HBU thoughts

[tower912]

Whatever.  I am going out with friends shortly, so I will do this at halftime.
1.  Luke.
2. JjJ, run the offense, play defense every time.  Bad habits are creeping back and there are equally talented guys willing to come and do what wojo wants.
3.  MH looks better every game.  Obviously, there will be off nights.
4.  Sam tearing it up on the defensive boards.
5.  The day will come when Rowsey and KR start hitting 3s.
6.  Great ball movement.
7.  A year ago, Duane lays that in instead of dunking.
8.  Good to see William Gates.
9.  Man, I hope we don't screw it up or have somebody injured in the second half.

[Jay Bee]

#JINX

[Juan Anderson's Mixtape]

Is MH for Matt Heldt or Markus Howard?

[Tugg Speedman]

‏@MarquetteMBB
#mubb hits the century mark for the 2nd-straight game for the first time since the 2008-09 season with a 101-79 win over HBU at the @BMOHBC.

[nyg]

- Cheatham is playing really good, quicker than last year and very underrated.
- Reinhardt is playing really bad, 4 fouls, 3 turnovers and 0 for 6 on threes, all wide open. Probably shooting under 25% on year.  Hope he comes around eventually.
- Wojo cutting his rotation down to nine now, with Cohen gone and Rowsey at end of bench.  Still does some hockey line subbing, but worked tonight.
-One more game until Georgia and Wisconsin to work on things. 

[esotericmindguy]

These games VS. +300 teams do nothing to get ready for Wisconsin or Georgia.

Wojo needs to shorten the bench further and let Katin watch a little more. He's 328th in the country in percentage of shots and has a eFG percentage of 33. Last year at USC he was 54%. Not sure what the deal is but he's been awful.

[Jay Bee]

Last year at USC he was 54%. Not sure what the deal is but he's been awful.

No he wasn't.

[RubyWiscy]

Think we should give Katin more time to shake off the rust before writing him off. 

[Folks,,,]

No he wasn't.

eFG% was 53.4% last year. 2pFG% 50.9%, 3pFG% 37.3%.

[MU82]

Think we should give Katin more time to shake off the rust before writing him off.

This. Apparently, many Scoopers learned nothing from the Lockett experience.

[GGGG]

What rust?  He played last year just like everyone else.

[Herman Cain]

Think we should give Katin more time to shake off the rust before writing him off.

What Rust? He played last year.

[Jay Bee]

eFG% was 53.4% last year. 2pFG% 50.9%, 3pFG% 37.3%.

So you're agreeing with me. Thanks.

[TVDirector]

Is MH for Matt Heldt or Markus Howard?

Hope he means Howard, 'cause Heldt doesn't look much like a BE caliber player at all right now.
Sure some glimmers of hope, but overall ick. 

[StillWarriors]

Shifting gears a bit, but Luke's shoulder is a big concern after he apparently aggravated it again tonight. With surgery behind him, the fact it still seems to be quite fragile is scary, particularly given our lack of depth inside. With time Heldt may very well be serviceable, but he does not appear ready to provide anything close to Luke's level of production in the event Luke goes down for a while.

Anyone have any information or insight on the extent of the shoulder problem? I had thought that was largely behind him at this point. It has to be very painful and frustrating for him to keep hurting it, especially since he is playing at a pretty high level right now.

[WarriorFan]

Heldt:  Nothing wrong with having 5 more fouls, good defense, an occasional bucket and good box-outs even if he doesn't get the board.  IMHO right now he's a better defender than Fish
Howard:  Still the "most lost" on the team, but better this time
Katin:  not a bust yet, but has 1 more game to prove he's not
Du:  Must be healthy now.  Wow.
JJJ/Haney:  The thing I want to see more of is these guys working together.  They both seem to "get their own" (not selfishly, but because they can) but when they start creating for each other the magic really begins.
TC:  The best PG on the team by far
Rowsey:  Needs to be the super scoring super sub.  Better when paired with Heldt.
Hauser:  I like him better at this point this year than I liked Ellenson at this point last year.  I don't think he's a one and done, but he has better defensive fundamentals and a better outside shot.  Doesn't get to the hoop like Ellenson but doesn't need to.
Fisher:  Stay healthy... and please learn how to play defense before mid-January!

[TSmith34, Inc.]

Think we should give Katin more time to shake off the rust before writing him off.

If by rust you mean a shoot first mentality, then I agree.  Wojo claims he is a very good passer; I'd like to see some examples.

[mug644]

...
JJJ/Haney:  The thing I want to see more of is these guys working together.  They both seem to "get their own" (not selfishly, but because they can) but when they start creating for each other the magic really begins.
...

Completely agree with this. Too often, it's clear as soon as one gets the ball, he's going it alone. I wish they would look for each other more.

[fjm]

It's a W. I like W's but hopefully the D can step it up before the next few games.

[Tugg Speedman]

Katin:  not a bust yet, but has 1 more game to prove he's not

Does this statement remind anyone of similar statements made about Trent Lockett about 6 games into his season With MU?

[GGGG]

Does this statement remind anyone of similar statements made about Trent Lockett about 6 games into his season With MU?

Lockett performed within his role all year.  We just had expectations that he was going to be something different and once we adjusted our expectations, you could see what value he brought.

Unless Katin's role was to come to Marquette and shoot poorly, he isn't doing what Trent did.

[WarriorFan]

Does this statement remind anyone of similar statements made about Trent Lockett about 6 games into his season With MU?

Lockett played D.  Lockett passed well.  Lockett "fit".  Lockett was not a gunner.  This, I'm afraid, is not a Lockett situation.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

I really didn't think Reinhardt took a bad shot all night. At least 5 of his 6 threes were wide open, in rhythm shots within the offense. He just couldn't get one to fall. He's got the yips or something. Hope he breaks out of it soon. He is playing defense well and goes hard after boards though he's not getting many of them.

Luke was pretty dominant tonight against a very big boy. I was at the game and I don't think the injury was actually anything. I think he tweaked it and panicked a bit. He was telling Wojo that he was fine and could shoot the free throws. But I think Wojo wanted to be careful with him given that we were up big on a cupcake. I have dislocated one of my shoulders a few times and get those stingers every once in a while. Its scary but they are usually nothing.

Not sure why Rowsey didn't play until way late in the first half. But he immediately threw up a bad three and then turned it over and was sat. I agree with others that he may need to settle into the role of super scorer off the bench.

Duane only made one bukcet but it was a doozy. His passing has gotten so much better. He makes the extra pass and is so unselfish. Thought the threes he took were good looks that just didn't go. His on ball defense is still suspect. Saw his man blow by him more than once.

Hauser's rebounding is an unexpected pleasant surprise. He's got Henry's ability to always be in the right place so he gets the "easy" rebounds.

Johnson/Cheatham munched some cupcakes. That's about all that can be said.

Heldt is okay an defense. He might even be better than Luke. If he can learn how to set a pick and seal a lane without fouling, then we have ourselves another Otule. That worked for us for a few years.

I still think Carter is the best PG on the roster. 9 points, 6 assists, and 0 turnovers is a line I would take from a starting PG every day of the week and five times on Sunday. Howard WILL be the best PG on the roster sometime before Carter graduates. His scoring ability from the PG position is something we haven't had in a long time. He needs to let the game slow down. Led the the team with 3 turnovers and all of them were easily avoidable.

Only 11 team turnovers. Not the goal of 10 or less but last year we were giving up like 15 a game to cupcakes it seemed.

Our 2P defense was smothering last night. Probably more an indicator of the opponent than our defense. They hit a lot of threes but my recollection was that most of them were well defended, they just hit tough shots.

[DUNKS45]

It always comes down to defense. We need to rotate better on ball screens and deny the passing lanes without being susceptible to back door passes. You really have to want to play D.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

These games VS. +300 teams do nothing to get ready for Wisconsin or Georgia.

I wouldn't say they do nothing. You can tell that Wojo is having the players work on things. The pick and roll defense was better last night except when Luke bumped the ball handler way beyond the three point line for his first foul. A Big East team will have him fouled out in 5 minutes if he keeps pulling that crap.

I will also say that it feels nice to dominate cupcakes again. Maybe I'm misremebering but I feel like it took as longer last year get in control of these games and we looked more sloppy doing it.