Dorf’s keys to victory for each squad in tonight’s National Championship in Men’s College hoops.
Louisville:
- Keep Michigan in a half court game. Letting them get out and run in transition is a death sentence. They are much easier to handle in the half court.
- Get Mitch McGary in foul trouble. They have no offensive depth up front, neutralizing him will force John Horford and Jordan Morgan, who are nowhere close in offensive talent to play more minutes.
- Be physical with Nik Stauskas. He disappears from games often when you put a body on him every possession. If he feels free to float around the perimeter and shoot at will, he will knock down jumpers all over the place.
- Don’t forget where the shooters off the bench are on the court. Very key to Michigan’s victory over Syracuse was that the Orange lost track of Spike Albrecht and Caris LeVert when they came into the game and they both knocked down a couple of 3’s.
- Limit the runs. Michigan has gotten in a huge hot streak shooting the 3 in each of their tournament wins. If you shorten or eliminate the run and force the ball inside, Gorgui Dieng can block shots left and right.
Michigan
- Keep Louisville on the perimeter. The Cardinals don’t have a guy that will play in the game who shoots more than 38% from three.
- Take advantage of the Glen Robinson v Chane Behanan matchup. Robinson is much faster and talented off the dribble. Both start at the 4 for their teams. Robinson is a traditional wing, where as Behanan is a traditional Power Forward.
- Keep the ball out of Russ Smith’s hands the best you can. The guy is flat out deadly, and gets to the rim at will. The Wolverines don’t have a great rim defender (McGary is improving but gets in foul trouble easily when called upon with regularity) so keeping Smith on the perimeter will be key. Smith shoots on 33% from 3 point land.
- Get the Louisville guards in foul trouble. They have no depth at the position because of the Kevin Ware injury. Coach Pitino came out in a zone to start the game vs Wichita State, because of his concern over the foul trouble. Trey Burke will have to get to the line early off the dribble. The next guard off the bench is a walk on who has appeared in only half of Louisville’s games and averages only 3.8 minutes and less than a point a game.
- Get Gorgui Dieng in foul trouble. The Cardinals have plenty of depth in the front court, just none of them are the rim protector that Dieng is. Trey Burke can get to the rim with the best of them, but will often get turned away by the freakishly long arms of Dieng.