We beat Butler by 18. Nova beat them by 40 and 29.
Nova is damn good… But I think we’re better.
Butler sucked this year… 
Go Coogs!
We played Butler early in the year. We were not jellying as team then.
Does it matter one bit how much we beat Butler by vs Villanova?
Nova beat Butler in Philly on Jan 16 by score of 82-42 a 40 point spread, at Indy on March 5 Nova beat Butler 78-59, a 19 point spread (not 29 as you posted). They had already gone through their out of conference schedule and several conference games by the time they first played a home game against Butler.
We beat Butler by 18 on Nov 22 in Las Vegas in our 4th game with a new team trying to mesh, with Tramon Mark playing with a torn labrum, and Walker playing with a hand healing from surgery. This team is not the same team that played Butler on Nov 22. We will beat the #2 seeded Wildcats just as we beat the #1 seeded Wildcats.
Appreciate the post about Nova…
With Nova creating mismatches with having 5 quick mobile players on the court,
You think it’s possible Sampson might try and go with a rotation that consists of
Shead, Edwards, Walker, Moore & Fabian in order to better keep up with them defensively and still
exploit their interior defense with Fabian ?
Butler is a conference mate. They play them all the time so they’re familiar with the coaching staff and strategies. Not a good comparison. With that said, Nova wouldn’t be in the elite eight if they weren’t any good.
Let’s just hope this doesn’t become a free-throw shooting contest. Nova is the #1 FT shooting team in the country.
Samson will stick with what got him here and only make in-game adjustments if necessary.
Sampson said we look at what the opponent does best and make them uncomfortable doing it.
I found it staggering how well he prepared our guys to defend AZ’s 3-line. They might…MIGHT …have had 5 open 3-point shots all night. No one got the ball on the perimeter without s black shirt in his face.
It looked to me like they completely quit trying the 3…like they gave up until the last two minutes.
I think Walker to do the job too if he is strong enough. He has become a pretty good defender.
walkers defense has been amazing vs wings… some doubts on his Defense versus fast shifty guys, but we arent playing fast shifty guys tommorrow… i expect ramon to have a really good defenseive game
What would kill us tomorrow is if either Edwards or Snead get into foul trouble. Especially nervous that Nova’s perimeter defense gets into Sneads head and Gillespie draws fouls on Edwards.
That’s what I was thinking. You mentioned these guys aren’t bounce and shoot types so I think Walker is a legit option if Carlton/Chaney/Roberts have trouble.
Because I know everyone here loves stats; here are some I just threw together. i offer no commentary other than to say GO COOGS!!!
| After 3 Tournament Games | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UH | 2 pt | 3 pt | FT | |||||
| Makes | 55 | 25 | 37 | |||||
| Attempts | 106 | 63 | 57 | |||||
| % | 52% | 40% | 65% | |||||
| +/- vs Season | 5% | 6% | -2% | Offense | Defense Pts Allowed | |||
| Per Game | 2 pt | 3 pt | FT | Dance | Reg Season | Dance | Reg Season | |
| Makes | 18 | 8 | 12 | 74 | 76 | 60 | 59 | |
| Attempts | 35 | 21 | 19 | |||||
| Nova | 2 pt | 3 pt | FT | |||||
| Makes | 43 | 30 | 38 | |||||
| Attempts | 85 | 81 | 44 | |||||
| % | 51% | 37% | 86% | |||||
| +/- vs Season | 7% | 1% | 4% | Offense | Defense Pts Allowed | |||
| Per Game | 2 pt | 3 pt | FT | Dance | Reg Season | Dance | Reg Season | |
| Makes | 14 | 10 | 13 | 71 | 73 | 59 | 63 | |
| Attempts | 28 | 27 | 15 |
Good Night!
Everyone has a plan to beat Houston until they get punch in the face and it’s over.
I agree with this about playing conference opponents. Can’t compare.
thankfully you resisted that urge…
agreed solid breakdown (note, Nova didn’t get blown out by UCLA; in fact they blew a lead and the game went into OT at Pauley Pavilion - also, there weren’t 2 legendary coaches, just one)
Worked out financially… If the Coogs didn’t have one of the worst 3 point shooting games in the history of college basketball it would still be a good bet… We shot 5% from 3… 5 FREAKING %!!!
I know… If ifs and buts were candy and nuts we’d all have a Merry Christmas.
Hats off to Nova for playing good defense but it wasn’t 5% from 3 good… We missed A LOT of open looks.