Youngstown State Preview....

These "multi-team events" are tough on the blogging community.

Just saying.

And I suppose they are tough on the team and players, too.

OK.

So Youngstown State is next.  They are not expected to have a great season.  They were 11-21 last year (and 3 non-d1 wins), 2-14 in the Horizon and picked to finish second-to-last in the conference.

They are 0-3 on the season.  They lost by 9 @Kent and by 22 to Toledo in Youngstown.  And then they lost in triple OT last night to Florida Gulf Coast, which was also a road game.

This is another very young team.  Maybe not as young as North Dakota was, but still very young.  They have only one senior who plays a lot.  He's a good player--Bobby Hain--and he's formidable at this level.  He's 6'10 and 240 lbs and off to a little bit of a rocky start this year.

Their leading scorer is Cameron Morse, a So. G who had only 6 PPG last year but is currently getting 19.  He's shooting 40% from beyond the arc and since BG has struggled to defend the perimeter, this is one to keep an eye on.

Like every team in this level of college basketball, JUCO guys are big.  Matt Donlan is a G/F who is a JUCO transfer and is their next leading scorer.  He's from Australia and making 36% of his 3FGs.

The other interesting addition is Francisco Santiago, who transferred up from DII.  He's averaging 4/7 assists per game, with a 1.3 ratio.

The style here it to play upbeat.  They are averaging 80 possessions per 40 minutes, which is a lot.  They like to shoot the 3 and they are in the top 20% of the country in 3FGAs so far this year.  They are not having huge success, however, with a percentage just about 33%, which is more or less the NCAA average.

This is a game that on paper BG should win.  The problem is that they look at us and think exactly the same thing.