S.F. Austin, longest active win streak (20), but

[pressvirginia]

20 of their 27 wins came from beating teams between the RPI 164-344. 10 wins vs 313 or higher. Four wins vs Non-DI.

Not trying to bash if any of their fans venture over. Would be cool to hear some input actually as I've not seen them play. Just getting a feel for the resume.

3 best wins for them were a clean sweep of Texas A&M-CC (87 RPI).

RPI: 70
SOS: 260

Lost by 42 at Baylor, by 10 at N.Iowa, by 1 to Tulane, by 7 at Ariz State, by 10 at UAB.

Been to NCAAs 3 years in a row now. Similarly dominant last year. Lost 57-50 to Utah in 5-12 game.

Year before that, SFA went 32-3 upsetting VCU (Shaka/Havoc press) in OT in the 5-12 game. Then lost by 17 to UCLA. Returners Walkup and Pinkney both played 40 minutes each in that VCU upset. SFA as is being well-documented is turning people over a ton too, but gotta consider the competition level.

Thoughts?

 

[HurdyGurdyEer]

My thoughts are its the NCAA Tournament and you need to ready to play each and every game.
They don't call it March Madness for no reason.

 

[xWVU2010x]

Lost by 42 at Baylor

This says a lot about them, we shouldnt be nervous, obviously anything can happen and a SFA win wouldnt even be that bizarre considering a 14 seed seemingly wins a game almost annually now, but we simply wreck overmatched teams. We press all game with a team that goes 11 deep, its basically a doomsday matchup for the typical 14 or 15 seed looking to pull an upset.

 

[Eerhole]

I like out position in the tourney , Huggs will have the guys ready. The defense I predict will be all over the 3 point line against SFA- considering they have a very small inside presence

 

[xWVU2010x]

I like out position in the tourney , Huggs will have the guys ready. The defense I predict will be all over the 3 point line against SFA- considering they have a very small inside presence

They're one of the worst rebounding teams in the country, they will probably need to shoot 50% from three to offset the rebounding and turnover margin to win.

 

[michaelwalkerbr]

They're one of the worst rebounding teams in the country, they will probably need to shoot 50% from three to offset the rebounding and turnover margin to win.

Especially with Devin Williams' current intensity level. He really put on a show against Kansas, I hope he can keep that up. First team all tournament one more time, Devin!

 

[pressvirginia]

WV will prevail, but I still am having a hard time understanding the seeding thought process.

According to the polls Monday, this coming game will be:

8/8 West Virginia (3 seed) vs 30/33 Stephen F. Austin (14 seed)

That's really a typical 3-14 game?

In the AP poll, SFA is ranked ahead of these NCAA seeds:

14 SFA
7 Dayton
7 Wisconsin
9 Providence
9 Butler
9 Cincinnati
11 Wichita State
11 Gonzaga
11 Michigan
11 Northern Iowa
12 Ark Little Rock
12 Yale
13 Stony Brook

That doesn't count others who are not currently receiving top 25 votes and are in the NCAA field with higher seeds such as Syracuse, Pitt, Temple, USC, and many more spread throughout all four regions.

Also if it's Notre Dame we're facing in the 2nd RD, that'd be vs No. 27/26 for a frame of reference.

 

[GoWVU]

It's yet another example of what I mentioned on the other thread about our region being suspiciously stacked. In other regions there are 10+ loss teams from the smaller conferences who are seeded better than 27-5 Stephen F. Austin is in ours, while SFA got bumped down to #14 despite the nation's longest winning streak and being the only team in America to go unbeaten in conference play. I don't care how weak a league might be, that has to count for something in a season like this one when favorites were getting knocked off left and right.

Then there's the fact that SFA actually forces turnovers and presses more often than we do, thus negating a large portion of our primary advantage over most opponents. I see that a few of the probability measurements rate our game as among the likeliest first-round upsets as well, which isn't exactly encouraging. I don't know about anybody else, but this matchup worries me far more than a typical 3-14 pairing.

 

[hangovEER]

It's yet another example of what I mentioned on the other thread about our region being suspiciously stacked. In other regions there are 10+ loss teams from the smaller conferences who are seeded better than 27-5 Stephen F. Austin is in ours, while SFA got bumped down to #14 despite the nation's longest winning streak and being the only team in America to go unbeaten in conference play. I don't care how weak a league might be, that has to count for something in a season like this one when favorites were getting knocked off left and right.

Then there's the fact that SFA actually forces turnovers and presses more often than we do, thus negating a large portion of our primary advantage over most opponents. I see that a few of the probability measurements rate our game as among the likeliest first-round upsets as well, which isn't exactly encouraging. I don't know about anybody else, but this matchup worries me far more than a typical 3-14 pairing.

Keep in mind that SFA does not face good competition, so the "leading the nation" thing is not a good indicator of what they will actually do against us. Remember, we practice against ourselves for this press, so it's not like we are unfamiliar with what they will throw at us. I think our bigs (DW/JH/NA) will have a field day against this outmanned SFA team.

 

[xWVU2010x]

It's yet another example of what I mentioned on the other thread about our region being suspiciously stacked. In other regions there are 10+ loss teams from the smaller conferences who are seeded better than 27-5 Stephen F. Austin is in ours, while SFA got bumped down to #14 despite the nation's longest winning streak and being the only team in America to go unbeaten in conference play. I don't care how weak a league might be, that has to count for something in a season like this one when favorites were getting knocked off left and right.

Then there's the fact that SFA actually forces turnovers and presses more often than we do, thus negating a large portion of our primary advantage over most opponents. I see that a few of the probability measurements rate our game as among the likeliest first-round upsets as well, which isn't exactly encouraging. I don't know about anybody else, but this matchup worries me far more than a typical 3-14 pairing.

If you are the inferior team talent wise, pressing is not going to do you any favors, that probably explains why Baylor smoked them by 42. Remember when we tried to press a vastly superior team?

 

[SacreBleu]

presses more often than we do

I just watched their entire games against both Houston Baptist and Baylor. That is absolutely not true. They trap very selectively, usually at half court. They rarely guard the inbounder or trap the first pass. Their gaudy stats are because they are the only team with a pulse in a glorified church league. They had no chance against Baylor rebounding the ball. How many putbacks do you think we'll have against them? Baylor shut down Walkup, their leading scorer and rebounder. He had 12 points and zero rebounds. Their midget Steve Urkel look-alike guard had zero points and one assist.

I guess you could say I'm not concerned.

 

[michaelwalkerbr]

I just watched their entire games against both Houston Baptist and Baylor. That is absolutely not true. They trap very selectively, usually at half court. They rarely guard the inbounder or trap the first pass. Their gaudy stats are because they are the only team with a pulse in a glorified church league. They had no chance against Baylor rebounding the ball. How many putbacks do you think we'll have against them? Baylor shut down Walkup, their leading scorer and rebounder. He had 12 points and zero rebounds. Their midget Steve Urkel look-alike guard had zero points and one assist.

I guess you could say I'm not concerned.

I concur. This is from the SFA athletic website:

'For the second straight season, the ‘Jacks and Panthers met up at 7 a.m. as part of ESPN’s College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon, and SFA came out seeking revenge on the team which snapped its 34-game home winning streak in an overtime thriller a season ago.

Unfortunately, the Panthers bested the Lumberjacks again and limited SFA to a 35-percent (22-for-62) showing in the process. Conversely, the Panthers could seemingly do no wrong from the field, drilling 52-percent (23-for-44) of their field goals.'

That was not the Pitt Panthers, it was the University of Northern Iowa Panthers. Bet on WVU and take the spread.

 

[VaultHunter]

Well seeing how this is March Madness and not some first few weeks opening season matchup all I know is if SFA has one of those hit everything they shoot like Florida and Kansas the other night and WVU has one of its long scoring droughts like we are known to do this game could be bad news.

 

[Cuyahoga Falls Eers]

I'm putting my money on the 10 pit bulls and the pit bull coach.

Of course, nothing is guaranteed in March Madness, particularly this season of madness during the regular season and the conference tournaments.

 

[Va eer]

Statistics on SFA turnovers for the season they turn the ball over 12.4 times to their opponent's 18.6. However I looked at turnovers against 3 teams that are a step above SFA . Baylor, Ariz State, and UAB against these teams the TO's were SFA 12 and the opponents 13 .

Against Baylor, SFA turned the ball over 13 times to Baylors 8. Turnovers come in larger numbers against weaker teams .

 

[michaelwalkerbr]

On a bad night, WVU could lose to the weak sisters of the poor. But on a good night they can beat any team including Kansas. SFA is a little soft inside and D Williams is on a mission. My money is on the Mountaineers.

 

[xWVU2010x]

On a bad night, WVU could lose to the weak sisters of the poor. But on a good night they can beat any team including Kansas. SFA is a little soft inside and D Williams is on a mission. My money is on the Mountaineers.

Thats actually not the case at all. We have steamrolled bad teams all season long. Our worst loss was @ Florida when we were short a starter.

 

[michaelwalkerbr]

Thats actually not the case at all. We have steamrolled bad teams all season long. Our worst loss was @ Florida when we were short a starter.

I can't argue with that. Most of our losses have been without the first 10 starters being up to par. I call them that because that is basically what they are, 10 starters.

 

[GoWVU]

I just watched their entire games against both Houston Baptist and Baylor. That is absolutely not true.

Maybe those two games were not representative of the whole.

I don't recall where I saw it cited--perhaps during the conference tournaments or on the bottom line when the pairings were first announced--but they showed presses as a percentage of opponent possessions for the season. WVU was first among the major-conference schools, but SFA's was even higher. I don't know where to find that info, maybe you do...and maybe it's even changed since I saw it if it occurred during tournament week, but it sure is an interesting quirk.

 

[michaelwalkerbr]

It's still the equivalent of WVU vs Conference USA champs, if that. If it were Oklahoma instead of WVU no one would give SFA a chance, would they? It's all a matter of perception. WVU is not yet perceived well by Vegas. They will be.

 

[xWVU2010x]

It's still the equivalent of WVU vs Conference USA champs, if that. If it were Oklahoma instead of WVU no one would give SFA a chance, would they? It's all a matter of perception. WVU is not yet perceived well by Vegas. They will be.

I take out a few bucks annually for throwing it down here and there on March Madness games. Really considering dropping the whole budget on this game, if we dont cover so be it I consider the money gone anyway once I withdraw and if I win thats great, but I cant possibly imagine a scenario where we are not wearing them down in the second half and pulling away by atleast 10. We are superior in every way and they are going to apparently try and beat us at our own game which plays right into our hands. Against inferior opponents we have an excellent track record this year as it is. The fact that the media keeps hinting at this game as a potential upset should get our guys full attention as well. Am I missing something or is the -7.5 line just too perfect?

 

[jpoppa]

I take out a few bucks annually for throwing it down here and there on March Madness games. Really considering dropping the whole budget on this game, if we dont cover so be it I consider the money gone anyway once I withdraw and if I win thats great, but I cant possibly imagine a scenario where we are not wearing them down in the second half and pulling away by atleast 10. We are superior in every way and they are going to apparently try and beat us at our own game which plays right into our hands. Against inferior opponents we have an excellent track record this year as it is. The fact that the media keeps hinting at this game as a potential upset should get our guys full attention as well. Am I missing something or is the -7.5 line just too perfect?

WVU should win by 15-20....Everyone tries to be brilliant and pick upsets every year. Were a better team then the majority of this field.