Blue Dog

Hello again Bills fans, thanks for your support against the Cats I think it may have put us over the top Don't know what the line is, but if I could get 17 I'd put it on the Bills. I think X by 8-10 is more realistic. Muskies have been playing a 'pack line' defense this year, which crowds the lane and dares you to beat them from the outside. However this scheme also allows us to challenge the 3, and teams are only shooting .295 from there, best in the league. We almost never press and don't trap a lot either, just a tough half court pressure the ball D. I look for IV to get doubled every time he gets the ball. Truly the defense has anchored XU's success this season. On offense X likes to push the ball when they can and get it in to Thornton as much as possible. While they were only 1-18 from 3 against UC they missed a lot of open looks. As a team they are shooting .486 from the field and .377 from 3, including the abysmal UC effort. Burrell, Doellman and Duncan do most of the damage from beyond the arc. Finn used to be a threat out there too but he is almost a non-factor scoring so far this year. Burrell also has a nice pull up jumper. Doellman and Duncan can both go strong to the basket. The Muskies are a very good passing team and lead the league in assists, averaging over 18 a game. Our guards for the most part aren't penetrators, we tend to rely on our passing to get it to Thornton and get good looks. X has quality depth. 5th year senior Will Caudle spells Thornton, Duncan spells both Doellman and Cage, frosh Johnny Wolf is our back-up point guard (31 assists, 3 to's), and frosh BJ Raymond spells Burrell. Rebounding had been a team weakness but the last few games they've been stepping up, 53 boards against the Cats for instance. In short this is one of the deepest and most talented teams X has ever had. From what I've seen so far, if you want to beat them you need to take care of the ball and be red hot from outside. Really quick guards can bother Finn and Wolf and keep X from getting into their offense. Good luck on Sunday, I think the Bills will have their hands full but wish you nothing but success in the conference (after our game). Is it televised in StL? Apparently not here in Cincy.

Hey Bills fans, greetings from Cincy. I know we play you on Sunday, but tonight hope you'll be pulling for us to take out the Bearcats. Even though, as has been said around here, UC without Huggs is like Star Wars without Darth Vadar, it is always a huge game in the city and will be a nice rpi win for us and the league if we can pull it off. By all rights we should handle them but this game is pure emotion. Glad to have you guys in the league, plenty of time for smack after tonight. Go Muskies!