The game was ours up until that technical on DJ and that was the game changer. However, we did crawl back 68-70 and had our chances. Very impressed with the 1-3-1 zone defense. Saw potential in Butler, but he needs to get comfortable as he is very nervous out there. We should expect our opponents with athletic bigs to have great games this year and we just need to stop the balance of the team. I think we did, but the refs became a sixth man last night. Mcneal was inconsistent as you would expect. Love DJ's control with the exception of the Tech, but apparently it was a legitimate issue and at home it may have ignited our fans for a win. Mattews showed me that he came prepared this year.
This made me believe that the 18-13 folks are completely Full of it and I believe we could beat Tenn at home.
Great game!
I think MU has a good team b/c of the Big 4 and the development of Matthews. But what we'll make this year such a challenge is the stregth of the BE. The Big 4 will have to play big minutes and expend so much energy that they can't really be blamed if the run out of gas by March.
Does anyone have an update on Fulce or Otule?
Quote from: AlumKCof93 on December 17, 2008, 10:36:52 AM
Does anyone have an update on Fulce or Otule?
Fulce is redshirting and Otule is having surgery to remove his foot.
Just kidding.... haven't heard anything other than Presbyterian.
Quote from: MUfan12 on December 17, 2008, 10:48:56 AM
Fulce is redshirting and Otule is having surgery to remove his foot.
Fulce is undergoing a complete body reconstruct. Should turn out to be something like this:
(http://geekofalltrades.files.wordpress.com/2007/07/robocop-792844bmp.jpg)
Quote from: mviale on December 17, 2008, 10:28:33 AM
The game was ours up until that technical on DJ and that was the game changer. However, we did crawl back 68-70 and had our chances. Very impressed with the 1-3-1 zone defense. Saw potential in Butler, but he needs to get comfortable as he is very nervous out there. We should expect our opponents with athletic bigs to have great games this year and we just need to stop the balance of the team. I think we did, but the refs became a sixth man last night. Mcneal was inconsistent as you would expect. Love DJ's control with the exception of the Tech, but apparently it was a legitimate issue and at home it may have ignited our fans for a win. Mattews showed me that he came prepared this year.
This made me believe that the 18-13 folks are completely Full of it and I believe we could beat Tenn at home.
Great game!
I largely agree with your sentiments mviale, but I don't believe the 18-13 folks are full of it. I'll stick with 20-11, but this team has a wide range of possibilities. They are going to be dog tired at the end of the season, that's for sure.
The one good thing is that the Big East slate is favorable for us the first 4 to 6 games. If Otule and Fulce can work back into shape at that time, it might help us down the stretch.
Overall, Tennessee didn't impress me that much last night, but missing Prince may have been a bigger loss then I imagined. Very undisciplined with their stupid alley-oops, chucking up 3's, and other just silly basketball. In the second half, they played the way they should and attacked our weaknesses.
But 18-13 is very possible, so is something more spectacular like 24 wins
If they managed to go 11-7 in BE play I'd be thrilled. 22-9 going into the BET, with a nice RPI to boot. That would get a decent seed, I'd imagine.
Quote from: ChicosBailBonds on December 17, 2008, 11:21:34 AMThe one good thing is that the Big East slate is favorable for us the first 4 to 6 games. If Otule and Fulce can work back into shape at that time, it might help us down the stretch.
Overall, Tennessee didn't impress me that much last night, but missing Prince may have been a bigger loss then I imagined. Very undisciplined with their stupid alley-oops, chucking up 3's, and other just silly basketball. In the second half, they played the way they should and attacked our weaknesses.
The first point is a very important point. The fact that Otule and Fulce get roughly 6 games to work back into playing shape instead of just jumping right in is going to be huge. I don't expect either to put up a double double, but just being able to step in for someone and keep them from getting foul trouble while hopefully being able to get a rebound will go a long way for this team. We may not see it in the box scores, but they will be a big factor for this team in that way.
I also completely agree with the 2nd point as well. Their alley-oop attempts in the first half were ridiculous. There were about 5 tries in a string of 7 possessions that all failed. JP Prince is their 2nd best overall player, he's a stud. Chism shooting those 3s I thought was weird, but he had one that killed us. I thought Pearl would use more of the 1-3-1 type zone they threw at us towards the end of the game that basically sealed it for them. We got it close, they changed to that zone, and we couldn't find anymore offense the rest of the night (although other factors played into that as well).
Quote from: wadesworld on December 17, 2008, 11:35:11 AM
The first point is a very important point. The fact that Otule and Fulce get roughly 6 games to work back into playing shape instead of just jumping right in is going to be huge. I don't expect either to put up a double double, but just being able to step in for someone and keep them from getting foul trouble while hopefully being able to get a rebound will go a long way for this team. We may not see it in the box scores, but they will be a big factor for this team in that way.
I also completely agree with the 2nd point as well. Their alley-oop attempts in the first half were ridiculous. There were about 5 tries in a string of 7 possessions that all failed. JP Prince is their 2nd best overall player, he's a stud. Chism shooting those 3s I thought was weird, but he had one that killed us. I thought Pearl would use more of the 1-3-1 type zone they threw at us towards the end of the game that basically sealed it for them. We got it close, they changed to that zone, and we couldn't find anymore offense the rest of the night (although other factors played into that as well).
No offense? Probably more due to Mcneal foul trouble and 70-68 is rather close , not a shutdown.
What happened to the guy with the "sources" who said that Fulce would be back for the Tennessee game? :D
Quote from: mviale on December 17, 2008, 11:49:07 AMNo offense? Probably more due to Mcneal foul trouble and 70-68 is rather close , not a shutdown.
Precisely. We got it close, they went to a zone, and we couldn't find anymore offense. The final score was 80-68. That is 0 points from that point forward. Literally, no offense.
Quote from: ChicosBailBonds on December 17, 2008, 11:21:34 AM
Overall, Tennessee didn't impress me that much last night, but missing Prince may have been a bigger loss then I imagined. Very undisciplined with their stupid alley-oops, chucking up 3's, and other just silly basketball.
Actually that sounds just like us over the last 4 years. Stupid alley-oops, chucking up 3's and other silly basketball like fouling a 3 point shot and bailing out the opposition on what is a very difficult shot. If you weren't impressed with Tennessee last night than you haven't been impressed with MU over the last 4 years.
There is an endless supply of Kood_ Aid for those who think we could beat Tenn in Milwaukee. Tenn's second best player didn't play -Tenn is simply bigger, more athletic than we are and fully exploited all our weaknesses.
You can't have an " All BE " point guard w/ no foul attempts and jacking up quick 3s.
As Pearl said, " our plan was to pack it in and make Marquette beat us from the out side" Marquette is going to see a lot of that, we are inability to shoot, shoot fouls and generally score.
Quote from: Marquette65 on December 17, 2008, 03:20:04 PM
There is an endless supply of Kood_ Aid for those who think we could beat Tenn in Milwaukee. Tenn's second best player didn't play -Tenn is simply bigger, more athletic than we are and fully exploited all our weaknesses.
You can't have an " All BE " point guard w/ no foul attempts and jacking up quick 3s.
As Pearl said, " our plan was to pack it in and make Marquette beat us from the out side" Marquette is going to see a lot of that, we are inability to shoot, shoot fouls and generally score.
We were also without our tallest player (who would have been, I think, the biggest on the floor other than their backup Williams) and a guy who is supposed to provide another athlete and scoring option.
DJ didn't play great. Not much to argue there.
Is this a new development/strategy? Same as it's been since Robert Jackson graduated. We did OK the last few years.
Quote from: wadesworld on December 17, 2008, 02:45:09 PM
Precisely. We got it close, they went to a zone, and we couldn't find anymore offense. The final score was 80-68. That is 0 points from that point forward. Literally, no offense.
I watched a different game. The game was much closer
2.08 left Tenn hits a huge 3 - they go up 73-68
1.43 MU misses two 3's
1.36 TN makes FT - up 74-68
MU hoists 3;s to make a comeback and we miss
TN hits 6 straight FT's on Fouls to stop the clock - They win 80-68
Quote from: mviale on December 17, 2008, 03:51:36 PM
I watched a different game. The game was much closer
2.08 left Tenn hits a huge 3 - they go up 73-68
1.43 MU misses two 3's
1.36 TN makes FT - up 74-68
MU hoists 3;s to make a comeback and we miss
TN hits 6 straight FT's on Fouls to stop the clock - They win 80-68
I'm not saying it wasn't a close game. We had a shot to win the game. But after they switched to a zone, we did not score. Not once.
Quote from: wadesworld on December 17, 2008, 04:59:08 PM
I'm not saying it wasn't a close game. We had a shot to win the game. But after they switched to a zone, we did not score. Not once.
i disagree with that conclusion - we lost because we couldnt nail a 3 in the last 90 seconds.
Quote from: mviale on December 17, 2008, 05:06:54 PM
i disagree with that conclusion - we lost because we couldnt nail a 3 in the last 90 seconds.
That was my point. I was surprised that we didn't see more of the zone Tennessee went to towards the end of the game because it forced us to take outside shots. It was very effective at the end of the game. The reason it is very effective is because we have a team full of guards who cannot hit an outside shot. Their zone was effective because we could get no penetration and could get open shots, which we could not knock down, and Pearl knew we could not knock those down.
Quote from: wadesworld on December 17, 2008, 05:13:28 PM
That was my point. I was surprised that we didn't see more of the zone Tennessee went to towards the end of the game because it forced us to take outside shots. It was very effective at the end of the game. The reason it is very effective is because we have a team full of guards who cannot hit an outside shot. Their zone was effective because we could get no penetration and could get open shots, which we could not knock down, and Pearl knew we could not knock those down.
I give up
Quote from: mufanatic on December 17, 2008, 03:18:15 PM
Actually that sounds just like us over the last 4 years. Stupid alley-oops, chucking up 3's and other silly basketball like fouling a 3 point shot and bailing out the opposition on what is a very difficult shot. If you weren't impressed with Tennessee last night than you haven't been impressed with MU over the last 4 years.
We all know Pearl is a better coach then Crean so I didn't expect it from Pearl. ;)
Quote from: mufanatic on December 17, 2008, 03:18:15 PM
Actually that sounds just like us over the last 4 years. Stupid alley-oops, chucking up 3's and other silly basketball like fouling a 3 point shot and bailing out the opposition on what is a very difficult shot. If you weren't impressed with Tennessee last night than you haven't been impressed with MU over the last 4 years.
Actually, I had mentioned this to the Tenn fan sitting next to me..."You guys play like us...too many 3's, too many blown alley-oops," and they weren't spectacular from the line either. Unfortunately, Chism has the game of his life and McNeal was hounded on the offensive end (Double teamed when he came around that double screen at the top of the key) and he had foul trouble.
Quote from: mviale on December 17, 2008, 05:06:54 PM
i disagree with that conclusion - we lost because we couldnt nail a 3 in the last 90 seconds.
I don't understand what you disagree with. Not nailing a 3 in the last 90 seconds = no offense in the last 90 seconds. You two are essentially saying the same thing; he just want's to give more credit to the Tenn defense than you do.
Quote from: muarmy81 on December 18, 2008, 06:32:30 AM
Actually, I had mentioned this to the Tenn fan sitting next to me..."You guys play like us...too many 3's, too many blown alley-oops," and they weren't spectacular from the line either. Unfortunately, Chism has the game of his life and McNeal was hounded on the offensive end (Double teamed when he came around that double screen at the top of the key) and he had foul trouble.
They played very good defense, and exceptionally well against that type of screen. The refs didn't call blocks that they could have called on plays like that, which certainly didn't help us.
And before I get yelled at for bringing the refs into another thread, it's hard to talk about the game without at least mentioning the refs. To say that they called the game differently from what we normally see, which played into Tenn's hands and not ours, I don't think is "blaming" the refs.