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Santa Barbara is in a bit of a free fall

after they beat us, looked like almost a sure #1 seed

now they are trying to just remain a higher seed

if Beach beats them, they are even looking at potentially a 6 or so seed

they have a couple of injuries, so may be a bit short handed again, it's a real suck-it-up time game for them, having lost at home to Irvine and Fullerton

of course, we are no slouches right now when it comes to being a little bit 'desperate', but not there yet. we do hold tie-breakers over Full and Davis for the moment.

we've been outrebounded twice (and Riv & Haw are the most physical interior teams next to us), but do need to shore up the block-outs

the Beach strategy is all just a bit odd in terms of our personnel and what we excel at

we run at a fast pace, yet we don't have a great point guard that fast paced teams usually have - the rebounding should trigger that

we don't shoot 3s often (and until lately, well) which again fast paced teams usually will shoot more 3s

pick n roll defense. AJ Mitchell just picked us apart at the Pyramid, and we looked not so good vs. Haw & Riverside. Again, teams will get LT to come to the top of the key, so not sure what CDM can or will do about it

a) get better at hedging/trapping! lol, we'll so far no

b) play zone. just probably don't want to do that a lot, HOWEVER, JP of Santa Barbara is NOT a good outside shooter

c) we can't leave Norris open like we did Hepa, he picks and pops and shoots the 3 well.

d) not sure what the coaches will do, guarding pick n rolls is not LT's forte, but if we play man to man, the scouting reports at this point don't lie. definitely do NOT put LT on Norris, Kelley can't shoot the 3, so LT will guard hiim

this isn't some 'must-win' game

to me, I'd really like to see Rotegaard get some touches for shots

the strength is our bench is pretty good, IMO (Stroud, Hunter, Rotegaard, Polynice) so it's time to put a lot of pressure on SB for 40 minutes. Hunter at least has been working his butt off defensively, even if he's got Turnover-ites

offensively, as stated ad nauseum, get in Tsahonis ear to pass teh f'ing ball, in order to get it back; get AJ, Jones, Stroud, Rotegaard touches. he really needs to concentrate on D and boards and not worry about scoring, we know he can score or get a shot off....IF NEEDED