Pilchard
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With the happy news that Chaundee Brown is wearing a walking boot, here is the skinny on the Deacs next opponent, the Davidson Wildcats:
2019-20 Season: Legendary Bob McKillop in his 30th year as the Davidson head man takes on the Deacs tomorrow night. BTW, who knew that the NYC native, McKillop, attended ECU before transferring to Hofstra? Davidson started off the year with two losses: #21 Auburn by 10 and under-ranked #220 Charlotte by 13. The Wildcats bounced back with resounding wins over #277 UNCW (by 38) and #122 Nevada by 20. Davidson has a big game against Marquette after WF, and KP currently projects Davidson as the #3 team in the 14 team A-10, behind only VCU #37 and Dayton #53. Some projected Davidson as an NCAA team this season, but the Wildcats can't afford many more OOC losses to have any hope at an large bid, as the A-10 is typically only a 2 or 3 bid league (only 1 bid last year).
Lineup: Davidson returns its top 5 players from last year's 24-10 NIT club, and adds sophomore starter Mike Jones who sat out last season with an injury. Davidson essentially starts 4 guards/wing players and a center. Their top returning scorer is G 6-5 Kellan Grady (he missed last year's WF game); other starters are 6-5 Mike Jones, 6-5 Luke Frampton, 6-5 Jon Axel Gudmundsson and 6-10 Luke Brajkovic. Off the bench, Davidson brings in 6-3 Carter Collins (started against WF last year) and 6-7 Frosh Hyunjung Lee from Korea.
Tendencies: Davidson is all about killing teams from 3 (42% of their points come from 3; they are shooting 41% as a team from deep), and then driving to the basket if the defense spreads out. Everyone in the rotation can hit the three led by Luke Frampton who is hitting 52% from deep. In 4 games, Davidson has had 3 different leading scorers and six players have already scored in double figures at least once. Also, if the game is close late, Davidson is a great FT shooting team (80% on the year). Davidson's weaknesses on offense are that they don't rebound well (#270 offensive rebounding %) and as an outside shooting team, they don't draw many fouls (#310 in FTA per FGA). Defensively, with only one starter above 6-5, teams have hurt Davidson inside as teams are shooting 58% (#322) from 2 against the Wildcats and they don't block many shots (#343 in block percentage). To win, say it with me, "WF will need paint touches".
Bottom line: Without adjusting for Chaundee's apparent injury, KP projects a 7 point Davidson win (74-67). This game will be decided by how well WF defends from behind the arc, and if WF can score inside against the smallish Wildcats. Historically, Manning's teams have struggled to defend the 3, but are slightly better this year (opponents are hitting 31% #141). Scoring has been a problem for this team so far, particularly inside, WF is shooting 47% from 2 -- #211 against weak competition; so, WF will have to be much better than it has been to have a chance. WF beat Davidson 67-63 last year (Chill and Hoard had 16; WF held Davidson to 29% from behind the arc). Expect Davidson to get revenge this year, by double digits.
2019-20 Season: Legendary Bob McKillop in his 30th year as the Davidson head man takes on the Deacs tomorrow night. BTW, who knew that the NYC native, McKillop, attended ECU before transferring to Hofstra? Davidson started off the year with two losses: #21 Auburn by 10 and under-ranked #220 Charlotte by 13. The Wildcats bounced back with resounding wins over #277 UNCW (by 38) and #122 Nevada by 20. Davidson has a big game against Marquette after WF, and KP currently projects Davidson as the #3 team in the 14 team A-10, behind only VCU #37 and Dayton #53. Some projected Davidson as an NCAA team this season, but the Wildcats can't afford many more OOC losses to have any hope at an large bid, as the A-10 is typically only a 2 or 3 bid league (only 1 bid last year).
Lineup: Davidson returns its top 5 players from last year's 24-10 NIT club, and adds sophomore starter Mike Jones who sat out last season with an injury. Davidson essentially starts 4 guards/wing players and a center. Their top returning scorer is G 6-5 Kellan Grady (he missed last year's WF game); other starters are 6-5 Mike Jones, 6-5 Luke Frampton, 6-5 Jon Axel Gudmundsson and 6-10 Luke Brajkovic. Off the bench, Davidson brings in 6-3 Carter Collins (started against WF last year) and 6-7 Frosh Hyunjung Lee from Korea.
Tendencies: Davidson is all about killing teams from 3 (42% of their points come from 3; they are shooting 41% as a team from deep), and then driving to the basket if the defense spreads out. Everyone in the rotation can hit the three led by Luke Frampton who is hitting 52% from deep. In 4 games, Davidson has had 3 different leading scorers and six players have already scored in double figures at least once. Also, if the game is close late, Davidson is a great FT shooting team (80% on the year). Davidson's weaknesses on offense are that they don't rebound well (#270 offensive rebounding %) and as an outside shooting team, they don't draw many fouls (#310 in FTA per FGA). Defensively, with only one starter above 6-5, teams have hurt Davidson inside as teams are shooting 58% (#322) from 2 against the Wildcats and they don't block many shots (#343 in block percentage). To win, say it with me, "WF will need paint touches".
Bottom line: Without adjusting for Chaundee's apparent injury, KP projects a 7 point Davidson win (74-67). This game will be decided by how well WF defends from behind the arc, and if WF can score inside against the smallish Wildcats. Historically, Manning's teams have struggled to defend the 3, but are slightly better this year (opponents are hitting 31% #141). Scoring has been a problem for this team so far, particularly inside, WF is shooting 47% from 2 -- #211 against weak competition; so, WF will have to be much better than it has been to have a chance. WF beat Davidson 67-63 last year (Chill and Hoard had 16; WF held Davidson to 29% from behind the arc). Expect Davidson to get revenge this year, by double digits.
