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The Lamar Cardinals (5-6, 0-0) v. The Texas Tech Red Raiders (7-5, 0-0)
Tuesday, January 1, 2008 @ 6:00 p.m.
TTTN
The Numbers:
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Keys to the Game:
- Lamar is Terrible: I thought NW St. was terrible, at least according to KenPom, but Lamar is horrible. I can't claim to understand all the math that goes into those rankings, but I'm pretty sure that the closer you get to 100 on the offensive rankings then you're really struggling. Lamar is at 92.7 which means that they can't break 100 points for every 100 possessions. Bottom line, I expect another dominating defensive performance from Texas Tech.
- Roberson's Assignment: Roberson's offensive game is coming along great, making shots and he's starting to distribute the ball while taking care of the ball. However, Lamar's leading scorer is thier point guard, Kenny Dawkins, and I'd love to see if Roberson is able to effectively shut down Dawkins, which would probably shut down Lamar completely.
- Force Feed De Bem: I thought De Bem showed some decent offensive moves against NW St. and I'd like to see the Red Raiders continue to force the issue with De Bem. Let's let him take 5 to 6 shots a game from the post and see how that opens up the rest of the offense. Additionally, Lamar's center, Nwevo, is not exactly tiny (6-8/260) and I'd like to see what exactly De Bem has in his bag of tricks before conference play begins.
Probable Starting Lineups:
| Texas Tech | Ht. | Wt. | Pos. | Yr. | PPG | RPG | APG |
| John Roberson | 5-11 | 165 | G | Fr. | 11.8 | 2.3 | 2.9 |
| Alan Voskuil | 6-3 | 175 | G | Jr. | 12.8 | 4.0 | 1.9 |
| Martin Zeno | 6-5 | 208 | G/F | Sr. | 14.8 | 4.9 | 2.8 |
| Mike Singletary | 6-5 | 226 | F | Fr. | 7.5 | 2.8 | 1.4 |
| Ricardo De Bem | 6-10 | 233 | C | Jr. | 3.2 | 2.7 | 0.7 |
| Lamar | Ht. | Wt. | Pos. | Yr. | PPG | RPG | APG |
| Kenny Dawkins | 5-9 | 155 | G | Jr. | 15.4 | 2.4 | 4.0 |
| Brandon McThay | 5-11 | 170 | G | Jr. | 5.1 | 1.2 | 1.6 |
| Justin Nabors | 6-6 | 215 | F | Jr. | 10.9 | 7.0 | 1.5 |
| Lamar Sanders | 6-6 | 230 | F | Sr. | 10.2 | 7.5 | 2.0 |
| Lawrence Nwevo | 6-8 | 260 | C | Jr. | 5.9 | 3.5 | 0.3 |
This is your open game day thread so feel free to sign up for a free account and leave all predictions, comments and thoughts about the game here.
GO RAIDERS . . .
*Stats can be found Ken Pomeroy, via Basketball Prospectus: K.P. Rank = the Ken Pomeroy Rank; Offensive Efficiency = the national rank in terms of points scored per 100 possessions; Defensive Efficiency = the national rank in terms of points allowed per 100 possession. Numbers in parentheses are national rank.