I really think the wrong team is favored tonight, mostly because of what the pundits said on CBS just minutes after the brackets came out. If the Gophers are to win tonight, we must out-score the Bruins by at least 10 points in transition points.
The problem is, we just aren't efficicent enough in our half court offense and UCLA will grind us down if it just becomes a game where both teams come down, set up their defense and see who can out-execute each other. We need to out-score them in a huge way in transition and offensive rebounding.
What makes it tough is that Drew handles the ball about 80% of the time and he only averages 2 turnovers per game. We need to push the ball on every missed basket...Even on makes by them. We can't settle for walking the ball up the court and setting up our lame offense. If we don't get the transition bucket, we need to make sure we at least get a shot up on the iron with players in position for the rebound.
But Transition buckets will be key.
Other keys:
1 and 1 FT shooting. One of the least talked about plays in all of college basketball is the front end of the 1 and 1. NC State won a national championship because multiple teams couldn't make theirs. Can we actually make some FT's and earn the bonus? I saw a stat the other day where the Gophers were 41 for 98 on the front end of the 1 and 1 this season. That is awful! Roughly 42%...With a possible 12 points to be made on 1 and 1 FT's, I'll be watching this stat...We need to get 8 of the 12 possible and make the first one for god sakes!
Can we out-rebound them by 10? That's the number I think we'll need. They're much better shooters and better taking care of the ball, so we need to dominate the boards big time.
Can we keep our turnovers below 14 or lower?
The problem is, we just aren't efficicent enough in our half court offense and UCLA will grind us down if it just becomes a game where both teams come down, set up their defense and see who can out-execute each other. We need to out-score them in a huge way in transition and offensive rebounding.
What makes it tough is that Drew handles the ball about 80% of the time and he only averages 2 turnovers per game. We need to push the ball on every missed basket...Even on makes by them. We can't settle for walking the ball up the court and setting up our lame offense. If we don't get the transition bucket, we need to make sure we at least get a shot up on the iron with players in position for the rebound.
But Transition buckets will be key.
Other keys:
1 and 1 FT shooting. One of the least talked about plays in all of college basketball is the front end of the 1 and 1. NC State won a national championship because multiple teams couldn't make theirs. Can we actually make some FT's and earn the bonus? I saw a stat the other day where the Gophers were 41 for 98 on the front end of the 1 and 1 this season. That is awful! Roughly 42%...With a possible 12 points to be made on 1 and 1 FT's, I'll be watching this stat...We need to get 8 of the 12 possible and make the first one for god sakes!
Can we out-rebound them by 10? That's the number I think we'll need. They're much better shooters and better taking care of the ball, so we need to dominate the boards big time.
Can we keep our turnovers below 14 or lower?