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Big Bama Game Next! Oh there's Hofstra & Notre Dame too...
71 Plays5 months ago
Welcome to Episode #33 of the No Conference for Old Men Podcast.
Our Cougars are 2-1 after smashing ULL to get the bad taste of the Auburn loss out of their mouths. But a big week lies ahead as 3 games are on tap, with the big one against Alabama looming in between games vs. Hofstra & Notre Dame.
Please have a listen as we continue to provide a detailed breakdown the ULL win and project what to look out for in these next 3 games.
- No Conference for Old Men is available for free via Spotify / Apple Podcast / SoundCloud & the GoCoogs.com website; we're also available via the Republic of Football Podcast feed from the folks at Dave Campbell's Texas Football as their only basketball-centric offering
- Intro / Exit music: Ground Zero provided by FreeBeats.io
- Please follow us on gocoogs.com/old-men/
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Transcript
Introduction & Overview
00:00:08
Speaker
Welcome, folks, to episode number 33 of the No Conference for Old Men podcast, podcast where three old guys are tucking Houston and Cougars basketball with a bit of Big 12 coverage added in as well, and proud members of the Goku's.com network, the undisputed number one Houston Cougars content provider.
Recap: Houston vs. Louisiana Lafayette
00:00:25
Speaker
So the cookers quickly got the bad taste of the Auburn game out of their mouths with a 91-45 drubbing of Louisiana Lafayette. But a big week is up ahead where we've got a sneaky good Hofstra team who's beaten Big East Seton Hall and Atlantic 10 UMass before their recent loss to FSU.
00:00:44
Speaker
Then, of course, we've got the game against preseason number two, Alabama, that everyone had circled on their schedule this season. And then we close the week off with a game versus Notre Dame immediately after the Alabama game. A bit of a grind this week early in the season. Tom, why don't we get started off with your quick synopsis around our Louisiana Lafayette win?
00:01:06
Speaker
From a coaching standpoint, you know, we had our same start in five. We went with three perimeters and two bigs, two bigs being Juwan and JVA. Offensively, we kind of got off to a slow start. We only had three points at the end of 16. And then Ramon and JoJo came into the game
Tactics & Strategies Explored
00:01:26
Speaker
and Robertson Francis came out. And then that's when we went to the four out one end with JoJo being the big and then We had Milos, LJ, Emmanuel, Ramon as the four perimeters. And then with Jojo, we ran what's called Zoom action. Some people call it Chicago, but Zoom action is when you have your big at the top of the key and you have two wings, two corners, and then Jojo dribbles to either side and the wing guy sits a down screen for the man in the corner. and The man in the corner comes off that down screen into dribble a hand off from the big. So ran some Zoom action with when Jojo's in there and then pretty much arrested the game.
00:02:04
Speaker
It was kind of in and out between Playing two bigs and then going going four out one in I know Kelvin talked about Working on some spacing issues before the Louisiana game and that might have been it playing Jojo with those with those four perimeters Overall, you know, we're up 51 25 at half and then you know, it's warm up the bus for Louisiana Games over Exactly. Hey, Bill, how about your take from a player's perspective? Yeah, I'll be i'll be quick with this. I took some ah extensive notes following the game. Of course, the game was a week ago, and I can't find them to save my life. But what what I know from being there is that we forced eight turnovers in the first nine minutes. And
00:02:55
Speaker
They almost had more turnovers than field goals made and rebounds combined late into the first half. I mean, it was when we stepped things up after the beginning, we we just took them apart. We forced 23 turnovers for the game, by the way. We were also above 50% from two and from three until the benches were were totally emptied with about eight minutes left. and and ah We started missing a ah bunch of shots, but we we also didn't have our best offensive team in there. yeah For the game, we took 22 more shots than they did. ah We held them to 32.5% from the floor. We also rebounded them by 18, very similar to Jackson State. Everyone played well and and we you know we were just better.
00:03:48
Speaker
and it was an underwhelming opponent. but The one thing I wanted to mention was that Arsenault, who led us with 14, was named player of the game at U of H after the game.
00:04:00
Speaker
but Yeah, I think one of two others was really the most valuable players. And ah yeah first of all, Uzan just did everything. he He shot the ball well. he He only scored one fewer point than Arsenault. He played fewer minutes. He had a really solid game. But the guy that I really want to focus on, who I thought was just just outstanding and only played 13 minutes, was Francis.
00:04:28
Speaker
And he was just dominant. He had nine points. He had four boards, three blocks in those 13 minutes. He was vocal on defense. And I will say that if he continues to play like that with the minutes increasing, which they obviously will do as he gets healthier, he's going to have an exceptional year as will the team.
Deep Dive: Louisiana Lafayette Game Analysis
00:04:51
Speaker
Yeah, no, I completely agree. And as expected, it was an easy win where we dominated all the analytics metrics related to the game. We limited Louisiana Lafayette to 39% effective field goal percentage, only 29% from three. And those numbers are even better than our number two adjusted defensive efficiency standard from last season. We also forced them to turnovers on 33% of their possessions, which obviously is obscenely good. On offense, our fed to field goal percentage was a stellar 53% where we shot 43% from three. Again, really staggering numbers added onto that our offensive rebound rate at 39% of our
Preview: Upcoming Game Against Hofstra
00:05:34
Speaker
misses. And the result is the 91 to 45 thrashing of Louisiana Lafayette to get back on track.
00:05:41
Speaker
Not much to take away from this game other than an opportunity for our Cougs to get back in the winning state of mind before our next three games this week. So now let's just get to Friday's game versus Hofstra, which I'll remind listeners, we had to go to overtime to beat in 22 with a late Taj more three to tie the game in regulation. Bill, once you kick off with your quick players take on this Hofstra matchup.
00:06:07
Speaker
Okay. Hofstra, the Hofstra pride are four and one right now. They're, they're coached by, and a lot of you may recognize this name, Speedy Claxton. yeah He was the point guard at Hofstra from 96 to 2000, really good player there. In fact, he was a first round and NBA pick of the Philadelphia 76ers, a point guard played 10 years in the and NBA. He's coached in the NBA and, uh, this is starting his fourth year at Hofstra and after the first three years, 66 and 34. So he's had some success. He's a good coach and being a point guard, his teams are guard heavy and they're guard prolific. The the one problem with them this year is that they lost a bunch of players to the portal and
00:07:01
Speaker
They've brought in a lot of new players, but I'm not sure they're quite as good as what what they lost. yeah They're 4-1. They started out 4-0. They had the win versus Iona. They had the win versus Seton Hall. They won at UMass in overtime. They beat a team that maybe one of you can help me with. They're called OWB.
00:07:27
Speaker
There's there was no box score, I have no idea. I don't know. now like Division 63B, I have no clue. But they they did get taken apart, I think it was a couple nights ago, maybe it was last night, yeah by Florida State. This is always a pretty good offensive team and guard driven, I think. And Steve, I don't want to step on your feet, I think.
00:07:53
Speaker
right They're about 75th or so in Ken Palm and offense, I think about 120 or so and in D. They are a good team at forcing turnovers. And I've seen them picked anywhere from third to seventh in the Coastal Athletic Conference. They've really only got four players to speak of for this game. they're Their best player is a transfer from Iona, is a 6-3 shooting guard named ah Jean Arne Gurren.
00:08:24
Speaker
He's a good shooter. he He's led them in scoring in three of their five games. They've got a 6'4 shooting guard who's a transfer from Seton Hall named Jaquan Sanders. He is a shooter.
00:08:38
Speaker
another guard and like I said, there's a guard heavy team named Cruz Davis. He went to play for Rick Patino at Iona, then he followed Patino. Patino brought him to St. John's and and he just was outplayed by others and kind of got knocked out of the rotation there. So he's now playing for Hofstra. And the only other player oh I think is going to make any type of impact is a ah six, seven, it's kind of a small forward slash power forward. TJ Gadsden, he transferred from Canisius and
00:09:14
Speaker
He's been their leading rebounder, ah but 6-7 and he's leading them in rebounding, so this is not a big team. They move the ball pretty well. They have some good three-point shooters. They are not big, but they do attack the glass. I think R.D. is going to completely new neutralize their perimeter game.
00:09:33
Speaker
as they play right into our strength, we'll dominate them inside for sure. Yeah, and dominate them on the glass. And, and I think we're going to do a good job of limiting their three point productivity. And I think we're gonna even though they're good at force and turnovers, I think we we definitely win the turnover battle as we typically do. And I have us winning this game 8158. Okay, yeah, nice one. How about you, Tom, from a coach's view?
00:10:03
Speaker
Well, Hofstra did, you know, stay with Florida state for 25 minutes and then Florida state just warmed down the last, last 15 minutes. They play four out one in like Bill alluded to. They, they just have one big and they surround him with, uh, with four perimeters. They do have a little bit of length with those four guys. I think they go like six, three, six, four, six, seven. And I think six, one good three point shooting team. But then again, we're great at defending the three point.
00:10:34
Speaker
We're really good at the Garley pick and roll. So I do not see Hofstra shooting to three like their season percentage. Bill mentioned this too. They're going to struggle to defend us in the post. So I think Juwan JVA, JoJo should have a field day inside and um rebound would be a problem for them. They did have 20 turnovers against Florida State. So you can turn them over in Florida State, I think.
00:11:02
Speaker
at 23 points off those turnovers. So they're kind of loose with the ball. And that's not good when you're playing U of H because we're like a pack of wolves, you know, like sharks, the blood in the water were, uh, you know, on those turnovers were were, were converting. Yeah, I would agree with that. And the analytics looking at 2024 season ending numbers, as you guys had mentioned, you know, Hofstra was like one 13th in adjusted defensive efficiency.
00:11:31
Speaker
number 133 and adjusted offensive efficiency. And though we're only five games in this season with Hofstra, their stats are trending similarly this season.
00:11:42
Speaker
On O, a Hofstra has been just great at shooting the ball, ranking 16th in effective field goal percentage and being top 30 in both two-point shooting as well as three-point shooting percentages. Their main weakness on offense is actually offensive rebounding. So basically what you get is one shot and it's done every time down the court.
00:12:02
Speaker
Fortunately, we've got the number two effective field goal percentage D from last year that defends every shot. So the belief here is that we will be fine. On the flip side, Hofstra's D is not that great, ranking 113th last year in Ken Palm. And they were dismal at defending the three point shot, ranking 239th.
00:12:21
Speaker
And defensive rebounding, they were terrible as well at 2.13. So expect a feast for our big men on the boards and some stellar three-point shooting from our guards.
Focus Shift: Anticipating Alabama
00:12:30
Speaker
Based on the metrics, this is projected to be a 21-point win for the Cougs at home by Ken Palm. And I think it's actually going to be another metrics-busting win. So I've projected an 87, 56, 31-point win. So guys, now let's get to the big game that everyone has been anticipating, the Alabama game.
00:12:50
Speaker
where all of us are going to go into a little bit more detail. Tom, why don't you kick things off from a coach's perspective on the game? I see this as another March Madness type game, similar to the Auburn game. Both teams are going to come out slugging. It's going to be an intense game. And you can take Alabama's first couple of games, and you know they're not going to play down to the level. They struggle with McNeese State and Arkansas State. Both those games were at home. First real test they had was at Purdue, I think it was last Friday.
00:13:25
Speaker
They struggled with stopping Trey Kaufman ran for Purdue. He had 26 points, which is interesting because I'll get into that here in just a minute. Defensively, they they play drop coverage on the pick and roll. So that little push shot when we short roll, that little push shot should be available. Purdue's guards, I think his name's Braden Smith, really hurt Alabama's pick and roll defense. And then you look at their roster, they start three guys that are 6'11". That's unbelievable. They have a couple of guards, you know, you got Mark Sears point guard at 6'1", All-American. You have Wright cell at 6'3".
00:14:05
Speaker
And then you go with a 6-11-3 man and Jaron Stevenson. And then you go with another 6-11-4 man, Grant Nelson, the transfer from North Dakota State. And then The five man cliff. Oh, oh my Yuri. I think his name is, you know, he's 611. So it's interesting to spacing on that, you know, because there are five men will step out and set ball screens, but Grant Nelson as a four man. He'll also step out, set ball screens and sometimes he'll pick and pop. Sometimes he'll roll. So we start LJ at 6.1. We start those on at 6.4 and Emmanuel.
00:14:47
Speaker
6-3 on a good day. So it's going to be an interesting matchup. you know Who's going to guard Stevenson, the 6-11 wing? Should be interested in. Right now, I think Stevenson's 0 for 13 on threes. But he's he's not a bad three-point shooter. So you know those you know those percentages are going to go up. Nelson likes to shoot the three, shoots a couple of game. But his percentage you know is around the 30% range. But he is definitely a threat. so they push the ball, it's, it's pedal to the metal basketball. We're a great transition defensive team. So it's a very, very interesting, interesting matchup. I'll just talk about two guys off the bench. They have a LeBaron feed lawn at six, four. He was a, I think a four star guard. He originally committed at kas Kansas and then they, they went out and got a couple of guards and then he did committed it. And then he went to Alabama.
00:15:41
Speaker
And then they bring another big, big forward who also shoots threes, six, eight, two, 20. Not a bad three point shooter. I mean, it's a small sample size, but ah he's capable hitting the three two. So both teams got their work cut out for him. Nobody's going to pull any punches. Expect just a tremendous intensity in this game. Yeah, it should be a dog fight. How about you, Bill, from a player's perspective?
00:16:09
Speaker
Yeah, and I'll get into this in a second, but I'm i'm looking at the matchups ah potentially a little differently than you do, Tom, although you mentioned the guy that I'm going to a little bit more highlight. ah Alabama is my preseason number two. NATO is their coach. He has been referred to as a three-point centric coach and runs a three-point centric offense. So they've taken 112 threes, which is 28 a game in their first four games. they They started out with three blowouts, all versus cupcakes. The fourth game was Purdue, as you mentioned, Tom. They lost by nine and Grant Nelson fouled out of that game. Alabama had real trouble
00:16:56
Speaker
getting the ball into the paint and you mentioned the pick and roll, Tom. Offensively, they shot the three poorly and they allowed 87 points to a really average at best Purdue offense. If you saw them play Marquette last night,
00:17:12
Speaker
your mind would be boggled as to how they could put up 87 against anybody. But ah that should benefit us because Alabama is not a great defensive team. Alabama is going to get better as the season goes on, no question about it. But I think they're a little vulnerable right now. And this is crazy, but this is their current stretch of games or current schedule. They lost to number 13 Purdue at the time. Before us, they play number 25 Illinois. They play us. We're number seven. The next day they play number 24 Rutgers. Then they go to number 10 Carolina.
00:17:56
Speaker
and then they finish up with number 14, Creighton. I mean, that's just a brutal stretch of games, all ranked teams. Mark Sears is the guy who runs and controls everything. 6-1, senior point guard, first team, you mentioned him Tom, first team, all American, rated the number one point guard in the country. He's averaged 21 and a half points, four assists, 4.3, 4.2 rebounds last year.
00:18:24
Speaker
He had a poor shooting game against Purdue. Next guard, Littrell, Reitzel, you mentioned him, Tom 6-3. He is a great three-point shooter. He was 44.5% from the field last year. You do not want him to get hot. He is their shooter. I mean, they've got a lot of shooters, but he is number one. He mentioned Jaron Stevenson, Tom, the 611 forward. He's really only playing about, he's averaging about 10 to 13 minutes a game right now. The the freshman that you mentioned, LeBaron Phylon, he's getting a lot of minutes. He led them in scoring against Purdue. He is another really, really good shooter. Throughout high school, he
00:19:13
Speaker
rebounded the ball well. He he actually moved the ball well, had had a bunch of assists as well. So he he kind of does it all, and and he's going to get the bulk of the minute. So it's it's going to be more 6-1, 6-3, 6-4, which plays into Cryer, Uzon, and Sharp. Phylon, however, is turnover-prone. ah then Then you get to Grant Nelson, who is just a nightmare in terms of a matchup. I mean, 6-11,
00:19:42
Speaker
230 Like you said North Dakota State. He's a career 30 percent three-point shooter, but an absolute threat and Shoots close to 50 percent overall from the field. He grabs a lot of boards. He can block shots He moves. Well, he's he's athletic and it is he's exceptionally versatile and then the last guy I'll mention is Omer Yui, 6-11, 250 center. And he can score, but it's all going to be inside. He ah transferred in from Rutgers this year. He rebounds and block shots it. And that's what they need they need. They need more defense because that's that's been their problem. Hey, Bill. ah clifford Clifford, I'm a Yuri.
00:20:29
Speaker
Yeah, he led Rutgers in points rebounds and blocks last year. So Yeah, he's he's he's a good player. He's had a couple of games where he's I think the first two games of the season He didn't lead Alabama and scoring but he scored a double figures His points are all gonna come from right around the basket. Mm-hmm He's not a stretch player at all. He's an inside guy, but yeah, he's definitely a threat. I know we've got a lot to talk about, so we'll just leave ah with those players. This is a great offensive team. Likely, I'm assuming in Ken Palm, they've got to be top five offense from last year. Yeah, number two.
00:21:11
Speaker
Okay, number two. Yeah, defensively, defensively, even though they made it to the final four, they had 12 losses last year. So I'm guessing they probably didn't even crack Ken Palm's top 100 defensively, no but did not. Oh, okay. Well, good for me. This team shoots a ton of threes. Like I mentioned, 28 a game through four games.
00:21:35
Speaker
The problem with really blanketing the arc is that they've also got inside scores. And we just talked about Omar Yui in addition to Nelson and in addition to Stevenson off the bench, or well, Stevenson starts, but he's going to be playing like a bench player. So they've, they've got scoring everywhere.
00:21:59
Speaker
but they do like to focus on the three. If we can defend the three well, if if we hit the boards, ah especially when they miss, because there there will be some long rebounds with all the threes they take, and we take advantage of Sharpcrier, Ouzan, Arsenault on the perimeter, I think we're right there. If Roberts, Francis, Tuggler can cause Omer-Yui and Nelson to pick up fouls like Nelson did,
00:22:28
Speaker
in their loss to Purdue, then I think we're good. And like I mentioned, Sears spearheads everything offensively, and and this will be a huge task for Uzon and probably Cryer as well. I think if we can keep Alabama's three-point field goal percentage below 35% for the game, I think we win, and I think we will win. I have us winning 85-78. Oh, wow.
00:22:58
Speaker
even bigger margin than what's anticipated. and Okay, so from an analytics perspective, looking at 24 season ending numbers, again, UH was number 19th in adjusted offensive efficiency. Bama, as you had highlighted, Bill, was outside the top 100 at 111. On the flip side, UH was the number two adjusted defensive efficiency team in the country, while Bama, again, number two in offense.
00:23:26
Speaker
In my opinion, Bama along with Yukon has been the toughest to guard of any team these past few seasons. On offense, Alabama challenges you in every single way. I mean, their effective field goal percentage was 10th, their top 20 in both three-point and two-point shooting. Free throws are great as well.
00:23:46
Speaker
there's literally nowhere to hide on D versus Alabama. Now our number two effective field goal percentage D from last year that defends every shot will be thoroughly tested. We really haven't faced anything quite like this maybe since I guess the Baylor games last year but even Baylor I don't think is as challenging as Alabama. But something's got to give. And if we can just slow them down, as you guys had mentioned, I think we've got a shot. On the flip side, Alabama's deal was not great last season, again at 111. But if you look at this year, they're trending better so far at number 48 in Kenbom.
00:24:26
Speaker
Alabama is starting to focus more on defending the two-point shot, lowering their effective field goal percentage D to now a respectable number 48 ranking in the country, with two-point percentage D ranking number 59th. But they are having issues defending the perimeter, so expect our bigs to challenge them inside to really open things up for our wings to really challenge their foot speed on the perimeter.
00:24:51
Speaker
Based on the metrics, this is projected to be a five point win for the Cougs by Ken Palm. I think it's actually going to be a lot closer. I'm still picking us to win, but I think we're only going to win by one point 78, 77.
Looking Ahead: Notre Dame Matchup
00:25:05
Speaker
Now, let's get to the big Notre Dame game as well, where and I know it might appear to be a little bit more of a downer right after the Bama game.
00:25:15
Speaker
but they've been doing much better than the Notre Dame of past. And so Bill, why don't you provide your players perspective on the Notre Dame matchup? Well, Notre Dame has been picked. I've seen them picked as high as number nine and as low as number 13 in the 18 now 18 team ACC.
00:25:37
Speaker
I do see them closer to 9 or 10. Their coach is Micah Shrewsberry, who's in his second year after coming over from Penn State. He's 13 and 20 last year. This kind of leads into something that you guys talked about a year ago. I can remember when you two previewed the Big 12 and previewed BYU and said, well, BYU's got a ton of players back. Unfortunately, they've got a ton of players back. Referring to the fact that they were all awful players, which, which well, well, we were wrong last year ah for BYU.
00:26:15
Speaker
Notre Dame's in a similar spot. They're returning four starters from a really mediocre team. They're returning 85% of their scoring. So in terms of continuity anyway, this should benefit them.
00:26:30
Speaker
Their main issues last year, in addition to an overall overall lack of talent, was really, really poor shooting, really, really poor ball handling, a lot of turnovers. So far this year, they are 4-0, but every single game has been a walkover. They escape Alabama in Vegas, but they get us and they get number 24 Rutgers. Good luck with that. I'm not going to dissect Notre Dame's results so far. and Yeah, I'll touch upon a few players, although I will say that Notre Dame, they're probably their best win is over the University of Buffalo, who I've seen unanimously picked dead last in the Mid-American. ha In terms of their players, this is almost, in a sense,
00:27:22
Speaker
somewhat. It's going to be a little bit like Alabama and only in regard to one player. Their best player is their point guard. His name is Marcus Burton. He's a 5'11 guard. He tested the NBA waters, but he decided to come back so far to to begin the season. He's leading them in scoring rebounding at 511 assists and steals. He is a really good player. ah However, he does turn the ball over 20 points per game, six boards, five and a third assists, two steals. But to begin the year, and this was a problem for him last year as well, he's shooting 26% from three. He and Mark Sears will be a challenge for Yuuzhan and Cryer.
00:28:12
Speaker
Notre Dame runs a basically a three-guard offense. ah Their other starting guard is the coach's son, Braden, and Strewsbury. And ah he's a 6'3 shooting guard. He is so far to begin the year i averaging 13 points. ah He's hitting 50% from the field, but only a third of his three is another sophomore. To help them with their three-point shooting, they brought in a 6'4 shooting guard from Princeton, Matt,
00:28:40
Speaker
a local right now he's he's at eight points a game but he's hit six of 10 threes so far he was 43 last year ah this kid can shoot then they've got up front kind of a swing man 6'9", 210 pound, Tay Davis. He's averaging 14.3.6 boards. He draws a lot of fouls. He gets a lot of his points at the line. And then the last guy I'll mention is a guy named Keba Najai, 6'10", 250,
00:29:15
Speaker
forward center, he's a rebounder, very little scoring, everything he does is going to be inside. Surprisingly, for a team that can't shoot and turns the ball over so far this season, and as I mentioned, they've played nobody. ah They're shooting 53% to start the season, 34.5% from three, only 10.8, basically 11 turnovers per game. They're in for a huge, huge change. and in terms of talent and and opposition when they face us. We play solid D. We win this game by a dozen points. We play great D. We dominate the boards. We take advantage of our athleticism. We move the ball.
00:29:59
Speaker
And it doesn't even matter how well we shoot. We'll get offensive boards, we'll get putbacks, we'll draw fouls, and we beat them pretty easily. We shoot even remotely well, and it's going to be a blowout. I have us winning by 23, 86, 63. Oh, 23. Okay, cool. Tom, how about from a coach's perspective? What do you think of Notre Dame? Well, I watched a little bit of their North Dakota game, which was, ah I believe, a couple of days ago. And you know Like Bill alluded to, their schedule has been in Cupcake City so far and it's you know it's kind of difficult to get um thoughts on them. Defensively, they play pretty conservative. They they guard the arc. My guess is because their lack of foot speed, they just want to keep the ball out of the paint, you know keep the ball in front of them. So my guess ah is they don't create a whole bunch of turnovers.
00:30:51
Speaker
Hard to say yeah, it's it's just too tough right now without having played anybody With their strengths or with their weaknesses are it's almost It's almost when you watch them North Dakota game. It was the place was like a morgue. It was like a library, you know ah You know, they don't do a whole lot of stuff that's gonna get the crowd, you know crowd into the game So, you know, but you never know. I mean they're they're d1 players. They're in a power conference if we come off that Alabama game and we're a little bit flat. You know, you never know. We could be in for a dog fight, but if we take care of business, you know, I think we should be beating pretty handily. I think that's the only thing to be concerned about is is playing a Alabama the day before. Hopefully it and and this shouldn't be a ah motivating factor at any point in time, but but there is a little money involved in this tournament. So yeah, so maybe that.
00:31:48
Speaker
ah will help to motivate us after the Alabama win. No, you're right. I forgot all about that. So yeah, also, we'll keep the kids focused. You know, having a deep bench guys, you know, with, ah you know, some of our starters are sure tired, you know, the next night, then Kelvin can go several guys on the bench deep and not see a whole lot of difference. As far as the talent level goes, when you bring Jojo and Terrence and Ramon off the bench, you don't exactly drop off a whole lot.
00:32:18
Speaker
Yeah, you're right. And they they have to play back-to-back games. Oh, and Mercy. You got to throw in Mercy in there, too. you know Now, I mean, from an analytics perspective, you look at 24 and Notre Dame was actually very, very strong on defensive end of the year at number 39th and adjusted defensive efficiency. And they had to be to even win any games because on offense, they were atrocious ranking 234th and thirty fourth in adjusted offensive efficiency. But as you guys both mentioned, Notre Dame is a super tough read this season because we're four games in,
00:32:52
Speaker
And their stats are trending way up this season, especially on offense. So they're at number 55 currently. And again, I know they haven't really played anyone, but still 55th and adjusted offensive efficiency while still maintaining number 58 in adjusted defensive efficiency on ah offense. Notre Dame was just terrible at everything last year.
00:33:17
Speaker
So honestly, last year they just tried to play tough D, slow things down to a crawl in order just not to get killed too badly every night. Looking at this year's trends, they've really upped their game ranking 29th in effective field goal percentage, shooting exceptionally well from two point range ranking 16th and at the free throw line where they're 38th in the country.
00:33:40
Speaker
Our number two effective field goal percentage D will be up to the challenge though because quite honestly as you guys had both mentioned Notre Dame has not experienced anything quite like it. Especially with Francis now rounding into shape, his combination with Tugler will really provide a shock to the system for the Irish.
00:34:00
Speaker
On the flip side, Notre Dame's D was great last season at 33 and still good again this year. Notre Dame is starting to focus more on defending the two point shot, lowering their effective vehicle percentage D, but they are having issues now defending the perimeter. So expect our bigs to challenge to them inside to really open things up for our wings to challenge their foot speed as well on the perimeter. Based on the metrics, this is expected to be an 11 point win by the Cougs by Ken Palm.
00:34:30
Speaker
I think it's going to be by a bigger margin. So I've projected a 78, 61, 17 point win.
Conclusion & Call to Action
00:34:37
Speaker
So and not quite as big a margin as you, Bill, but still a pretty sizable win margin.
00:34:41
Speaker
ah Come on, have some confidence in your cougs. I figure in game two, we'll actually see quite a bit of our bench play, which will be nice. I think we'll still kill them, but it'll be a nice opportunity for our bench kids to get some meaningful minutes against a good team, right? Well, well I do too. Yeah.
00:35:01
Speaker
Okay guys, so that's it for our 33rd episode of the no-conference Roman podcast. Hope you all enjoyed it. And again, we'd really appreciate it if folks would follow, subscribe or collect our podcast, depending on your podcast platform of choice. We are also available via the Republican football podcast feed from the folks at Dave Campbell's, Texas football as the only basketball centric podcast. We're at the Goku's.com website for those that prefer to digest the content that way.
00:35:28
Speaker
We appreciate the continued support from all. Also, please give us a follow on our Twitter account, no conference for old men. Thank you all again for listening and be on the lookout next week to download and listen as our next episode drops. Take care everyone.