Bronco Preview--Kool Running

So, as the conference season continues a really fast pace, we have Bowling Green leaving Muncie Thursday night and heading straight to Kalamazoo, which is lovely this time of year, and preparing to play the Broncos.

The Broncos are a tough team to figure out.  They have very nice wins over VCU, Northeastern, College of Charleston and Sam Houston State (don't laugh, look the last two up), and played USC and Temple really tough.  They also have the conference's best pure scorer in David Kool, who is averaging 21 points per game (21st in the nation).

Yet, they are 4-5 in MAC play, have lost 3 of their last 4 since playing the MAC East, including two at home.  Granted, the Kent and Miami losses were both heartbreakers, but I just think it is a surprise to look at this team and see them having the same conference record that BG does.

I did pick WMU to win the West.

Looking at the numbers, on paper, the WMU offense is used to getting about what the BG defense is used to giving up.  However, WMU's has come against a much tougher schedule than BG has played.  The battle on the offensive boards will obviously be key, as that is a strength of the WMU team.  Note that while WMU is pretty good offensive team, Miami did succeed in sucking them into their game, and BG will need to as well in order to compete.

NCAA Basketball Stats

Flipping the whole thing around now, let's take a look at the BG offense against the WMU defense.  As you can see, this is the much the same story, with close rankings on paper but always remembering that WMU has played a much tougher schedule.

College Basketball Stats

Individually, we have already covered David Kool, but Martelle McLemore is scoring 11 points and game and Flenard Whitfield has about 9 a game.  They also have a very solid senior presence on the inside in Donald Lawson, who is 6'10" and the conference's third leading rebounder.  PG Mike Douglas is 3rd in the conference in assists.

Maybe I just have a crush on these guys, but I can see them making a nice run in the MAC tournament.

The last factor is that both teams are playing their fourth game in eight days, which is a really tough grind.  To win this game, BG needs to make sure it is their kind of game, get some kind of consistent scoring, and we need Otis to really battle Lawson in the post.