Shadow_Son

Thank you for the well wishes. The tornados that rocked Bowling Green are verging on the worst natural disaster in the history of the town. Over 75 homes completely decimated. Hundreds more damaged. Over 15+ dead and unfortunately counting. Myself and my family were lucky to escape with minimal damage, while houses less than 50 yards from our front door were completely leveled. We are still without power and may be for some time. I debated on traveling to Atlanta today out of guilt, but decided to let the emergency and rescue crews do their jobs and made the drive anyway. At least they have power and heat in Atlanta I guess. I can firmly say tonight was the most emotional WKU game I’ve ever been apart of. It was clear from the tip the guys were playing with a different energy. A purpose. For the city. Having Josh Anderson back and a “closer” to 100% Hamilton made a world of difference. To completely dismantle a good team in Ole Miss and get one over on Kermit Davis, has done mine and many Hilltoppers hearts a world of good. We have a long way to go as a community and a basketball team, but tonight felt good - even if only for a couple hours. Thank you Bulls fan. Rooting for nothing but success for your program.

WKU fans were sold on the MAC and the administration was ready to go - but MTSU didn't want to pay the exit fees and dropped out. My understanding was the MAC wanted both of us or nothing. So, once MTSU "pulled a middle" the MAC rescinded their invite to us. And yes we hate the MUTS, them essentially blocking us from the MAC only intensified those feelings.

Great game Bulls! Kept us off the line for only 11 takes, even though we made double than you attempted. We need to be shooting 15-20 plus FTs a game to have a shot at winning. Love the scrappiness and constant fight from your team. You got every 50/50 loose ball and big O rebound. I said we would give you threes and boy did you take them. 13 makes on 33 takes for a scorching 39.4% as a team. The 5 trip stretch in the second half where you looked like the GS Warriors was the entire game. We only hit 3 and needed around 6-7 to compete. Not gonna win many games going-30 from beyond the arc. Glad to see Hamilton play for us tonight but he wasn’t moving right all game. Super impressed with your team especially missing your best player and backup PG. Only 4 other non conference teams have come in here and won in the last 6 years. Good luck the rest of the way!

Not sure why the line would have moved that much unless Vegas knows Hamilton is playing. As for Harmon - there have been several rumors on why he hasn't suited up yet. The staff has told some select people that he is going through some mental health and adjustment issues and just isn't right mentally to play. Kid was a "child star" of underground and youtube AAU generation who has a father who is less than helpful in the situation. But we need him. Out starting PG is a former Mr. Kentucky basketball and a guy we would all go to war with every night, but he's playing 38 minutes a night with no backup. We need Zion and Williams to have any shot at a run to the tournament.

EKU played 10 players to our 7 and we actually outscored them 16-6 the final 4 minutes to wrap it up. We had 6 guys in double figures with 4 of them playing 34+ minutes. Also, one of our 7 is the coaches son who has no business being on a D1 roster, much less a D3 - we just dont have a backup PG at the moment. Unfortunately, it has been a theme for Stansbury's teams to start the season with eligibly issues and short rosters - so we are always well conditioned to combat that. The Colonels hit a Diddle Arena record 18 threes on FIFTY ONE attempts and it still wasn't enough. They only attempted 20 two's and we blocked 7 of those attempts. Drive to the hole and get us in foul trouble. If you fall into our 3 point trap its the only hope we have. On the other side of that coin, we have 3 serviceable shooters in Luke Frampton, Camron Justice, and Sherman Brashear. We don't take or make a ton, but our magic number this year has been 7. If we can hit 7 or more 3's between those three guys, we are tough to beat.

I would only say we are "down" this year so far because we have yet to see 2 sure fire starters in uniform and could be without an additional 2 starters tonight due to covid and injury. Diddle arena is one of the best mid major arenas in the country. Only 7,300 capacity but can get rocking and feel as if the fans are right on top of you. We are 28-4 in non conference home games since Stansbury has taken charge. Still think the depth and experience of the Bulls will be too much for us tonight.

Hello all, WKU fan here with a Hilltopper perspective for the game. 5th year senior forward Josh Anderson will not play tonight. He is still in quarantine from Covid and should be cleared by Friday . Anderson is a 6'6 human highlight reel and a menace on the defensive end who is averaging 10 a game for us this year. If you have some time and are bored, just do a quick youtube search of his dunks. He's been on SC top 10 more times than I can count. Big miss. We are hopeful to get Maryland transfer Jairus Hamilton back tonight after he missed the EKU game with a back injury, though nothing has been reported yet that he will play. Hamilton is a 6'8 wing/forward who can shoot the lights out and bang in the paint. He's our leading scorer on the year with 19 a game. If he cant go, it will be a tough one for the Tops to pull out. We are also waiting on the NCAA to clear Cincinnati transfer Keith Williams eligible to play. The 6'5 combo guard averaged 15 a game for the Bearcats in a second team all-AAC season last year. Top 50 freshman PG Zion Harmon has also yet to dress for the Tops this season due to personal reasons. We are pretty short-handed and nowhere near the team we could be at full strength. As for play style, the Tops are a prototypical "Stans-ball" team. Defend 2's, make you shoot more 3's than normal, and kill you at the FT line. We have routinely MADE more free-throws than our opponents ATTEMPT for 4 seasons running now. We simply do not foul on the defensive end and we draw a ton of fouls the other way. If Hamilton cant go tonight, look for this to be even more of a point of emphasis as we will only have 7 players available. We will likely play zone to protect guys from getting in foul trouble. We defend 2's well with college ball's tallest player in 7'5 Jamarion Sharp patrolling the paint. Sharp is averaging 5 blocks per contest and alters many more. Again, we want you to kick out to shooters. Stans doesn't believe anyone can hit enough three's to beat us (though it has happened a ton of times) so we will let you shoot as many threes as you wish. If you hit them, good chance you run away with it. We currently turn it over at an alarming rate, but are also forcing more turnovers than any Stansbury team since he's been here. We want to play a quick pace and get up and down the floor in transition. If you can slow us down and beat us up in the halfcourt - good things will come your way. This game will come down to 2 factors: rebounding and turnovers. Since you will be shooting longer shots, WKU has to make sure the Bulls don't get the long rebounds and second chance points. Whoever wins those two categories will likely take the contest. I have so much respect for the Buffalo program and so happy to start a mini series with you. Looking forward to a good game tonight and think the Tops fans will show up to the tune of 5-6k, but expecting a Bulls win by about 5-10. Cheers.