Had to have time to digest this one, because it is a lot to digest. I thought Alabama played well overall offensively. Got pretty much what they wanted, just didn’t knock down a lot of shots. Defensively I thought the first shot defense was very good. Best that I have seen, but they’re got dominated on the offensive boards. Just a lot of ball watching while RMU players attacked the ball. That can’t happen. I think Alabama thought they had the advantage everywhere and would have an easy go at it.
This game reminded me a lot of the Iona game 4 years ago. Slept walked, got pushed, but found a way. Then the next game they flexed their muscles on Maryland. I think you could see something similar. St Mary’s isn’t a bad team, but they’re not great. They play very slow, they’ve played overall very weak competition so it’s hard to gauge how good they are. They’ve beaten Gonzaga twice, but it’s the worst Gonzaga team in two decades. I personally don’t see them matching up with us well in the backcourt, and our athleticism in the front court will give them a lot of problems. They struggled against Vandy’s pace today, and Alabama Vandy on steroids.
This game reminded me a lot of the Iona game 4 years ago. Slept walked, got pushed, but found a way. Then the next game they flexed their muscles on Maryland. I think you could see something similar. St Mary’s isn’t a bad team, but they’re not great. They play very slow, they’ve played overall very weak competition so it’s hard to gauge how good they are. They’ve beaten Gonzaga twice, but it’s the worst Gonzaga team in two decades. I personally don’t see them matching up with us well in the backcourt, and our athleticism in the front court will give them a lot of problems. They struggled against Vandy’s pace today, and Alabama Vandy on steroids.
