The Pinkie Previews: Stanford (3-2) vs. Kentucky (5-0)

On Wednesday Night at 9:30 the Kentucky Wildcats will face the Stanford Cardinal in the finals of the Cancun Classic. Although the Wildcats cruised past Cleveland State on Tuesday, the game never really found a flow. I’m not sure if  that lack of flow was due more to the dead spots on the court, the chandeliers hanging from the rafters, or the officials’ whistles, but it was just a weird game.

Now, Kentucky is facing a team who is going to try to turn it into a halfcourt game to prevent that flow.

Stanford, and second year head coach Johnny Dawkins, enter the game with a 3-2 record, their losses at San Diego (77-64) in the opener and against Oral Roberts (83-81).

Next year they bring in the top ranked recruiting class in the Pac-10 and eighth ranked class overall, but this season they are predicted to finish last in a down Pac 10, in multiple publications.

On defense they are going to play man-to-man containment defense. They want offenses to get deep into the shot clock and then force them into a perimeter shot. When they allow penetration, look for their bigs to slide over from the weak side, in an attempt to draw charges.

The focal point of their offense is senior Landy Fields. At 6’7″, Fields is a bit of a hybrid between a shooting guard and a small forward. He is averaging an impressive 23.0 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 3.0 assists, while shooting nearly 50-percent from the field and 47-percent from deep.

Basically, when the Cardinal are on offense look for them to run everything through Fields. If you play back on him, he will knock down the perimeter shot. If you play up on him, he wil beat you off the bounce. If you put a smaller, quicker man on him, he will score from the block. If you double him, he will find the open man.

They will run Fields through a lot of screens and he will play a pick-and-pop game with their point guard Jarrett Mann.

Fields is tough to defend and that is why Johnny Dawkins wants the ball in his leader’s hands.

Jeremy Green, who switched his number from 5 to 45 in an attempt to be more like Mark Madsen, the last Stanford player to wear 45, after being named to the All-Pac 10 Rookie Team, is their second best scoring threat. Yeah, I know that is a long run-on sentence, but you have to throw the “Mad Dog” in there whenever you get a chance. The kid can absolutely dance.

In their win over Virginia in the semis, Green was quiet most of the way but hit some big shots down the stretch to clinch it. He is averaging 13.8 points a game and is shooting nearly 40-percent from beyond the arc.

Their best three-point shooter is senior guard Drew Shiller. He was 3-for-4 from deep in their win over Virginia and is shooting 50-percent on the season.  

Entering the season, Dawkins was looking for someone to emerge at the point guard spot and it appears that Jarrett Mann is becoming that guy. The sophomore who averaged under seven minutes a game last season is averaging over 30 a game this year. He is leading the team in assists with 6.0 per game.

Jack Trotter is their best big underneath, but he gets most of his action off of double teams of Landry Fields and is not much of a post threat. Their bigs’ main role is to set screens to set up shots and penetration.

Through five games they are shooting 39-for-102 (38%) from deep, so  you are looking at another team that is going to try to beat Kentucky with the long ball.

In most of these holiday tournaments you expect to receive at least one challenge. Even though Stanford is a big name, don’t expect them to give Kentucky much of a game unless they find a way to turn it into a true halfcourt game.

Even then, I think that Kentucky’s guards will find a way to get into the lane and that their bigs are just too skilled for Stanford.

Kentucky rolls to a Cancun Classic Championship and then goes ballroom dancing afterwards.

It is being said that Patrick Patterson is in a boot and is questionable for Wednesday’s game.