Notables

By Matt Florjancic
D3sports.com

Richard Stockton is out to prove the old adage, "Offense sells tickets and defense wins championships" at this weekend's Final Four.

Of the four teams left in the men's tournament, Richard Stockton has allowed fewer points than Washington U., Guilford and its opponent for Friday night, Franklin and Marshall.

The Ospreys play a fast-paced style of defense and allow opponents to score 63.8 points per game. Offensively, Richard Stockton outscores the opposition by 15.9 points. They have surrendered 70 or more points only seven times in 31 games and are 6-1 in those contests.

"We're proud of what they've done," said Ospreys coach Gerry Matthews. "We don't know what to think. They play well together and have risen to any occasion that they've had to.

"We're not very big, but we are quick," he added. "Even last year, we thought we weren't playing great half-court defense. We were looking for something and we started using a three-quarter court press. We've really made it work for us for the last season and a half. It's helped get easy steals and put pressure on the other team."

One of the big reasons why the Ospreys limit their opponents to low scores is three-point field goal defense. While opponents shoot 41.5 percent from the field, Richard Stockton holds them to 28.9 percent beyond the arc.

The defensive pressure has helped Richard Stockton run off 17 consecutive wins heading into the Final Four.

"Once we get them in the press, even if they don't make turnovers, it'll wear them down in the second half," said Ospreys junior forward Omar Smith. "That [streak] just means we're playing great basketball as of late. We're playing well at the time you're supposed to be playing it at, the end of the season."

"Some teams, the press doesn't bother at all," Matthews said. "They just go right past us and go from there. When we played Gwynedd-Mercy, they went right through us like we didn't exist. We bothered St. Lawrence, but then there were some other times where St. Lawrence went right past us."

Smith has been a big part of the Richard Stockton defense.

His 26 blocks lead the team and he has the sixth-most steals with 26. Unlike some shot blockers who have a tendency to over-commit when they get caught out of position, Smith has good body control and court awareness. He averages 2.62 fouls per game.

On the boards, Smith is relentless. He has 33 more defensive rebounds than any other Osprey. While he is aggressive on defense, Smith also finds a way to the offensive glass.

"Between Omar and Chad Davis, that's our best combination of who plays deep when we do press," Matthews said. "They communicate and understand what's happening. They're both pretty quick. There was a play last week that Farmingdale [State] lobbed one across the court and Omar just came out of nowhere, got the steal and we ended up with another easy basket.

"When the press is working, there's times when we look very, very good," added Matthews. "A couple games, they've gone through us like Swiss cheese and we had to make some adjustments on that."

Smith's rebounding will be needed against Franklin and Marshall. The Diplomats are an experienced program. They have been to 12 Sweet 16s and five Final Fours.

The Diplomats outrebound their opponents by an average of 6.3 boards per game. Over the 31 games Franklin and Marshall has played, the Diplomats have collected 145 more offensive rebounds than they have allowed.

Mike Baker and James McNally are the two most dangerous Franklin and Marshall rebounders. In addition to averaging more than ten points per game, Baker and McNally lead the Diplomats in rebounding. McNally hauls in 7.6, while Baker collects 7.5 rebounds per game. Both players also shoot at or better than 49 percent from the floor.

"Practices have been pretty decent," Matthews said. "We haven't done a whole lot because I'm terrified of somebody else getting hurt. We lost a kid (Isham Poe) last Friday night. He had a fracture in his foot or ankle and he's out. Our rotation's shorter than what it was, so we're a little leery of doing anything too hard.

"They'll run their sets," Matthews added about Franklin and Marshall. "They're not going to rush shots. That system's been there for years. They're probably the best-coached team we've played in the last six or seven games."

"Going into any game, our biggest weakness is our size," Smith said. "We're going to have to limit their touches and hopefully come out with a victory."