šŸ€ #10 Virginia vs #10 Colorado St, NCAAT FF, Tues, 19 Mar, 2110, truTV

Main thing that concerns me in terms of what Furman and Colorado St. share in common is giving up corner threes when the defense collapses. Furman, and specifically Marcus Foster had a ton of success last year camping in those corners waiting for the kick out pass, and weā€™ve struggled to close out this season on that shot.

Colorado State has a couple guys on their bench who literally just stand in the corners for spacing purposes in the 5 out but do very little else offensively, we need to be active with our closeouts and force them to do anything other than put up that shot.

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We got answers!

https://x.com/reece_beekman/status/1769538561429155911?s=20

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Did Reece and Leon compare notes? Haha

https://x.com/leonbx35/status/1769538500020277359?s=20

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Shit. Media distractions. We are screwed. Fade the hoos. CSU -10

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Ugh seems like itā€™s back to CSU -1.5, maybe even -2

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Good I donā€™t want dave reminding us 200x over the next few years that Tony lost another game as a favorite in the NCAAT if we do lose lol

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For those that remember the Northern Iowa upset of #1 seed Kansas in the second round of the 2010 tournamentā€¦ One of CSUā€™s assistants is Ali Farokhmanesh, the UNI guard who had a great game, including the winning three-pointer.

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You know, of course, this season wonā€™t be a success unless we get to the second weekend of ā€œThe Madness.ā€

We do owe Tennessee one ā€” or two ā€” after JR Reynoldsā€™ twisted ankle and the shellacking in Knoxville on Dec 30, 2013.

But we first need to take care of the team that stopped Hagans just short of the goal line on a steamy August evening, then win one for Rafael Garcia.

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KenPom says CSU -2

If we get past Dayton, it would be really cool if we wore a patch on our jerseys with Lance Blanksā€™ number and Texas did the same.

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Letā€™s get it. This matchup is good and bad for us. On one hand, theyā€™re a smaller team in both height and bulk that doesnā€™t shoot a lot of 3ā€™s nor do they hit them at a high clip. On the other, they are ELITE at making the right play and getting to the basket.

My fear in this matchup is that they slice us up in a way thatā€™s similar to what tech did to us at cassell. That said itā€™s totally different ballgame to do as a bitter rival playing at home in the 2nd matchup of the year as opposed to a team from the other side of the country with under 48 hours to prepare.

Iā€™m hopeful that our defense will be good enough that we can go small with Reece Isaac Taine Jake and Ryan for extended minutes to have some offensive firepower. That said though Jake specifically has to be ready. If he starts getting diced up like he did against NC State on Friday heā€™ll be sitting.

This should be a decent matchup for both of our bigs if we have to use them more. Minor should be able to do his best Big Daddy Burns impression as heā€™ll have 20 lbs on everyone. And for Blake not only is he fairly even in weight, heā€™s got a clear height advantage that should help him both rebound and get his shots off.

All in all the feel good meter is high here, but games like @ Tech and Pitt give very bad flashbacks. Letā€™s take care of business and head to Charlotte.

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For anyone whoā€™s watched CSU, very curious to hear thoughts on whether Blake and Jordan will be able to hang on D against them.

Allow me to make lemonade out of lemons. That NC State loss. It was fluky, because (i) we royally screwed up free throws, even beyond our normal ineptitude; and (ii) they hit a freak banked 3 pointer to send it to OT. We by all rights had that game.

Compare that to the Duke and UNC losses to the Pack. NC State came out and kicked their butts in the second halves in those games. Hidden in our own fan angst, in the ā€œconfirming the national narrativeā€, is that we played NC State tougher than Duke and UNC did.

Thereā€™s a reasonable argument that weā€™re playing some of our best ball right now. Can we bring that energy and performance to Colorado State? Our sad first-round history argues no, we truly have been pitiful past few years. But Iā€™m ā€œinā€ on this team fighting hard and surprising folks in the tournament. And it doesnā€™t hurt being a low seed, an underdog. Pressureā€™s off.

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Fouled a 3 pointer, banked in 3, 0-3 FTs

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The past 6 weeks their defense has been top 25 and offense in the 80s.

Honestly Iā€™m more worried about us starting slow and not aggressive on offense, they carve us up a few times, and we let it spiral. Need to stay locked in and aggressive the first time minutes. (Someone pay me for my insights).

As with all games, we will be in it to the end if we donā€™t mentally collapse (or make a terrible tactical decision to hard hedge a high ball screen).

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Best I can do is Dunn and Groves doubling in the post leaving wide open cutters

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The season for celebration has ended now it is time to work. Donā€™t be satisfied because you were invited be pissed because you were last on the list. Time to go to work

The Wire GIF

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No surprise I guess, but a bit surprised not only at the level of trashing we are getting for making it but no one Iā€™ve come across (outside of Jay Williams last night) thinks we win. An interesting note listening to Tim Doyle on CBS, he says that the Dayton area has notoriously tight rims and that might favor the better defensive team. I counter that that would be a worry for a team that needs 3s like we do

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This take was not hot enough for my taste. Still debating which emoji to give you.

Edit:

:green_salad:

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