Appalachian State Preview

Next up is the Appalachian State Mountaineers in Boone NC.

Boone NC is in northwest North Carolina.  It is indeed named for Daniel Boone, who is said to have camped there and a couple of his nephews lived there.

App State is in the Sun Belt Conference, where they were picked to finish fourth in their division.  The Sun Belt has created divisions to cut down on COVID travel.  They are going to play Friday-Saturday series much like the CCHA used to do back in the day.

They were 18-15 last year, coming off eight straight losing seasons.  They have been in the NCAA Tournament twice, getting a six-seed when Bobby Cremins coached there.  Press Maravich also coached App. State...unsuccessfully.

From last year's team they lost two double figure scorers, one of whom also averaged 7.7 RPG.

Their leader returnee is Justin Forrest, who was first-team All-Sun Belt last year and in the pre-season this year.  He was their leading scorer at 17.3 PPG.  He's not an efficient scorer though.  He shot  39% and 31% and had an underwater A/T ratio.  He's a 6'2" G.

They have 7 newcomers, like seemingly everyone.  One of them is a transfer from Southern New Hampshire (stand up if you've seen that stupid commercial).  His name is Michael Almonacy, and he is supposed to stabilize the PG position for them.  He averaged 15 PPG at SNH, though he had 5 TOs in the opener.

Oh yeah, the opener.  Get this...they played South Carolina State.  Beat them by 20 on the road.  Sophomore Donovan Gregory scored 14 points to lead them in that game.

A couple of notes.  Last year, they drew A LOT of FTs.  They were 11th in the country in FT Rate and 299th in making them.  

Against SC State, they shot 72% from 2FG and 26% from 3FG.  They were also awful from 3FG last year.

The game was slightly different.from BG's game with the Bulldogs.  App State was up 27 at halftime and then SC State won the second half, eventually losing by 20.

They play a slow pace---67 possessions per game, which is less than BG's average of 70.

BG is a 2-point favorite.  This game--on the road--will help us learn about this team.  The next game starts MAC play, so there's not much chance to fine tune.  This is a game you'd like to see BG win--or any team picked to win the MAC.  (The Sun Belt is the 15th ranked conference, two behind the MAC).