GO BRONCOS! lets make it 13-7!

Two things really really stick out.

1. Miami is in the bottom 10% of rebounding teams in the nation. That's not good. And it also explains how a team like NIU, who is a good rebounding team, pulled off a W in Oxford a few weeks ago. Seriously, if WMU rebounds like we normally do...this shouldn't be a game unless they decide to hit a bunch of 3's and/or we decide to turn it over at an alarming rate. (both possible)

2. Millett Hall in Oxford has been a house of horrors for WMU. We won there two years ago for the first time in a really really long time, and we needed OT to get it done. To give you an idea, we took both our NIT teams there and LOST. The most recent one was led by Ben Reed and Levi Rost...they got smoked by 25.


Miami has been down in recent years when compared to their tradition in basketball. Freshman sharp shooter Brian Sullivan bolted town when Coles retired and they announced Cooper to replace him. I think he would have stayed if they hired one of Coles' assistants, but oh well. He was their second leading scorer last year.

Their leading scorer is Allen Roberts. He is a 6'3" guard that was injured all of last year. Which partly explains Miami's 6th place finish in the East.

Will Felder is their second leading scorer. He checks in at 6'7" and sat out last year after transferring from St. Francis of Pennsylvania. Both he and Roberts have junior eligibility.

Reggie Johnson is their third leading scorer as a 6'1" freshman guard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L28vwqjV9ls

Highlights from their loss to NIU. Two things stuck out. They pressed and they went to a half court trap on defense. I would assume they will at least attempt both against WMU. Might as well considering our PG's are a frosh and a soph.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma4oGzzAM5g

Highlights from their road win at Buffalo. They played some zone on defense, and it doesn't look to be very effective. Had a 20 point lead, only to cough it up in the second half and barely pull out the win.

Looks like Miami employs some good size in their front court. I'm not worried about that as much as their wings and guards creating and getting open looks. Our big men will play physical (too a fault sometimes) and I'm not convinced Miami's front court will do the same. This isn't the prototypical Miami team that locks you down on defense and controls the tempo.

I don't know what Miami team will show up on Wednesday, but I do know that if WMU plays to it's capabilities...we should win this game.

If WMU has legit aspirations of pulling away from the middle of the MAC and solidify it's spot as the 3rd best team in the MAC, this is the type of game that they need to win. You can't afford to drop road games against teams that are inferior. I'm not trying to knock Miami by any means with that comment.

Worst and best fact of this game....WMU has exactly one player (Hutch) who has seen game time at Millett Hall. Not sure how if that translates in our favor or not.

Miami wins if we come out flat and turn the ball over 20+ times...all while shooting horribly from 3 point range (3/20 type stuff).

WMU wins if they come out with energy, play physical, and stay in front of their wings/guards on the perimeter. Also, getting to 70 points would be helpful for the Broncos. Miami hasn't scored more than 63 points in their MAC games yet.

I'll go with my Broncos taking their 5th game in a row.

Dub City 73
Miami 61

Game Day!

I'm not sure anyone realizes how tough it has been for WMU to win in Oxford over the years.

Obviously we won there 2 years ago. But before that, it was the 1988-89 team that last won in Oxford.

Jim Havrilla, Mark Judge, Billy Stanbeck, Eli Parker, Mark Brown, etc... I remember that team, although it was almost 25 years ago.

(01-28-2013 10:17 AM)EA3 Wrote:  Two things really really stick out.

1. Miami is in the bottom 10% of rebounding teams in the nation. That's not good. And it also explains how a team like NIU, who is a good rebounding team, pulled off a W in Oxford a few weeks ago. Seriously, if WMU rebounds like we normally do...this shouldn't be a game unless they decide to hit a bunch of 3's and/or we decide to turn it over at an alarming rate. (both possible)

2. Millett Hall in Oxford has been a house of horrors for WMU. We won there two years ago for the first time in a really really long time, and we needed OT to get it done. To give you an idea, we took both our NIT teams there and LOST. The most recent one was led by Ben Reed and Levi Rost...they got smoked by 25.


Miami has been down in recent years when compared to their tradition in basketball. Freshman sharp shooter Brian Sullivan bolted town when Coles retired and they announced Cooper to replace him. I think he would have stayed if they hired one of Coles' assistants, but oh well. He was their second leading scorer last year.

Their leading scorer is Allen Roberts. He is a 6'3" guard that was injured all of last year. Which partly explains Miami's 6th place finish in the East.

Will Felder is their second leading scorer. He checks in at 6'7" and sat out last year after transferring from St. Francis of Pennsylvania. Both he and Roberts have junior eligibility.

Reggie Johnson is their third leading scorer as a 6'1" freshman guard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L28vwqjV9ls

Highlights from their loss to NIU. Two things stuck out. They pressed and they went to a half court trap on defense. I would assume they will at least attempt both against WMU. Might as well considering our PG's are a frosh and a soph.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ma4oGzzAM5g

Highlights from their road win at Buffalo. They played some zone on defense, and it doesn't look to be very effective. Had a 20 point lead, only to cough it up in the second half and barely pull out the win.

Looks like Miami employs some good size in their front court. I'm not worried about that as much as their wings and guards creating and getting open looks. Our big men will play physical (too a fault sometimes) and I'm not convinced Miami's front court will do the same. This isn't the prototypical Miami team that locks you down on defense and controls the tempo.

I don't know what Miami team will show up on Wednesday, but I do know that if WMU plays to it's capabilities...we should win this game.

If WMU has legit aspirations of pulling away from the middle of the MAC and solidify it's spot as the 3rd best team in the MAC, this is the type of game that they need to win. You can't afford to drop road games against teams that are inferior. I'm not trying to knock Miami by any means with that comment.

Worst and best fact of this game....WMU has exactly one player (Hutch) who has seen game time at Millett Hall. Not sure how if that translates in our favor or not.

Miami wins if we come out flat and turn the ball over 20+ times...all while shooting horribly from 3 point range (3/20 type stuff).

WMU wins if they come out with energy, play physical, and stay in front of their wings/guards on the perimeter. Also, getting to 70 points would be helpful for the Broncos. Miami hasn't scored more than 63 points in their MAC games yet.

I'll go with my Broncos taking their 5th game in a row.

Dub City 73
Miami 61

Nice overview EA. Kind of looks like a Gobaseline analysis that can actually be read and understood. (Actually, I really like Gobaseline's posts; its just that I need my decoder ring to translate into English).

gobaseline has forgotten more about basketball than I will ever know.

And thank you for the compliment :)

Its game day!! TIME TO KEEP UP THE WIN STREAK!!

We won in Mt P Saturday. Let's bring the same intensity to Oxford to win there, tonight.

Found this short quote about the game:

Coach John Cooper on Western Michigan: “A very well-coached team. They’re going to move the ball around, they’ve got good size … heck, everybody’s big compared to us at this point. But to be honest, I’m more focused on our group and getting back to some basic things. We’re having some breakdowns that we shouldn’t have, especially from a defensive standpoint.”

Flashback two years

Quote:4:30 PM ET,
January 29, 2011
John D. Millett Hall, Miami, OH
1 2 OT T
WMU 28 37 8 73
M-OH 42 23 3 68
OXFORD, Ohio -- Demetrius Ward scored 21 points and Western Michigan came back from a 14-point halftime deficit to defeat Miami (Ohio) 73-68 Saturday in a Mid-American Conference game.
///edit ///
A 12-1 run brought Western Michigan within four, 54-50, with 10:25 left in regulation. Two free throws by Ward tied it, 62-62, with 2:35 left and a 3-pointer by Nate Hutcheson gave Western Michigan a 65-62 lead at the 1:53 mark.

Julian Mavunga, who led the RedHawks (9-12, 4-3) with 22 points, made 1 of 2 free throws and then a jumper with 19 seconds left for a 65-65 tie at the end of regulation.

For those of you watching the game tonight, we are having a bit of an impromptu live chat over at BroncoBlitz tonight at 7.. not really related to the game although we'll be glad to talk about it too. Thanks for the support, guys.

I got the broncos in a dominating win: 78-52

You sumbitches better cover.

What's the line?

(01-30-2013 04:03 PM)DesertBronco Wrote:  What's the line?

3

(01-30-2013 04:07 PM)EA3 Wrote:  

(01-30-2013 04:03 PM)DesertBronco Wrote:  What's the line?

3

Yikes, we better REALLY cover. I feel like we'd lose a close game in Oxford.

I think that the mindset of this team is that they know that they are pretty good - so come and get us. They are mostly too young to understand the Millett Hall voodoo curse and will play accordingly.

The boys will pound them on the boards and in second chance points and points in the paint. Miami may keep it close in the first half but the Broncos will bust it open and win going away.

I would say that expectations are that this group had better easily cover that spread. It wouldn't surprise me to see us blow them out. But the Miami curse might make it closer than I believe. Still WMU covers the spread.

Voodoo, anybody?

Something's got to give tonight. In MAC Pickem' I'm 6 - 0 picking WMU games but only 3 - 3 picking Miami games.

Go Broncos.

http://www.mac-sports.com/Schools/Miami/...aming.aspx

Feeling a wholesale substitution.