Well, here we are Cougar Nation….41-2, sitting as the #1 seed in the West Region of prognostication, and you know what that means?
NOTHING.
Absolutely nothing.
But, where our Cougars are concerned, the second season means everything. And this weekend, in particular, is THE opportunity that these wonderful kids have to enter and live in Cougar lore forever.
Win this weekend, and you become the only Cougar team since the 1941 squad to advance past the second round.
Of course, to do that, we have to beat the mighty Winthrop.
Now, if you all think that Brinkhater has such a little life that he has actually watched any Winthrop film, then you are right. In fact, I have literally spent about 20 hours over the last couple of days breaking down game film..
And here’s my braniac take from that effort:
For Winthrop to win tomorrow, they are going to have to play GREAT. And we are going to have to play HORRIBLY.
Basically, Winthrop is an undersized and underskilled Oregon with Bigs that are neither as powerful as any in the PAC-10 nor can they help spread the floor a al Super Marty Leunen…
What they are going to do is send their version of a Taylor Rochestie-Derrick Low half-breed and see whether or not he can get off with Weaver guarding him. Is that gonna happen or fly?
In a word, “NOPE.”
The only way that we lose this game is if we start off trying to establish Baynes in the low block. We do that, we run the risk of getting stale, and if they are able to get hot early, we could find ourselves in an 11-4 hole that would be tough to get out of.
But, I just don’t see it.
Look for Weaver to come up big on both ends of the floor, and as you all will see, the guy who will make this tournament for us is Taylor Rochestie. Look for him as a returning (to the NCAA) junior to be confident and very loose. He’ll get 16 and 5 tomorrow.
The game will start tight as I think that Winthrop is going to throw a match-up zone or some wrinkle at us to try to confuse us a bit. And it may work for all of about 10 minutes.
Cougs win going away in the 2nd half in a virtual redux of last year’s win in Sacto v. Oral Roberts:
Cougs 69 Winthtrop 54.
Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy, since Saturday will be the time to bite your nails off..
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