Scott4USC said:
Marra
Louisville
Myles is a 6.7 240lb+
Palacios is a 6.8 240lb (freshman)
O`Bannon is 6.4 200lb
4th guy is George who is 6.8 230lb. (plays big minutes)
Illinois
Augustine is 6.10 220lb
Powell is 6.6 220lb
Ingram is 6.10 245lb
4th guy bring off bench is Warren Carter 6-9/205 (doesn't play big minutes)
[/B]
We know how much height means...come on. Augustine has been non-existant in this tournament. Scott, they also have Nick Smith who is 7'2", so now that I really think about it, U of I might win by 30 because they are taller
Arizona's 2 big guy starters each were 6.10 (and very talented) and one of them is Frye who is prob. the 3rd best center in the country. They created matchup problems against Illinois and it showed. I don't see the UL big guys creating matchup problems and every big guy for Illinois should be able to get their shot off with ease. In addition, you have Augustine who has played exceptional basketball in his last 10 games except he was held in check (or stopped) by AZ. UL is not AZ down in the post. Major advantage AZ.
Frye is very good and UL doesn't have the player to match him, but as stated, he is a top 3 big man. I don't know what you are talking about when referring to the other 6'10" "very talented" Radmanovic who air balled 3 shots against U of I and was playing awful. He isn't very good, I live in Arizona and watch U of A basketball, and his best attribute is an occasional outside shot and his height.
Augustine hasn't played "exceptional" anything except exceptionally bad. Read pt1's post.
What am I getting at? UL has to stop the outside and inside game of Illinois. Illinois clearly has height advantage down low. Powell is the starting F for Illinois and he prob. will be matched up against the freshman Palacios who is 6.8. Powell should be able to take him off the dribble and Powell is a 3pt threat. That leaves 6.10 Augustine vs 6.7 Myles. Then you bring in 6.10 Ingram off the bench has an outside shot (hit 2 big treys against AZ) and has major height advantage.
Don't make this mistake of selling Palacios short. He plays intense defense and, hey, he has 2 inches on Powell...which apparently is an advantage when U of I has the height advantage but not when Louisville does. You can't have it both ways.
Pitino is DYING for Powell and Ingram to take 3's. Don't let Deron and Dee beat you. Pitino is content with those guys taking 3's as long as someone is out there on them, I guarantee it.
Illinois was dominating most of the 1h until the end where AZ made a huge run. Illinois came out on fire to start the 1h. AZ runs a 1-3-1 zone.
The most U of A got down was by 7, hardly dominating.
I posted Garcia poses matchup problems for Illinois. However, even if Garcia is on his game, there is decent chance Garcia takes himself out of the game with his constant foul troubles. He gets many chargning fouls and uses his hands way too much on defense. The defenders guarding him will be smaller BUT they are very good defenders. Garcia needs to attack the rim and dish and not just standing around taking 3pt shots. Sorta what Adams did to Illinois although Adams is a better athlete.
He averaged 2.9 PF a game, so I wouldn't count on him fouling out. We have no idea how the refs are going to call the game, so I am not going to assume Garcia is going to get into foul trouble. I am going to assume that Deron Williams won't be able to shut him down like he did Stoudamire. At least we know that is going to happen.
Louisville although they have not had it as tough as you think. GT is hot and cold team and their big win was against UNC at end of year who played uninspired ball in ACC tourney and Bynam had career game. UW got up by 10pts against UL in 1h but then UL came back, AND UW lost 2 key starters (prob. their 2 best players) to foul trouble in 1h. That is when UL made their BIG RUN to get BIG LEAD at half. Are you banking on the 2 best players for Illinois getting 3 fouls each in 1h? Then UL played WVU and WVU killed them from outside (UL ZONE DEFENSE) and UL made great comeback in 2h. Does WVU have same or better athletes than Illinois? Will UL be able to come back from double digits against Illinois? UL in this tourney played close game against UL Lafayette, got down by double digits to both UW and WVU, and they dominated GT (a talented team). On paper UL def. had toughest road and they have faced quality opponents every game. So you would think UL would try and bring their "A" game and 100% "effort" to each and every game. Right? Then why in 2 games did UL get down by DOUBLE DIGITS, and would UL beaten UW if the 2 best UW players didn't get 3 fouls in 1h? Why couldn't UL score well against WVU?
This is the most ridiculous paragraph. What about crediting Louisville for anything? How about MAKING GT cold that night. How about not losing their cool when UDub was hitting the threes early. How about talent just winning about. How about fighting back when people from WVU (and as Wilson said, played their BEST GAME) were banking in 3 pointers and were unconscious. A mentally weak team would have folded.
I want to know how you find fault with Louisville making a "BIG RUN" to take a "BIG LEAD" into the half. That is because THEY WERE THE BETTER TEAM.
Also, when dealing with teams like WVU and UDub which rely so heavily on the three, runs of 12-0 are not uncommon when someone gets hot. Basketball IS A GAME OF RUNS. Who cares if they were down double digits. They won, didn't they?
Nate Robinson was in foul trouble but how about a little credit to UL's defense because he wasn't a factor when he was on the floor to begin with. Their defense was awesome.
Will Augustine be the best big man UL has faced in the tourney?
No, that would be Pittsnogle.
Lastly, Illinois lost only once in conf. play and once all year. Big 10 had 3 elite 8 teams and 2 final four teams. UL swept the board against MSU and Wisconsin (3 times).
Play the team A beat team B game all you want...I can do it too. U of A was dominating (and up by your favorite DOUBLE DIGITS) to U of I...and they lost to Oregon State. There you go.
