Coaching Match-Up Analysis of Friday's NCAA Men’s Tournament Games
Mar 19, 2021 9:18 pm
Coach ,
Love this time of year.
March Madness!!
Hope you are ready for all the ups and downs the next few weeks will have in store. We already have seen 4 great games, (Coaches who spoke for you all at a virtual clinic went 3-0, just saying), and I am sure today will not disappoint.
Excited to break down today’s games.
Florida vs. Virginia Tech
Neither team is playing their best basketball heading into the tournament but this what you can expect from these two teams:
Florida will run their spread ball screen and mixed up their defenses
Coach McCall a former assistant of Billy Donovan and Head Coach of UMass breaking downing the spacing for the Spread Ball Screen
VT will run lots of misdirections and Iverson cuts to create an advantage on the offensive end
Colgate vs. Arkansas
Arkansas plays with an uptempo style of play and are Coach Musselman who has had some recent success in the tournament with Nevada. Coach Musselman teams run a pro style offense with a family of plays.
Both teams love to shoot the 3, so the question becomes can Colgate contain Arkansas’s athleticism and keep it close? Arkansas coach Eric Musselman has always been able to make the right adjustments for his players ability. Here is a clip where he discusses his offensive philosophy based on your team.
Colgate, according to KenPom data, is the No. 3 three-point shooting team nationally at 40%. Only Baylor and South Dakota State shot better as a team from beyond the arc.
Oral Roberts vs. Ohio State
Oral Roberts will be running a lot of ball screens and run pick and pop actions, as they have a couple shooters shooting over 40% from 3 point range.
Ohio State Coach Holtmann’s team always run great stuff on the offensive side of the ball dating back to his days at Butler. They execute on the offense and play tough stingy defense in the rough Big Ten. Be on the lookout for them to make it deep into the tournament.
Utah State vs. Texas Tech
Utah State - Will look to control the game on the boards as they are one of the top teams in the country on the offensive and defensive boards.
Texas Tech - Will challenge Utah State’s ball screen coverages as they set the most ball screens in the nation. They use a ball screen attack to create an advantage.
Hartford vs. Baylor
Baylor - has the top shooting team in the tournament from 3 point range. They do a fantastic job with their player development. Their guards are tough and highly skilled post players. In this clip below you can see Baylor Asst. Coach Jerome Tang does with their guards to penetrate on offense.
Wisconsin vs. North Carolina
Wisconsin - The Badgers play decent defense, but struggle offensively, especially on the interior. The only way Wisconsin can score is from beyond the arc, where they attempt nearly 25 3s per game and make them at a 36% clip.
Wisconsin scores more than 40% of its total points from deep because the Badgers shoot just 46.3% from 2-point range, which ranks around 300th in the country.
The way to beat North Carolina’s defense is from behind the arc.
The Tar Heels are giving up almost 35% from behind the arc and 34% of opposing teams’ points this season have come from 3-point range, which is well above the NCAA average.
Wisconsin not only shoots 3s up at a high rate, but it also hits a high percentage, so this is not an ideal matchup for North Carolina defensively.
North Carolina Roy Williams teams are always known for their transition attack the Carolina Break.
Expect North Carolina to dominate offensive rebounds. The Tar Heels are the best team in the country when it comes to offensive rebounds, picking up 41.3 percent of their misses.
North Texas vs. Purdue
North Texas - Go North Texas. We may be a little bias here because Coaches Clinic team member and North Texas GA Marek Hulva will be on the sideline. We may know too much so just look out for Marek.
Purdue - Coach Painter’s team is always tough to defend, they like to use a lot of stagger screens to free up their shooters and gritty on defense.
Winthrop vs. Villanova
Villanova will look to disrupt the flow of the Winthrop offense with his Multiple Defenses, especially with their 1-2-2 Press. On offense, Villanova will be looking to spread the floor and open gaps in their 4 out 1 in motion offense.
Winthrop - Villanova is going to struggle against Winthrop in this match-up as they are highly efficient on offense as they shoot 35.3% from 3 as a team. Coach Kelsey's teams are big on analytics one of his key measures of his team is deflections.
Winthrop Coach Pat Kelsey Measuring your team’s success in the analytics ag
Drexel vs. Illinois
Drexel - They will look to space you and out and drive and kick and make a lot of the 3’s with their Dribble Drive attack. As a team, they shoot 37% percent from 3 pt range.
Illinois - Brad Underwood a few years ago went from a pressure man to man up the line on the line program to a pack-line defense. Those changes he has made have helped this team to become one of the best in the nation and a real shot to win it all. They will look to take away the 3 point shot from Drexel
Learn the Offensive and Defensive Playbook of Illinois
Georgia Tech vs. Loyola Chicago
Georgia Tech winners of the ACC tournament to secure the automatic bid employ the Princeton offense. They are going to look to backdoor you.
Loyola Chicago is the best defensive team in the tournament according to the Kenpom rankings. This is going to be a tough match up for GT. Coach Moser teams is ranked # 8 in the Kenpom rankings.
Oregon State vs. Tennessee
Tennessee - Tennessee is the 4th best defensive team in the tournament based on the Kenpom rankings. If they can get back to scoring in transition with their grit on defense they will be a tough team to contend with.
Rick Barnes Transition Offense
Oregon State - Winners of the Pac 10 tournament Coach Trenkle has his team playing great basketball at the right time. They run a lot of actions for players running off screens.
Liberty vs. Oklahoma State
Liberty runs the Princeton offense and is one of the best offensive teams in the nation. I am taking Liberty in an upset as they are one of the best 3 point shooting teams in the field.
Oklahoma State - has one of the top players in the country Cade Cunningham if Liberty can keep him under grasp they will have a great shot with their efficient offense.
Learn from one of the country's STAR young coaches as Coach Mike Boynton takes you through his daily mindset and approach he has developed along his journey to become a head coach who prides himself on running his program the right way!
Mike Boynton - Head Coach Oklahoma State
Cleveland St. vs. Houston
Houston #2 in defensive scoring average at 57.6 PPG & #1 in defensive field-goal percentage at 37.0. aggressive on the offensive glass, snagging 39% of their own misses
Listen to the Drill coach Sampson created to make sure his player gets the loose balls.
Cleveland St. Vikings allow just 69.4 PPG, and they’re 34th in the nation against the three at 30.4%. Vikings score 55.8% of their total points from inside the arc
Rutgers vs. Clemson
Rutgers Scarlet Knights are 18th in the country in adjusted defensive efficiency, allowing 90.6 points
Clemson In adjusted defensive efficiency Tigers rank 20th at 90.8. holds opponents to 62 points per game, likes to pressure the ball
Syracuse vs. San Diego State
Syracuse is known for their 2-3 zone defense if they can control the 3 point shooting of San Diego State they will have a good chance to win this match.
San Diego State San Diego State team ranked 25th in 3-point shooting and knows what defense they will have to face in the 2-3 zone of Syracuse. San Diego State has become one of the elite programs on the West Coast.
Morehead State vs. West Virginia
West Virginia - Is led by Coach Huggins and he demands toughness on the defense end of the floor.
Can Morehead State handle “Press Virginia” and the frenzy that the Mountaineers play with on the defensive end? In this clip, associate head coach Larry Harrison tells the story how the WVU press evolved.
Good Luck today!
Lason, Leigh, Marc, and the Coaches Clinic Community