I'll leave most of the statistical analysis to Henry Sugar, but the more in-depth I look at this match up, the more I'm starting to like our chances.
-Stanford is a very good team, no question. The Lopez twins will give MU fits, no doubt.
-But...Stanfords very glaring weakness is MU's absolute strength, turning the ball over. Stanford was one of the worst teams in the Pac 10 at both turning the ball over offensively and at creating turnovers on the defensive end.
-No team in the Pac 10 made fewer 3 pointers than the Cardinal.
-As good as the Lopez twins are, this team really goes as their point guard Mitch Johnson goes. Most of Stanford's losses were against teams with good guard play. In their 3 losses to UCLA, Johnson went for 7 pts and 4 TO's, 10 pts and 5 TO's, 9 pts 1 TO.
Stanford is most comparable to Wisconsin, no question. It'll be interesting to see if Crean will come out with some type of half court trap or more pressure in the back court to cause turnovers. Stanford will obviously have a huge advantage on the boards, and I would imagine Crean will try to spread the floor on offense and give MU room to operate and create. Marquette did an outstanding job of this yesterday vs Kentucky and against Notre Dame a week ago.
Should be a great game.
