Solutions before Mon?

[tower912]

A win on Monday would be glorious.

[rocky_warrior]

Hell, you hope you're wrong!

A win on Monday would be glorious.

Yup!

[MuggsyB]

"Sounds like"?  Have you really not watched either game thus far?

I watched the first game, not UNH.

[muwarrior69]

It sounds counterintuitive, but I agree with both Dr. B's optimism and with tower's colder, realistic view.

3, 5, 10 years from now, if Shaka turns out to have been a successful coach at Marquette, I have a feeling we'll look back at this season as mostly a culture-building season in which guys learned what it takes to succeed at this level and in Shaka's system. We'll say, "We might not have won as much as we wanted that first year, but the program took a major step forward ... and led us to where we are now as a perennial NCAA tourney team with a legit chance to advance to the second weekend every year." Improvement -- within games, game-to-game, week-to-week, month-to-month -- will have been the important measuring stick for this Shaka 1.0 team.

So in that vein, I agree with tower.

But I do hear what Dr. B (and others who are somewhat more hopeful about this season's results) are saying. If we can shoot better and clean up some things, we can win some games that, today, might look like probable losses. We have some talent, we have some length, we have a 5th-year senior leader, we have a proven coach, we have a good home court. A few teams on our schedule might be unbeatable for us, but only a few; and, short-handed, Illinois wouldn't appear to be one of the few.

Many of us have lots of friends/acquaintances who went to Illinois, so this sure would be a nice win.

We Are Marquette!

What system? From what I have seen the last two games our half court offense is not that much different than Wojo's. Please explain if I am wrong.

[tower912]

Wojo ran more sets.  Shaka is more dribble drive.  As these guys get experienced, I expect to see something similar to what Buzz ran with the midgets.   Drive, draw, dish, repeat.  Until you get a wide open three or lane to the basket.

Need to get quicker and more confident with the reads.  Give it time.

I fear a zone.

[Herman Cain]

Looking forward to the game Monday. Let’s see what our squad can bring .

[brewcity77]

What system? From what I have seen the last two games our half court offense is not that much different than Wojo's. Please explain if I am wrong.

It starts with constant movement. On turnovers, you get it and go. On a made basket, the closest player takes it out and quickly inbounds to the nearest guard or wing. There's no dedicated ball-handler. That's a big difference from Wojo.

Shaka's system is predicated on three types of shots. Type one are shots in the close paint. I think it's generally about 5 feet and in. Those are high percentage shots. They get those by driving or offensive putbacks. This isn't a back you down offense, you won't see Kur channeling Theo John. Dunks and layups are preferred, and to draw fouls. Type two are open threes. Also high percentage, especially because of the value of a made three. Type three is everything else, and that's discouraged. Mid-range twos, guarded threes, those are no-nos.

I think they also want more off the ball movement. It's not there yet, but other than Howard, I don't think Wojo's teams were great at constantly working to get open.

Finally, it's rapid attack. The average offensive possession takes 13.2 seconds. Wojo last year had them at 18.3 and the fastest he ever had was 16.2, and that was up-tempo. I don't think we'll stay that fast, but right now it feels pretty obvious watching that this is a far more aggressive offense.

[tower912]

Thank you for the mention of off the ball movement.   There hasn't been enough of that.  Weak side cuts when the defender slides to help. 
   Again, there is nothing wrong with this offensive scheme.   It will take time to get everyone to run every nuance of it.

[Newsdreams]

Pray

[Shooter McGavin]

MU will still go deep as they will push the activity on D. We will hit threes like we did against BC and the exhibition. The crowd will be pumped. Wouldn’t be surprised with an upset W.

Remember, Morsell has played against the Illini. A few starters have something to prove yet with their inauspicious start. Getting into a half court game is not to MU’s benefit as this is a tough D. Race them. Illini by 4 but that’s upset territory.

I like it DB!  Preach!

[Newsdreams]

I like it DB!  Preach!

Preach & Pray go together. But seriously what is really bothering me is the amount of silly unnecessary fouls. It is not because of the press but silly half court, most of the time almost tackling the offensive player.

[The Equalizer]

I know we’re two games into a season but a noticeable difference between Shaka and Wojos teams thus far is how the team responds to runs.

The last few years if we went cold a 6-0 run turned into a 15-2 run in a hurry. Last night we always seemed to have an answer and didn’t let mistakes compound. It’s a positive sign.

I don't think Wojo had such runs against the buy-game opponents--those big runs by opponents last year were aginst the likes of UConn, Villanova and Georgetown.  I'm not sure stopping a SIU-E or UNH run tells us anything

And even then, SIU-E managed to turn a 6-0 run into a 14-1 run in a hurry. 

[Scoop Snoop]

Preach & Pray go together. But seriously what is really bothering me is the amount of silly unnecessary fouls. It is not because of the press but silly half court, most of the time almost tackling the offensive player.

Yeah, like right after Stevie Mitchell made a great play late in the game. Then he "almost tackled" a NH player seconds later. I like Mitchell and he certainly was not the only one committing the type of foul you described.

[BCHoopster]

Mitchell had like 3 or 4 reaching fouls not good

[MuggsyB]

Reaching is no bueno.  Hopefully we nip that in the bud.

[1SE]

First two games you're playing not to lose, this game you have nothing to lose - like Shaka's VCU teams. We may not win but I expect we'll put on a damn good show. If we get the barn doors blown off (20+) it would be concerning.

[4everwarriors]

Crean sucks

[MuggsyB]

Do we go to Morsell if we need a bucket?  Back in the day I went to my 9 -12 foot floater or mid-range stop and pop.  Of course I played against worse competition but where do we go to get an autohoop or 2 free throws?

[brewcity77]

Do we go to Morsell if we need a bucket?  Back in the day I went to my 9 -12 foot floater or mid-range stop and pop.  Of course I played against worse competition but where do we go to get an autohoop or 2 free throws?

Yes. When we were down 62-59, I turned to my friend and said "it's time to go to Morsell." He scored the next 7 points. Morsell has shown he has the knack for the big moment. If the game's on the line, he's the guy we go to.

[mug644]

First two games you're playing not to lose, this game you have nothing to lose - like Shaka's VCU teams. We may not win but I expect we'll put on a damn good show. If we get the barn doors blown off (20+) it would be concerning.

This is a good point. There was a tension in the past two games of "OMG, we can't F**K this up." Against the Illini, it could be, "let's see if this could work." MU could easily get totally overrun. Or, the team could find a bit of magic that works. It wouldn't be magic that would be guaranteed to work in the BEast, but it could be an indicator of options.

I don't expect a win for MU, though I can imagine a win for MU, a tight game, or a blowout for Illinois.

And, in agreement with the general gist for the season, I want to see how lessons learned on Monday influence play later in the season. Win or lose on Monday.

All that said, my preference is for a win against the Illini.

[Lennys Tap]

I don't have a big issue with the amount of attempts from deep, but the quick ones drive me a little bonkers. Those are shots they can get at any time in the possession.

100% agree. A rushed semi open 3 early in the shot clock is never my favorite option - and when your shooters are struggling I hate it even more. Make the extra pass (or two), get a wide open shot that’s unhurried.

[JakeBarnes]

This is a good point. There was a tension in the past two games of "OMG, we can't F**K this up." Against the Illini, it could be, "let's see if this could work." MU could easily get totally overrun. Or, the team could find a bit of magic that works. It wouldn't be magic that would be guaranteed to work in the BEast, but it could be an indicator of options.

I don't expect a win for MU, though I can imagine a win for MU, a tight game, or a blowout for Illinois.

And, in agreement with the general gist for the season, I want to see how lessons learned on Monday influence play later in the season. Win or lose on Monday.

All that said, my preference is for a win against the Illini.

Not gonna lie, I think this is Shaka's approach to most things. Learning is the number 1 thing

[Newsdreams]

Do we go to Morsell if we need a bucket?  Back in the day I went to my 9 -12 foot floater or mid-range stop and pop.  Of course I played against worse competition but where do we go to get an autohoop or 2 free throws?

Too bad you didn't dunk in high school. Muggsy not about you, heck we're about same height, rest of the board will understand, you were no here for that beauty.

[Scoop Snoop]

This is a good point. There was a tension in the past two games of "OMG, we can't F**K this up." Against the Illini, it could be, "let's see if this could work." MU could easily get totally overrun. Or, the team could find a bit of magic that works. It wouldn't be magic that would be guaranteed to work in the BEast, but it could be an indicator of options.

I don't expect a win for MU, though I can imagine a win for MU, a tight game, or a blowout for Illinois.

And, in agreement with the general gist for the season, I want to see how lessons learned on Monday influence play later in the season. Win or lose on Monday.

All that said, my preference is for a win against the Illini.

My thoughts are pretty similar.

As much as I would love to see us upset UI, it's far more likely to be an opportunity to learn from what worked and what did not. With several injured players already, I think if UI has a solid lead by the mid point of the second half they will not risk more injuries by keeping their foot on the pedal, so a blowout loss may be less likely.

I'm more concerned about possibly being upset by NI or Jackson St. than I am about losing to UI. Whatever chances we may have to be in Dayton or the NIT at the end of the season, they are gone if we are upset by either of those two teams. My guess is that our first two games were a big enough wake up call to some of our new guys and that our team handles those two opponents with ease.

[MuggsyB]

Too bad you didn't dunk in high school. Muggsy not about you, heck we're about same height, rest of the board will understand, you were no here for that beauty.

What I don't understand is the elimination of the floater, inside autobucket, or mid-range game.  Gonzaga dominated Texas last night with deuces.  Also, if you're brick city from distance it often leads to much easier hoops and the transition game on the other end.  My philosophy has always been when in doubt?  Attack. 

There's  a reason no one could guard Tony Parker back in the day because he had the count-it floater.  All I'm saying is we need a balance and there are times during the course of a game you need to stop momentum and get a bucket.  I understand the analytics but I feel less anxiety when we can balance our scoring with paint points and free throws.  We also need more offensive rebs.