Wakeup call for Buzz?

[ecompt]

If anything good comes out of this mess, it's:
Buzz's theory on not practicing FTs is crapola. This team should be shooting 200 FTs every day. All it means is out NCAA life. We could very well see our season end because we cannot shoot a free throw.
Buzz needs to do more coaching and less watching. His non-use of timeouts is beyond comical.

[detroitwarrior]

With you on the free shows. I don't have a problem yet with his use of timeouts. The bigger problem for me was the diagrammed play for Acker to shoot the 3 coming out of a timeout at the end of the game. Acker is a 24 % free thow shooter who hasn't hit a shot in the last several games.
I like DJ but if Buzz is going to comment on pitiful play by the likes of Butler,Fulce,Otule,Hazel and Burke then a public rebuke or reminder to DJ that his game is taking it to the rack and not shooting threes ( going 1 for 9 does not lose the team game but does not help the team win) is in order.

[MR.HAYWARD]

If anything good comes out of this mess, it's:
Buzz's theory on not practicing FTs is crapola. This team should be shooting 200 FTs every day. All it means is out NCAA life. We could very well see our season end because we cannot shoot a free throw.
Buzz needs to do more coaching and less watching. His non-use of timeouts is beyond comical.

i absolutely disagree with this entire statement. 

Additonally, for clarification Buzz has never said they do not practice free throws.  The ncaa regulates the # of hours the teams can be together therefore that time is very precious, they do not have 13 guys standing around shooting ft's during practice that is the players resposibilty to do on their own time with a team mate or an assitant coach..

People need to realize that Butler, hayward, and Jerel are all very very good FT shooters , look at their percentages, they simply collectively had a terrible night, blame goes to the players not the coach on that one

[g0lden3agle]

People need to realize that Butler, hayward, and Jerel are all very very good FT shooters , look at their percentages, they simply collectively had a terrible night, blame goes to the players not the coach on that one

Don't forget Wes.  Wes is usually huge in terms of FT's for us.  He doesn't get to the line, we don't get a boost in %.  His lack of attempts is just as important as all the misses

[ecompt]

Mr. Hayward, Buzz has said the team does not practice free throws. It has been repeated on TV at least 10 times since he made the statement.

[g0lden3agle]

Mr. Hayward, Buzz has said the team does not practice free throws. It has been repeated on TV at least 10 times since he made the statement.

Did you read his whole post? Unless Mr. Harward is completely making up his post, Buzz is accounting for making the players practice FT's.  What's preventing them from taking another 30 mins of their own time to practice them?

[MR.HAYWARD]

so since it has been reported 10x on tv makes it correct.  This has been blown way out of porportion,  even if it were true then we should keep doing it becuase rel, wes, and hayward are really good ft shooters and Burke sure has completely changed his form and become a decent ft shooter for aguy who doesnt practice

[reinko]

i absolutely disagree with this entire statement. 

Additonally, for clarification Buzz has never said they do not practice free throws.  The ncaa regulates the # of hours the teams can be together therefore that time is very precious, they do not have 13 guys standing around shooting ft's during practice that is the players resposibilty to do on their own time with a team mate or an assitant coach..

People need to realize that Butler, hayward, and Jerel are all very very good FT shooters , look at their percentages, they simply collectively had a terrible night, blame goes to the players not the coach on that one

+1

[ecompt]

OK, fine, don't practice free throws. Buzz has to MAKE them shoot a minimum of 100 free throws every practice. To say Burke is decent at 52% is ludicrous.

[Doris Burkes Thong]

If Tom Crean was coaching this team tonight we win. Bottom line.

[mwbauer7]

If Tom Crean was coaching this team tonight we win. Bottom line.

Teal?

[bilsu]

It was one of those games that happens to every team where the shots were not falling. Free throws, three point shots, etc. That is going to happen. I would not criticize Buzz for the free throw shooting. I would not criticize Buzz for Aker's three. Aker has not been hitting shots lately, but has hit threes in the past when we needed them. If you want to criticize Buzz it should be for the failure to utilize Otule and Hazel. It has been at least three games since Hazel played. Otule's season is a waste. Sure we won some games by going small, but in the remainder of the season when we are facing bigger teams we are going to start looking like Georgetown and Notre Dame. Our record is going to get ugly fast. Don't get me wrong, I really like Buzz and in some ways one game at a time is a good idea. However, what a coach really needs to do is develop the team for March. That is what Pitino, Izzo and the other successful tournament coaches are good at. Crean is not good at that as his teams generally performed poorly in March. Buzz is young enough to learn his lesson this year and adapt in future years, but it ia ashame that the big three will go sown in flames this year, because Burke is all we have for the center position.

[timinatorx3]

If Tom Crean was coaching this team tonight we win. Bottom line.

Oh, absolutely.

Ha.

[timinatorx3]

It was one of those games that happens to every team where the shots were not falling. Free throws, three point shots, etc. That is going to happen. I would not criticize Buzz for the free throw shooting. I would not criticize Buzz for Aker's three. Aker has not been hitting shots lately, but has hit threes in the past when we needed them. If you want to criticize Buzz it should be for the failure to utilize Otule and Hazel. It has been at least three games since Hazel played. Otule's season is a waste. Sure we won some games by going small, but in the remainder of the season when we are facing bigger teams we are going to start looking like Georgetown and Notre Dame. Our record is going to get ugly fast. Don't get me wrong, I really like Buzz and in some ways one game at a time is a good idea. However, what a coach really needs to do is develop the team for March. That is what Pitino, Izzo and the other successful tournament coaches are good at. Crean is not good at that as his teams generally performed poorly in March. Buzz is young enough to learn his lesson this year and adapt in future years, but it ia ashame that the big three will go sown in flames this year, because Burke is all we have for the center position.

Remember MO in the BE tourney last year? Was it against ND? Huge. Get em next time.

[bradforster]

It's one loss people!  Are you all insane?  Earlier this week I posted the potential pitfalls this matchup presented to the team.  Almost every overzealous MU fan chalked this up as a gimme and laughed me right out of the blogosphere.  The team had a Dayton like relapse and still had two shots, one from point blank range, to win the game.  It simply didn't pan out tonight.  Give credit to South Florida and be overjoyed MU is 9-1 in the conference.  The Eagles will bounce back and get a game they aren's supposed to win.  Buzz Williams has done an incredible job and he did NOT lose this game.  

[ecompt]

agreed, bilsu. This is a six-man team now, with Butler being No. 6. Acker and Cubillan do absolutely nothing offensively and the injuries to Fulce and Otule have rendered them useless. As for Hazel, who knows?
Drawing up a crunch-time play for Acker, who has been atrocious from outside the arc lately, looks bad in hindsight. But who's to say anyone else would have hit that shot? If DJ takes it, he and Buzz both get ripped.

[Tampa Warrior]

If Tom Crean was coaching this team tonight we win. Bottom line.

Uh, OK. He did draw up Jerel's last-second basket to beat the Bulls 2 years ago. 

But maybe we'd be at 6-3 in the league.

While there will always be things to question. I'll take Buzz' offense and in-game coaching vs. TCs from the sample I have to go on at this point...including tonight.

[Daniel]

I for one do not understand the time out usage.  It generally is prudent to stop a run by taking a time out, making some adjustments, etc.  There are many times I find myself screaming TO but it doesn't happen.  Bob Knight was the same way, not calling time outs.  I think Al McGuire was the master at when to call a time out.

Maybe I'm wrong and Buzz's stragety on TOs is right - what do I know.  But most coaches would use them more frequently then we do.  Maybe instead of down  10, we're down 6 in the first half - who knows.

[Pakuni]

I'm sorry, but this free throw business is flat-out ridiculous.
For starters, all the free-throw shooting practice in the world isn't going to make a bad shooter a good one (see: Shaq).

Beyond that, though, this is a much better than average free-throw shooting team, ranking 5th out of 16 Big East teams. They rank 79th in the nation in that category - in the top 25 percent of all teams.
We're not talking about a Memphis team that shot 59 percent last year. We're talking about a team that's shooting better than 71 percent overall and 72.4 percent in conference play. Last night was a terrible night from the line, but to claim that it was anything but the exception to the rule is a massive overreaction.

Of course, overreaction is par for the course whenever this team loses.  

[NavinRJohnson]

Maybe instead of down  10, we're down 6 in the first half - who knows.

Who knows is right. This teams overall philosophy is to attack from the opening tip on - whether on offense or defense. A relentless approach that just doesn't allow the opponent a moment to breath, and eventually they secumb to the pressure. You take a timeout, and you are allowing them that chance to breath, so again who know? Maybe instead of down 10, we're down 16 in the first half.

Generally speaking, with our style, the more that clock continues to run, the better off we will be. That's teh way I see it anyway.

[bamamarquettefan]

Give me a break on the free throws.  Of course there are going to be a couple of games where free throws don't fall, but it would have taken you about 2 minutes to check the stats before making this initial post.

- Marquette's 70.8% free throw mark is just better than 2008 (70.5%) and much better than 2007 (67.0%), so trying to blame that on Buzz in complete bull.

- Of the top 9 teams in the Big East, only Villanova and Marquette are shooting over 70%

- MU is more than 2% above the national average of 68.6%

We are above average at the line - not elite - but above average - and we are great in getting to the line.  There will always be a few very cold games, but stop making ridiculous charges that are completely contradicted by even a quick glance at seasonal statistics.

[Big Papi]

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!!!!!!!!!  Where were your posts when we salted away games at the free throw line.  When we shot 30-38, 10-12 and 24-27.  

No you come on this board blasting the lack of free throw practice after we have one bad free throw shooting game that cost us a game.  Yes, this team lost against South Florida because of the bad free throw shooting, no doubt about it but your post ragging this team over the lack of free throw practice is disgusting.  We have won more games because of our good free throw shooting than lost with bad ones.  We have one horrible free throw shooter on this team and the rest are pretty darn good.  More free throw practice time for the majority of the team will not provide a substantial return in the time invested and well DJ could probably spend 24/7 and still not get better.  (Anyways, I am quite sure DJ is not practicing free throws) Buzz should be applauded for his desicion in this matter.  It has won us 20 games and only lost us 3.

[Big Papi]

Who knows is right. This teams overall philosophy is to attack from the opening tip on - whether on offense or defense. A relentless approach that just doesn't allow the opponent a moment to breath, and eventually they secumb to the pressure. You take a timeout, and you are allowing them that chance to breath, so again who know? Maybe instead of down 10, we're down 16 in the first half.

Generally speaking, with our style, the more that clock continues to run, the better off we will be. That's teh way I see it anyway.

I might be mistaken but we weren't able to score over an extended period of time.  A period of time where there was at least one media timeout, if not two.  I don't know what an additional timeout would have done at that point in time.

[avid1010]

OK, fine, don't practice free throws. Buzz has to MAKE them shoot a minimum of 100 free throws every practice. To say Burke is decent at 52% is ludicrous.

First you say they need to shoot 200 a day, then 100???  How many do they shoot each day?  I have no clue (either do you), but I bet it's a lot closer to 200 then it is ZERO!  Should Wes practice his throws as much as DJ?  It comical...they've had two different head coaches and plenty of different assistant coaches and they always are very average from the line.  What was your plan when they were shooting poor under TC...practice 1,000 every day??

[ErickJD08]

I could have predicted this crap.  FTs.... REALLY?  I forget who is was (maybe ND) but we sunk about 9 of 10 (or something close to that) down the final stretch to put the game away.  It was a bad shooting day.

Look, this lose hurts bad.  Not only because its USF but because we missed 2 layups to win the game.  We could have easily (from that point) stole that game away.  We had a bad game.  That was going to happen.  So put yourself in one of these buckets...

If your starting to question if we win another game this season, just jump off the building and get it over with.  You life must be miserable if you that pessimistic. 

If you are upset because we lost a winnable game and you think our record is 9-6 (because you think there is a good chance we go 0-5 in the last 5 games), I understand the frustration.  But its not the end of the world.  There is a chance that a 6 loss team can get that bye. 

If you're over it, your in my boat.  I have faith in our boys.  They are mature and I think they will get back on track.  We are 9-1.  We have a bunch of winnable games ahead of us.  Quite frankly, if we want a high seed, we need to win 3 of 5 in the final stretch.  If you follow basketball, you know big wins have more impact than bad losses. 

GO MU