Yes, he didn't come out and score big points, and he didn't completely shut down Cunningham, but he came off the bench and provided good inside presence and came up with many rebounds. And for some odd reason he always seems to be in the right spot to help keep possessions or stop other teams possessions. Very good play from a guy who last year was a non-factor, and if Crean was still running the show, I would feel he would have stayed a non-factor.
Quote from: Mayor McCheese on January 01, 2009, 07:51:15 PM
Yes, he didn't come out and score big points, and he didn't completely shut down Cunningham, but he came off the bench and provided good inside presence and came up with many rebounds. And for some odd reason he always seems to be in the right spot to help keep possessions or stop other teams possessions. Very good play from a guy who last year was a non-factor, and if Crean was still running the show, I would feel he would have stayed a non-factor.
+1
The most under-rated part of the win.
one play the announcers loved was when he screamed Jimmy's name a few times on Butler's save .
Agree on Hazel - he is showing confidence, defense and setting some nice pics.
Great job today
Hazel really was working his butt off yesterday. He may not be the most talented or have a developed skill set yet, but he is trying to be productive and has exceeded my expectations already.
When the team has four stat stuffers, guys like Hazel and Burke are not going to have huge stats. You have to watch the game and see the little things they do like set picks, dive for loose balls and save balls from going out of bounds to see if they are truly contributing. Also, you need to look at the game their match up had.....Cunningham was held to his average, which MU will take (and most likely succeed with) everytime with the other guy's big man.
There will be some games where they simply get blown up, but there will also be some games where they do better than expected. The team is very well aware of what its strengths and weaknesses are and is playing accordingly.
I was very pleased with Hazel's intensity on the defensive end. He was constantly pushing and Buzz said it best, "fighting" with Cunningham for position. All in all I thought he was very fundamentally sound on the defensive end.
Best individual play on his part, can't remember the exact scenario, but he grabbed a rebound at its highest point in his fingertips, with the Nova player going for it was well, held it well above his head and kept it up there and got fouled on the arm while holding it high.