Best game of the season in last night's loss

[mattyv1908]

Can hardly say anything but good things about the game against Michigan State.  Surpisingly tight game and when it could have turned into a blowout the team twice made a run to get it to within 2-3 possessions.

I'm glad they're playing zone regardless of how well MSU shot last night.  If you shoot at a 65%+ rate for thirty minutes of a game you should win against just about anyone.  This team looked clueless playing man for four games.  It's a great adjustment and hides a lot.  When Carlino is on the bench and it's Wilson, Wilson and Johnson I'd love to see a few possessions after made baskets of three quarter court press just to throw another wrinkle at opponents.  Our team is not good enough man to man to compete every night but these are college kids and if you throw a couple of different looks that make them think instead of react it could be the difference in a few games.

Duane Wilson was our best player and you can see he's going to be a good one.  I thought Taylor had his second best game of the season even though he missed his share of makeable baskets.  He's holding up pretty well down low.  Burton again showed why he's so hyped by a lot on this board.

Here's my complaint:  I counted at least 6 bunnies missed by Derrick, Steve and Matt along with two front ends of 1 and 1's which completely change the complexion of the game going down the stretch.  Every team misses shots, but these were bad misses and a couple were on fast break attempts without being contested.  Make those and it's going down to the wire.

Hopefully they can beat Tennessee and come out of this weekend a much better team than how they went in.

[MikeDeanesDarkGlasses]

Hard to believe MU has lost to both of its Big 10 opponents by the same amount - 11 pts.  The 11 pt loss to Michigan St.  looked like true MU basketball with hustle, grit, and an ability to take huge blows but get back up.  To me, this was MU's first real game of the season.  The games prior were bunch of a kids playing individually. 

Still a long way to go.  Many mistakes are self inflicted on this team as there is still a mass quantity of poor shot selection.  Had we taken better care of the ball and made better choices on the offensive end, we could have narrowed this game to 1 or 2 possessions in the final minute.  Efficiency, efficiency, efficiency ..... this team needs to understand that more and more. 

[wadesworld]

I have said this before but I think we are slowly starting to see the transformation of the team from Buzz ball to Wojo ball. Buzz didn't run many offensive sets and off the ball player movement and ball movement by the pass weren't stressed as much by Buzz as they are with Wojo. We saw last season that when Buzz didn't have the players who could create shots for themselves he didn't have a whole lot of success and had a hard time finding ways to create open shots. It led to undisciplined offense and I think that's why we've seen JJJ and Burton in particular really struggle this year. Buzz was all about effort. Wojo stresses effort as well, but he's also demanding these kids play within a system. Burton, JJJ, and Duane are starting to figure those things out and starting to play better as a result. Cohen had never played in the dribble drive offense that all these kids played last year so he came in with a blank pge and picked up Wojo's offense and what Wojo wanted quicker than the rest and thus got playing time early on in the season. The other guys are catching up and Cohen is starting to see less minutes as a result. I suspect we will see a lot of losses like last night where we compete with teams we are simply outmatched against but am excited to see each game as I expect each game will be better and better for the young guys.

[MarquetteDano]

I have said this before but I think we are slowly starting to see the transformation of the team from Buzz ball to Wojo ball. Buzz didn't run many offensive sets and off the ball player movement and ball movement by the pass weren't stressed as much by Buzz as they are with Wojo. We saw last season that when Buzz didn't have the players who could create shots for themselves he didn't have a whole lot of success and had a hard time finding ways to create open shots. It led to undisciplined offense and I think that's why we've seen JJJ and Burton in particular really struggle this year. Buzz was all about effort. Wojo stresses effort as well, but he's also demanding these kids play within a system. Burton, JJJ, and Duane are starting to figure those things out and starting to play better as a result. Cohen had never played in the dribble drive offense that all these kids played last year so he came in with a blank pge and picked up Wojo's offense and what Wojo wanted quicker than the rest and thus got playing time early on in the season. The other guys are catching up and Cohen is starting to see less minutes as a result. I suspect we will see a lot of losses like last night where we compete with teams we are simply outmatched against but am excited to see each game as I expect each game will be better and better for the young guys.

Agree with nearly all of this except Cohen.  I think Cohen's playing time is reduced not due to offense, rather defense.  He looks really clueless playing the zone.  There were times Diener was yelling at Cohen to guard the free throw line or the wing and Cohen just had no idea.

Did Cohen's high school play man to man exclusively?  I think once Cohen figures out the defense he will get a little more playing time.  Not a ton more but more than the 2 minutes he got last night.

[Daniel]

I think the same. Best game of the year. Played like a team - possessed.  Hustled like crazy. Yes mistakes too, but I stall really enjoyed watching them play. 

And another thing: from an out of. Hounds plat, trying to get the ball into an MU p,Ayer - we are actually getting the ball in to an MU player and ever had a score or two on the inbounds!  Last year we really had trouble getting the ball in.