[81alum]

Even though South Carolina lost two of its outstanding guards to graduation (including Grant who was their killer from three point range), their overall philosophy and appearance will be very similar to what we saw last year. They continue to be a terrific defensive team. 

South Carolina only has 10 players listed on their roster, but all ten average at least 13 minutes a game.  They rotate a lot so as to keep defensive intensity very high.  Think of how Pacific played for the first 12 minutes but sustain it for 40.  They average 9.5 steals per game.  I imagine we will see a lot of press and will need our guards to be on the top of their games with ball handling.  Their opponents actually score fewer points in the second half than in the first--so their defense does not wither away but seems to get stronger as the game goes on, which may be a testament to their rotation scheme.

On offense last year we did a lot of high-low passing to Nneka in the first half.  Reminds me a little of what we were doing against Pacific--perhaps that was the plan? In any case, that was obviously designed to take advantage of the other team's inferior height, and I presume we shall try that again.  And I presume Dawn knows it is coming and has been preparing to stop it.  Last year they did figure out how to stop the high-low by the second half, and Nneka simply had to take over, putting the ball on the floor.  I hope we do not put everything on Chiney again, but I now see our strategy in the Pacific game as possibly a deliberate warm-up.

Last year we found we could not defend their quickness in man, but had to go to a zone.  So far this year, South Carolina has not shown that it can be prolific with three point shots, so this may be what happens again.  How much zone have we played this year so far?

Looking ahead to Tennessee--yes, they did poorly against Baylor.  Tennessee is a very young team and one would expect erratic performances on the road.  I worry that they will be very motivated for us when we get them at home. 

[81alum]

Even though South Carolina lost two of its outstanding guards to graduation (including Grant who was their killer from three point range), their overall philosophy and appearance will be very similar to what we saw last year. They continue to be a terrific defensive team. 

South Carolina only has 10 players listed on their roster, but all ten average at least 13 minutes a game.  They rotate a lot so as to keep defensive intensity very high.  Think of how Pacific played for the first 12 minutes but sustain it for 40.  They average 9.5 steals per game.  I imagine we will see a lot of press and will need our guards to be on the top of their games with ball handling.  Their opponents actually score fewer points in the second half than in the first--so their defense does not wither away but seems to get stronger as the game goes on, which may be a testament to their rotation scheme.

On offense last year we did a lot of high-low passing to Nneka in the first half.  Reminds me a little of what we were doing against Pacific--perhaps that was the plan? In any case, that was obviously designed to take advantage of the other team's inferior height, and I presume we shall try that again.  And I presume Dawn knows it is coming and has been preparing to stop it.  Last year they did figure out how to stop the high-low by the second half, and Nneka simply had to take over, putting the ball on the floor.  I hope we do not put everything on Chiney again, but I now see our strategy in the Pacific game as possibly a deliberate warm-up.

Last year we found we could not defend their quickness in man, but had to go to a zone.  So far this year, South Carolina has not shown that it can be prolific with three point shots, so this may be what happens again.  How much zone have we played this year so far?

Looking ahead to Tennessee--yes, they did poorly against Baylor.  Tennessee is a very young team and one would expect erratic performances on the road.  I worry that they will be very motivated for us when we get them at home.