The Good:
We played hard and our point guard play is really starting to step up. Our young guns (Javi and Williams) are showing good bball IQ and even better aggressiveness, which is awesome. Combine that with a hopeful J. Thomas and we have ourselves a solid block to build around. T. Smith, again, is playing much better. Our defense was adequate at best, but what can you expect when going into shit-town against arguable the best team in the land.

The Bad:
Some people have complained that we have to double down on T.H. and slow their speed. My response: Ellington, Green, Lawson. Whoever doubles down leaves their opposing man open, hense my three enemies stated above, all shoot over 50% from behind the arc. There in lies your answer, and Sids gameplan, he HAS to give Big Ben a chance to shut him down, which he has had trouble with the past couple times. Turnovers still get us. Costner fell asleep after being benched for far too long - surprised? T. Smith is much improved, but if teams figure out he cant shoot free throws, he will not be half as effective as he could be. Unfortunately, UNX has weapons at the 1-5, including maybe 6,7,and 8. Which are more talented than us at the 1-5..6..7..8, and also had some help from the refs. (Yes I said it, and if you disagree you’re bitch-blue glasses need to get smacked off.) We lost to a more talented better coached team - suprised?

The Outlook:
5 games left, all winable, which should tell us a lot about this team. I think we can solidify ourselves as an NIT solid team as of now. Barring any (unfortunately plausible) collapse, the Pack should be sitting at a good seed going into the post-season. Now, being the optimistic I am, I am looking at the ACC (with the strong out-of-conference play by everyone) to get 6-8 teams in the big dance. It is hopeful that we win at least 4 of our last 5 games putting us at 8-8 going into the ACC tourney and 18-11 total. Those OOC games we squandered really cost us, just one more win and I feel a lot more confident, but as we sit now, we would really have to make some noise in the ACC tourney to even get a snif as a bubble team. Nonetheless, lets talk hopeful hypotheticals - win 4 of the last 5, sitting at 18-11, make a run to the championship game to get us at 21-11, that would surely put us ahead of Miami, VT, and Maryland to maybe squeeze a bid. Here’s to hoping Sid can conjure up some Cardiac magic for Big Ben, Fells, and possibly Costners last years.

Go Pack!

http://www.theacc.com/accselect/?DB_OEM_ID=9200

Matchups: Look for Costner to muscle up against Booker, Ben and Smith to abuse whoever is playing center, and Degand to keep improving in all aspects of the game. We will really need Fells to step up in this game, because that matchup against Oglesvy (sp?) should be one we could exploit all game long. It will require whoever is playing the SG spot to stay on him, because he is dangerous from range, but from what I saw last night, that is definitely do-able.

State must: contain their guards at all cost and not turn the ball over on their traps. Florida, Marquette, and Davidson have given opponents the playbook to slowing down states offensive weapons of smith, ben, and brandon, and its the TRAP. Degand, Mays, and possibly even Javi will need to control the tempo, remain calm, and when the door opens to push tempo, run. Clemson will most certainly be trapping every time out, its time we start using that to our advantage.

Go Pack.