For one (maybe three minute) stretch midway through the second half, Marquette grew its lead from 2 to 8. This stretch marked the only point in the game where Crean had two big men (Barro, Burke, Kinsella) on the floor together. While I don't have the stats or play-by-play to back it up, they (Barro and Burke) looked good out there together.
Overall, Pitt outboarded MU 39-29 as we were giving up a significant height and size advantage with Burke or Barro vs. Gray and Fitz or Hayward vs. Kendall. I would like to see Crean use this two big man look more against a team like Georgetown which also towers inside.
Even if there were stretches in the game where we used say Burke and Kinsella simultaneously there would be enough offense on the floor with either 3 guards or 2 guards + Fitz or Hayward, where we shouldn't suffer much. The ground we would make up in rebounding and defense, would more than account for this deficit.
Quote from: WashDCWarrior on January 22, 2007, 10:57:25 AM
Overall, Pitt outboarded MU 39-29 as we were giving up a significant height and size advantage with Burke or Barro vs. Gray and Fitz or Hayward vs. Kendall. I would like to see Crean use this two big man look more against a team like Georgetown which also towers inside.
I gotta disagree......MU won yesterday because they played to their strengths. MU's smaller, quicker, more athletic team marginalized the advantage Pitt had down low. Gray was largely ineffective as the game wore on, MU's defense held the Panthers to shooting %s far below their season averages, and MU forced the Panthers into far more turnovers than usual. Why give that up? It works.
Play to your strengths rather than matching up with an opponent. MU beat UConn and GTown the same way last season -- I hope to see it again vs GTown, who's guards are really struggling. Heck, the Panthers have a good veteran backcourt -- not a bunch of kids and unproven vets like the Hoyas.
I agree with playing to our strengths, but was pointing out the the team looked really solid with the extra big man. I think using this for maybe 10 minutes vs. Georgetown would give GU a different look they'd have to deal with.
No complaints that it wasn't used more vs. Pitt, just that I like what I saw.