MBB Preview: Queens University

So, if you never heard of Queens University until they popped onto our MBB schedule, that would make two of us.

They are located in Charlotte and are the Royals.

It was a woman's school that changed its name to Queens in 1912 and then started to admit men after World War II.

It is a small school, with 2,400 students.  

Like USI, they are in their first year of D1 competition, and will be eligible for the NCAA tournament after Ohio State goes through two more Presidents. 

They qualified for the DII tournament 15 times, making the final four twice, most recently in 2018.  Last season they made the regional final.  Their previous coach, Bart Lundy, is now coach at Milwaukee.  Grant Leonard, his longtime assistant, is now head coach.  He got off to a rough start, getting a DWI right as the season was beginning and was suspended for the first five games.

They play in the ASUN, where they were picked #13 in the pre-season poll. 

They are 5-2 this year, but 3-2 against D1 competition. They beat Marshall (115), Green Bay (358) and Morgan State (266), with losses to LaSalle (201) and George Mason (130). Their kenpom is 211.  Kenpom gives BG a 51% chance to win.  Queens is 0-2 on the road.

They play at 67 possessions per game, which is slower than the NCAA average.  As you can see below, they are a strong offensive team--top 100 in D1.  BG, as we know, struggles to defend.  On the other side, they are not great defensively and BG is not great at scoring.  I guess you could look at it like we know how the left side will go....about 72 points per the Royals and can BG get to 72.

They combine great shooting and great offensive rebounding to get their points. They shoot a lot of 3FGs--44% of their shots.  They aren't great--32% of them are made, below national average.  However, they make 56% of their 2FGs, which is #38 in the country.  They are #18 on the offensive boards, which makes up for a terrible record on turnovers. They do get to the line.

They are not great on defense. They are easy to shoot on, don't force turnovers and are pretty average on the offensive boards.  They don't give up many FTs.  They are more vulnerable to the 2FG.  The question here is whether BG can make shots.  BG is #310 in the nation in EFG.

Individually, their leading scorer is Kenny Dye, who scores 16.7 PPG on 57% on 2FG and 42% on 3FG. He also averages 5 assists per game. He's a 6'0" SR G.

AJ McKee is their second leading scorer at 12.6 PPG on 56% and 33% shooting. He's a 6'2" G.

Jay'Den Turner is scoring 11.9 PPG on 51% and 27% shooting and a 7.1 RPG.  He's a 6'5" Jr.

Gavin Rains gets 9.5 RPG and is number 64 i the country in offensive rebounding. He's a 6'7" Jr.

Look, this is similair to USI.  This team is new to D1 but brings a track record of success from DII, have DI wins this year and should give BG all it can handle tomorrow.  That's not a great statement about where we are, but it is an accurate expectation.