[Cracked Sidewalks] Butler and Acker have stepped up - McNeal & Matthews return to form can give us tourney wins

[CrackedSidewalksSays]

Butler and Acker have stepped up - McNeal & Matthews return to form can give us tourney wins

Written by: jpudner@concentricgrasstops.com (bamamarquettefan1)

The thing that was most discouraging to me about Mo Acker giving the ball to Johnny Flynn to lose the Syracuse game was that both he and Butler had done everything we could have hoped for the first 39 minutes of the game – resulting in both being on the CBS leader board for Saturday.

With DJ’s great minutes all year, Acker has the fresh legs that can be the difference come tournament time.  Saturday he played 40 minutes, had only one other turnover, and his 7 assists were the 4th most of any player on the country on that day.

Jimmy Butler also made the CBS leaders list with 14 rebounds, the 5th best total of any player in the country Saturday – and I’m sure his 10 offensive rebounds were probably the best.  I also thought Lazar was unbelievable, constantly drawing three Orangemen to him and still gettig and controlling the ball.

Those three are playing so well on the offensive end, that if Wes and Jerel light it up, I really think we could explode for 90 in the first round of the NCAA and then have a shot in a second round game of just outscoring someone.

Surprisingly, the problem since Dominic broke his foot has not been whether or not Acker and Butler could step up – they have – it’s been the broken symmetry of the TWO Amigos.  Several national commentators commented during the season that it would be rare to see the incredible symmetry of Marquette’s three guards in the days of one-and-dones, but with that symmetry broken it’s our future NBA players, Wes and Jerel, that need to adjust to score without the benefit of Dominic drawing two defenders by faking drives, and then threading passes to them.

Jerel and Wes FG% has dropped 17% & 20% without James

McNeal was shooting 49% in Big East play when DJ went down, and he has shot 32% since.

Matthews was shooting 55% in Big East play when DJ went down, and he has shot 35% since.

Granted, these have been tough defenses down the stretch, but not enough to account for that kind of drop, and Lazar’s shooting percentage has actually gone up in those four games.  The great news is with the other three stepping up so well, a return to form for either, much less both Amigos, could result in MU exploding offensively in upcoming tournament games.

Can MUs defense stop tournament foes?

I think what we really need to watch for in tournament match-ups is what teams we have a chance to contain.  I am as worried about facing a big, strong point guard like AJ Price or Johnny Flynn, as going up against a team with two strong big men inside.  I pointed out in an earlier column that DJ was holding opponents star guards to 8 points a game in all but one Big East game, and watching Price light us up for 36 after DJ went down, and then Flynn going by McNeal at will makes me think it’s the point guard that can kill us.

The big point guard also kills us by being able to get the ball inside to take advantage of the mismatches.  When DJ was engaging them 60 feet from the basket, and they were scared of having their pockets picked, Big East teams were averaging 16 assists a game against us (the same as MU was registering despite not having a big man for the easy assists underneath).  

Seeing opposing teams deal out 45 assists against MU the last two games, the question is whether or not we have a defensive set that can stop the easy passes underneath for baskets.  Dominic was lightning fast at employing his 40-inch vertical to just jump and steal the ball above his head when they tried to go over him, so I don’t know if we can afford to put Butler or Matthews at the point on defense some to discourage the easy high pass to the low post or not, but I’d sure like to give Matthews a little break from banging on some 6-10 guy all game long.

The bottom line is this team can explode to score enough to beat teams in the tournament, but we may have to win games more like the 90-85 game we came up short in against Alabama the Three Amigos freshman year.  Butler and Acker have stepped up, Hayward has stayed incredible, now we just need Wes and Jerel to return to form for one final great run.

http://www.crackedsidewalks.com/2009/03/butler-and-acker-have-stepped-up-mcneal.html

[Big Papi]

Except for one mistake, Acker was very good on the offensive end.  He is still a bit to timid as he had a chance to take a few more shots against Syracuse.  I say he should look for his shot a bit more as he his hitting them.  That would provide the offense another key weapon.

Defense is where Buzz and the coaching staff really need to figure out what they have to do to win games.  And here in lies the problem.  They can't play the high pressure man to man anymore with DJ or a good defensive center but at the same time it is so hard to switch philosophies so late in the year and go to defense that is primarily zone defenses.  But, I really think the zone defense is what this team needs to do while also scrap the 3/4 court 1-3-1 or whatever that zone defense is.  I would mix in the full court pressure against teams with questionable ball handling skills as that was effective against Syracuse.  The other negative to a zone defense is giving up a lot of offensive rebounds but heck we are a small team anyways so offensive rebounds are to be had one way or another.  Anyways, Butler, Matthews, Hayward and McNeal are above average rebounders for their position so the opposing teams offesive rebounding advantage could be minimized enough to not do a lot more damage than is already being afflicted on us.   With a 2-3 zone, this team could also than throw in Otule and Hazel if they feel it would help with rebounding and just have them front the middle.  It would then be up to the regulars who are playing the wings to supply the weakside help defense that is lacking now anyways.  The zone defense would hopefully also allow McNeal, Matthews and Hayward to rest a bit more on the defensive end instead of running ragged all over the court.