Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Monroe pregame

Monroe is now 14-8 and 8-3 in conference, tied for second a half-game out of first. Since they played us last time they have gone 3-2 with a win at Lafayette and at Troy, and losses to Arlington and Georgia Southern at home. They continue to have almost unbelievably good defense. They hold opponents to 37.7% overall and 28.6% from the arc. (Your offense does not have to be very good when the other guys have those sorts of numbers.) They only have one double-figure scorer, but four in the 9.6 to 8.5 range. They are plus 2 on the  boards and have a 1.15 ATO ratio as a team. So this team does not beat themselves too much.

In my book, Keith Richard is a shoo-in for Coach of the Year. He took a program that was under APR limitations and at the bottom of the heap, and has built them into one of the better teams in the conference.

I guess you could say that we ought to win any home game, but this team is at the point that wins are going to depend on whether or not we are hot from the 3-point line.

RealtimeRPI has us winning by 6. Sagarin has Monroe by a fraction.

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