Razing Arizona

Tomorrow around 2:40 Cleveland State will once again be underdogs. Unfortunately, the element of surprise is no longer on their side. Arizona was the last team in the field and they aren't about to take anybody lightly. They have three guys that can score in bunches. 6-7 Chase Budinger, 5-10 Nic Wise, and 6-10 Jordan Hill. Stop them and AZ can't win. Budinger is the most dangerous for CSU. He has the size to shoot over Cole and Jackson but is too quick for Bullock. This is specifically the type of guy who D'Aundray Brown would check. Matchup nightmare for the Vikings. They have to feel confident about containing Wise after shutting down Teague but Wise is much more likely to stay aggressive for 40 minutes. Hill is more of an offensive rebound guy. Keep him from getting good position down low and box him out and he won't be a huge factor offensively. 

What do the Wildcats think of Cleveland State? Here's Budinger in the locker room on CSU:

The locker room today was a lot more crowded than yesterday or the day before. All the Vikings have taken it in stride. I mentioned yesterday that the smart people go to Norris for a good quote. Well apparently the word is out. Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce to you "media darling" Nooooooooorrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiissss COLE!

After Mr. Cole was done with all the really important people I got him to answer a couple questions about the game with Arizona tomorrow.

What kind of preview would this be without some big guys? I've said it a couple times already but Chris Moore, Renard Fields, and George Tandy were so good defensively last night it got me thinking about many true post threats they've had to play against in the last 6 weeks. Matt Howard (Butler) is the only name that comes to mind and they held him in check as well. They were goofing around, which explains some of the random laughter. Here's Chris Moore then George Tandy:

I got to ask Coach Gee about Chase Budinger and how the Vikings were going to stop another NBA-bound player. He compared Budinger to one of the HLN Blog's favorites...

Thanks coach. I'll do my best to get some video up before tomorrow's game but the NCAA is pretty strict about video in and around the arena. The live blog will start up tomorrow at approximately 2:00 eastern. Stop by and root for the Vikings and follow along with what I'm seeing court side. See ya then!