Previewing our first opponent on Friday (Pacific)

Here's some background on our first opponent on Friday in the 2nd round game of the NCAAs in Austin, TX, which is Pacific.

Bob Thomason is retiring after this season (his 25th in Stockton). He's the winningest coach in Big West conference history with 414 wins. He's been their conference coach of the year 5 different times, most recently in 2005-06. They are 5-1 on neutral courts this season. They're 22-12 overall (13-5 in their conference). 

They shoot 45% from the field, 38% from the land of 3. At the line, they shoot just 69%. They have a 3 guard set they use. In their conference title game win over Irvine, their bench outscored Irvine's bench 31-2. 

That being said, this is a team that we should beat down with our quickness and if Reggie ever needed a breakout game, this would be it, because they have no one to stop our size down low. This is a game where I suspect our bigs are going to have monster games. 

Expect us to move on to the 3rd round on Sunday vs either Illinois or Colorado. 

2013 ACC Champions

As you know by now, we won the 2013 ACC tournament as well as winning the regular season title. It was a hellva an accomplishment for this team with a very special group of players like Shane Larkin (who was named MVP of the tournament), Durand Scott, Julian Gamble, Trey McKinney-Jones, Kenny Kadji, Reggie Johnson, etc. What a ride they have given us this year. 

Hopefully now we can keep the momentum going in the NCAAs starting on Friday in Austin, TX vs. Pacific.