How Dangerous is Stanford?

[What Would Jesus Do?]

Off the top of my head, there are reasons why Stanford could be a trap game, and reasons why it shouldn't be.

--Jared Haase knows our playbook
--It's on their home court
--It will be the first road game for our freshmen
--They have a strong front line
--They have 4 games under their belt
--We don't have Cam

OTOH
--It looks like they have a short bench
--They have several injuries, including 1 starter (Pickens)
--They lost to a creampuff (#232 Eastern Washington)
--We have Joel back
--Despite their height and experience up front, they are only OK rebounders

Here's what their squad looks like, in order of average minutes played (does not include injured players or scrubs):

35.3 - Reid Travis - 6'8 245 SR
31.3 - Michael Humphrey - 6'9 245 SR
30.0 - Isaac White - 6'1 185 FR
28.3 - Daejon Davis - 6'3 175 FR
26.5 - Oscar Da Silva - 6'9 210 FR
25.8 - Robert Cartwright - 6'2 180 SR
09.3 - Josh Sharma 7'0 220 JR

My guess is that Haase used the loss as a teaching moment. They bounced back well against a stronger team in their next game.

So . . . we are supposed to win this game. But it looks like it could be the first serious test for our new bigs. I'm looking forward to seeing how our freshmen handle the tougher front line, but I'm a little worried.

 

[FlaTarHeel]

Reid Travis is pretty darn good. Saw him alot at the AAU level and really liked him.
He will make our young bigs work.

 

[NorCalTarheel]

Does anyone have any idea where the team stays while in NorCal playing Stanford? Kind of a stalkerish question I know but I have a photo with me and every UNC coach since Dean and don’t have one with Roy yet. Would love to get one and I’m guessing he’ll be a little busy Monday night. The Heels don’t make it to NorCal very often and kids have seriously curbed trips back home!

 

[itstartedwithmj]

I have no idea, but odds are good it will be the nicest hotel in the area. They travel in luxury.

 

[WhitePhantoms]

I'm most worried about how they're affected by traveling across the country. I know it isnt as far Hawaii was last year, but we were really sluggish that first game.

 

[Heelswin]

Let's play Carolina Ball ... get better every game!!!

 

[gauchoheel]

They have a serious weakness at point guard. They are starting true freshman (though top 100 recruit) Daejon Davis at point, who beat out last year's starter Robert Cartwright.

Davis has played 85 minutes this year and already turned the ball over 12 times. He's also only shot one three (missed it), and hit only 6 of his 10 free throws. So he's an athletic guy who still needs to work on his shot and taking care of the ball. Joel should be able to dominate.

Cartwright is a surer ball handler than Davis, but he he's less athletic and can't score. He only shot .438 from 2 last year, and .269 from 3 (28 for 104, yikes).

The one thing about the Cardinal is everyone will shoot 3's. Even their 7-0 backup center Josh Sharma has taken three 3's already this year. If Pickens is still out though (a quick Google search doesn't return anything on his injury), they don't really have many knockdown shooters. Reid Travis is their best scorer (17 ppg last season), but he hadn't taken a 3 before this year and is 1 for 6 so far. They have another true freshman Aussie starting at SG, and he's 10 for 21 from 3-point land so far.

One sentence blurb on every starter:

PG, Davis: Athletic but little range and struggling with turnovers
SG, White: Undersized freshman that can shoot but should struggle guarding our guys
SF, Da Silva: 6-9 frosh with range, but questionable foot speed for a wing
PF, Reid: On the Wooden award preseason watch list, will be a tough matchup for Luke
C, Humphrey: Steady but unspectacular player at 6-9 245 lb, has range but no top level skill

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

They have a serious weakness at point guard. They are starting true freshman (though top 100 recruit) Daejon Davis at point, who beat out last year's starter Robert Cartwright.

Davis has played 85 minutes this year and already turned the ball over 12 times. He's also only shot one three (missed it), and hit only 6 of his 10 free throws. So he's an athletic guy who still needs to work on his shot and taking care of the ball. Joel should be able to dominate.

Cartwright is a surer ball handler than Davis, but he he's less athletic and can't score. He only shot .438 from 2 last year, and .269 from 3 (28 for 104, yikes).

The one thing about the Cardinal is everyone will shoot 3's. Even their 7-0 backup center Josh Sharma has taken three 3's already this year. If Pickens is still out though (a quick Google search doesn't return anything on his injury), they don't really have many knockdown shooters. Reid Travis is their best scorer (17 ppg last season), but he hadn't taken a 3 before this year and is 1 for 6 so far. They have another true freshman Aussie starting at SG, and he's 10 for 21 from 3-point land so far.

One sentence blurb on every starter:

PG, Davis: Athletic but little range and struggling with turnovers
SG, White: Undersized freshman that can shoot but should struggle guarding our guys
SF, Da Silva: 6-9 frosh with range, but questionable foot speed for a wing
PF, Reid: On the Wooden award preseason watch list, will be a tough matchup for Luke
C, Humphrey: Steady but unspectacular player at 6-9 245 lb, has range but no top level skill

Thanks for that.

I had noticed their lack of outside shooting. Sounds like a team to play some zone against. I wonder if Roy will do so. He's never been a big fan of zone - so I'm guessing not - but against this team and with our green bigs, it might be worth considering.

If I'm Jared Haase, do I try to get our bigs in foul trouble?

Is Reid Travis a good defender? As you say, he looks like a tough matchup for Luke to defend, but can he defend Luke?

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

Does anyone know when our guys arrived (or will arrive) out there? I'm no traveler, but 2 nights sleep on their clock sounds better than 1. Or is it?

Also, would it be correct to think we'll stay on the west coast for the PK80 rather than flying back here, and then going back out there?

 

[gauchoheel]

Thanks for that.

I had noticed their lack of outside shooting. Sounds like a team to play some zone against. I wonder if Roy will do so. He's never been a big fan of zone - so I'm guessing not - but against this team and with our green bigs, it might be worth considering.

If I'm Jared Haase, do I try to get our bigs in foul trouble?

Is Reid Travis a good defender? As you say, he looks like a tough matchup for Luke to defend, but can he defend Luke?

I think he's solid as a defender. He's got a better body than either of the teams' PFs we've played so far. But he's not lockdown or anything, I'd expect Luke to still put up some numbers.

As for the travel, I thought I heard we got to the West Coast yesterday? Would make sense because of the 11:30pm start, and an extra night in a hotel for ~20 people isn't too much money.

 

[Heelswin]

If Coach Hasse knows our playbook, don't we know his too?

Just play our game and we'll be A-OK!

 

[gary-7]

If Coach Hasse knows our playbook, don't we know his too?

Just play our game and we'll be A-OK!

More of an advantage for him than us. Against Carolina you coach more against tendencies as opposed to set plays. Teams who scout our Secondary Break well tend to have the most success, i.e., knowing where to look to stop easy buckets and challenge good looks.

Jarrod will have a big edge on most opposing coaches just in that aspect. He will do his best to make us beat him in the half court. Yeah, he'll know our go-to set plays e.g., the Elevator and the OB baseline screen for the inbounding PG, but ultimately being able to thwart our transition game is the key to staying on the court with UNC.

Honestly, overall the biggest factor in avoiding the upset may be whether JB has that mess off his hand yet.

 

[Heelswin]

Play hard ... Play smart ...Play together ... Carolina Ball .....we can't be beat!!!

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

I wonder why the game is at 11:30. If it started at a more reasonable time - like 7 PM their time - it would be an easier adjustment for our guys (I assume). Is this Haase's doing? I can't fault him for looking for advantage, but this eats into my bedtime.

 

[MWHeels]

Any word on whether Robinson will be able to play tonight?

 

[DSouthr]

More of an advantage for him than us. Against Carolina you coach more against tendencies as opposed to set plays. Teams who scout our Secondary Break well tend to have the most success, i.e., knowing where to look to stop easy buckets and challenge good looks.

Jarrod will have a big edge on most opposing coaches just in that aspect. He will do his best to make us beat him in the half court. Yeah, he'll know our go-to set plays e.g., the Elevator and the OB baseline screen for the inbounding PG, but ultimately being able to thwart our transition game is the key to staying on the court with UNC.

Honestly, overall the biggest factor in avoiding the upset may be whether JB has that mess off his hand yet.

It is more about execution of our offense than anything else, in regards to our offense that is.

 

[Tom79]

Start time is 11:30 eastern, so it is a 7:30pm tip for the Pine Trees or Cardinal.
How dangerous is Stanford? Dangerous enough to beat UNC.
We are favored by 7 to 10 pts.
We can win this game but we have to take care of the ball.

 

[NCAAUCoach]

He’s already coached against us when he was at UAB and we played at their place. UAB won that game. He’s a good coach and knows Roy as well as anyone does. We, as fans, could coach against Roy and know most of what he’s going to do before he doesn’t it. Roy doesn’t surprise many with schemes. He wins because he sticks to his schemes and typically as better players.

It will be interesting to see how Stanford plays us based on our new Bigs and if they hit the three at a higher clip than they have so far.

 

[What Would Jesus Do?]

Start time is 11:30 eastern, so it is a 7:30pm tip for the Pine Trees or Cardinal.
How dangerous is Stanford? Dangerous enough to beat UNC.
We are favored by 7 to 10 pts.
We can win this game but we have to take care of the ball.

8:30. 7:00 would have been better (10:00 our time). Lots of games start at 7:00 local time.

 

[NCAAUCoach]

Television drives it. We are in a busy week for early season tournaments. This isn't a tournament game, so we were somewhat on the outside looking in.

 

[bleeduncblue]

8:30 is a weird time for the game to start ... but it's in California, the weirdest place on earth.

 

[TPFKAPFS]

Not very!

Next!

 

[ThatsMyForte]

Off the top of my head, there are reasons why Stanford could be a trap game, and reasons why it shouldn't be.

--Jared Haase knows our playbook
--It's on their home court
--It will be the first road game for our freshmen
--They have a strong front line
--They have 4 games under their belt
--We don't have Cam

OTOH
--It looks like they have a short bench
--They have several injuries, including 1 starter (Pickens)
--They lost to a creampuff (#232 Eastern Washington)
--We have Joel back
--Despite their height and experience up front, they are only OK rebounders

Here's what their squad looks like, in order of average minutes played (does not include injured players or scrubs):

35.3 - Reid Travis - 6'8 245 SR
31.3 - Michael Humphrey - 6'9 245 SR
30.0 - Isaac White - 6'1 185 FR
28.3 - Daejon Davis - 6'3 175 FR
26.5 - Oscar Da Silva - 6'9 210 FR
25.8 - Robert Cartwright - 6'2 180 SR
09.3 - Josh Sharma 7'0 220 JR

My guess is that Haase used the loss as a teaching moment. They bounced back well against a stronger team in their next game.

So . . . we are supposed to win this game. But it looks like it could be the first serious test for our new bigs. I'm looking forward to seeing how our freshmen handle the tougher front line, but I'm a little worried.

They lost to #231 EASTERN WASHINGTON @ HOME. We won't be TRULY tested on the road until we go play @ Tennessee, besides this PK80 tournament.