After wrapping up the preseason with a 2-0 record the Crusaders take their show on the road in the opening round of the 2K Classic benefitting Coaches vs. Cancer at #16 Arizona. The preseason answered some questions and opened up a few others. No team benefitted from the preseason more then Coach Drew and his new look Crusaders. The teamed showed much improvement from game one to game two, but with room to grow these next few weeks will be imparitive before starting the Horizon League season with an early December game at Butler.
About the opponent:
Arizona comes in ranked at #16 in both the AP and Coaches poll. The Wildcats have not played well in their two preseason games, losing the first and needing a late rally to pull out the second. Two guys to watch are forward Jesse Perry (6'7'' Senior) and center Kyryl Natyazhko (6'11'' Junior). Both of these guys know how to rebound and score and will be a handful for the Crusader big men.
If Valpo wants to give this blogger a birthday present and come away with a victory.....
* The new faces of Will Bogan and Richie Edwards will need to have similar offensive outputs that they produced against Augustana.
* The Crusaders must slow the speed of the Arizona guards and limit the number of trips to the foul line the Wildcats get. They don't necessarily shoot them well, but in their last preseason game they got there a bunch.
* Valpo needs to find the touch from the outside early and often. It is no secret that VU teams like to shoot the deep ball. I think they will need to be connecting on 35-40% of their three point attempts to have a real shot at winning.
* Quick double teams and rotations. The defense needs to recognize when to double the post and when that double comes the perimeter guys cannot be a step slow in their rotations.
* Rebounding, the Crusaders must win the rebounding battles on both ends of the court.
Prediction: Arizona has struggled in their two preseason games losing the first one by a point and winning the second game by nine. Valpo is better than both of those teams. However, I think Valpo comes out shooting the ball poorly in the first half (ala the game at Butler last season) and digs themselves too big of a hole to overcome. Also, the interior size and strength of Arizona will prove too much for the Crusader big guys. Valpo does play better in the second half and makes a game of it. In the end, Arizona pulls out the victory 68-59. Be sure to watch the game on ESPN3.com!
" Two guys to watch are forward Jesse Perry (6'7'' Senior) and center Kyryl Natyazhko (6'11'' Junior). Both of these guys know how to rebound and score and will be a handful for the Crusader big men."
ReplyDeleteNeither of the these players are scorers. Natyazhko just takes up space and is a decent re bounder but has no offensive game at all.
Perry can score but he does most it while hustling loose balls and rebounds. The offense doesn't run through him.
The problem with Arizona now is its a very young team and the returning players are being asked to play new roles with Derrick Williams and Momo Jones gone. They are just going to struggle at the start of the season till everyone get use to the new roles.
Look for Solomon Hill and Kyle Fogg to be the focus of the offence. The two freshman backcourt players Josh Turner and Nick Johnson have the talent to dominate their positions but to expect it in their first college game isn't likely.
Thanks for the comment. I think Valpo can do a good job on the Arizona guards. I'm more worried about their size and our lack of ability to match up with them. Regardless, I'm excited to see how it all plays out here in a few hours.
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