Enemy Lines: Scouts' takes on the probs for 15 Contenders

[Harry0569]

http://www.si.com/college-basketball/20 ... tournament


SMU

“Their weakness obviously is depth. They only have two post players and don’t have tremendous size up front. It’s the size of their entire roster that gets you. They beat up and warp your guards. You’ve got to get Ben Moore in foul trouble. He’s their most foul-prone dude and by far their most valuable player. They move the ball, but the ball will stick with [Semi] Ojeleye. You’ve got to take away his three and make him a driver. He’ll get a little selfish and take a bad one or two. He’s a strong guy, but he has no post game.

Shake Milton is a catch and shoot guy so you have to force him to make multiple movements. He has no moves, no crossover, everything is north and south. They know the game is a marathon, so they will not exhaust themselves out of the gate. After the under 12 time out, they know they’re going to annihilate your subs. If they get in trouble on defense, they’re gonna 1–3–1 you, and you can get looks. Moore is a good defender, but he understands he can’t get into foul trouble. If you attack them aggressively and get them to commit some fouls, they will back off some. Just a really good, fundamental team. All their guys can guard every position. Nobody cares who scores. They have five mediums out there. No bigs, no smalls.”

[Harry0569]

Cincinnati

“The hardest thing about playing them is it’s a 40-minute fistfight. They don’t have that one major star, that guy you can’t stop. That could be an issue if they have to score in the halfcourt against really good teams. They don’t have a backup point guard, so if [Troy] Caupain goes down they become really vulnerable. The kid off the bench, Justin Jenifer, is a huge step back. Kyle Washington is by far their worst defender because he doesn’t have as much experience in their system. You want to get him in multiple pick-and-rolls.

Caupain is not having a great year shooting the ball. He’s not a break-you-down jitterbug so when you get them in the halfcourt, he becomes predictable. They send four to the glass most of the time, so you can get out in transition and go at Caupain, maybe make him pick up a cheap one. Washington takes a little time to wind up on his shot, but he’s making a good percentage. He loves that right box and then comes across. You have to force him to his right and hit him with a double team.”

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

We are contenders

Pretty accurate take on the Ponies too.

[gostangs]

yeah - cant argue with any of that. Surprised there was no mention of Jarry or Sterling -

that after twelve spot is really key for us. Our starters on their subs is where we have won most of our games.

[sadderbudweiser]

The guy sounds like Ojai to me.

Seriously though....very good assessments.

I'll have to re-read through all of them come bracket time.

good stuff.

[Pony_Law]

I don't think they are being very fair to Shake and Semi. Semi's weakness is finishing inside against superior size. Against equal size he is torching people and not having a problem finishing inside/getting good interior looks. As for Shake, he has really good moves. I haven't seen a player who has guarded him this year that has stopped him from beating him off the dribble. The problem shake has had (on his off nights) is he is missing the running lay up and/or is getting fouled without a call.

[PonyLawExpress]

Good scouting on us. Hard to do alot of that stuff, because teams always try to get us in foul trouble, not like that isnt a big goal of any team that plays us.

I have never understood why teams dont try to chase Shake off the 3-point line more, because when he doesn't have it going overall that is like 80% of his offense. I guess its hard with how good our ball movement is. That's what I think Shake needs to work on to become an elite PG and 1-rounder is finishing around the rim and through contact. Outside of 6 or 7 games this year he has struggled with that.