Louisiana vs Cal Irvine

[Ragin4U]

Hopefully you not thinkin' Shawn's gonna get many points against a 7' 6" defender? His game is tailored around out working smaller defenders. IMO he struggles against defenders his size or taller.

He can hit the midrange though so if he can get that going and pull the tree out a bit, that's a positive. Shot blockers tend to also get into foul trouble.

[CajunAmos]

I'm guessing that they play a zone rather than MTM. If Shawn had a 7'6" guy out to the three point line, I like his chances.

[Cajunsmike]

He can hit the midrange though so if he can get that going and pull the tree out a bit, that's a positive. Shot blockers tend to also get into foul trouble.

Talked to a staff member while picking up tickets this morning. Staff believes at times they are more effective without the big guy in there. They are concerned about the 6'10" guy named Best and their overall guard play. As usual, how Jay Wright plays may be a key for us. Lots of respect for Irvine from our coaches. With that kind of record that is not surprising. After all they did tie for regular season league title but lost tiebreaker. In the old days there is no question Anteaters would have been in the NIT. This team deserved post season play and without the CIT they likely would not have had the opportunity. Also, Bryce is good to go for the Cajuns.

[Ragin4U]

Great news about Bryce. I think it will be good to be home. I see a good shooting night.

[Boomer]

I'm guessing that they play a zone rather than MTM. If Shawn had a 7'6" guy out to the three point line, I like his chances.

---think for sure they play zone because of that!!! Use the Shaq plan------ foul him every time and block the shot and giving him the FT!!!

[Ragin4U]

---think for sure they play zone because of that!!! Use the Shaq plan------ foul him every time and block the shot and giving him the FT!!!

I'm ok with Hack-a-Shaq

[zephyr]

I think it would be a great idea to take Shawn away from the basket and possibly post up Washington or Walker. You can run Shawn out of the pick and roll at the top which should get him some good matchups. If he's a true stretch 4, this would be the time to play him that way. I'm not saying he can't be effective on the blocks but I think we will need to see the full Long arsenal tonight if we win. Shawn is also able to hit the outside shot which could create some interesting matchups for Irvine. Why not make them adjust to our lineup rather than us adjust to theirs? Shawn should create just as much anxiety for their coaches as their height does for us.

[DocCajun]

I was not super excited about the CIT but I'm actually pumped for this game.

[CajunFan3406]

I think it would be a great idea to take Shawn away from the basket and possibly post up Washington or Walker. You can run Shawn out of the pick and roll at the top which should get him some good matchups. If he's a true stretch 4, this would be the time to play him that way. I'm not saying he can't be effective on the blocks but I think we will need to see the full Long arsenal tonight if we win. Shawn is also able to hit the outside shot which could create some interesting matchups for Irvine. Why not make them adjust to our lineup rather than us adjust to theirs? Shawn should create just as much anxiety for their coaches as their height does for us.

I like how you think.

[sportsfanatic21]

I think it would be a great idea to take Shawn away from the basket and possibly post up Washington or Walker. You can run Shawn out of the pick and roll at the top which should get him some good matchups. If he's a true stretch 4, this would be the time to play him that way. I'm not saying he can't be effective on the blocks but I think we will need to see the full Long arsenal tonight if we win. Shawn is also able to hit the outside shot which could create some interesting matchups for Irvine. Why not make them adjust to our lineup rather than us adjust to theirs? Shawn should create just as much anxiety for their coaches as their height does for us.

Only problem with this is that you'd be posting up Washington and Walker against players that are way bigger than them. UCI has the 7'6 guy but they also have a 7'2 guy and two 6'10 guys!

[VObserver]

I think it would be a great idea to take Shawn away from the basket and possibly post up Washington or Walker. You can run Shawn out of the pick and roll at the top which should get him some good matchups. If he's a true stretch 4, this would be the time to play him that way. I'm not saying he can't be effective on the blocks but I think we will need to see the full Long arsenal tonight if we win. Shawn is also able to hit the outside shot which could create some interesting matchups for Irvine. Why not make them adjust to our lineup rather than us adjust to theirs? Shawn should create just as much anxiety for their coaches as their height does for us.

We could have been doing that all year with Shawn and Bryce and killing people with it. We have yet to actually execute a pick and roll in a game this year, and frankly I do not remember any in Marlin's tenure.
We run a high pick with them both, and they have been contracting pneumonia while waiting for a guard to recognize they are wide open with an unimpeded path to the goal.

[CajunEXPRESS]

---think for sure they play zone because of that!!! Use the Shaq plan

-- foul him every time and block the shot and giving him the FT!!!

There is a clear problem with that simplistic thinking. Such excessive fouling counts toward total team fouls. You then have to be too passive agaist everyone who can shoot free throws.

This guy isn't a scoring machine like Shaq was. You almost had to pick your poison. Let him dunk at will or make him and his teammates win at the line.

[Just1More]

I think it would be a great idea to take Shawn away from the basket and possibly post up Washington or Walker. You can run Shawn out of the pick and roll at the top which should get him some good matchups. If he's a true stretch 4, this would be the time to play him that way. I'm not saying he can't be effective on the blocks but I think we will need to see the full Long arsenal tonight if we win. Shawn is also able to hit the outside shot which could create some interesting matchups for Irvine. Why not make them adjust to our lineup rather than us adjust to theirs? Shawn should create just as much anxiety for their coaches as their height does for us.

Our size is probably average at worse with the programs UCI faced all year... and they're big men numbers don't overpower. I think like Mike said, the 6'10" guy is the better post player, and their guard play is strong. That said, it doesn't sound like we would do anything too much different than we normally do. I tend to agree with you, especially at home, that we play our game and adjust as required. Over thinking these heights on paper is probably a mistake.

[Boomer]

There is a clear problem with that simplistic thinking. Such excessive fouling counts toward total team fouls. You then have to be too passive agaist everyone who can shoot free throws.

This guy isn't a scoring machine like Shaq was. You almost had to pick your poison. Let him dunk at will or make him and his teammates win at the line.

--Just wondering if you have ever coached---anyway, we are talking clear shots expected to be made---- so you get into the penalty and you negate that with his poor FT shooting and you take away a 2 or a 3 point situation with probably zero points----your second point seems to contradict what your first point says----picking a poison is choosing what will prevent their scoring more points and, as I pointed out, sending him to the line enhances those chances of sure things---I disagree with its being simplistic as coaches tell players all the time to foul in certain situations to send players to the line!!!

[zephyr]

Our size is probably average at worse with the programs UCI faced all year... and they're big men numbers don't overpower. I think like Mike said, the 6'10" guy is the better post player, and their guard play is strong. That said, it doesn't sound like we would do anything too much different than we normally do. I tend to agree with you, especially at home, that we play our game and adjust as required. Over thinking these heights on paper is probably a mistake.

We all know that they are going to focus on Shawn. I think the most marginal fan out there would know this. If we decide to ride him primarily on the blocks, the big guys they have will give us problems. Hopefully, we can kick the ball out and hit the 3. If that is not working well, my suggestion of moving Shawn around as stated above could open up some gaps in their defense with other bigs we have. I'm also thinking that we could actually go smaller, again, making them matchup with our lineup rather than the other way around. We go full court pressure and half court traps with this and we could possibly speed up the game.