Both teams lost a bit of scoring, but both teams also returned quite a bit of youth. When you return freshman and sophomores who all that aren't talented from an offensive perspective, you're not really going to get improvement on that side of the ball, and the greatest improvement will come on the defensive side of the ball. We think that's what we're seeing with both teams this year. From a ranking standpoint, both teams defenses are probably performing better than the offenses in the current state. We say probably, because North Texas' numbers are the opposite at the present moment. However, their defensive #'s don't take into account their best interior defender in Tony Mitchell only playing the six games after the semester break. Much has been made about how he was a great recruit, but it's his defense that sets him apart from others and his offense is in need of some work. Now, for the basis of the play. These two teams' guards can't shoot. They don't attempt to shoot from the perimeter, and it's rare that either team forces a shot before pounding the ball in the post. It's a given that both teams want to get the ball in the post on a regular basis. When the ball don't go in the post, more than likely one of the guards is going to is and try to get to the rim, or at the very least draw a foul. Both teams' guards are a bunch of slashers and you just don't see much passing into a jump shot or passing into any kind of shot with a rhythm. These two teams just aren't built like that. With South Alabama, Ronnie Arrow has gone to his old method of slowing the tempo with young players, and using his post players on the offensive side of the ball to his advantage, most notably their best offensive and defensive player in Rubit. Again, like UNT, South Alabama's strength is defending the interior, and they do a good job of it, even as small as they are, they play a really physical brand of basketball down low. Both coaches know that they need to get the ball inside because they can't shoot from the perimeter. Tony Mitchell's presence and size in the paint pretty much negates at least half of the USA inside game, and USA has three players that are currently in the top 450 in terms of block percentage, thus giving UNT a hard time. When they don't attempt a shot from the post, then you got a bunch of guards who aren't going to shoot the ball from the outside, and would much rather take their chances getting into the paint and attempting a shot, which again, plays right into both defenses and what they want you to do.