we handle them clogging up the lanes and playing some zone? Do we let them dictate the pace? Do we turn the ball over? While I do expect Davidson to be improved as a team with all they return, I don't think they present anything we aren't able to handle, unless we just fail to perform. They will present some challenges. They will sag off the ball and make iso's difficult with their help and by playing zone. They will trap on pick and rolls which will present a challenge for a small guard like J'von, but also and opportunity with his quickness. Ball movement will really help us, but with new faces and new roles, could be a issue. 

 

WHich brings me to my keys to the game: 

• J'von needs a good start. Second half J'von was fine the other night, but first half J'von again will get us beat. 
• We need to make a few shots early to spread them out. 
• Against teams that sag off and/or play zone one thing that always helps is to get inside the defense and kick it out. I would like to see Okoro get the ball at the freethrow line/elbow and facilitate some offense. As @cole256 pointed out in another thread, his basketball IQ seems high for a freshman.
• Play fast. We need to push the pace and it will take its toll over the course of the game. Don't be surprised if it takes a while to get any separation. 
• Rebound, rebound, and rebound. We may actually be able to win this game with a dominating rebounding performance. Hit the boards. 

 

I actually feel better about this one matchup-wise than I did Ga. Southern. One major difference is it is a road trip to a neutral site. Go get it boys, War Eagle!

(more to be added in the thread as the game approaches)

I will take that win any day of the week. Tough opponent on a neutral site for this new team. A W is all that matters. Looking back at this preview, I feel pretty good about what I expected to see and what we saw. No real surprises jumped out. A couple of thoughts:

• I thought McCormick had a nice game, not great, but good enough. 0 Turnovers jump out, 10 pts, 5 rebs and 5 assists. 
• McLemore had a very strong end to the game. Ended with 12pts, 5 rebs and 3 blocks. The team looked best offensively when he was on the floor. 
• We struggled in the half court as expected, but found ways to scrap and fight throughout the game.
• Wiley was great on the boards, and his effort there was a huge factor in the game. We struggled to get him the ball in the half court. His best possessions were when we didn't force the ball to him, and allowed the game to flow more. It is clear CBP wants to be able to play through him and we will continue to work on that. I thought there were a few nice moments with him and McLemore out there together, and Mac made a nice entry to him once. 
• Okoro looked fantastic early, and his defense was outstanding and him shutting down his man also was a huge factor in this game. 
• Our rebounding was enough, but not as good as I thought it would be. 
• Cambridge again looked good and produced, but had some issues fouling that hurt his minutes.
• CBP really shrunk the bench only playing 6 guys double digit minutes (Cambridge had 9) Starters + McLemore. 
•  We shot the ball well from 2 and poorly from 3, but our defense forced them to shoot poorly from everywhere. Very different from how we won games last year. 

Bottom line, big win. Hopefully, Davidson goes on to win the league and this helps our resume. 

On the the next one. (I may not get a preview done due to workload, but I'll try to get a short one). War Eagle. 

[AuburnNTexas 7,140]

TY your previews have been on point so far. Which considering it is early in the season and nobody has seen any of the teams this year it is even more impressive.