Samuels

[MauraDay]

How do we stop him from having his career high tonight? Or, is it okay if he does as long as the rest of the team is defended well?

[willie warrior]

Just kick their butt.

[Benny B]

Dang... I clicked on this topic hoping he had made some sort of "guaranteed win" prediction.

Oh well.

You play Louisville the same way you've played Notre Dame the last couple years... let Samuels/Harangody get his points and shut down the rest of the team.

[thanooj]

stop samuels by stepping on his feet.

all game long in the paint, step on his feet.

it's the best i got.

[Shack]

Pull his shorts down every time he tries posting up

[CrazyEcho]

1. Get him into early foul trouble as he tries to defend Butler/Hayward off the bounce.

2. Force a turnover before they can get him the ball. 

3. Front him and have good weak-side help. 

4. Forcefully double down and grab at the ball as soon as he gets it if we're not fronting. 

[MauraDay]

good work, crazy echo. just one more to add possibly...

5. if possible, force him to catch it away from the block. (don't let him establish position down low.)

[JakeBarnes]

6.  Stream "Party in the USA" on repeat. 

[lab_warrior]

1. Get him into early foul trouble as he tries to defend Butler/Hayward off the bounce.

2. Force a turnover before they can get him the ball. 

3. Front him and have good weak-side help. 

4. Forcefully double down and grab at the ball as soon as he gets it if we're not fronting. 

+1 here, especially on points #1 and #3..  Same way we defended Monroe, the 'Cuse diesel-duo of Jackson and Onuaku, Pena, and hopefully whichever Clearsil-needing ND ogre they start at the 5.

[dwaderoy2004]

Samuels is soft.  You give him something to think about, and he tends to shrink away.  Pitino has had to bench him a couple times this year for this reason.  Just play him tough, nothing easy.  Although, I don't care if Samuels gets 30 tonight.  Just guard the perimeter and don't let louisville get open looks from three.  That's how they bury opponents. 

[muballer10]

1. Get him into early foul trouble as he tries to defend Butler/Hayward off the bounce.

2. Force a turnover before they can get him the ball. 

3. Front him and have good weak-side help. 

4. Forcefully double down and grab at the ball as soon as he gets it if we're not fronting. 

I think if we get any combination (or either) of 1 or 4, this game swings HEAVILY in our favor. Thinking about Samuels catching the ball down low and setting himself shares the hell out of me.

On the flip side of the coin, I'm assuming that Lazar is going to be guarding him? Slick Rick is obviously going to feed Samuels all night, and we CANNOT afford the luxury of Zar getting a couple quick fouls. 

[Windyplayer]

Butler can get any big man into foul trouble including Samuels. His aggressive moves to the rim tonight could have huge implications.

[Clam Crowder]

How did we prevent Monroe from having his career high. Samuels is not as highly regarded as Monroe, but yet we maintained him at home very well. Many don't even think he is NBA caliber like Monroe certainly is. He is slow, and we are a fast break team. What we allow on offense will be returned with fast break points. We are fast, and we don't have a bench, but we have heart and we'll pull this out

[MauraDay]

I thought that Gtown didn't press their advantage enough w/ Monroe and should have gone to him more often.

[flash]

Samules will get his points, we just need to shut down the rest of their team... I just hope we don't loose on a game winning buzzer beater, we tend to do that a lot against Louisvile.  Tonights game is huge. 

[MarquetteDano]

In terms of getting Samuels in foul trouble it may happen but just remember Louisville will probably play that 2-3 zone quite a bit today so getting Samuels "off the bounce" will be rare.

Louisville isn't that good of an offensive team.  Samuels will score his points.  Like some have posted, we need to stop everyone else especially dribble penetration from their guards.  It's Ville's defense that scares me (we haven't scored over 61 points on them in a loooong time).

We need to hit our outside shots tonight as that zone does leave openings.  We just need to make sure to get to the free throw line or deeper and kick it out.

[Henry Sugar]

Louisville's defense is actually not that good this year (#80 overall).  In fact, it's worse than our defense (#53).

They force a bunch of turnovers, but allow opponents to grab a bunch of offensive rebounds and get to the line a lot.  Their defensive eFG% is pedestrian, because mostly they allow teams to shoot fairly well from three against them.

It's their offense that has been good.  They crash the offensive glass hard (#12 overall).  Bad news for us... they are great at making two-point baskets, but not so solid at three pointers.  They are fairly sloppy with the ball, though.  About average overall but wildly varied.

Even in their recent "surge", UL hasn't been good defensively.  In the month of Feb (6-2), they only held two opponents under 1.00 ppp.

Pray for a soft rim and make it rain from downtown.  Marquette should launch 20+ threes tonight.

[Rocco]

This game has disaster written all over it.  I don't see any way Cubillan and Acker keep Knowles and Sosa out of the lane.  Either Samuels is going to get about 20 lay ups or Hayward and Butler will both have 3 fouls by halftime, either way, I think this one will be ugly.  Not trying to be doom and gloom, but I don't see us keeping this one within 10.  Hope I'm wrong!  We need this one!

[ChicosBailBonds]

This game has disaster written all over it.  I don't see any way Cubillan and Acker keep Knowles and Sosa out of the lane.  Either Samuels is going to get about 20 lay ups or Hayward and Butler will both have 3 fouls by halftime, either way, I think this one will be ugly.  Not trying to be doom and gloom, but I don't see us keeping this one within 10.  Hope I'm wrong!  We need this one!

Unless we play zone

[Rocco]

We don't rebound well as it is, not sure I would play a zone.  L'ville may have more offensive rebounds than we have defensive if we zone.  Only hope is to double down, force some turnovers, and hope that the Ville isn't on with their wide open threes.  If they are cold we win, if not, we get blown out.

[ChicosBailBonds]

We don't rebound well as it is, not sure I would play a zone.  L'ville may have more offensive rebounds than we have defensive if we zone.  Only hope is to double down, force some turnovers, and hope that the Ville isn't on with their wide open threes.  If they are cold we win, if not, we get blown out.

Louisville doesn't seem to rebound that well in the games I've seen them play....they were absolutely clobbered on the boards on Sunday.  Maybe that was an aberration. 

[Rocco]

UConn kills everyone on the boards.  We got outrebounded 41-18 and beat them.  I wouldn't use Uconn as a reference for how L'Ville rebounds.

[TJ]

+1 here, especially on points #1 and #3..  Same way we defended Monroe, the 'Cuse diesel-duo of Jackson and Onuaku, Pena, and hopefully whichever Clearsil-needing ND ogre they start at the 5.

But the 'Cuse diesel-duo of Jackson and Onuaku had their way with us.  Let's hope we don't defend him like that.

[MarquetteDano]

Unless we play zone

We could also play the sagging man to man which we have played from time to time.  Not everyone on Looeyvilee can hit their outside shots so defenders on those players simply sag in the lane a little more.

[MarquetteDano]

Louisville's defense is actually not that good this year (#80 overall).  In fact, it's worse than our defense (#53).

I know what the stats say but I am suspicious.  They have not shown up a lot in their games but when they do they clamp down.  I hope you are right because we can't seem to score against Louisville in recent years.