St. Bonaventure and Clemson on the road, and EZU and Radford at home in the month of December, then we open conference play at Towson New Years Eve.

Last year we were exposed by zone defenses in losses to ECU and Radford. Guess we'll find out if we have a better answer in the next few weeks. If we can come out of those games at 2-2 it would be great. 3-1 or better is beating expectations and should bode well for this team, worse than 2-2 could mean trouble.

Radford got slaughtered by Carolina today.

Hawks will be a slight underdog against the Bonnies...say 3 points or so since it's away. Clemson away should be between 5 and 6 point dogs. Hawks should be about 10-11 point favorites at home against ECU. Radford should be a blowout. You never know about road games like Campbell and High Point but both should be wins. Lines are close to the Sagarin predictor and adding or subtracting between 3 and 4 points for home or away.

This all changes with any injuries.

http://sagarin.com/sports/cbsend.htm

When UNCW plays at home, they can dictate pace much easier and that will give them a big advantage with this particular group. Yes, you can zone UNCW, but at some point, you will get sped up and they will spurt. That's the same thing that VCU always seemed to do and why it was so hard to beat them there. Same thing is occurring at UNCW right now. If you beat them at UNCW, you've done something....especially if they get motivated defensively. I really think that they feel that they can out score anybody there and it could bite them at some point.

I haven't seen Radford play, but they could go to zone. We shall see what ECU does because they're not playing zone exclusively with their added size, but rest assured that they will play quite a bit of it-they do have good length. They will have to really get a special effort from somebody at the PG position to be competitive in that game and they have to keep the score down and minimize positions. On the road, Clemson always plays good defense, but I'm sure that they will run when they have a chance and it looks like the Bonnies like to score it some. I haven't seen Clemson or the Bonnies this year either so that's just a guess with them. As Keatts says, you have to win all types of games.

ECU is currently 7-2, though they're only ranked # 187 in the RPI.

They have some big opportunities to change that, however. Prior to their game against us, they're @ Virginia (7-1, # 25 RPI) tomorrow night and then face Charleston (6-3, # 60) on the 15th.

The Pirates' best win came this past Saturday against NC Central (4-3, # 56). NCCU, who played 6 of their first 7 games against D-I competition on the road, had previously beaten Missouri on the road, and also gave Ohio State a good fight in Columbus, losing by just a 69-63 count.

Also, Elon faces Radford this Saturday. Gotta root for Elon to win that one, since we'll be facing the Phoenix twice and Radford just once.

Elon is getting some mid major love on midmajority.com

(12-05-2016 05:44 PM)82hawk Wrote:  Elon is getting some mid major love on midmajority.com

Hmm, that link doesn't work. This it? http://www.collegeinsider.com/mens-mid-major-top-25.php

Elon checks in at # 23. We hold at 5.

How is MTSU nowhere to be found on that list or votes? Am I missing it somehow?

(12-05-2016 06:55 PM)CoastGuardHawk06 Wrote:  How is MTSU nowhere to be found on that list or votes? Am I missing it somehow?

They're in Conference USA, which is not considered a mid-major conference.

(12-05-2016 06:55 PM)CoastGuardHawk06 Wrote:  How is MTSU nowhere to be found on that list or votes? Am I missing it somehow?

CUSA is considered a major conference in that poll based on past history

(12-05-2016 06:47 PM)Seahawk Nation 08 Wrote:  

(12-05-2016 05:44 PM)82hawk Wrote:  Elon is getting some mid major love on midmajority.com

Hmm, that link doesn't work. This it? http://www.collegeinsider.com/mens-mid-major-top-25.php

Elon checks in at # 23. We hold at 5.

Hofstra has more votes than CofC?

Watching ECU play at UVA.

Could be a tough game for us. They picked up the 7 ft. graduate transfer from Wake I really thought we'd land, and he's a great shot blocker and can run the floor. They also play a lot of zone and can hit the three.

(12-06-2016 07:12 PM)82hawk Wrote:  Watching ECU play at UVA.

Could be a tough game for us. They picked up the 7 ft. graduate transfer from Wake I really thought we'd land, and he's a great shot blocker and can run the floor. They also play a lot of zone and can hit the three.

Any coach would half a brain would play zone against us until we prove that we can effectively handle it~!

(12-08-2016 10:20 AM)Seahawkhoops Wrote:  Any coach would half a brain would play zone against us until we prove that we can effectively handle it~!

If we can figure out zone defenses from a scheme perspective, we'll be incredibly dangerous. As we know, it's difficult to rebound out of a zone defensively, so Cacok could have a field day on the offensive glass.

And we know we have the shooters from a talent perspective.

(12-08-2016 10:47 AM)Seahawk Nation 08 Wrote:  

(12-08-2016 10:20 AM)Seahawkhoops Wrote:  Any coach would half a brain would play zone against us until we prove that we can effectively handle it~!

If we can figure out zone defenses from a scheme perspective, we'll be incredibly dangerous. As we know, it's difficult to rebound out of a zone defensively, so Cacok could have a field day on the offensive glass.

And we know we have the shooters from a talent perspective.

Agree. It's not that we can't beat it' it's that we haven't.

Ok, one down three to go.

Although the Bonnies were a very good team, they may have been one of the best matchups for our team. They like to play fast, they don't like to play zone, and they weren't real big in the post.

Campbell - Although they seem to always play us tough, I don't think they have the horsepower to hang with us this year. Especially with Cacock in the post. We win.

Radford - They are 4-5, but just took down a decent Elon squad in a lower scoring game. They shoot under 40% from the floor, and average 16 TO's per game. They have three 6'8" 240 lb. players on the roster, but I don't think they can handle our press. That being said, they shut us down with a zone last year. But, we have far more scorers who start and off the bench this year. We win.

ECU - This game scares me almost as much as Clemson. Very athletic squad with great size in the post and good ball handlers. Again, they shut us down with a zone last year, and play zone a lot this year. However, I think we can force them to go small and play our game. Toss up, but I think we pull it out.

Clemson - CofC but far better. Bigger, faster stronger and will play lock down defense. I don't see how we come away with a win, unless they underestimate us.

So, I think we will head into CAA play at 11-2 and in the Top 40. The Clemson loss won't hurt us much.

Need to PACK THE HOUSE for the EZU game and get Trask rockin' like the old days.

ECU doesn't handle the ball that well but they do have size. UNCW simply needs to run White off the 3 point line and they should be in good shape. They will have to find a way to guard both Bryce and Flemmings so that's something to watch. And, they would really have to score the ball very well which would be tough to do. Yes, they could conceivably win, but it would take a special PG effort from their freshman. And, it would take ECU going on the road and winning against a top 50 team which is something that they haven't done in a long time. UNCW has an 84% chance to win that game according to metrics and will be favored by at least 8-10 points.

Clemson is very good and destroyed Mercer. Clemson has a 71% chance to win that game according to metrics. Clemson should be favored to win that game by between 6-8 points.

UNCW is favored to win the rest of their games except C of C away and they will be about a 1 point dog or close to even if the game was played today.

None of this matters if UNCW doesn't beat the other OOC teams. UNCW can still get an at large bid if they play well enough but can't slip up against anyone except Clemson OOC and then only lose say 1-2 CAA games and make the CAA finals or semi's.

If we lose to Clemson but win the other OOC games, and win the CAA regular season with 0-4 losses, this win at St. Bonaventure looms large. It could give us an at-large shot if we don't win the CAA tournament.

THIS WAS HUGE.

It was huge my man!