Noting Elon

Last season, 44.4% of Elon's field goal attempts were three-pointers, a proportion that was the seventh highest in the country. They brought back a lot of players from that team and remain very much three-inclined, probably moreso than any team we've played to this point. The majority of guys in Elon's rotation will be willing to shoot it from outside.

Probable starters (via):

Drew Spradlin (6-5, 202) -- Spradlin has been a huge part of Elon's offense for over two seasons, and he's held up pretty well under the circumstances. His 2FG% has been effected negatively by the high workload, but he's been a reliable, frequent three-point shooter throughout his career.

Jack Isenbarger (6-2, 180)

Sebastian Koch (6-8, 190) -- 104 of 128 FGAs last year were threes. Twenty-six of his 35 attempts this year were threes. So, yeah, three-point specialist alert. Definitely accurate enough to be a bother.

Ryley Beaumont (6-7, 215)

Lucas Troutman (6-10, 215) -- Struggled a bit from the field as a freshman last year (46.7 2FG%), but there were plenty of encouraging signs: a low turnover rate, good block rate, and he did a solid job getting to the line and converting there. In the early stages of this season, his shooting accuracy is much improved and he leads the team in scoring. His game should be limited to the interior--he's never taken a three in his college career--but after the guy from Princeton who hadn't taken one all of last year took one against us, I hesitate to say anything definitive here.

What an unmitigated disaster these guys were at the defensive end last year. They ranked in the top 100 in height, but there wasn't a lot of bulk attached to that height and they clearly were getting pushed around by stronger teams on a regular basis. Neither their interior nor their 3FG% defense was anything close to respectable, and they were below average on the defensive glass. Throw in a modest TO% and you have a defense that ranked 303rd in defensive efficiency in 2011.

The early returns in 2012 are mixed, as their FG% defense has been a lot better, but they've been worse in the TO and rebounding departments.

Pomeroy Predictor likes NC State by 14.