Ya'll versus the Dub

[chawk39something]

Howdy from the beach down south. Hard to believe it's already been a year.

Can anyone give us a preview of the current NU team and thoughts about tomorrow's game. Our cause has been well documented. Struggling, rebuilding, new coach, MVP out for the season, the list goes on.

Finally had a home game Wednesday and beat a struggling Colorado team. Our defense finally showed up for the first time this year, as we were giving up around 90 pts per in the previous four games.

Point guard Temi Soyebo and big man Vlad Kuljanin have been our positives. TJ Carter out, J. Gardner quitting and the graduation of 4 players, 3 of them starters has left us very thin. If Soyebo sits, we have a true freshman and a walk-on bringing up the ball.
New coach Benny Moss prefers a more up tempo game as opposed to the old grind it out Seahawks that we have watched for the past ten years.

We just need a road win to boost the confidence.

Thoughts?

[NovaHusky]

I guess you can say that we are in a rebuilding mode having lost our Top 2 players and our Coach. In addition, our OOC schedule is a killer-Pitt, Syracuse, Louisville, BC, etc.. We have 3 seniors we will be relying on in addition to a couple of strong Freshmen and a JC transfer. Right now, we only go 7 deep which is going to be more of a problem as the season goes on.

We are all hoping that the tough OOC schedule will prepare us to steal some CAA games but I think the consensus is we will will between 9 and 11 games (of 30).

[geewiz]

Howdy from the beach down south. Hard to believe it's already been a year.

Can anyone give us a preview of the current NU team and thoughts about tomorrow's game. Our cause has been well documented. Struggling, rebuilding, new coach, MVP out for the season, the list goes on.

Finally had a home game Wednesday and beat a struggling Colorado team. Our defense finally showed up for the first time this year, as we were giving up around 90 pts per in the previous four games.

Point guard Temi Soyebo and big man Vlad Kuljanin have been our positives. TJ Carter out, J. Gardner quitting and the graduation of 4 players, 3 of them starters has left us very thin. If Soyebo sits, we have a true freshman and a walk-on bringing up the ball.
New coach Benny Moss prefers a more up tempo game as opposed to the old grind it out Seahawks that we have watched for the past ten years.

We just need a road win to boost the confidence.

Thoughts?

Here's my take on the game ...

I watched your game against Belmont on my computer and I thought UNCW looked pretty good. UNCW still has the size upfront that will give us many problems, especially if our freshman F-C Manny Adako gets into foul trouble (which he has the last two games). Hendley, Kuljanin, Horowitz will be a handful. I find it odd how no one on this board never talks about UNCW as a favorite, especially if Carter comes back. Soyebo and Fountain look like a good pair in the backcourt and Soyebo really looks like he's taken charge of the PG position. Fountain is a solid outside shooter.

As for NU, we're in a rebuilding mode, but that doesn't mean that you can just show up and win. This team will fight tooth-and-nail and can be lethal from the outside as well. Adrian Martinez was battling a leg injury in our tourney at Pittsburgh and didn't start a few games. However, he came back strong and had a career-high 22 pts at Rider on Saturday after starting the season with a solid game at Syracuse. A-Mart's averaging 12.4 ppg. Bobby Kelly has gotten of to a very slow start offensively and needs to have a breakout game. He's been affected the most by JJB's departure, as he was set up quite nicely on the perimeter by JJB. BK's not the type to create his own shot. The nice surprise in this early season is the play of freshman Matt Janning. Janning is a lanky, 6-4 SG who's second in scoring at 12.5 ppg. He has all kinds of range from the perimeter and has displayed excellent handle at the point position when needed.

Up front, Bennet Davis has lead this team in all facets with scoring, rebounding, blocks and staying out of foul trouble. He really has developed some nice moves in the low post, especially when facing the basket. He consistently knocks down 15-18 ft. shots and can hit the 3 as well. Adako, when on the floor, is a wide body who can get boards, has a nice 15 ft. jumper and not afraid to play in the post. Eugene Spates is 6-8, 215 forward who loves to play on the perimeter and is capable of knocking down 3's. However, for a guy his size, he's fallen in love with jumpers when NU really needs him more in the paint with our lack of hight in the frontcourt. However he's capable of playing down low and can rebound. Mark Washington, another returnee from the Everhart era, can play in the post defensively and can get some boards. However, he's not a threat offensively.

From what I saw UNCW do against Belmont and obviously seeing NU play, this will be a difficult game for NU to win. That being said, NU is pretty battle-tested with the tough, early OOC schedule and will have a chance in this contest. In the end, the UNCW frontcourt will prove to be too much to overcome IMO.

78-72 UNCW.