Tribe Preview

BG has a nice stretch here until MAC play...they could easily hit the Ohio game at 9-2.  I get it, the schedule, but if you are going to play these teams you should beat them.

William & Mary is interesting.  Almost every team we play, I detail when they were in the NCAA Dance, with our own absence from the tourney stretching back to a date which you are well aware of.

Here's the deal.  The Tribe has never been in.  They are an original D1 team, and they have never, ever made the dance.  They have lost 9 times in a conference championship game, the last time in 2014. 

Located in Williamsburg, VA, W&M is the second oldest college on the continent and the 9th oldest English language institution in the world.

Alumni include three U.S. Presidents (Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, John Tyler), numerous Founding Fathers, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall, Speaker of the House Henry Clay, and early national leaders such as Edmund Randolph and Peyton Randolph.

They started the year with a kenpom of 231 and now it is 211.  They are 1-2 in D1 games....all road games...beating Norfolk State on the road and losing to Richmond by 3 and St. John by 33. 

Blue Ribbon picked them #9 in the CAA and #4 in their conference poll, which is interesting.  The CAA is the #15 ranked conference right now, and the MAC is #12.

This is our second meeting with them.  We played in 1949 and BG beat them by 16 in BG.  Was actually a big game, BG was top 20 most of the year and W&M finished 23-9.

So, this year.

The Tribe plays a little bit like Akron did last year, in that 10 players average between 13-26 minutes a game, so no one racks up big numbers. They are #70 in bench minutes to date.

Stylistically, they play fast.  Almost 76 possessions a game, which is #3 in the country.  Their points per possession is .97, which is really low. They try a large amount of 3FGs...nearly 53% of their total shots.  Unlike Davidson, they don't actually make very many...31.2%, which is below average.  Their shooting, turnovers and offensive rebounds are all below average. They do get to the line a lot but are only average FT shooters.

For the BG defense, this is a good set up.  BG needs to defend without fouling--typically a stength.  We love to play at pace and it looks like when can turn them over.

The Tribe allows 1.11 points per possession, which is also below average. They defend the shot well (53% and 30%) and also turn the ball over, but they are terrible on the defensive boards and foul even more than they get to the line themselves.

The only Tribe player on the pre-season All-CAA was Chase Lowe, who was on the 2nd team.  He's not scoring much, but leads the team with 4 assists per game.

Their leading scorer is Reese Miller, scoring 12.5 PPG in 24 minutes.  He shoots 44% and 40%. He's a JUCO transfer, 6'4" G.

Next is Kyle Pulliam at 12.3 PPG, shooting 42% and 33%.  Also a 6'4" G, he transferred before last season from DII St. Thomas Aquinas. 

Killian Brockhoff leads them with 6.3 RPG. A native German, he has played at UCSB and St. Louis. He's 6'9."

Should be an interesting game.  Kenpom gives BG a 78% chance of winning.