They also have the best freshman in the NATION. Kevin Durant is the real deal.
And D.J. Augustin is probably in the top 5 in college freshman. Here's the probable matchups:
Offense - Defense
------------------
Taylor - Abrams
McIntosh - Augustin
Clark - Mason
W. Johnson - Durant
Hubalek - James
Abrams - Taylor
Augustin - McIntosh
Durant - Clark
James - Hubalek
Mason - W. Johnson
Texas has been starting a three-man guard team (Abrams, Augustin, Mason), which should give us a nice advantage at either W. Johnson, Clark, or Hubalek's position. Best guess is that they'll put the 6'2" Mason on Clark, since he doesn't score much. But Texas has a couple of big lane filler subs in Atchley and Pittman (6-10, 293 lbs, holy sh#t that's big). If they were smart, i'd start Atchley against ISU and sit Mason, as i think he'll create a better matchup situation. Otherwise, ISU needs to pound the ball to the low post mismatch early and often.
I'm really concerned about our guard matchup on defense. Abrams and Augustin are probably the best perimeter shooting tandem in the B12, and i really haven't seen Taylor/McIntosh stop the three point game well this year. Plus, while i think Rahshon is a good defender, i doubt he'll be stopping Durant. Wesley v Durant is a good matchup for us offensively, i'm looking forward to seeing it. And i think Hubalek can score on Damion James. It's when Texas subs in the big lunker foul bench post players that i'm worried we'll get pushed around.
Bottom line is that Wesley and Jiri need to have big offensive games, because this is where Texas is weakest: low-post defense when playing 3 guard sets. If we can stop Abrams and Augustin, and just let Durant get his 30 pts, we've got a chance.
We could really use some scoring from Rahshon this game. He could force some mismatches.