SMU & Cincinnati games ......TU 2-0, 1-1. 0-2 ???

[I.I.]

I have never seen the two most important games of the conference back to back to start a conference season. An 0-2 start would really be a deep hole to climb out of. I have seen both teams play and we will be a significant underdog in both games.

Watching SMU play Colorado, I saw SMU score on 7 or 8 set plays the first half against a man defense with pick and rolls and pick and drive plays. They never had to shoot threes at least in the first half I watched. I really don't think TU can hold them out of the paint with a man to man defense. Would expect a ton of zone and hope they miss out there. Just have to keep the ball out of Moore's hands, he will find every open man.

I saw us play one game with 100% energy and that was Wichita State. That energy will be needed against SMU. Free throws, rebounding, and outside shooting will need to be near the season best. We will get NOTHING inside.

Can we get one of these games????

 

[hotterthanyourhusbandTU]

SMU was down fairly big (6-8 points) with about 5 min to go...

Then, they clamped down defensively, made some clutch buckets (with Shake's help), and made basically every critical free throw down the stretch...in fact, I think they only missed two the entire game.

 

[lawpoke87]

Going with a split...I know I'm optimistic. Think we surprise SMU at home even though the crowd will likely be less than ideal due to the stupid 4pm weekday tip. Cincy had too much on the inside for us to handle last year and I don't see that changing after watching them against Iowa State. A split here puts us right in the middle of the conference race.

 

[mcane]

very hopeful for a split, but I agree that SMU has no real weaknesses. SMU did not hit any of 3 or 4 attempts at 3 point shots and wasn't looking for them. Even with Moore missing every 10-15 foot jumpshot for about 5 minutes, a 5-7 point hole was not enough to give CU the win. On the other hand, CU rushed possessions when it did not need to and gave SMU the chance to climb back in the game.

 

[astonmartin708]

very hopeful for a split, but I agree that SMU has no real weaknesses. SMU did not hit any of 3 or 4 attempts at 3 point shots and wasn't looking for them. Even with Moore missing every 10-15 foot jumpshot for about 5 minutes, a 5-7 point hole was not enough to give CU the win. On the other hand, CU rushed possessions when it did not need to and gave SMU the chance to climb back in the game.

I'd say SMU's weakness is that they don't have the length they did last season. But we won't be able to take advantage of that.

 

[Gmoney4WW]

I'd hate to see what they'd be like with that freshman recruit that didn't make it to campus.

 

[ctt8410]

SMU is the best offense we'll face all year and Cincinnati is the best defense, in my opinion.

SMU has some of the same weaknesses defensively that we have. They're pretty much exclusively a sagging zone with a tendency to give up wide-open threes on the extra pass. And you can get easy looks against them with a well-executed zone offense.

Cincinnati has the same offensive problems as last year. They're sloppy with the ball and Cobb is their only shooter.

Even a split will be tough.

 

[TU 1978]

2-0

Cincinnati is winnable and SMU vacates any conference wins with their penalty. But we'll win either way.