Tonight, the Mississippi Valley St. Delta Devils visit Rupp Arena. The Delta Devils, of course, are coached by "Unforgettable" Sean Woods, who is in his second year as Mississippi Valley State's head man.
Here is a look at how the two teams have fared so far this season, courtesy of Statsheet.com:
Rank and Records | MVSU | UK |
RPI | #210 | #2 |
Strength of Schedule | #24 | #2 |
Overall | 1-8 | 7-2 |
Conference | 0-0 | 0-0 |
Home | 0-0 | 3-0 |
Neutral | 1-1 | 4-1 |
Away | 0-7 | 0-1 |
Top 25 | 0-1 | 2-1 |
RPI Top 50 | 0-1 | 2-1 |
As you can see above, the Delta Devils have struggled this season, mainly due to their extremely tough schedule. They have already played the likes of the Georgia Bulldogs, the Butler Bulldogs, and the Mississippi Rebels, just to name a few of the bigger teams that they've faced. Predictably, their only win came against the Georgia Southern Eagles.
More after the jump.
Personnel
Normally, I would do a comparison between who was on the team last year, and who is on this year. Unfortunately, the Delta Devils had about 25 players listed last year, so that won't be happening.
Here is the Mississippi Valley State roster, with comments:
Four Factors Analysis:
This chart shows just what you'd expect -- the Delta Devils substantially underperform Kentucky in every single one of the Four Factors. This game is a mismatch on paper, as you would expect for a top 25 team against a 1-8 mid-major.
Overall Analysis
This should be an easy game for Kentucky. The Delta Devils are smaller, not as athletic, and not as talented. But they will push this game's tempo as hard as humanly possible. The Delta Devils play at a much higher pace than Kentucky, almost 75 possessions/game to Kentucky's 69. They will press UK after every made basket, just like the Rick Pitino teams of old. They will expend their heart and soul into this game, and try their best to upset Kentucky.
But in the end, there is little doubt that they will fail.