You remind me of...

When scouting Montana, Ed Cooley called the Griz a physically more talented Holy Cross. And like our game against the Crusaders, BC built on a first half lead and pulled away in the second half. These analogies are not perfect but they do provide good primer for what to expect. So which one of our previous opponents best compares to Villanova? I bet Cooley would say the Wildcats are a more talented Miami or a more athletic NC State. This, for the most part, is good news as BC went 3-1 against those two teams this year. Here are some of the lessons from those two opponents that can be applied to this game.

Miami
Although Villanova’s 4-guard lineup is unique, Miami’s 3-guard set up posses similar problems. In both Miami games their guards took a lot of shots and were pretty cold. BC allowed a fair amount of penetration in both games, but the Miami little men ran into Sean Williams. Williams snapped out of his malaise during the final minutes of the first Miami game and road that momentum the rest of the season. By the second game, Miami guards were dribbling towards the basket and then dribbling away just to avoid the shot block. Miami was unable to exploit their quickness with many points in transition. Most of the offense came in the half court.

NC State
The Wolfpack handed BC its worst defeat of the season. They also were part of BC’s most exciting game of the year, as a regulation barn burner became an overtime defensive struggle. NC State is not nearly as quick as Villanova, but their perimeter oriented offense has many similarities to the Wildcats. In the first game BC barely put up an effort and it showed. NC State couldn’t miss. The second game, NC State cooled off and BC did a much better job rebounding…oh, and Sean Williams had 8 blocks.

Lessons learned
Unfortunately we are not playing NC State or Miami this weekend. Villanova is clearly better than both. But BC’s ability to win was outlined in these two games: Sean Williams’ defense, defensive rebounding and hoping like Hell that Villanova doesn’t shoot well.