by TYLER HATHAWAY
BUFFALO, N.Y– Fresh off of a blowout win for their first tournament victory since 2014, No. 9 seed Saint Louis is readying to face one of the best college basketball has to offer- the No.1 seed Michigan Wolverines.
“We’re certainly excited to get a chance to compete again,” said head coach Josh Schertz. “This group has been special all year long. We know we have our hands full tomorrow.”
Schertz has a ton of respect for a Michigan team he believes is the best squad in the country.
“You have elite talent, elite coaching,” Schertz explained. “It’s a great combination to be good. They can hurt you in a lot of different ways, with transition, they do a good job in the pick and rolls, they’re a good offensive rebounding team.”
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The Wolverines score over 87 points per game, good for tenth in the nation. They also scored over 100 points in their first round game, like the Billikens did.
“It’ll take everything we got in film, just going with the game plan that coach gives us,” said guard Kellen Thames. “Understanding there’s that talent on both teams. We just have to make sure that we’re very attentive to detail and cleaning stuff up today in practice, and understanding the coverages we have to take on tomorrow.”
“We have to do what we do and do it at an incredibly high level,” said Schertz of what it will take to win. “We’ll have to play our best game of the season to win. They’ll stress test us in every way and challenge us on both ends of the floor to hit a level that we haven’t had to get to yet.”
Saint Louis is looking to build off a game against Georgia where they scored 102 points and lead by as much as 40 points.
“We were extremely attentive to detail and our gameplan, so we have to carry that over,” said forward Brady Dunlap.”(Rebounding) is something we have to focus on, they’re such a big team, and if we can be physical and try and even out the rebounding, we’re so talented offensively we can play anybody.”
“We played really well Thursday, but we’re going to have to play even better tomorrow to give ourselves a chance against those guys,” Schertz said.
The Billikens won in the first round, as did fellow A-10 league mate and No. 11 seed VCU, who came back from 19 down to beat No. 6 seed North Carolina.
“The A-10 prepared us for (the tournament),” said Schertz. We played in one of the best leagues in the country and we were certainly prepared because of that experience.”
So far, mid-major teams such as Saint Louis, VCU, High Point, and Utah State have won tournament games. Santa Clara took Kentucky to overtime and Miami of Ohio won in the First Four.
“The gaps are not as significant as the outside pundits want to tell you,” said Schertz of the perceived disparity between smaller and bigger schools. “Hopefully this tournament has shown that at least the non-Power Five teams are certainly capable of playing on equal footing with a lot of the high majors.”
It’s the first tournament appearance for Schertz, who has been coaching college basketball for over 25 years.
“It’s been an incredible experience,” the coach said. “It’s been a long time. I spent most of my career in small college basketball, at the Division II level and was fortunate to be in a bunch of tournaments there. Obviously this is the biggest stage in college basketball, to do it at the Division I level. I’ve been trying to do a good job when I have moments to take this in and not go so fast to appreciate it.”
A 12:10 tipoff is scheduled for Saturday at the KeyBank Center, The game will be televised on CBS.
“They’re a really good, deep basketball team and they do it on the defensive end,” said Schertz of Michigan. “They have really good size and versatility, they switch on a ton of stuff, they make it really hard on you. There’s not a lot where you look and say that’s a true weakness.”
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