Sorry for No Calm Before the Storm for this game. Garrett was unreachable perhaps he thought he had the day off with the website going down so my apologies.
I took the liberty to assess some situations about Depaul and they are an interesting team not too far off from our St. John's in the standings but a very different team overall.
Depaul doesn't shoot the ball consistently from the outside shooting 35% from behind the arc, they are a gang rebounding team getting a community effort but the main force is Mac Koshwal don't sleep on him because he goes after every miss. They've played a strong schedule as 5 of their 8 losses come against ranked teams while they started off to a 2-7 start but they've picked it up as of late winning 4 of their last 5 losing to Georgetown their last game. So they stand at a hot 6-8. They do a pretty good job of taking care of the basketball making the most of their possessions getting about 9 offensive rebounds a game 4 of which come from Mr. Mac Koshwal. Three of their guys average at least 3 assists which means they aren't a selfish team. Cliff Clinkcales a Queens native seems is your prototypical pass first point guard but he is efficient when he uncommonly decides to shoot.
Keys to Victory
NO WITHDRAWALS FOR THE MAC MACHINE- Will Justin Burrell decide to be the double double man we all know he can be and rebound the ball above the rim. Will he be able to contain the motor of Mac Koshwal? He can't lose focus on this guy because he plays 40 minutes and plays 40 minutes hard. He isn't a force in the post but he is a force on the boards and keeps many possessions alive or makes them count with an easy put back for Depaul. Keep him off the offensive boards and Depaul will fall.
COOL THE BURNS- Draelon Burns is the leading scorer for Depaul is the go to guy in the offense. He accounts for 25% of the team's shots but shoots a cool 39%. He's been ice cold the last two games combining for 14 points on 5-22 shooting. He loves to shoot the 3 ball but can also take it to the rack. It might not be a bad idea to stick Malik Boothe on him to perhaps give him the idea he can shoot over him keeping him on the outside because if Geno/Larry/DJ is covering him he should have no problem driving on him with speed which is bad because we all know we like to foul and he is an 83% free throw shooter.
GET YOUR POINTS IN THE PAINT- We can not fall in love with the 3 ball because if we're off chances are we're not out rebounding them. They are exploitable inside as their bigs are more patient than Dele Coker but not by much. This is a game that Larry Wright's sweet hanging midrange J needs to come back because it would be the most lethal weapons to use on this Depaul team. We need to be in attack mode taking it to the rim and the outside game will open up because of it.
WARM UP HARD COME OUT HOT- Some might call me crazy making this a key to winning the game but I feel its important. There have been no bodies in CA for a while and its a 12 Noon tip on a Saturday. First off this is the earliest we've played all season(excluding Hawaii) and who knows how late these guys stayed up maybe they're a little tired and they walk into an empty gym and shoot around they're going to come out and look sluggish the first 5 min of the game looking cold. Warm up hard and get a good sweat going getting that body heat up so you can be ready to go right at tip. Come out of the gates swinging and don't let them even get a chance at this game. Too many times do I see this team goofing off in warm ups trying to see who can do the prettiest dunk trotting to the next line. We don't see this team doing the foot fire any more diving on the floor before games. Call me old school but warm up how you play.
Notes: Dar Tucker of Depaul is from Saginaw Michigan hometown of our own Larry Wright....Depaul's coach Jerry Wainwright has an uncanny resemblance to actor late actor Paul Gleason who played the principal in the breakfast club, the Police Chief in Die Hard, and more recently had his parking spot stolen everyday by Van Wilder, and was on 2 episodes of Malcom in the Middle playing the character "Mystery Man" no we're not recruiting him its not him I promise.
Jerry Wainwright
Paul Gleason
Again I apologize for the site being down and for no Calm Before the Storm for this game. I hope I did my best in replacing the Calm Before the Storm. I think this is a winnable game but I think every game is winnable but we could easily lose tomorrow as well. Depaul is a quality basketball team maybe the best 6-8 team in the country and we will have to play hard all 40 minutes to win. Hopefully we get some home court advantage tomorrow.
PS the site will be back up and running soon. I don't want to say tomorrow but it very well could. I also promise to make the Dance Team and Cheerleaders the hottest ones yet!