I think that the biggest obstacle for Coach Buzz and this team was not replacing Barro in the offseason. He might not have provided the inside scoring that we needed, but he could finish when you passed to him and he could outrun the opposing team's big man down the floor for easy baskets. Burke was a solid 10-15 minute player with Barro playing 25-30.
It would have been hard to put Otule out there with these experienced players and ask him to contribute. Too bad Mbakwe left as well.
Still a great season nonetheless. This team has been a blast to watch and I am happy the Coach had a good first season. Only really had one slip-up down in South Florida, otherwise nothing to be ashamed of at all this season. We just miss OOZ!
I still wonder if this was a wasted season for Otule. I still feel he should be seeing action in every game (minimal minutes, of course).
Quote from: 77ncaachamps on March 07, 2009, 08:08:39 PM
I still wonder if this was a wasted season for Otule. I still feel he should be seeing action in every game (minimal minutes, of course).
Forget otule. He is not a BE center, period. He is clearly not the answer.
for the brief time he was out there today, he looked rather out of place. Hopefully he can improve a lot this off season. Even if Riley does come in, Otule and McMorrow will have to contribute.
Quote from: 77ncaachamps on March 07, 2009, 08:08:39 PM
I still wonder if this was a wasted season for Otule. I still feel he should be seeing action in every game (minimal minutes, of course).
Otule was absolutely brutal today. People going by him like he wasn't there, blowing a one on nobody lay-up when he could handle a perfect pass. You could argue (I wouldn't) that if we just left Burke in there for the two or three minutes he played we would have won. I'd say it looks like a lost year for him.
Based on what I've seen of Butler and the fact that Fulce was the more coveted player coming in, I think Fulce getting hurt was a big factor for this team. In the end, just not having the big bodies to compete and take some pressure off the guards was huge.
After watching Syracuse's back up center put that spin move on Otule, I finally understand whay Buzz does not play him. If McMorrow is not any good, we will miss Burke next year.
That was not a backup center. #00 is the 4 guy for Syracuse. Simpy moved further inside. Actually, I thought he was far far more effective than #21 (Onuaku), who is coming off an injury from what I understand.
We miss Barro. He was a huge help on the interior, and allowed us to better defend the perimeter. Otule is green. Maybe there is hope with a good summer and great workouts and the non-conf season noext year. McMorrow is a complete unknown who also missed the benefit of sitting out a transfer year by not being able to practice/scrimmage. Roseboro supposed to be good, but a freshman.
Fulce - he awas supposed to be the most athletic kid ont he team. But his injury doesn;t go away, right? It's not fixed, there is no plan to fix it, and so next year - what can we expect? I am confused on this one. So of the returning team next year, we again have a weak inside game unless one of these 3 really step it up. Riley would have helped maybe - who knows.
Quote from: bilsu on March 07, 2009, 08:32:18 PM
After watching Syracuse's back up center put that spin move on Otule, I finally understand whay Buzz does not play him. If McMorrow is not any good, we will miss Burke next year.
Holy crap. Just re-reading that made me wince.
Quote from: 79Warrior on March 07, 2009, 08:10:13 PM
Forget otule. He is not a BE center, period. He is clearly not the answer.
Absolutely dead on. He's out of his league. Wouldn't surprise me if he realizes it now and bolts, just sayin'.
Quote from: 77ncaachamps on March 07, 2009, 08:08:39 PM
I still wonder if this was a wasted season for Otule. I still feel he should be seeing action in every game (minimal minutes, of course).
That is probably my biggest criticism of Buzz....the wasted seasons of Otule and Fulce. If you aren't going to play them, then why burn a scholarship year? I really don't get that. Maybe the kids didn't want to redshirt, but that is really unfortunate how that all came down. Once we put them in a few games, then we would should have continued to put them in.
Quote from: 4everwarriors on March 07, 2009, 09:16:40 PM
Absolutely dead on. He's out of his league. Wouldn't surprise me if he realizes it now and bolts, just sayin'.
Then why did Buzz bring him in from Texas? ?-( Or was this a Crean recruit from Texas?
Given the lack of depth at center Buzz had to keep Otule on the active roster and hope for the best. Not only was it the logical thing to do he owed it to the big 3 to throw everything he had on the table to win now. Otule didn't make much progress and (I'm assuming) Fulce's injury continues to limit him. Will Otule ever be any good? Good Question. Burke and Barro both looked totally lost as freshmen. Otule seems a little more offensive minded but his balance just seems so bad. I don't think Buzz did anything wrong in trying to bring along Otule. Buzz said more than once that if putting them in the game was just going to gte them embrassed then that would do more to hurt their confidence then just not playing. And when he came in today that certainly didn't help his confidence.
Here's a news flash. If we want to compete at the top of the Big East we're going to have to get more our share of the highly regarded big men like the other Big East schools do. I know they are in short supply but that doesn't stop other BE schools from getting them. If you are going to depend on developing darkhorses then you've got to have them on the roster for a while before you need them. Its going to take Buzz a couple of years to catch up. Either he will get it done in recruiting or we will look upon the last 4 years as the good old days.
Quote from: ChicosBailBonds on March 07, 2009, 10:51:54 PM
That is probably my biggest criticism of Buzz....the wasted seasons of Otule and Fulce. If you aren't going to play them, then why burn a scholarship year?
Who cares? If they can't play, why would he want to keep them around another year?
Quote from: ChicosBailBonds on March 07, 2009, 10:51:54 PM
That is probably my biggest criticism of Buzz....the wasted seasons of Otule and Fulce. If you aren't going to play them, then why burn a scholarship year? I really don't get that. Maybe the kids didn't want to redshirt, but that is really unfortunate how that all came down. Once we put them in a few games, then we would should have continued to put them in.
Neither one of them want to redshirt, in fact one of the main reasons Otule committed here is that MU told him he wouldn't have to redshirt, and all the other high majors talking to him wanted him to.
Quote from: bma725 on March 08, 2009, 11:31:02 AM
Neither one of them want to redshirt, in fact one of the main reasons Otule committed here is that MU told him he wouldn't have to redshirt, and all the other high majors talking to him wanted him to.
But Otule's "season" is just 57 minutes more than a red-shirt season.
And those other high majors are kicking themselves for not signing him.
It wouldn't have been fair to the upper classman to try to develop the freshman and possibly cost games for these guys. When Barro came to school as a freshman, our team just dribbled down the shot clock and Diener and Novak would jack up threes. Crean could justify trying to get Barro some experience. Not this year though.
Quote from: 77ncaachamps on March 08, 2009, 11:45:44 AM
But Otule's "season" is just 57 minutes more than a red-shirt season.
That's not the issue. The issue is not wanting to spend another year in college.
Quote from: ChicosBailBonds on March 07, 2009, 10:51:54 PM
That is probably my biggest criticism of Buzz....the wasted seasons of Otule and Fulce. If you aren't going to play them, then why burn a scholarship year? I really don't get that. Maybe the kids didn't want to redshirt, but that is really unfortunate how that all came down. Once we put them in a few games, then we would should have continued to put them in.
And what about Hazel? He looked like he had promise in the non-conference games. Then when the conference season rolled around he was no where to be seen? Was he hurt? Did I miss something about him? I was really looking forward to seeing him develop this year
Quote from: NavinRJohnson on March 08, 2009, 11:09:28 AM
Who cares? If they can't play, why would he want to keep them around another year?
Uhm, because many times when they "can't play" early on, they end up being able to play quite well down the road.
Did anyone think Amal McKaskill was going to the NBA his Freshman through Junior years at MU? Chris Crawford? etc, etc.
Most people didn't even think quality players like Novak or Diener or Matthews would go either, but they all had explosions their senior seasons to get into the NBA (I'm assuming Wes makes it).
That doesn't mean for a second that I think Otule or Fulce are going to the NBA, but I also don't think it's fair to judge a player after 1 or even 2 years.....especially when they aren't even given the opportunity.
I believe, at least I hope, that Buzz was just riding the horses he thought would maximize the advantage this year....he basically went "all in" for this year. The downfall in the strategy is that we will pay dearly for it next year with very little returning experience, that's unfortunate.
Point is, if he feels he can ultimately replace them with better players, why waste the scholarship by keeping them around another year. I have no idea if he does in fact feel that way, but that's where I was coming from with the comment.
Of course guys develop, but they didn't exactly have a deep roster this year, so once the injuries happened, no reason not to keep them around and hope they could come back and contribute. No way to asses them when they aren't even able to practice.
Do you really think using the BE season to try to develop these guys would have been fair to them or the rest of the team? I saw enough of O'Toule in his limited time to know that he couldn't play in this league this year. Sending him and Fulce out there to get embarrassed by the likes of Blair, Young, Clark, Thabeet etc. was going to do nothing to help the team this year. The only one hurt by their lack of development this year, was Buzz who will have those guys less developed than they otherwise might have been in the next couple years. Then again, they aren't going to win anything the next couple years anyway, so who really cares?
Did we hear this same criticism from you about Burke and Hazel not playing at all their first years?
Quote from: ChicosBailBonds on March 07, 2009, 10:54:15 PM
Then why did Buzz bring him in from Texas? ?-( Or was this a Crean recruit from Texas?
buzz brought him in. thought the big body would help. We do not need another project at Center. This league has no mercy for projects in the paint..