Memphis plays as fast as they possibly can, relying on their athleticism, size, depth, and individual ability to score a ton of points. They attack the basket and get fouled a ton, that said they also shoot a lot of pull up jumpers from deep and shoot a very high % on them. As far as half court offense they basically run no set plays which results in a really high turnover rate (25%+). Defensively they're so much bigger and stronger than other teams that they've basically suffocated the competition thus far. They're also surprisingly terrible on the defensive boards (great on the offensive ones), probably because they have almost no discipline.

1 on 1 I don't think VT has a matchup advantage anywhere except PG, we're going to need to get major contributions from Ojiako and DNG on on the defensive side of the ball because I don't think Mutts and Aluma can stand up physically to Bates and Duren for 30+ minutes and still produce enough on offense. I do think Murphy can take Lomax and Harris to task at will, so I expect a big game from him on the perimeter.

VT's perimeter defense is going to need to get significantly better and we can't afford to switch everything or they will "Florida" us. We don't really have much shot at preventing penetration in man so help side defense is going to need to be on point and backside rotations will have to be sharp or they'll feast on alley-oops. Memphis is also a really good shooting team which is a problem because they'll beat us both outside and inside in man to man. Bates is shooting 50% on 6 3PA a game and Harris, Quinones, Hardaway, and Nolley are all ~40% shooters from distance.

On offense VT shouldn't have much trouble getting the looks they want, they won't be quite as open as usual however because Memphis is just that athletic. I would expect to see a lot of complex action involving Mutts to isolate Bates who will struggle badly in rotations against cutting. It wouldn't surprise me to see us play 5 out as well because Duren is such a good shot blocker, Aluma will struggle against him inside. Ojiako I actually feel good about given his physical maturity. Once again we're near the bottom in D1 when it comes to pace, and I'd expect we want to slow it down even more against the Tigers. Make them play 30 seconds of defense every chance we get.
[Post edited by soflahokie at 11/19/2021 1:12PM]