First Look at Eastern Kentucky-Maryland

by Ben Broman on Dec 9, 2009 8:32 PM EST in Basketball

Crowdsourcing: that's my type of thing. Reader jellisjenius already gave a quick preview of Eastern Kentucky, so if you want it short and sweet, I'd suggest you check that out.

To rehash some of his points, Eastern Kentucky does one thing well, and they do it extremely well: shoot the ball. One of the best teams from 3 in the nation, EKU has plenty of shooters: four of their starters shoot above 40% from beyond the arc. They're seventh in the entire country in eFG%, and shoot above 40% from 3 as a team.

They're also a slow-down team, with one of the slowest tempos in the country. As a mid-major, that makes sense: time and the 3-pointer are both talent equalizers. Make the game shorter and make your baskets worth more, and you have a chance.

They're yet to get down an impressive win and lost to both Pittsburgh and Murray State, but their shooting makes them a dangerous team. They tend to take care of the ball, too, and their offensive efficiency would be good for a high-major, let alone a mid-major. Offensively, they could be dangerous.

Maryland will probably go man-to-man or use an extended zone to bother EKU's shooters. Unlike Villanova, however, the zone probably won't kill Maryland in rebounding: EKU's 314th in the nation in offensive rebounding %, and even worse defensively. Much of that can be attributed to their size, or lack thereof - they have big guards but very small forwards, and most everyone falls into a 6-4 to 6-7 range. Jordan Williams may feast.

Aside from terrible rebounding on both ends, they're at best average defensively. As long as they don't make all their ridiculous shots - which would be plenty surprising - Maryland should be able to win comfortably.

I do, however, have an interesting tidbit about Eastern Kentucky's mascot: they're the Colonels. As in, Colonel Sanders. The logo bears a striking resemblance to Harland himself, and when the name was instituted - 1963 - KFC was at the top of its game. If there's an Eastern Kentuckian that would set us straight here, I'd really appreciate it, because I'm pretty sure that EKU named their university's mascot after this guy.

Or, of course, it could be a more general reference to the "Kentucky Colonel" title, but then why make him look like Sanders?

Regardless, if I were forced to make a wager, I'd bet three wings that Maryland wins by at least double-digits and Jordan Williams earns his second double-double on the year.

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Stopping the 3 pointers

I was surprised that Gary stuck with the man-to-man as long as he did against Nova. Gary had everyone working on perimeter defense for the zone during warmups, i.e., keeping their arms up and jumping at shooters. Nova wasn’t doing anything special in the first half against the man-to-man. They cleared the floor on one side and just went 2 on 2 on the other, usually the right side. As quickly as Reynolds et al could create space, they put up a shot. They were so fast and shooting so well that even quicker teams than us would have had trouble stopping them. The zone was much better. The strength of the 1-2-2 is on the perimeter but it is especially tough with tall guards like Grevis. Gary had Jordan and Grevis on side where Nova was taking most of their 3’s. I know the game was fast paced and all of the players were tired in second half, but the zone also worked well. It will be interesting to see how much he uses it against EK and W&M. The big weakness in the 1-2-2 is that it is not good for rebounding.

by wmterp on Dec 9, 2009 10:39 PM EST reply actions

Good points wmterp...

That 1-2-2 zone, combined with a strange ineptitude in coming up with loose balls, seemed to doom our otherwise impressive comeback. I hope GW will be quicker to move to that zone if needed, since EK is unlikely to exploit the rebounding vulnerability as well as Nova did.

I guess the biggest thing I’m looking/hoping for in this game is for the Terps to come out fired up and ready to run the offense. It seems like every game they’ve come out making halfhearted 1-on-1 moves and weak passes in the first half.

by jellisjenius on Dec 10, 2009 1:39 PM EST reply actions

Thanks

As to the loose balls, Wright coaches the Nova players to get a hand on the ball to keep it in play if they can’t pull it down. Sutton, Pena, et al were doing it. It looked like volleyball at times, plus they are good at getting to anything that hit the floor. Nova is not that big and that is their game. Jordan, Greivis, and Sean actually did a good job of controlling rebounds once they got their hands on it. I’d like to see Landon get better.

As to why we are starting slow, I think we were surprised by Nova’s speed at the start of the game. They were nailing 3’s before we could get into our defense. As to start of the second half, I don’t have any idea. We just looked flat until we made that comeback. I was just pleased to see us come back as a team. We are making real progress. I think Gary is excited about their potential. I am really looking forward to seeing how well we come togtether the next few games.

by wmterp on Dec 10, 2009 11:15 PM EST reply actions