Can anyone break down Kennesaw State?

[muskiefan82]

Does anyone know much about them?

[D-West & PO-Z]

Souley Boum and Colby Jones will be breaking down Kennesaw State for about 2 hours on Friday starting a 12:40pm.

[muskiefan82]

I sure hope so

[XUGRAD80]

I saw their starting lineup somewhere and it was a 6’8” 245 lb center/forward and 4 guards. One is a 5’10” guard. Other 3 players are 6’2-6’5” or so. Their leading scorer is a 6’4” guard. They won the regular season and tournament for their league. Have won 16 of their last 18 games. That’s all I know. I expect X to play Claude quite a bit and to dominate the boards and down low.

[noteggs]

Paul Fritschner is a good follow on Twitter. He had an interview with a guy who has good knowledge on KSU

https://twitter.com/paulfritschner/status/1635290161000124420?s=42&t=U5TyKr_wshJKowj_nNzfHg

It was with Nick Kirby on 3/13 on his podcast and I normally listen in IHeart (other platforms work as well).

[SteveSpivery]

I compared Liberty to Kennesaw since they tied for the league championship and played each other in the tournament finals. Liberty has a Net of 44 (https://www.warrennolan.com/basketball/2023/team-net-sheet?team=Liberty) and KS has a Net of 115 (https://www.warrennolan.com/basketball/2023/team-net-sheet?team=Kennesaw-State). This make no sense to me whatsoever. Their Q1 and Q3 are similar, Lib has a better Q4 and KS has a better Q2. I suppose it does not mean much except that Net seems really screwy.

[xukeith]

Souley Boum and Colby Jones will be breaking down Kennesaw State for about 2 hours on Friday starting a 12:40pm.

Don't we want walkons to be breaking down KSU after 1 hour?

[D-West & PO-Z]

They are 127 in Kenpom
Offensive Efficiency is 153
Defensive Efficiency is 116

They are the lowest rated Kenpom team of all the 14 seeds and Kenpom has three 15 seeds rated ahead of them.

That all makes me feel pretty good.

[D-West & PO-Z]

Don't we want walkons to be breaking down KSU after 1 hour?

Good point. At least the last 30 mins.

[X-band '01]

I know they nearly lost their Atlantic Sun tournament opener because they were missing a lot of free throws at the end of the game. There is that.

[xu82]

KSU is just up the road from where we live, maybe 20-30 minutes depending on traffic. Our son went there for a semester or two. Family and friends have kids who attend, and you see their gear and bumper stickers everywhere. I met with folks about taking adult classes there, as some of my neighbors do. I’ve spent some time on campus and played on their tennis courts. It’s a big ass school, with enrollment of about 43k (compared to UGA at 52k and Georgia Tech at 45k).

Only in the last week did I ever hear a word about them having a basketball program. But I take nobody and nothing for granted!

[xukeith]

Who here is going to NC for Friday's game? Get your tickets through Xavier?

[bobbiemcgee]

They lost to Indiana by 14, Florida by 10, SDSU by 34 and VCU by 3. They beat Liberty by 1 who just beat 'Nova.

[sirthought]

It's a large school in what I consider a weird area of the country. Big monuments to the losers in the civil war, and the city has legislation requiring every household to own a gun. There's a store there selling mostly racist hate relics and confederate memorabilia.

Nothing to do with the team or players, but it always is interesting what kind of community these people go to school in.

[xavierj]

They lost to Indiana by 14, Florida by 10, SDSU by 34 and VCU by 3. They beat Liberty by 1 who just beat 'Nova.

Davis and Xavier Johnson sat that game for Indiana. Indiana treated that game like an exhibition It seems.

[xu82]

It's a large school in what I consider a weird area of the country. Big monuments to the losers in the civil war, and the city has legislation requiring every household to own a gun. There's a store there selling mostly racist hate relics and confederate memorabilia.

Nothing to do with the team or players, but it always is interesting what kind of community these people go to school in.

Yes, it is a big school. And there are some statues around town of some old guys. Fewer than there used to be I think. Beyond that, I’m not sure if you are talking about Kennesaw, Atlanta or just the south in general.

I’ve lived here about 12 years, and that’s as close as I’ve come to seeing what you describe above. I’m sure there is racist stuff, because that exists everywhere. In fact, a buddy who lives in Cincinnati came to visit and noted how easily the blend of races get along.

[EDIT for clarity: I wish I didn’t live in Atlanta, but there are worse places.]

I looked at the KSU roster, and they are indeed from all over the place, including overseas. You go where you get your best offer, I guess. Looks like a 5’10” PG is a big deal for them. I hope we can stay in front of him. The bigger guys might be terrific, but scare me less without seeing them play. Hope it becomes a “Nunge Friday”!

[noteggs]

Davis and Xavier Johnson sat that game for Indiana. Indiana treated that game like an exhibition It seems.

And Nova sat Whitmore and Moore last night. Arguably their two best players who turned their season around (well as much as they could).

[X-band '01]

It's a large school in what I consider a weird area of the country. Big monuments to the losers in the civil war, and the city has legislation requiring every household to own a gun. There's a store there selling mostly racist hate relics and confederate memorabilia.

Nothing to do with the team or players, but it always is interesting what kind of community these people go to school in.

Holy crap - as of 1982, he's correct (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennesaw,_Georgia)

So that's how the notorious MTG ended up in Congress. Look at her district.

[Three Point Pete]

Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the 1st baseball commissioner, was the son of a Civil War veteran. Dad was wounded at battle of Kennesaw Mountain. Interesting namesake.



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[paulxu]

That area is actually represented by Barry Loudermilk, not MTG.
He's noted as having lead unofficial tours of the Capitol in the days before January 6th, where people were photographing things like staircases.
He now chairs a subcommittee looking into the events of that day.

[Three Point Pete]

Does anyone know much about them?Xavier walloped SLU by 33 pts. Kennesaw just sneaked by to a 4 pt. win.

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[D-West & PO-Z]

Xavier walloped SLU by 33 pts. Kennesaw just sneaked by to a 4 pt. win.

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Had to look at the roster to figure out what school you were talking about. Didn't know they went by SLU. Seems to me they should go by SELU. Oh well.

[UCGRAD4X]

Apparently, the name comes from a Cherokee word for cemetery. So, there's that.

[MHettel]

Quick Internet Scouting on Kennesaw State.

- 9 Man rotation used this year. Most ave minutes played by a single player was 31, and only one other guy at 30.
- 7 of 9 in the rotation are listed as guards. These 7 average 162 minutes out of 200 available minutes per game.
- Guard heights are 6'4, 5'10, 6'6, 6',4, 6'3, 6'6, 6'1. (listed by minutes played)
- 2 guys listed as forwards play a combined 37 minutes a game. One is 6'8" 264, and the other is 6'7' 218.
- Pretty obvious this is a 4 guard offense

- generally high scoring, averaging 75.5 per game.


- 33% of the scoring comes from 3. Over 33 years, Xavier has maxed out at 32.2% and averages about 24.7%.
- Combined for 764 3pt attempts, making 281 (36.7%). Averaged 22.5 attempts per game. For context, XU's MOST amount of 3's attempted per game was 23.7 over the last 33 years and only exceeded 22.5 that one time. Over that 33 year period, XU has averaged 17.6 attempts per game.
- All 7 of the guards are willing to shoot and the shooting percentages all fall in the range of 41.1% to 33.6%. So, pretty balanced and generally capable.
- The 2 bigs dont really shoot. one of the 2 was 1 for 16, and the other had zero attempts.

- Surprisingly, they dont offensive rebound very well, averaging 9.6 per game. I say surprisingly, because rebounds from missed 3's tend to be a little less predictable and they take a ton of 3's, and their big guys seem to stay inside. For context, Xu has averaged 11.8 ORebs a game over the last 26 seasons.

- Their 2 bigs, that played essentially all of their minutes up front (1,217 min) combined for 97 ORebs. Nunge had 97 himself in 995 minutes....

- Defensive rebounding is OK at 25.6 per game. Xu average over 26 years is 24.9. Might be a byproduct of the tempo (lots of opponents shots going up)

- Below average in: Blocks

- Pretty average in the following areas: FTA per game, FT% (66.2%), Fouls per game (18.0)(bigs combine for 3.5 fouls per game)

- above average in: Steals (8.0 per game vs XU 33 year average of 7.0 and not having hit 8.0 since Skip), Turnovers 12.4 per game.
- kind of low assist rate at 14.4 per game, but they take alot of 3's so an assisted 3 kid of goes uncounted when it comes to assists per points ratio. With 4 guards, I assume the ball moves effectively to find the open shots.

- Opponents shot .429 against them and took alot of 3's.

Conclusion: Pretty predictable strengths and weaknesses for a team that runs 4 guards. Plays a generally fast tempo and looks for 3 pt attempts. Decent at protecting the ball and looks to force TOs. Despite playing small, does not seem to have been abused inside and entices opponents to take 3s. Rebounding and interior defense effectiveness is consistent with a small lineup.

XU Keys to the Game: Perimeter defense, scoring at the rim / post, protect the ball, effective subs from the bench.

Things I worry about: KSU gets insane from 3 and shoots the lights out. Nunge having a 268 pound guy banging on him for 30+ minutes and Edwards being ineffective.

[xukeith]

good stuff. Take care of ball, Nunge and Hunter need to dominate boards(at least 8 more rebounds). Hopefully no foul trouble.

[spazzrico]

.

[spazzrico]

Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the 1st baseball commissioner, was the son of a Civil War veteran. Dad was wounded at battle of Kennesaw Mountain. Interesting namesake.



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And born in Millville, OH. I when I was doing my Masters at MU and living in Fairfield, I drove by the sign for the "first baseball czar" every day.

[MHettel]

Very little played out as I expected.

We were outrebounded 10-4 on the Offensive boards.

Both teams combined for 7-31 from 3.

scoring was low for both teams, and tempo was low.

Pretty ugly to watch,,,,,but better than losing.,

[sirthought]

They were fast and tough. Just about as balanced as anyone XU faced this year.

I think they ran out of steam in the second half.

[xukeith]

I think KSU played a new mix up defense and X helped by going ice cold.