We can win this game and I believe should win this game.
We need our bigs to get down low and fight for rebounds. A&M will get in foul trouble is put up a fight down low. Too often we leave one man down low on an island to try to get rebounds. That can’t happen this game. We need at least 2, but it would be great to have at least 3 guys fighting down low for rebounds. A&M isn’t a fast team, so we should worry about them out running us if our boys get beat on the rebound. For this purpose, I would like to see a starting lineup of Macon, Barford, Hall, Thomas, and Gafford to start the game. Hall, Thomas, and Gafford will at least fight for rebounds and are athletic enough to get back down the floor should something happen on a break.
On defense, we’ve got to stop their bigs. Everything runs through their big men. Their inside out game is very good, so if we can force them to stay out on the perimeter, we have a better chance. They will turn the ball over on their own. Just like the Vandy game, we don’t need to do anything special to get turnovers. Just close the passing lanes and pressure the low post.
On offense, run them out of the gym. Injuries and late season fatigue is starting to take a toll on the not as deep Aggie team. Also, get it to Gafford. I want to see if we can get Davis is foul trouble early. Davis is stronger than Gafford, so Gafford needs to avoid his move of spinning almost behind the backboard to get a layup or dunk. If he does, Davis will just push him off the block and Gafford will have to try to score past Davis and behind the backboard. Simply put, keep it in the middle and have our 3’s and 4’s help crash the boards.
We can win this game and I believe should win this game.
…Injuries and late season fatigue is starting to take a toll on the not as deep Aggie team.
[/quote]I don’t agree with this (highlighted). A&M is stronger right now than they’ve been all season since they trounced WVA in game 1; meaning that their best production guys are all now playing, together. The guys they’ve lost recently were non-contributors. From a ratings perspective A&M is plagued by five straight losses in mid season, but they are now a very fundamentally sound team. Their recent win at Auburn demonstrates this; Aubie’s only home loss.
Starks failed to handle pressure in the thier last game. If you leave him open outside he can make the 3 and when he drives don’t foul him keep a big down low to give weak side help to block.
The grad transfer Wilson was a big help too A&M in the game they beat the hogs! Chandler and Caldwell also helped! So it has hurt them. You simply can’t gamble and beat A&M.
If Trey Thompson is strong on defense the hogs can win! The 3 point line could bury A&M if the hogs would take enough of them and get hot! I hope the the players in the 4 Cook, Thompson and Thomas are real selective in what shots they take.
This is a game I think is as much of a must win as the Ole Miss game.
We can win this game and I believe should win this game.
If Trey Thompson is strong on defense the hogs can win! The 3 point line could bury A&M if the hogs would take enough of them and get hot! I hope the the players in the 4 Cook, Thompson and Thomas are real selective in what shots they take.
This is a game I think is as much of a must win as the Ole Miss game.
[/quote]Well, he and Gafford shared 9 fouls in College Station; can’t do that in Fayetteville. But, my real point above pertained to the concept that the pundits viewed A&M as a top 10 teams three weeks into the season; I think they’re back to that level. I also think the Hogs have grown during the last three weeks, so I’m expecting an exciting game…and hopefully a W for the Hogs.
I expect the hog to win also. But Trey staying out of foul trouble will protect Gafford. Gafford just needs to avoid fouling 30 feet from the basket on a guard shooting a 3! It has been the fouls away from the rim that have cost Gafford this season. Hall, Adrio and Gabe are the wild cards in this game. If those guys come up and play well the hogs should win. Macon, Bardford, Beard, Trey and Dustin have had thier eye on this game since last year!
I think Macon and Bardford go off in this game!
You did and you were right. It was a very good wins but still a lot of mistakes that would hurt against a team playing good. Aggies played well at times but they started of poorly.
Hogs 1-0 for the very important last five. Hope they finish well against some tough competition.
Terrific win yesterday at BWA, the General was correct about this one. Now, on to beating a not so great UK team at BWA on Tuesday night. Don’t get it wrong, UK has talent, but this years freshman haven’t played to the level they have in the past. Specifically, Calipari didn’t get the cream of the freshman crop to sign with UK this time. I for one hope that’s a trend that will continue.
As for the remainder of this season, it’s right there in front of them. If they can win out or go 3 of 4 they should make it into the top four and get the bye for the SEC Tournament. My gut says they split these final four games which would still be ok given how the SEC is viewed this season and a 10-8 record, anything better than that would welcomed.
I’m getting a little bit sick and tired of Texas A&M being seeded higher in bracketology than the Hogs and if we do beat UK I’ll bet they will not fall below us, we just get very little respect nationally and records should matter, not just perception of how good a team could be or how much star power a team has like Oklahoma, they’ve lost 5 conference games in a row, but because the media is infatuated with Tre Young they have been kept in the top 25, that’s just wrong.
I also don’t understand why Tennessee is thought of as highly as they are, they seem to have hit a wall and could be in a free fall, the Hogs could catch and surpass them for the #2 spot in the conference if we win out or at least finish 3-1.
I think those early season victories and matchups between teams that are perceived to be top 25 teams aren’t a true gage of how good teams are. I realize their will always be polls, but when the season is over and you know exactly how good or not all of the teams are that’s the first and only time RPI, BPI and SOS needs to be calculated.
For instance, we are the beneficiary of the win over Minnesota whom at the time was ranked, but as everyone knows now has had a horrible season and not what many pundits thought they would be. This is just one example.
I have said this team would finish this season just at, over and below .500 they have an opportunity to exceed that and I hope they do.
I’ve always said that Calipari is a good coach, but not a great or elite coach. He’s the Malzahn of SEC basketball. He needs that one or two “blue chip,” or elite athlete to make his team go or he’ll have an average season. When he doesn’t get those players, we’ve all seen how he fairs, and this isn’t he first time in SEC play he’s had a season like this.
As to the seeding, I completely agree with you. I’m a numbers guy and I don’t see how they are perceiving some of these SEC teams ahead of Arkansas. A&M, I can “kinda” see why they are projected higher, just because the RPI wins and losses are almost similar to ours. Their record is worse, but they’ve lost to more highly rated opponents than we have, but not by much. The one team that I can’t figure out how on God’s green earth they have in front of us or anybody for that matter in SEC as a tourney team is Florida. They have RPI and BPI’s in the 60’s and they’ve had TERRIBLE losses to teams like Vandy, Ole Miss, Georgia and the mighty power of Loyola-Chicago. They have some quality wins, but on the same level as Arkansas, so how the pundits put Florida as a 6th seed and Arkansas an 11th last week, I’ll never know.
After yesterday, the brackets should bump us up to maybe a 9 seed considering we have a top 25 RPI now.
The failure of Minnesota hurt our RPI. They fell apart buzzard luck but the schedule is a crap shoot. I’d like to see the hogs try to get home and home with Cinny, Wichita State and North Carolina.
The hogs getting the 10-11 seed versus Florida getting the 6 last week is par for the course. Florida also beat us! Missouri is the team getting more respect than we are is what bother me more.
I think this week a lot of the answers will come for our hogs. Pick up 2 wins this week and we will lock our a seed that will feed us to a blue blood in the second round or the Dance.
With Minny and OU going in the tank, Misery’s schedule has been better than ours. We’ll make up some of the difference between now and the end of the season; they have the Rebnecks and Vandy left, while we have Auburn and Alabama (both teams have Kentucky remaining).
I think we win the home games. We might win one of the roadies too, but I don’t have a call as to which one. I wonder if Bama might be a matchup problem for us like LSU is, but it’s also possible we’ll turn Collin Sexton over a few times. Misery gave us all we wanted at BWA, albeit when we weren’t playing this well.
Alabama gets lazy defending the arc at times and they will foul. You may be right about Sexton. I just hope we play good defense and continue to rebound well.
The Missouri matchup may come down to the 3 point line!
Kentucky tomorrow is the one I want to win the most. Especially after last year. I hope TV Teddy don’t end up in town to call the game. It’s also nice Dick Vitale is not listed as an announcer.
Alabama isn’t as quick other than Sexton. If Sexton starts missing some shots he can get down I hope he stays down!
Missouri is going to be tough.
I’m hoping for at least 3-1.