I admit I haven't seen LSU play more than three times this year, but from what I have seen LSU is far more athletic and a much better shooting team than Purdue. That being said, there are three ways in which Purdue will have a chance in this game. The first is to play the game ugly. Lots of fouls and missed shots and just frustrate LSU. The second is to force LSU into 20+ turnovers. Purdue really has trouble scoring in the half court and transition baskets would be huge. The final way I see Purdue winning is Willie Deane scoring 30+ points. I actually don't know if LSU has a great perimeter defender capable of stoping Deane, and I think he will have a big day, but I doubt it will be enough. As a die-hard Purdue fan it pains me to say that I don't really see us winning this game and the fact that its being played in Birmingham Alabama doesn't really help. I hope I'm wrong, but predition LSU 66 Purdue 60.
Yes we are an athletic "shooting team." Watching those ugly games make me nervous. We almost blew a big lead on Florida in the SEC tourny when the game got ugly. LSU is not a very good free throw team, so if we spend a lot of time at the line, we could get in trouble. Especially if Lloreda is at the line. I think hes only shooting about 55% of his FTs, and from what I gather, Purdue will want to foul him often. I wouldnt count on that many turnovers. I think we average around 17 assists to 14 turnovers a game, and we move the ball pretty well. I dont think we have had 20 turnovers in a game the whole year. I think your final scenario is the most likely, in that Deane needs a big game. However, I disagree with your assessment of his scoring. I would say he needs somewhere around 25 pts along with a rounded performance. He needs to play smart and pick up some assists, as well as playing good defense.
Honestly, the less Deane scores the better we are. It means everyone else is involved in the offense and hitting their shots. Except for the game at Michigan where he had 36, we generally don't win very often when he scores well over 20 points.
I noticed, while looking at the Purdue statistics, that you don't have a lot of assists. Does that mean you depend on your defense to create turnonvers and score off the turnovers or let Deane go one on one a lot, for your offense.
Actually, our offense typically revolves around passing the ball around the perimeter for 30 seconds, and then someone going one-on-one and jacking up some garbage with 2 on the shot clock. We need to force turnovers and get into transition to score. We're undefeated when we score 69 or more points. Deane is able to take most people off the dribble, but he isn't a solid "finisher." he often gets charges and TO's and misses layups, and because he puts his head down he doesn't look for an open teammate. Usually if Kenny Lowe gets it going offensively is when we reach that 69 point hurdle. I don't understand why if we haven't lost scoring over 69 why our coach would want to play a game in the 50's (VBG).
Seems to me that the games in which you might score 70+ are those in which better shots are taken, thus more drop. I doubt very seriously he wants to play the game in the 50s, but he doesnt want to speed the game up causing forced shots and misses. You need higher percentage shots, not just a higher number of them.
MobileBengal, Should have added a "DWS" to that last line, too! The only way to get our offense going is if Lowe and Booker each score in the 15 point range. We have a lot of trouble getting the ball into the post. The first five minutes will dictate the rest of the game. In games we have lost, we have always come out cold. In blowing out Indiana and Wisconsin, we came out on fire. If we go into the first TV timeout with 2 points, I wish you luck again Texass. If we're up, we have a chance. On a side note, is there anyway LSU would change their mascot to the Bengals, or Bayou Bengals? There's so many "tigers" out there in college sports, and you guys could have one of the most original.
Ah, you Boilers, always with the sarcasm. BTW, technically, our mascot is the Bengal Tiger. However, there is no way in hell we would be anything other than the LSU Tigers. Also, no matter how many schools have the Tiger as their mascot, we still have something no one else has. We are the only school with a live tiger mascot. Heres an excerpt from LSUsports.net: The Nickname: "Fighting Tigers" Way back in the fall of 1896, coach A.W. Jeardeau's LSU football team posted a perfect 6-0 record, and it was in that pigskin campaign that LSU first adopted its nickname, Tigers. "Tigers" seemed a logical choice since most collegiate teams in that year bore the names of ferocious animals, but the underlying reason why LSU chose Tigers dates back to the Civil War. According to Arthur W. Bergeron, Jr., PhD. and the "Guide to Louisiana Confederate Military Units, 1861-1865" (LSU Press, 1989), the name Louisiana Tigers evolved from a volunteer company nicknamed the Tiger Rifles, which was organized in New Orleans. This company became a part of a battalion commanded by Major Chatham Roberdeau Wheat and was the only company of that battalion to wear the colorful Zouave uniform. In time, Wheat's entire battalion was called the Tigers. That nickname in time was applied to all of the Louisiana troops of Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. The tiger symbol came from the famous Washington Artillery of New Orleans. A militia unit that traces its history back to the 1830s, the Washington Artillery had a logo that featured a snarling tiger's head. These two units first gained fame at the Battle of First Manassas on July 21, 1861. Major David French Boyd, first president of LSU after the war, had fought with the Louisiana troops in Virginia and knew the reputation of both the Tiger Rifles and Washington Artillery. Thus when LSU football teams entered the gridiron battlefields in their fourth year of intercollegiate competition, they tagged themselves as the "Tigers." It was the 1955 LSU "Fourth-Quarter Ball Club" that helped the moniker "Tigers" grow into the nickname, "Fighting Tigers." If you care to see more about Mike the Tiger, there is lots of info here: http://www.mikethetiger.com/ This is a link to Mikes new 15,000 square foot habitat: http://www.mikethetiger.com/vtour.html
A nice history lesson. Maybe Auburn should just change their name to "War Eagles" and Clemson can call themselves the "Rocks" (And yes, the Boiler sarcasm returns!)
