Oso planning to go pro
TAMUI do know, Newsie is right on you knowing ball.
In the end, this is one of the reasons why I love road games against tough opponents. Low risk, high reward. You win and it does wonders for your tournament resume. You lose and the committee doesn't bat an eye. Just checked KenPom and our KP score went up a couple of points. Learn from it and turnaround and kick Xavier's a$$.
Very frustrating game to lose. Officiating was fine other than the blown call when the ball went off the foot of the Butler guy. It came down to Baldwin completely taking over and Butler hardly missing a free throw. If Baldwin is human for the last 10 minutes and even misses one or two more shots, we win. If Butler doesn't shoot like 90% from the line, we probably win. So give them credit. They had to play perfect basketball to pull it out and they did.This all being said, my main issues are pretty much wash, rinse, & repeat from prior issues.1. Howard insisting on being the reason we win or lose instead of it being a team win or loss. I put the blame on him & Wojo. He does not know when to stop chucking on games he doesn't have it. That's on him during the game, and on Wojo for not correcting it AT ALL in 3.5 years. For anyone who watched it, I thought the postgame comments about this from FS1 were fair and spot on. If I'm the guy who was WIDE OPEN in the corner while Markus is hoisting a contested 3 in front of two defenders several feet behind the line with 10 seconds left and us down one, I'm getting on the bus annoyed after this game. I appreciate what Markus can do and all he does. Full stop. But find the open man especially on a night when you didn't have it. Out other guys to me have proven to be a solid supporting cast. Use them!2. Not even attempting to change defenses on Butler when Baldwin couldn't be stopped was an exercise in maximum stubbornness. No attempt to flash double like they did against Markus. No switch to zone or box & 1. No big guys hedging hard out off the screen instead of playing behind deep in the lane. NOTHING. Baldwin got in a grove, was completely comfortable, and we did nothing to try to make him uncomfortable. That is bad coaching. We didn't lose to Butler tonight. We lost to Baldwin and we let it happen.3. While it didn't cost us the game at the time, fouling with 20 seconds left in a tie game is beyond embarrassing. How on earth can you not know the game situation. It is baffling and not to mention it's literally one of the most important aspects of being a coach. At first I was screaming at Bailey (who I thought overall played well). But it sounds like Wojo told him to foul.Maybe it's because I'm such a fan that it feels more painful when we lose, but dang I hate the way we lose. Either blowout losses or games that we should have won but gave away it appears.
Down 1 w 5 seconds left. Doable.
Not your best work Tower. Blaming the refs, blaming Brendan, not having Greg. Lots of excuses. Refereeing was NOT bad at all, particularly is being the road team. Before we went into foul mode, fouls were 16-14, with us being called for two more. Hell, Theo didn’t even get in foul trouble tonight. How often does that happen?It was a great Big East game. A battle. Fun to watch. And I felt refs did a great job...were long stretches of uninterrupted play.
1. Hinkle is a house of horrors. Kudos to the Butler crowd. Certainly influenced some calls. MU fans, take notice.2. After a few good games, Jayce wasn't great tonight. Theo was a beast. And played big minutes without fouling out. But you have to secure defensive rebounds in overtime. 3. I mentioned it elsewhere, but for a NPOY candidate, Markus does not get a proportionate number of calls. He made one basket after getting knocked to the ground on that lay up. (no call) And he looked uncomfortable after that. Wasn't close on his shots. Never went to the hoop again. I hope there wasn't a concussion. 4. Baldwin is a winner. It isn't like he was making uncontested shots. Pick, roll, pull up. Iso, spin, turnaround. He went full hero ball and it worked. 5. Koby is terrible. Until he does that last second 3 thing. And those 3's in overtime thing. Maybe he has been thinking too much. 6. Butler didn't foul when up 3. Unless they wanted to and the player didn't execute. 7. Did Bailey lose track of the clock and score, or was fouling while tied with 20 seconds left part of a plan? Would like to hear the answer to that. 8. Symir looked like a freshman on defense tonight. Reminded me of Martin and Elliott a couple of years ago. 9. The turning point of the game came when Markus had the ball literally wrestled away from him without a call and then made a lay up, took an elbow to the head and was knocked to the ground without a call. Markus made one shot the rest of the way. Meanwhile, it energized Baldwin. And he took over.10. Need to quit missing lay ups. Sacar. Koby. 11. This one hurt. Would have been a nice road win. But MU doesn't suck, the season isn't over, and Wojo shouldn't be fired. The team sure as crap didn't quit. 11. Greg would have been useful tonight.
12. Woops. Forgot this one:WOJO CANT COACH. WE NEED TO HIRE AN EXPERIENCED COACH AT SAY 2 MILLION A YEAR TO HELP WOJO WITH HIS IN GAME MANAGEMENT. WOJO JUST DOES NOT HAVE ENOUGH RESOURCES. DID I MENTION THAT WOJO CANT COACH.
3. While it didn't cost us the game at the time, fouling with 20 seconds left in a tie game is beyond embarrassing. How on earth can you not know the game situation. It is baffling and not to mention it's literally one of the most important aspects of being a coach. At first I was screaming at Bailey (who I thought overall played well). But it sounds like Wojo told him to foul.
You don't see it often, but I think there are legitimate strategically reasons to foul. If we let the play continue, Baldwin sucks the clock down to 3 seconds, shoots, and kills us at the buzzer, especially with the way he was playing. Wojo bet on his offense to get the ball back and score. And in the end he was right.It's like an NFL coach calling TO to make the other team can't run the clock all the way down before kicking the go ahead field goal.
They were running sets. Remember those corner 3's and point blank lay ups (some of which were missed)? Wojo put the ball in the hands of the leading scorer in college basketball, a preseason first team all american, the returning BEPOY, a player who is (unless he goes into concussion protocol) probably going to finish in the top 25 of all time scorers in D1 basketball. And Markus didn't deliver.
Check Markus's numbers from the 11:34 minute on. Tell me he wasn't affected.
I'm sure MU was gassed. They basically played six guys in an OT game. It would be nice to have a roster with 13 scholarship players.
But that's not what happened. Wojo admitted he made a mistake and forgot the score. This wasn't some sort of three dimensional chess coaching move.And it's not a good move at all. Make adjustments and bet on your defense. Seriously have you EVER seen a coach do that in a tie game?Making anaolgies to other sports don't work because...they're other sports.
You are a great excuse maker. First of all there wasn't much contact at all on that Howard layup even though he took a hard fall. Basketball is a physical game. The npoy candidate should be able to take some contact and still play an effective game. He was moving up and down the court well so it wasn't a physical issue. How in the hell is he going to play in the nba. The problem was more about shot selection and fatigue. If you want people to stop saying wojo should go then stop saying the team is great and wojo should stay all the time after every game. As far as the game, I thought the team played well against a good team on the road at a tough place to play. The concern is they folded at the end when they had control of the game. That shouldn't happen with a 6th year head coach and when the leaders on the team are seniors. Losing this game is not a shame, the way they lost is. There is enough talent on this team to bounce back. I hope they do.
Some things. 1. I was wrong about the time of the shot to the head. 15:44. Mea Culpa. At which time Markus had 24 points and 6 assists. 2. I was 100% right about the shot to the head. I just watched it in real time and the replay. In real time, after Markus has been on the ground for a few seconds and his teammates are walking up to the ref with WTF looks on their faces, you clearly hear the ref say "He wasn't pushed." However, watching the replay, you clearly see Baddley, after trying for the chase down block, hit Markus in the head with his elbow on the follow through. The next 20 minutes of game play saw Markus make one shot. I am sure it is just a coincidence.
Right now, this is a tournament team. Check any bracketology. Despite the Hausers leaving. Despite Ed leaving. Despite a number of injuries. I always thought a sign of success was being a tournament team. Clearly, I was misinformed.
We play better when the entire team is contributing.
I have said he played terrible down the stretch. The difference is that I have drawn a line at that play. Prior to that play 24 points in 24 minutes. After that play 2 points in 20 minutes. And I have seen flagrants called for less elbow to head contact than that.