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. 

No letdown for Hoops squad

after last night's 71-47 thrashing of the Noles in front of another sellout at the BankUnited Center. We had the edge on the boards 44-32 and 15-2 on 2nd chance points, meaning we dominated on the offensive glass, in fact, of the 44 rebounds we had, 12 of them were offensive. We held FSU to 31% from the field (16-52) and 18% from the land of 3 (3-17). 

If there's a concern I have, its from the charity stripe. We were just 64% from there (9-14). In close games, we need to be better from there. FSU did go to the line 17 times and made 12 of them (71%). Fast break points is something we're going to have to defend a little better against. We were outscored there 9-4 in that category. We need more production from the bench, FSU's bench outscored our bench 28-19.

It was an impressive win, but we need to be better in a few areas, because if we want to make a deep run in March, we have to improve a few areas. More production from the bench, and better transition defense are two key areas we need to shore up. Reggie was just 1-8 from the field in 22 minutes of action. 5 points, 6 boards, but also had 2 blocks. In March, that won't cut it, Reggie has to be a bigger force down low and we must get him the ball and ride him as much as we can. 

Overall, big win for us, we'll enjoy it a little bit today, but come Wednesday night, its back to business, this time on the road in Blacksburg, VA vs the Virginia Tech Hokies at 9 p.m. 

As for the rankings this week, I don't think we'll hit the Top 10 yet, I think we'll hover around say 12-15 when the rankings come out.