Good Luck from NC

[wolfpack7483]

This is gonna be a good game. We pray Scooter will be ready by Friday, it really hurts not having him in the lineup. Ya'll will get to see one of the countries top players in Julius Hodge.

It's gonna be exciting. Good Luck

[CajunRebel]

I'd like to wish you good luck, but to be honest with you, come Friday I hope you guys have horrible luck.

But after Friday, good luck to you guys.

[ATXCajun]

a lot of us are still waiting for "approval" to reply on your site. it would be nice if the moderators could expedite. we're nice people.

[DrySwamp]

Another strength to our team is we amost have (2) teams. We have good bench backup to give our boys rest & to conserve our fouls.

[ATXCajun]

to add to cajunrebels analysis, we were not 8 deep when we played many of those early opponents. the current lineup is something closer to 14-4, as opposed to 20-8.

[flowdam]

Thanks for the info.

With that kind of depth, does your team press very much?

Also, what kind of size do you have down low?

[ATXCajun]

I know we press some, but I'll leave to someone that knows to give you a rough percentage. These are the guys that will see significant PT:
Cameron 6-11 a work in progress, not a dominant center
Hamilton 6-9 quick hands
Cedric Williams 6-7
Brad Boyd 6-6
Laurie Bridges 6-4
Dwayne Mitchell 6-4 highlight film leaper
Oriene Greene 6-4
Antoine Landry 5-11

Boyd, Greene, Bridges, and Landry can shoot the lights out, but we never know who is going to get hot and when. Our size, speed and athleticism at guard creates more match-up problems for opponents than anything else.

[flowdam]

Thanks for the info, sounds like we will match up very closely. We have decent size at guard as well and we were the top rated perimeter defense in the ACC, but we have no real size or dominating figure in the paint, so we are vulnerable to dribble penetration when overplaying the perimeter.

[ATXCajun]

Indeed, I was just looking at your roster and minutes. Very similar in size and strengths/weaknesses. The difference seems to be that NC State gets most of its points from Hodge and Melvin, wereas the Cajuns spread it around a bit more. We are going to need to create some turnovers and baskets in transition along with good perimeter shooting to win this one. I would prefer to play a team where we have a mismatch or two, but I don't see one here. Is Hodge a bomber or a dribble penetrator or both?

[Crowley Cajun]

I was just approved.

[ATXCajun]

give em hell!!!! just kidding.

[flowdam]

Is Hodge a bomber or a dribble penetrator or both?

Although Hodge can hit the three when left open, this is not his forte'. His shot looks rather awkward, but his touch is good enough to keep his defender honest.

His bread and butter is the taking it to the rack and about half the time getting fouled. He's very slender at 6'7", but he's very tough and aggressive with his Harlem bravado. He's definately not the most liked player in the league, but he is one of the most respected. Nobody works harder.

This point has not been brought up, but our biggest asset as a team is our foul shooting ability. We average right at 80% from the stripe. Which, I think leads the country. If we have a 4/5pt lead with less than a minute to go, it's usually light out.

Our problem, however, has been holding on to the lead. We lost a 19pt. halftime lead to Maryland in the ACC tourney. We also seem to get out of sink for 5-7min. spurts and have long scoring droughts.