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Richmond and then Providence

perryhawk

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Apr 3, 2008
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Perry, Iowa
So, I'm certain this team won't look ahead. And for clarity, I am not saying Richmond is a gimme......but there seems to be a blind spot for Providence by some national folks picking us to the final 4 or whatever. That is very flattering and I certainly hope it's true....but holy crap, Providence only has 4 losses on the year and they have beaten Villanova and Creighton along with some other pretty good programs. It sounds like they play a completely different style than we do, more of a slow down game...but they appear to have been tough as nails and of course are the higher seed than us.

IF we get by Richmond, the win to get into the Sweet 16 might be as tough as games beyond the Sweet 16.

Thoughts? Anyone know more about Providence?
 
Not that I know much about Providence but I like our matchup with them (if it happens)

With our press they will have 20 seconds every possession and if we can get a decent lead it will change their plans. I hope I’m right as I think we can get this game in our favor.

Lets beat Richmond first though!!! ✌️
 
So, I'm certain this team won't look ahead. And for clarity, I am not saying Richmond is a gimme......but there seems to be a blind spot for Providence by some national folks picking us to the final 4 or whatever. That is very flattering and I certainly hope it's true....but holy crap, Providence only has 4 losses on the year and they have beaten Villanova and Creighton along with some other pretty good programs. It sounds like they play a completely different style than we do, more of a slow down game...but they appear to have been tough as nails and of course are the higher seed than us.

IF we get by Richmond, the win to get into the Sweet 16 might be as tough as games beyond the Sweet 16.

Thoughts? Anyone know more about Providence?
Richmond has a little history of upsetting higher seeds. One game at a time.
 
As I have mentioned in another thread, I have watched more big east games this year (Nunge) then probably last ten years combined. So, I have watched Providence several times this year. Overall, I was not overly impressed with Providence, but they just won games.
 
So, I'm certain this team won't look ahead. And for clarity, I am not saying Richmond is a gimme......but there seems to be a blind spot for Providence by some national folks picking us to the final 4 or whatever. That is very flattering and I certainly hope it's true....but holy crap, Providence only has 4 losses on the year and they have beaten Villanova and Creighton along with some other pretty good programs. It sounds like they play a completely different style than we do, more of a slow down game...but they appear to have been tough as nails and of course are the higher seed than us.

IF we get by Richmond, the win to get into the Sweet 16 might be as tough as games beyond the Sweet 16.

Thoughts? Anyone know more about Providence?
Early in the year. Thought they struggled later. I believe Creighton ran them off the floor the last time they played.....
 
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They have NOT beaten Villanova (although they played them tough twice), and their only win anywhere near the quality of our win over Purdue was almost 3 months ago @ UConn. 3 other really tough games (@ Creighton, rematch vs. UConn, @ Seton Hall) were COVID cancelations. They squeaked by Northwestern, and Creighton absolutely skull-f&cked them in the Big East Tourney.

They are a quality team, no doubt, but they are not nearly as prepared for the Tourney or playing nearly at the level of Iowa right now. I would consider losing to them to be a major upset.
 
I thought I heard Seth Davis say that he favored Providence in an Iowa/Providence matchup. Either way, let's play Richmond first and see what happens next.
I hear his prediction referenced a lot, and believe he was mostly including a home court advantage as a reason for Providence being favored.
 
So, I'm certain this team won't look ahead. And for clarity, I am not saying Richmond is a gimme......but there seems to be a blind spot for Providence by some national folks picking us to the final 4 or whatever. That is very flattering and I certainly hope it's true....but holy crap, Providence only has 4 losses on the year and they have beaten Villanova and Creighton along with some other pretty good programs. It sounds like they play a completely different style than we do, more of a slow down game...but they appear to have been tough as nails and of course are the higher seed than us.

IF we get by Richmond, the win to get into the Sweet 16 might be as tough as games beyond the Sweet 16.

Thoughts? Anyone know more about Providence?
They lost by 27 to Creighton last Friday and it's in no way a sure thing that they beat SDSU this week. The Hawks could easily be facing the Jack Rabbits instead.
 
So, I'm certain this team won't look ahead. And for clarity, I am not saying Richmond is a gimme......but there seems to be a blind spot for Providence by some national folks picking us to the final 4 or whatever. That is very flattering and I certainly hope it's true....but holy crap, Providence only has 4 losses on the year and they have beaten Villanova and Creighton along with some other pretty good programs. It sounds like they play a completely different style than we do, more of a slow down game...but they appear to have been tough as nails and of course are the higher seed than us.

IF we get by Richmond, the win to get into the Sweet 16 might be as tough as games beyond the Sweet 16.

Thoughts? Anyone know more about Providence?
There are two ways to look at that possible matchup. The negative is that they have only lost 5 games and win close games. The positive is that many of thier games have been close even against very poor teams.
 
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I watched some Providence basketball...they don't play at an especially high level. You don't want to get in a close game with them, but they aren't especially long and they don't have lots of fast guards. They're going to have to double Keegan in the post for sure as well. When you look at their offense, not real impressive. They don't have a star go-to player that can go off, not especially good team shooting, and their dribble drive and post up games are both mediocre too. I also really question that league from a difficulty standpoint. There just isn't star power in that league at all, even Villanova is really, really down.

I'm much more concerned about SD State and even RIchmond comparatively in this bracket. However, I think this Iowa team is more than 10 points better than all of them. Iowa has answers for the quicker guards they have and enough length to bother their shooters. None of these teams have what I would consider a dominant post either. Iowa is a much better bet than any of those teams simply because they are better at getting easy shots right now comparatively. Still have to play the games though.
 
I hear his prediction referenced a lot, and believe he was mostly including a home court advantage as a reason for Providence being favored.
Providence will not have a "home court advantage." Buffalo is a 6+ hour drive from Rhode Island, and they've got a tiny fan base. The drive from Chicago is a little more than 7 hours, with other big Midwest cities with a large Iowa alumni population even closer. That doesn't even count people who actually make the trip from Iowa. The Hawkeye faithful will not be terribly outnumbered.
 
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Just my opinion obviously but I think this is the best year to play Providence if it happens. I live in Omaha and also a Creighton fan (so I try to follow Big East closely too )..

They won the Big East...good accomplishment but it's kind of an asterisk. They had a really favorable schedule and missed out on playing the top tier teams due to cancellation (Uconn, Creighton and Seton hall). They got swept by Villanova... had some close close wins against bad teams like butler and DePaul.. and just got pounded by Creighton in the tourney.

I think SDSU wins so it's irrelevant but who knows its March Madness!
 
So, I'm certain this team won't look ahead. And for clarity, I am not saying Richmond is a gimme......but there seems to be a blind spot for Providence by some national folks picking us to the final 4 or whatever. That is very flattering and I certainly hope it's true....but holy crap, Providence only has 4 losses on the year and they have beaten Villanova and Creighton along with some other pretty good programs. It sounds like they play a completely different style than we do, more of a slow down game...but they appear to have been tough as nails and of course are the higher seed than us.

IF we get by Richmond, the win to get into the Sweet 16 might be as tough as games beyond the Sweet 16.

Thoughts? Anyone know more about Providence?
Where’s their second round?
 
Obviously anyone can beat anyone given the right set of circumstances, but, by the time we get to this time of the year a team is usually what they are and it takes mis-matches to change those trends. What we know about our team right now is that they #1 they don't turn the ball over, #2 they have depth being able to go 10 deep, #3 they can win in multiple ways with multiple players and #4 they are going to get quality shots. They weaknesses on this team are rebounding, free throw shooting, defending the post against elite bigs and if Keegan and Kris get into foul trouble. Everyone else we can absorb.

So saying that, what it will take for a team to beat us if we don't beat ourselves would be a #1 a big, skilled big man that can beat Rebraca, Kris and Keegan with size and have the ability to pass it out of the double to shooters. I think Michigan's big did a masterful job against us doing just that in the first meeting and we really didn't have an answer. Kofi, TJD, and the Purdue bigs are all examples, and of our 9 losses and those teams gave us 5 of those. Our other 4 losses are out of context to me because they were hostile road environments and before the emergence of Perk. Luckily, I just don't see a big on our side of the bracket that is going to give us any trouble.

That means, to me, that for a team to beat us and we don't beat ourselves (by shooting horribly, or missing a bunch of free throws, or fouling out our best players, etc.) it is imperative that a team does not turn the ball over, wins the rebounding battle and shoots 50%. Because if we play our game, we will score 80-90 points, and honestly there just aren't many teams that can do that consistently to keep up. So they will have to control the tempo and keep us under 70 points which is really hard to do. I don't think teams can run up and down with us because we just have more horses as most teams (Richmond basically goes 7 deep and Providence 7 as well with more than likely 3 players playing close to the entire game).

I actually look at the entire bracket and I think there are about 6 teams that we will have a difficult time to match up with, 2 of them are Illinois and Purdue and none are in the Midwest region. Just my thoughts anyway.
 
Until - and even when - they meet a truly 'upper tier' team like Kansas in the S16, its all about if Iowa is hitting shots early or not.

If Iowa is hot early, its all about how the opposition responds to getting punched in the face right after the opening bell. Because when you combine a hot shooting start with the Hawks' defense, Richmond and Providence/South Dakota St are gonna feel the pressure of fighting a major uphill battle, even before the first media timeout.

And even if Iowa isn't hot to start, they will still put 8-10-12 point runs on you through out the game. Can either of Richmond or PC/SDSU keep pace or be slightly better? I currently doubt it, but that's why they play the games.
 
The next time Seth Davis favors Iowa, will be his first.
Seth does not think that Iowa has any interest playing defense and is lumping this team in with all of the other Fran teams. I don't think he has realized or accepted the idea that this Iowa team is vastly different than Fran's other teams because of the huge increase in athleticism. Fran has never really had a big guard that can get to the rim and finish like Perkins, nor has he really had any strong, quick on-ball defenders that can negate quickness and now he really has them in spades. And, on top of that, this team can still score.
 
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Just my opinion obviously but I think this is the best year to play Providence if it happens. I live in Omaha and also a Creighton fan (so I try to follow Big East closely too )..

They won the Big East...good accomplishment but it's kind of an asterisk. They had a really favorable schedule and missed out on playing the top tier teams due to cancellation (Uconn, Creighton and Seton hall). They got swept by Villanova... had some close close wins against bad teams like butler and DePaul.. and just got pounded by Creighton in the tourney.

I think SDSU wins so it's irrelevant but who knows its March Madness!
Well done......This is exactly what Andy Katz said today on Big Today on BTN and why he thinks Iowa beats Providence if they play them and favors Iowa to get to the Final Four....it's all about match ups and Iowa matches up better against teams they might have to play and plus they are just playing better ball than say Providence has been playing....ie Creighton....Katz also likes how we match-up against KU.

Him and Revsine said the fan advantage goes to Iowa when they head back to Chicago.....they are calling the game against KU would be a HUGE event and KU has a big alumni base too and will represent like Iowa .....IF they both get there??
 
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