Thanks for the link to this board. Our board is located at http://buhoops.yuku.com/forums/1. Don't pay attention to some of the guys there (Willis, Duck). However a lot of people on there have been supporters of the programs for several. However I look forward to the match-up. I expect a really good game and the winner will have a big challengeon Saturday. Our big man Howard (Soph.) is our go-to guy. He is plays big and is solid on the blocks. Great foot work. Hayward (Freshman) has been recognize on the freshman first-team by several national publications. I also heard a fact on ESPN the other day that said Shelvin Mack (Freshman) was one of 5 freshmen in the nation with 300 points, 100 rebounds and 100 assists this year. Kentucky tried luring him away from us at the last minute, but he stayed loyal to his LOI. Other than that we start a Junior - Willie Veasley who is a great defender and will drive the lane a lot. We also start Ronald Nored at PG who is a freshman. We will need him to control the ball and not have freshman jitters against yuo guys to win. No seniors on this team. We have an amazing freshman class and will be strong the next 3 years.3 Questions ask away?
mostly man 2 man D? im surprised that with little size butler's eFG% defense is great. must play great help D. butler is also pretty good a def rebounding. that will be important. lsu has been shooting poorly lately, but can really hit the glass. looks like butler loses when they cant get any off rebounds or turn it over. lucky for you that lsu doesnt force many turnovers. how did you lose to loyola?
Butler is known for great defense. We were giving up about 53 PPG in non-conference play. They play help defense, will switch often. A big key to our rebounding is that Hayward can guard and PG / SG and will crash the boards. Works out well in most cases. How did we lose to Loyola? We are all asking the same question. Any logical fan of the game knows that conference play is extremely difficult top to bottom. Teams in our conference see us twice a year and know our style of play and what we try to do to opponents. It was just one of those games. I also attribute some of it to the youth on the team. We don't have a senior on the roster. We start three freshmen. While not "acceptable" most of the fans were expecting a slip up at some point this year. Loyola was it!
lsu plays almost all man D. but im not sure how theyll matchup. mack will be guarded by garrett temple--our 6'6" stopper. veasley may be guarded by thornton (6'4" scorer) because of size and position, but i wouldnt be surprised if lsu puts bo spencer (6'1 PG) on him because he's probably the best on ball defender. the other of these two lsu guards would take your PG, nored. again, a tough call on the post matchups. hayward plays in and out like tasmin mitchell but i wouldnt be surprised if he's too quick for tasmin. and since your other post player is described more as skilled than athletic, i bet lsu puts tasmin on howard (similar size--tasmin may be an inch shorter and a bit stronger) and chris johnson (our athletic 6'11" rail) on hayward. now that i think about it, i bet lsu guards howard with johnson to see how that goes. howard doesnt seem like the beefy post players that give johnson problems. but johnson still leaves his feet too much and i bet he gets in foul trouble. then lsu will have to guard with serviceable post defender 6'8" quentin thornton. gonna be really interesting. i dont know how well lsu will defend butler but i bet butler has a hard time defending tasmin mitchell. then butler will double on him and marcus thornton can kill you. of course, thornton can kill you even if you can handle tasmin straight up, but its less likely.
We have played zone defense a few times this year. They may use it a little, but very slight possibility. Butler will play a man and will not double team. They will help out, but that is their is thei style of defense every game. We did not double Stephen Cury, we did not double anyone against Ohio State, we just don't do that. Also, Hayward is not a post player at all. He will be on the perimeter all game long. He can shoot and drive, but he does not have and "post" moves.
from what i found, for the season they got the same minutes out of their bench as lsu. they basically get meaningful PT from two small guards. one shoots well from 3 and the other doesnt. the latter is probably a back up PG.
Bench strength is good. We can go 5 or 6 deep. Starters - PG Nored (Fresh) - great handler & driver, 40% free throw shooter SG Mack (Fresh) - All around SF Veasley (Junior) - Great defender... points from him a plsu SF Hayward (Fresh) - All around, Freshman of the Year C Howard (Soph) - Good post man but lacks size Bench - PG / SG Hahn - Shooter VanZant - Great defender and crashes the boards Liendecker - Most likely won't play... apparently a great shooter in practice but not in games F / C Jukes - Can jump out of the gym but battling a knee injury... will need a good game from him to win Butcher - Banger down low All in all our bench played A LOT until about the last two weeks and we have then relied mostly on our starters with Hahn / Vanzant and Butcher getting a few minutes. I think this caused some poor play down the stretch late in the games. Anything else?
