Bonnies vs. Davidson (Sun. 02/21/21 at 3:30 pm)

That pretty much sums it up. You could also add:
Please don’t have Dom dig hard on ball side and leave three point shooter.
Please don’t have Boachie-Yiadom play out of his mind again.
Please don’t let Grady get under Kyle’s skin.
Please don’t let Dom underestimate Lee.
Please let the refs actually call those screens.
 
It’s hard to out-athlete these Davidson teams but P5 (yuck) teams seem to do it well.

I’ve said it before here and elsewhere, but I can’t stand Davidson. A10 brethren be damned; they’re Bona killers. Schmidt’s teams struggle with that motion offense unless someone on the opposing team goes Gibbs mode and shoots them out of it OR we run with them like Jay/Mobe/Court did in 2018.
 
I’m sure most of you remember the box scores of Davidson games (if you dared to look at them) so I will spare you all those. You guys also know me as someone who thinks stats are overrated... yep. But...

Remember that Army game from a few years ago? Yeah, this one:

Think of them as a toned-down Davidson. We struggled with ‘em. In fact, David Andoh and Jay kept us in it or else it would’ve been a bad loss.
So what is it? If we don’t play disciplined as fuck 1-5 all game, we can get torched. Most teams are like this unless they have the ballers who can overcome it and/or Davidson/Army/others miss.
I think we’re getting closer to the disciplined approach. Adaway’s sac (is “sac” ok here?) will be eye-level with Brajkovic on at least one occasion.
 
It’s hard to out-athlete these Davidson teams but P5 (yuck) teams seem to do it well.

I’ve said it before here and elsewhere, but I can’t stand Davidson. A10 brethren be damned; they’re Bona killers. Schmidt’s teams struggle with that motion offense unless someone on the opposing team goes Gibbs mode and shoots them out of it OR we run with them like Jay/Mobe/Court did in 2018.
I think the "P5" teams can handle Davidson better than average because their rosters are better than average. As Davidson keeps running defenders in circles, the big programs can swap out guys and keep fresher. Schmidt won't be doing that, and our guys will be facing a growing level of exhaustion as the 2nd half ticks on. I can't say I've studied Davidson, but I have noticed in their games I've watched over the past couple of years that they often fall behind early and then keep running around until they can chip away and overtake the opponent. That's what they did to us in the 2016 A10 tourney game.

Gibbs can be obnoxious, and he will make every attempt to get into Kyle's head. It's up to Kyle to control himself after Gibbs hits a big 3 right in his face.

Also, McKillop's screen's are akin to SLU/VCU physical play in that they do it constantly, and the refs give up calling it unless it is truly egregious.
 
I really admire McKillop. Except when I hate him, which is every time the Bonnies get ambushed by his coaching skill. This year, however, we get his Wildcats coming off a covid pause, which means their timing and shooting accuracy will be challenged. Except that McKillop will have thought up some kind of secret formula for his team to bounce back immediately and show no ill effects. Which is why I hate him.
 
I think the "P5" teams can handle Davidson better than average because their rosters are better than average. As Davidson keeps running defenders in circles, the big programs can swap out guys and keep fresher. Schmidt won't be doing that, and our guys will be facing a growing level of exhaustion as the 2nd half ticks on. I can't say I've studied Davidson, but I have noticed in their games I've watched over the past couple of years that they often fall behind early and then keep running around until they can chip away and overtake the opponent. That's what they did to us in the 2016 A10 tourney game.

Gibbs can be obnoxious, and he will make every attempt to get into Kyle's head. It's up to Kyle to control himself after Gibbs hits a big 3 right in his face.

Also, McKillop's screen's are akin to SLU/VCU physical play in that they do it constantly, and the refs give up calling it unless it is truly egregious.

Do you mean Grady, rather than Gibbs, who graduated in 2017? I sure hope Gibbs doesn't take the court Sunday.
 
They're only shooting 35% from 3 this season, which is a far cry from the 39% in 2018 that still has all of us expecting DC to rain mercilessly from beyond the arc. Of course, as they are playing us, you can expect at least a 10% bump. The 16/29 in the A10s that season scarred (scared?) us for life. When we get beat from the 3 ball, it's because we're prone to letting shooters get open with a myriad of cuts and screens and ball movement that results in someone taking a 22 foot free throw as the shot clock winds down. Luckily not every team does that as well as Davidson, who seems to do it very well. We will never breathe easy for a matchup with them and I expect it to go down to the wire at best.
 
Do you mean Grady, rather than Gibbs, who graduated in 2017? I sure hope Gibbs doesn't take the court Sunday.
Got me, but you're getting old too ("up yours 79").

I had Gibbs on my mind from thinking about the 2016 game I guess.
 
Sunday morning betting line I'm seeing favors Bonnies by 4.5. Not that it means anything.
 
glad to see jaren holmes not get 3 fouls in the first half, glad to see jalen shaw not jumping everytime someone comes near him on defense, played really well when we needed him
 
Enjoying every one of the 126.4 proof. Every Bonnie that touched the floor made a big time contribution to that win. Three more for a title please.
 
Anyone else happy we draw these guys in consecutive games? Rebounding and defense travels and we out-rebounded and defended the shit out of them late in the game. Nothing from the field and just one second chance opportunity in the final 5 minutes.

I wouldn't count on us being quite as hot from deep on Wednesday but hopefully tonight's performance will open some things up in the middle where we typically feast. Stay out of foul trouble again, Winn Wednesday and we're back in the driver's seat in this god forsaken conference.
 
That was a quick regression to the mean. The Bonnies had been leading the league in 3-point defense for the first several games, but we knew that was busllshit and are now ranked 7th. The Bonnies started out as a terrible bunch of 3-point shooters (which we also knew was bullshit), but are now ranked 2nd in the league, just a hair behind Dayton. Cream gonna rise to the top. Go Team!
 
I'm still ambivalent about playing them twice in 4 days, but after watching them play yesterday, not as terrified as I was about it Friday evening. A whole week's time to let a tough loss marinate without a bounce back game, while our NET and bracket prognostications trickled in the wrong direction, was letting the cynic in me gradually take over. Finding out our guys were about to be subject to facing their arch nemesis two games in a row wasn't doing that feeling any favors.

Yesterday's performance allowed a lot of that to melt away, though. Props to Shaw and AJ for stepping up when they were needed early. Comparing how we matchup with them vs last year, 2 things stick out in favor to us. One, JAG (hate that I'm saying JAG, but fuck writing his name out). His skill set made their offense that much more dynamic (duh), but particularly in a way that created matchup problems for us. Second, Jalen Adaway defending Davidson type players vs a timeshare of Winston/Bobby P defending them.
 
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