Thanks, chillin, for a nice write-up.
A win over Miami this year and a close contest with Belmont last year makes them a team worthy of respect IMO.
Didn't see this up anywhere, and I'm fiending so here goes nothing...
As you probably were assuming, FGCU doesn't appear overly intimidating on paper. But they beat Miami by 12, so the matchup deserves a bit more consideration.
First of all, FGCU has started the same lineup for all 3 of their games:
- Bernard Thompson is a 6'3" sophomore guard who leads the team at 15.0 ppg. Doesn't appear to be a point guard as his A:T is 3:9 for the year. However, he does have 8 steals and 13 rebounds. A member of the A-Sun All-Freshmen team last year.
- Sherwood Brown is a 6'4" senior guard who is second on the team with 14.3 ppg. Again, a lowly A:T of 2:7. He has 15 boards on the year. Brown was on the A-Sun All-Conference 2nd Team last year.
- Eric McKnight rounds out their top-3 scorers as a 6'9" redshirt-sophomore forward out of Raleigh, NC. Averaging 8.3 and 6.3 with 7 blocks on the year.
- 6'8 junior forward Chase Feiler and 6'3" sophomore guard Brett Comer are the other two starters. Not big scorers, either of them, at only 6.0 and 4.3ppg, respectively. Both are grabbing 3.7rpg, and Comer appears to be the primary ballhandler with an A:T of 15:9. Comer was another member of the A-Sun All-Freshmen Team last year and led the conference in assists.
Somewhat surprisingly, they go deep into their bench as all 12 of the players who have seen game time this year are averaging over 10mpg. Granted, three of them have only played in one game thus far. They have 6 guys at 6'8" or taller, but none over 6'10". (Don't appear to be shot blockers as they have 13 team blocks - of which McKnight has 7 of them).
Team per-game averages:
Points: 68.7
Rebounds: 35.7
Assists: 13.7
Turnovers: 20.3 (perhaps problematic)
Blocks: 4.3
Steals: 9.0
FG%: 50%
3PT%: 37%
FT%: 71%
They are tipped toward the younger end of the spectrum (3 frosh, 5 soph, 4 juniors, 2 seniors), especially since 2 of the juniors haven't seen any minutes thus far.
Perhaps most noteworthy (and perhaps indicative of the team?) is that coach Andy Enfield is in his 2nd year at the helm of FGCU after a three-year stint as assistant coach at FSU under Leonard Hamilton. Contrary to Hamilton's defensive juggernaut teams, Enfield has installed an up-tempo style with an emphasis on 3-pt bombs. Last year, in their first year of postseason eligibility as a D-I team, Enfield led his squad to the championship game of the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament where they led regular season champ Belmont 42-39 at the half before falling short of an NCAAT bid.
According to Pomeroy FGCU ranks 120th in the nation (early season KenPom caveats and all) with AdjO and AdjD right around that number. That's good for 3rd overall in the A-Sun.
That's all I've got. Hope this gives everyone some perspective. Doubt they can keep up with us, but they did have the horses to take down Miami, albeit at FGCU. Anyone who can share more info would be greatly appreciated.
- Chillin
Thanks, chillin, for a nice write-up.
A win over Miami this year and a close contest with Belmont last year makes them a team worthy of respect IMO.
Thank you for the writeup.
Great stuff Chillin.
I have two big hopes for this game. The first one is that Quinn follows up his great game against Kentucky with another confident outing. I love the way we get up the floor with him in the game and he is getting better and better with his decisions. My other hope is that Alex gets some good burn today and gains some in-game confidence. I think he will end up being a major weapon for us, this year and in the future, so I hope today is the day that he puts the DNP and 2 minutes against UK behind him.
Also that we get the W, of course.
Good friends of ours spotted Seth in a protective boot at the WBB game last PM. Sounds worrisome but my SIL said the FB players he knew often wore a protective boot after games/minor injuries to rest/help protect minor injuries. Hope he's right.
[redacted] them and the horses they rode in on.
I really hope Alex has a nice game in terms of scoring
Things I'd like to see:
1) Offense running through Mason. Double double for him with 4 assists
2) The team taking open threes when they're available and hitting at 40% clip or better
3) A solid performance from Quinn, not necessarily from a stats perspective but stats are nice too
4) Good perimeter D
5) Some decent playing time for the Amile and Alex matched by decent play by both
6) 20 point win
Of course if the team wants to go nuts with a triple dub for Mason, 30 minutes and points for Alex, 18 assists for Quinn, and holding these dudes under 50 points that would be acceptable too.
HELP! HELP!
Looking for a radio outlet that is not blacking out the broadcast.
I second the thoughts in regards of Alex and Amile, also does anyone know if there is a chance that MP3 will play a couple of minutes?
I'm really looking forward to seeing what MP3 will bring to the team for real not just wishful thinking.
Live tempo-based stats for the Duke/FGCU game, starters posted...
http://www.scacchoops.com/ViewHDGame...Schedule=14424
Cook getting the start for Duke.
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Just found it here...
http://tunein.com/radio/The-Buzz-620-s28291/
Bob Harris... player intros now...
At the second media timeout and no sign of Alex Murphy yet.
Everyone including Amile Jefferson, Josh Hairston & Tyler Thornton have come in already. Sulaimon is back from the bench and no Alex Murphy.
This is discouraging to see.
Quin is looking really strong with some beautiful passes
must have a green light, because he is throwing it up. Making them, but yeah.
Good to see Jefferson out, still concerned about Murphy, but K knows best.
Getting outrebounded worries me, we have height and speed, should be killing them inside.
Knowing the guy is from FSU, it does feel like we are playing them.
And they are shooting lights out from 3-range. Not good.