Now I donāt want to look too far a head, but the next four games will set us up for our games at Arkansas and Memphis. We play at Radford, then have home games against Davidson, Coppin State and Miami.
@Radford: No road game is ever a given, but she would win this one. The highlanders are 3-6 and only have one win against a division one opponent. Radfordās last two games were a 22 point loss to Long Island and a 13 point loss at Marist.
v Davidson: This is going to be really tough game. The Wildcats return four starters and they are a big team, with no starter being smaller than 6ā3. If anyone saw the Wildcats play at Duke in the first half, you know how much talent they have. Having siad that, their last two road games have been three point wins at UNC-Wilmington and Wofford.
V Coppin State: The Eagles only have two wins on the season, both against non-divison one teams. The other four games have all been on the road, with an average losing margin of 18 points
v Miami: This is the first game of the toughest three game stretch we have in the OCC, which is obvious. The U are solid, but they are definetly beatable. With new coach Jim Laranaga, the Hurricanes are in a bit of a transition year.
As a fan I want to win every game, but I would be disapointed with anything less than 3-1 in that stretch. With three straight home games, we have a chance to build some nice momentum before heading to Arkansas and Memphis, where we will really be tested.
We need the next 4 to be a strong outing, Davidson needs to be our best ball as of yet, Our leaders need to tell the new guys how we were embarassed in Belk last year and had to hear the lolcat fans sing that horrible song!
Davidson will be ready for this game. Say what you will about calling this a ārivalryā, I still think both teams know how much this means and for me personally this is the biggest game of the year.
Wish we had a week to prepare like we did for ECU. Instead weāve got a not-too-far-away cupcake road game on Tuesday. Davidson plays a ranked team (Vandy) at home on Wednesday.
Wish we had a week to prepare like we did for ECU. Instead weāve got a not-too-far-away cupcake road game on Tuesday. Davidson plays a ranked team (Vandy) at home on Wednesday.[/quote]
I donāt like long layoffs. Radford should be a good warm up for the Brain.
Davidson will be a tough game, Iād guess tougher than Miami. They handled Richmond at home, and Richmond, though not as good as last year, is still a pretty tough team. Their inside guys are talented and will give us trouble. Homecourt will be huge though, because it should help Braswell stay out of foul trouble, and heās better than any of their players. It will just depend on if he can get the support he needs from the team. Itās also important since they shoot ftās at around a 80% clip, including their bigmen. If Braswell can get Cohen in foul trouble, Briscoe or someone else can hit a few 3ās, and we can play some decent perimeter D on Kuhlman, the Niners should win. But if Braswell picks up early fouls (I expect they will be going at him) and the rest of our guys have only mediocre games, look for a repeat of Lamar.
Wish we had a week to prepare like we did for ECU. Instead weāve got a not-too-far-away cupcake road game on Tuesday. Davidson plays a ranked team (Vandy) at home on Wednesday.[/quote]
I donāt like long layoffs. Radford should be a good warm up for the Brain.[/quote]
This. And FWIW, with radford earlier in the week, we still have plenty of time to prep for Davidson.
And Iām going to set my expectations higher because I think this team is just beginning to gel and roles are being settled into. I expect at least 3 wins in the next 4. Enough with the defeatist attitude. Letās go kick some ass! Go Niners!!
There is no way we get blown out at home Ken. Lose, okay, but weāre not getting blown out at home by Davidson. That just doesnāt happen.
We blow them out at their place or ours, we get blown out at their place and we lose close ones at home.
I also think Miami will be an easier game than Davidson, but I donāt think many games will be easy for this team. Game I am most worried about OOC is Arkansas. I donāt share certain peopleās overwhelming fear of Mempiss. But we turn the ball over a ton and Mike Anderson knows how to turn the ball over.
The key to Davidson will be turnovers and Braz staying out of foul trouble. They play very smart ball and if we donāt protect the ball, weāre in trouble. Same goes for Braz. I sense that they will go at him early and often to provoke the refs into some BS whistle blowing. If he picks up a quick 2, we are in for a long night. If he he can stay on the floor, then I think we have a chance of being in it at the end to win.
Iāll never say any games against ābadā teams are gimmes but we really have no business losing to Radford or Coppin State. Those should be automatics and we appear to be more together as a team now than when we played Lamar/ETS.
I think 3-1 is possible but my jaded gut is leaning towards 2-2 with losses against Davidson/Miami.
We should probably sticky this for every game. Until Nickerson and/or Sherrill get more experience and are able to contribute more, were going to need Braz to play well in almost every game.
We should probably sticky this for every game. Until Nickerson and/or Sherrill get more experience and are able to contribute more, were going to need Braz to play well in almost every game.[/quote]
Agreed. I just think it has potential to be a bigger issue against Davidson because of how smart they play and how smart their coach is, compared to the other 3 games. They will go out of their way to target him and Iām sure Bob will be in the refsā ears early and often.