Originally Posted by
Troublemaker
Anyway, I'm still pretty optimistic for the rest of the season, which consists of 9 games if no cancelations. Thankfully, each game is an independent event, and so a bad loss to Miami doesn't mean we will perform poorly in those 9 games.
I'm learning this season that we have to predict Coach K as much as what the players on the court will do. Is he going to start the season playing 5-out motion despite a lack of shooters and reliable drivers? (Bad). Is he going to play m2m while dropping his big men back towards the basket in PnR as opposed to having them hang out at or beyond the 3-pt line? (Good). Is he going to randomly play a 3-2 zone that has too many holes in it, including easy corner threes and drives, and that no other program plays? (Bad). Is he going to use sets to help give structure to the offense and promote ball movement and ball reversal, including some ball screen continuity? (Good). Is he going to spread our defense waaaay too far out and allow plentiful driving lanes to an opposing offense whose one major strength is driving the ball? (Bad).
I'm looking at the 9 games, and I see opponents like UNC and UVA that Coach K usually gameplans well against. What's a likely loss? @NCSU. Coach K is going to pressure and spread us out and play our bigs beyond the 3-pt line against a coach in Keatts that is very good at PnR. Coach K is usually average coaching against Boeheim's zone -- particularly we sometimes have a hard time getting the ball to the FT line area and end up jacking threes without inside-out ball movement -- but I'm hoping since the Cuse zone is pretty ineffective this year and because we have a guy in Jalen who's perfect for being the passing hub at the FT line area, we'll find a way. It's possible Coach K coaches a bad game against Louisville's guards and Chris Mack, but I think that's less likely after we already lost to them once. I don't expect to get swept. Still, the aggregate of the non-NCSU games should produce a loss. That's fair mathematically.
So I'll go ahead and predict 7-2 for the rest of the season and getting into the NCAAT with some room to spare.