Great news: you find out Sunday night that you’re in the NCAA Tournament. The catch: your game is Tuesday night, and you’re facing a team from the other side of the college basketball world that you know almost nothing about.
“You can’t overcomplicate it. You don’t have time to. You just have to be ready as you can, and when that ball’s tipped, try to enjoy it, but get after it,” Virginia coach Tony Bennett told reporters in Dayton on Monday.
The Cavaliers will face Colorado State in a First Four game, after everybody in the program – the coaches, video assistants, players, training staff, managers, the folks responsible for the travel party – got their crash course in prepping for a big-stakes game on practically no notice.
“It’s a quick turnaround,” sophomore guard Isaac McKneely said. “We went from watching the show on Sunday uncertain if we’d even be in the field to seeing our name come up, and then we ended up practicing that night, because we like to get two practices in before a game, because, like I said, it’s quick turnaround. Then we were off to Dayton, and here we are.”
It helps that Bennett, as it turns out, is already at least a little familiar with Colorado State coach Niko Medved, who has the Rams in their second NCAA Tournament in his six-year tenure.
“When we saw our name come up, and it was Colorado State, and obviously knowing the job Niko has done, I know Niko personally, and I think he’s one of the better coaches, I don’t know his age exactly, I was going to say better young coaches out there. But he’s done great with the way his team plays,” Bennett said.
Medved is 50, which, OK, I (51) can allow Bennett (54) to get away with calling him “young,” just this once.
“You know you’re going to have to be as good as you can defensively to make them earn,” Bennett said, beginning his scouting report, focusing at the outset on the team’s heart and soul, 6’0” senior point guard Isaiah Stevens (16.5 ppg, 7.0 assists/g, 48.3% FG, 44.7% 3FG).
Colorado State averages 76.8 points per game, ranks 18th nationally in shooting (48.8 percent) and shoots 34.1 percent from three.
The glitzy shooting percentage is a function of how the Rams are effective at the rim (66.6 percent, ranking sixth nationally), despite not being big at all.
The frontcourt is 6’7” senior center Joel Scott (12.9 ppg, 6.0 rebounds/g, 56.3% FG, 25.0% 3FG) and 6’8” senior power forward Patrick Cartier (10.5 ppg, 52.4% FG, 36.1% 3FG).
Athletic 6’6” senior Nique Clifford (12.2 ppg, 7.5 rebounds/g, 52.3% FG, 38.2% 3FG) starts at three spot, and also gets minutes as a stretch four.
What makes Colorado State a tough guard is Medved’s emphasis in his offense on backdoor and lane cuts. The Rams are shooting 73.7 percent and scoring 1.458 points per possession on its cuts, ranking in the 99th percentile nationally there, according to Synergy Sports data.
“I had to do the Westwood radio, and Coach Boeheim was going to be the radio guy. I said, Jesus, this is one of those years where maybe I wish I had Coach Boeheim’s zone, wouldn’t have to handle all those cuts,” Bennett said.
“They move, they cut. As I said, their point guard, he’s one of the best passers I’ve seen, him and Reece (Beekman), two special point guards. But his composure, the way they use him, whether it’s ball screens or dribble handoffs and little actions, and then they’re cutting the other guys and their physicality, their spacing, their cutting, they score in different ways, it’s impressive,” Bennett said.
What Colorado State does with its offense “puts a premium on your ability to get back,” Bennett said, noting that the Rams will try to push in transition – 16.4 percent of their offense comes in transition, and they shoot 58.4 percent and score 1.200 points per possession in transition, ranking in the 96th percentile nationally, per Synergy Sports.
“Watching it now in the last two days closely, you can see why they’ve been so successful for the past couple of years in a very difficult league,” Bennett said. “Puts a premium on your ability to first get back, and you can’t stop everything, but you have to make them earn, and you better be continuous and have great vision, but you’ve got to be able to guard your guy and get them off the glass, all those kinds of things.”
So, two practices – “two pretty intense practices,” in McKneely’s words, the first one on Sunday night, as the rest of us were still absorbing that Virginia got an NCAA bid – and then, also, plenty of film study.
That’s how you get ready for a do-or-die game on no notice.
“Like Isaac said, it was a crazy 48 hours for us,” sophomore guard Ryan Dunn said. “We were sitting on our couches just trying to see if we were playing. Next thing you know we’re here in front of you guys.
“But we’re all grateful to be here,” Dunn said. “We’re playing basketball. It’s what we do, what we love to do. I’m grateful to be in this position just to be playing in March Madness again.”
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Chris Graham
