What's the Gameplan for Stanford?

[nyg]

How does TC plan the match ups with the Lopez twins.  With both at 7 feet and going about 250, does he run up-tempo in the hopes on tiring them down on offense and then go to a zone on defense?   

Mention a zone in view of the fact against Syracuse, Dontae Green at 6 feet 11 was guarded by McNeal without much success.

[77ncaachamps]

Drive, initiate contact and draw fouls. Drive and kick out.
Pressure on D, get high # of TOs leading to fastbreaks.
Block out on the Lopez twins...BODY up and BANG!
Drive, drive, drive.

This game is going to have to be one where we have our BEST shooting game EVER...and this includes burying a high % of our FTs.

[HarveysWallbangers]

Laugh if you want, but Barro is going to be a big factor on offense. He is way above average in running the floor and we can use him to make those pituitary cases work on defense

[NavinRJohnson]

Let Brooke Lopez get his on offense.
Run at every opportunity.
Drive and kick.
Rebound.
Make shots and we're on to Houston.

[tower912]

Pressure the guards, contest every entry pass, box out, make some 3's

[MUFanInGreenBay]

Get the ball to Hayward and let him posterize one of those twins. That will take the Tree's out of their game for good.

[BrewCity83]

...and when the big goofs get the ball, collapse a man and swat the ball out.

[ChicosBailBonds]

How does TC plan the match ups with the Lopez twins.  With both at 7 feet and going about 250, does he run up-tempo in the hopes on tiring them down on offense and then go to a zone on defense?   

Mention a zone in view of the fact against Syracuse, Dontae Green at 6 feet 11 was guarded by McNeal without much success.

Hire Tanya Harding and her crew to take out the Lopez boys

[only a warrior]

Just win baby.....

[mustever]

Pressure,Pressure,and more pressure!

[Chili]

Score more points than the other team.

[BaltimoreMC]

On ball pressure.  One of the best post defenses is to pressure the guy feeding the post & make it difficult for the big to get the ball in good position.  Attack the rim - drive & kick.  Don't settle for the semicontested 3 early in the shot clock.  No stupid fouls.  That and tie up Tim Higgins & throw him in a closet if he gets w/in 50 miles of the arena. 

[NavinRJohnson]

That and tie up Tim Higgins & throw him in a closet if he gets w/in 50 miles of the arena. 

I assume by closet you mean a river, ocean, or large lake.

[NYWarrior]

Aggressively run plays for Lazar inside and out -- mainly the latter, and force Stanford to decide if they wanna have one of the Lopez twins chase him around all game long.  NFW can they do that...and even if they zone up, Lazar's height will help get decent shots on the seams of the zone.  Jim Calhoun refused to go smaller on Novak and he lived to regret it.......see if Stanford blinks and goes small, thereby inching them out of their comfort zone and taking away their key advantage.

Regardless, trust that MU's smaller, quicker, more athletic team will hit a few shots (Stanford does not defend the trey well) -- and realize that the Cardinal will not force you out of a flow on offense (among the worst in the nation at turning opponents over).

Force Stanford to choose.  MU won't have to make a choice.

[shaquilvaine]

Spread the court by playing Fitz and Hayward on the perimeter in an attempt to bring the goons out.  Then strike the middle with Jerel and Wes penetrating.  Allow Burke to foul out at the 6 minute mark of the first half. 

[mviale]

tough tough game for us - Stanford is very versatile

[TallTitan34]

Don't have Maurice go for the lay in.

[Markusquette]

Spread the court by playing Fitz and Hayward on the perimeter in an attempt to bring the goons out.  Then strike the middle with Jerel and Wes penetrating.  Allow Burke to foul out at the 6 minute mark of the first half. 

Imagine Fitzgerald trying to guard one of the Lopez brothers

[mviale]

quick athletic teams beat us - louisville, syracuse, uconn.  Big teams have trouble with us - gtown, pitt, wisconsin and notre dame.

[Big Papi]

Barro has proven that he can defend the low post against bigger players.  I thought he did a great job against Hibbert but that Hibbert made some really tough shots.  Our perimeter defense needs to make the entry pass difficult.  That leaves the Hayward matchup with Robin Lopez key.  Can Lazar defend Lopez?  Can Lopez defend Lazar?  We will in all likelihood probably help double down whenever Robin Lopez gets the ball down low on Lazar.  Will Stanford hit their 3 point shots?  If they don't Stanford will find it difficult to score initially and will have to rely on second and third chances.

In order for us to score points we need to create turnovers which is a given but we also need to hit the 3 ball.  We are not going to be able to drive into the lane like we did against Kentucky as Kentucky swatted a ton of our shots but the strategy was successful due to the number of fouls we got on them.  Lopez twins can just stand there and block/alter shots so I dont see them getting into foul trouble and most likely we will not get second and third opportunities.

So if we hit our 3 pointers/perimeter shots and create turnovers we should at least have a chance to win.  This is the game where we need Fitz and Cube to step up so we don't have to rely on McNeal and James launching 3s.   

[sigep80]

I believe the key will be how our guards finish the dribble penetration opportunities. 

If they tray and avoid blocks and toss the ball towards the basket, shooting % will be horrible and we lose.  If the guards take it to the rim, and force the Stanford bigs to make a play on the ball, we will end up getting our fair share of fouls and getting their bigs sent to the bench.  Take it to them, posterize them, make them foul you!!

Then we need to make FT like we did yesterday!!!