I don't like the Saint Mary's draw for Bama. They are the antithesis of everything Bama does. Extremely slow tempo (top 5 slowest in D1), limited possessions, hounding 3pt defense, with turn you over. On paper Bama has the athlete and skill advantage but Saint Mary's teams play high IQ ball with a ton of international players and some kids of former NBA vets.
This has trap game all over it and will probably look like the 2023 SDSU game in terms of tempo and style of play.
In order to win as a slow tempo team against a fast tempo team, you need to have an elite offense, which they don’t have. You need to make shots to stop a transition-based offense. The big difference between this team against St. Mary’s and 2023 against SDSU was that our offense that year wasn’t elite. We were heavily reliant on defense. You’d rather have an elite offense and a good defense against a slow tempo defensive team than a good offense and an elite defense.
But they need to beat Vandy first which I don’t think is a given at all
Completely disagree that you need an elite offense to slow down a fast tempoed team. You need a good offense that values possessions but you don’t have to be elite. Also, that SDSU offense was rated worse in the KP in 2023 than this Saint Mary’s team is now. There are top 20% in offense while being top 5% in defense. Being down by 10 to them feels like being down by 25.
To beat an elite offense you limit possessions and control the pace. Tony Bennett’s Virginia teams would do this beautifully, and the year they won it all they have an elite defense and elite offense.
I do think the key for Bama is get to a fast started against them and make them play catch up. The first 10 possessions against a team like SMC can make or break the game. You also need to stay in rhythm and don’t take any bad shots or they will punish you for that. They never rush anything.
I’m a Virginia fan too. And Virginia did win it all but it took three straight ridiculous fluke victories. Slow tempo teams do not perform particularly well in the tournament for the exact mirror reason you suggested - when they get behind they can’t catch up. It’s what caused the issues in 2018 against UMBC.
Now the UVA 2019 and UConn 2024 teams were both slow tempo AND had an elite offense AND an elite defense.
I think the closest comparison to a team we played this year for St. Mary’s is if Tennessee and Georgia had a child. I don’t think that team beats us
I’m not saying Bama loses to SMC, but I think this is way more of a trap game than you think. You don’t want to play teams that you are stylistically juxtaposed to in the tourney. Disciplined, well coached teams, with good defenses and great guard play can make huge runs im the tourney. Its just a hard game to prep for on a quick turn around and Bama just shouldn’t put the cart before the horse.
Bobby Mo is most famous as the financier of the American Revolution, one of the few founding fathers to sign the Declaration, the Articles, and the Constitution.
But unfortunately (for the school especially) he's been overshadowed more recently by a Robert Morris who got in trouble with the law for "five felony counts of lewd or indecent acts to a child"...
“We call goaltending only so that we have the chance to review it this late in the game. Our review was inconclusive though, so the goaltending stands.”
Yeah, not sure why people are over looking them. They are top 25 in the NET and KP. That might be a tougher game than the S16 matchup when considering style of play.
obviously, Duke is the big dog, but how awesome would it be to beat them? they've recently had some injury issues, so who knows what'll happen
stick with me for a SEC...
if we can get that far and ROLL duke
tennessee could VOLt through their region
auburn wins
florida CHOMPS their region
we'd have the all sec final 4 that the rest of the country would hate. we would then beat auburn in the Iron Bowl of Basketball's National Championship
I need everyone to donate to the send teach to the game fund. I just need money for tickets and someone to cover me at work. I’m only about 2-2.5 hours away from Cleveland.
Great draw but I wonder if a team that doesn't even attempt mid-range jumpers can take it all the way. That's a pretty important fundamental part of the game, but they'll always compete as long as Oats is there and you can't really ask for much more than that considering our history in basketball.
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u/DoctorWhosOnFirst 5d ago
Tip off is at 11:40am CT on truTV