Tuesday night was a real treat for me, as my two pet teams of this season, Missouri and Long Beach State, each played nationally-televised games in opposing time slots. Missouri cruised to a relatively easy win over Villanova at Madison Square Garden, while the Beach got into a big hole early against Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse and couldn't quite climb out of it.
Watching the two games, I couldn't help but notice the similarities between the Tigers and the 49ers. Both teams start four perimeter players, both like to get up and down the court, and both are only about seven players deep. And since Missouri and Kansas are likely to challenge for the Big 12 crown and meet twice this year in the regular season, I thought that we might be able to learn something about Missouri's probability of success against Kansas by seeing how the Beach played the Jayhawks.
Showing posts with label Missouri. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Missouri. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Monday, November 21, 2011
Missouri 87, Notre Dame 58
[recap] [box score]
It could be that Missouri is just a bad matchup for Notre Dame. The Tigers, who start four guards, had a big speed and quickness advantage over the Irish on the perimeter. Of course, that means that Notre Dame had a corresponding size advantage on the interior. Unfortunately for ND, their biggest starter, Jack Cooley, isn't the kind of player you can throw the ball to in the post and have him be an offensive threat. And while Tim Abromaitis had his way shooting mid-range jumpers over the smaller guys trying to guard him, the Notre Dame guards proved to be completely incapable of getting the Irish good looks against the quick Missouri ball pressure. In order to take advantage of size mismatches, you have to have guards capable of initiating the offense. Eric Atkins has battled some health problems in the early going, and so I won't come down too hard on him, but despite the fact that Mizzou is under-sized, you're going to need solid guard play to beat them.
It could also be that Notre Dame just isn't very good.
It could be that Missouri is just a bad matchup for Notre Dame. The Tigers, who start four guards, had a big speed and quickness advantage over the Irish on the perimeter. Of course, that means that Notre Dame had a corresponding size advantage on the interior. Unfortunately for ND, their biggest starter, Jack Cooley, isn't the kind of player you can throw the ball to in the post and have him be an offensive threat. And while Tim Abromaitis had his way shooting mid-range jumpers over the smaller guys trying to guard him, the Notre Dame guards proved to be completely incapable of getting the Irish good looks against the quick Missouri ball pressure. In order to take advantage of size mismatches, you have to have guards capable of initiating the offense. Eric Atkins has battled some health problems in the early going, and so I won't come down too hard on him, but despite the fact that Mizzou is under-sized, you're going to need solid guard play to beat them.
It could also be that Notre Dame just isn't very good.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)