Chapter 57: louisville cardinals
The next day, the USC team was flown to Indiana.
Their game against the Louisville Cardinals is March 29 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis!
So there is only one day left for them!
Lucas Oil Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium with an automated retractable roof and is the home of the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League.
It is also because of its automatically retractable roof that the NCAA put the Southern California game against Louisville in this venue.
Ordinary old-fashioned open-air stadiums cannot hold indoor basketball games. Like the University of Antarctica Memorial Stadium, it is also one of the top gymnasiums in the United States, and it is also the home stadium of the University of Southern California, but because it is an open-air stadium, it is not suitable for basketball. Use it for competitions!
Lucas Oil Stadium is quite young, he started construction in 2005 and just finished in 2008.
And since it was intended to be used as a football stadium from the beginning, the auditorium arrangement is also very wide. This stadium can accommodate 70,000 spectators to watch the game!
This is a whole circle bigger than the previous arena!
After all the University of Southern California players came to Indianapolis, they took the bus to Lucas Oil Stadium in the afternoon.
There is no way that the time is tight, they must get familiar with the venue as soon as possible!
Because the NCAA Midwest Regional Finals will be held, the entire venue has been decorated according to the basketball game venue.
Although Lian Dao has also played a lot of games, he still feels small when he stands in the gymnasium and looks around.
This time, they are simply shooting in the new field, looking for the touch, so as to adapt to the playing field.
Get used to your new surroundings!
…
Back at the hotel, Tim and the players watched the previous game between the Louisville Cardinals and the Kansas State Jayhawks.
In fact, the Louisville Cardinals are very similar to the University of Southern California in the last game, and both came back against the wind in the last ten minutes.
But the difference is that the overall strength of the Louisville Cardinals is not as good as that of the Kansas Jayhawks. They have been beaten by the Kansas Jayhawks in the first three quarters, and the score gap was once led by the Kansas Jayhawks.
But the Kansas State Jayhawks slacked off in the fourth quarter.
After establishing an advantage in the first half and the first ten minutes of the second half, I felt that the game was won, and my mind was paralyzed, so the Louisville Cardinals seized the opportunity and directly overtook the score.
This also has the problem of the experience of the young players of the Kansas Jayhawks. After playing downwind games for a long time, once the score is overtaken, I don’t know how to play. The offensive formations are in disarray.
If the Kansas State Jayhawks don't make a mistake in the last ten minutes, then USC will face the Kansas State Jayhawks in this game!
But comparatively speaking, USC is more willing to play against the Louisville Cardinals!
"DeMar, do you think the Louisville Cardinals have a chance against us?"
Lian Dao wanted to see what DeMar thought of the Louisville Cardinals.
"I don't think it is possible. Vucevic is back in this game. We have a great advantage against them. The most important thing is that we will not make the same mistakes as the Kansas Jayhawks!"
DeMar answered firmly, and he also analyzed the overall strength of the next two teams with Lian Dao.
In fact, Demar didn't understand the main reason why Lian Dao asked him this question just now!
What Lian Dao actually meant was not to underestimate the Louisville Cardinals.
Because before USC heard that they were playing against the Louisville Cardinals, everyone was overjoyed!
Seems like the No. 1 seed for the Louisville Cardinals is a fake.
This state is especially like the state of some strong teams facing dark polo teams, thus underestimating their opponents psychologically.
If all the strong teams look at the dark horse team in this way, think that the dark horse is a soft persimmon, and want to pinch it, then the final result will be that the dark horse will be black to the end!
But fortunately, with Tim here, he will not be filled with excitement just like the players!
He constantly reminded the players of the failure of the Kansas Jayhawks.
All the team members have also calmed down safely. They have managed to get to the present and they don't want to fail because of underestimating their opponents. If they miss the semi-finals or even the finals because of carelessness, then they will never forgive themselves for the rest of their lives!
After watching all the videos, Tim made some summary of the game, and then made some tactical arrangements.
They are all conventional tactics. Although there are still some tactics that USC has not used, they will be used at the last moment.
For the Louisville Cardinals, it's not time to use it!
Let's talk about Lian Dao's impression of the Louisville Cardinals in the game just now.
That's their zone defense and basketball protection.
One of the most important reasons why they were able to comeback in the last game was their rebounds. The Kansas Jayhawks missed outside shots in the last quarter due to physical reasons, and the Kansas Jayhawks did not protect the rebounds. It's an offensive rebound.
And they couldn't break the zone defense of the Louisville Cardinals in a short period of time, which caused the team's morale to plummet, and they fell into a slump, and were directly overtaken by the opponent!
The two players that Lian Dao impressed them the most are: Earl Clark and Terrence Williams Earl Clark is about the same as Lian Dao, with a height of 2.06 meters. Position swings. Averaged 8.7 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game. The defense is fierce, and the rebounding is active!
Terrence Williams, peak swingman, but mostly at small forward!
After watching all his game videos, Lian Dao discovered that the precipitation of three years in college made him explode directly in his senior year.
He has proficient offensive skills and confident mid-range shooting!
This season he showed everyone his explosive scoring ability.
The key is that he also has excellent defensive ability and rebounding, as well as an excellent wing pass!
If it wasn't because he is already a senior and relatively older, his draft pick should have risen a few spots!
Although Terrence Williams showed his versatility this season, Lian Dao also discovered his shortcomings.
Continuous shooting ability, his shooting is very unstable, he mostly relies on layups after breakthroughs, and relatively few outside shots.
After watching all the videos, Lian Dao has a basic understanding of his counter-personnel!
What Lian Dao and the others didn't know was that just when they were happy to play against the Louisville Cardinals.
After the Louisville Cardinals knew that their opponent was USC, they were also very excited!
They believe that USC is the biggest dark horse this season.
I think that the University of Southern California just picked up the leak that the overall strength of the Parker Ten League is not strong this season!
Especially Earl Clark, he kept clamoring for Lian Dao to have a taste of real iron-blooded defense!