1) MU put up 74 on a really good defensive team today, but Louisville was never the 4th best team in the country.
2) MU can beat the zone. Len Elmore was all over L'Ville today for slow rotations and no close outs. That's been a big criticism of this team recently, but they seem to have seen it enough to know how to break it.
3) Can anyone explain what is going on in the first 4-8 minutes of the past few games? ...
4) MU's Conference games have played out exactly as expected, so far.
5) DJO has scored over 18 in ever Big East game so far and gotten very little credit for it. At the same time, he seems to have done it relatively quietly.
6) Seems like Todd has dropped the "O.J.'s little brother" tag. His 3 point shot is really giving us another option against the zone.
7) The D is really improved this year. You have to take the good with the bad, playing aggressive is always risk reward, but it can really fuel the offense and the team seems to have bought in.
8) Glad to see we went 8 deep today, even if just for a short spell.
9) Devante, Jae and Jamil are becoming a pretty good front court committee.
Lots of hoops left to play and tough games ahead, but glad to see improvement and everyone settling into their roles nicely so far.
Quote from: Jblattner7 on January 16, 2012, 08:28:52 PM
1) MU put up 74 on a really good defensive team today, but Louisville was never the 4th best team in the country.
2) MU can beat the zone. Len Elmore was all over L'Ville today for slow rotations and no close outs. That's been a big criticism of this team recently, but they seem to have seen it enough to know how to break it.
3) Can anyone explain what is going on in the first 4-8 minutes of the past few games? ...
4) MU's Conference games have played out exactly as expected, so far.
5) DJO has scored over 18 in ever Big East game so far and gotten very little credit for it. At the same time, he seems to have done it relatively quietly.
6) Seems like Todd has dropped the "O.J.'s little brother" tag. His 3 point shot is really giving us another option against the zone.
7) The D is really improved this year. You have to take the good with the bad, playing aggressive is always risk reward, but it can really fuel the offense and the team seems to have bought in.
8) Glad to see we went 8 deep today, even if just for a short spell.
9) Devante, Jae and Jamil are becoming a pretty good front court committee.
Lots of hoops left to play and tough games ahead, but glad to see improvement and everyone settling into their roles nicely so far.
Can anyone explain what is going on in the first 4-8 minutes of the past few games? ...
If anyone could, I'd have to think that they would be entitled to a minimum 15k consulting fee from MU.
The D is really improved this year.
The truly amazing thing about this to me is the team has done it after losing Jimmy Butler, the defense's Mr. fix-it for at least two years.
Jamil and Jae had some great blocks today, not to mention everyone was boxing out aggressively. that actually drew a few offensive fouls which never hurts either.
Talking with my buddy and it seems Buzz is really set - more than normal - on his turning defense-to-offense strategy.
And it's obvious by now that this is a team of runs under Buzz due to this strategy. Down 18-2. Then go on a 32-12 run. Every game they either go on or get run on by a 10-0 run at a minumum at some point.
Quote from: Jblattner7 on January 16, 2012, 08:28:52 PM1) MU put up 74 on a really good defensive team today, but Louisville was never the 4th best team in the country.
UL has been hammered by injuries. Blackshear, Marra, Buckles, Kuric, Ware...that's a lot of guys to lose in one season. Take 5 scholarship-caliber players off our team and see where we'd be at.
Quote from: Jblattner7 on January 16, 2012, 08:28:52 PM2) MU can beat the zone. Len Elmore was all over L'Ville today for slow rotations and no close outs. That's been a big criticism of this team recently, but they seem to have seen it enough to know how to break it.
We're still inconsistent against it. I think we need to be better at driving into the zone. Too often, we settle for jump shots or just try to whip passes into Jae or DG. Great when it works, but also a turnover-prone strategy. I think when Junior is driving into the zone is when we're at our best.
Quote from: Jblattner7 on January 16, 2012, 08:28:52 PM3) Can anyone explain what is going on in the first 4-8 minutes of the past few games? ...
I doubt it.
Quote from: Jblattner7 on January 16, 2012, 08:28:52 PM4) MU's Conference games have played out exactly as expected, so far.
Yup. It'd be great to be 5-1, but there's nothing wrong with 4-2, especially when that could turn into 11-2 by mid-February. Do what we are supposed to in this 10-game stretch, hope for a couple upsets of Syracuse, and we could be back in the challenge for the Big East title by February 11.
Quote from: Jblattner7 on January 16, 2012, 08:28:52 PM5) DJO has scored over 18 in ever Big East game so far and gotten very little credit for it. At the same time, he seems to have done it relatively quietly.
He's been doing that all year. DJO moved into a tie for #20 all-time in scoring at Marquette. If he keeps it up, he could ninja his way into the top-6 by the end of the year.
Quote from: Jblattner7 on January 16, 2012, 08:28:52 PM6) Seems like Todd has dropped the "O.J.'s little brother" tag. His 3 point shot is really giving us another option against the zone.
Definitely improving, nice to see him bouncing back after a slump. We need him to be scoring to succeed, especially without Gardner providing offense off the bench. My only fear of moving Mayo into the starting lineup is that we lose valuable bench scoring.
Quote from: Jblattner7 on January 16, 2012, 08:28:52 PM7) The D is really improved this year. You have to take the good with the bad, playing aggressive is always risk reward, but it can really fuel the offense and the team seems to have bought in.
Now if only the offense could get back to playing like a Buzz Williams offense...
Quote from: Jblattner7 on January 16, 2012, 08:28:52 PM8) Glad to see we went 8 deep today, even if just for a short spell.
I was shocked to see DW out there. According to the ESPN play-by-play, Jamail was also in there...though he really wasn't. For some reason, they attributed Jamil's tip-in offensive rebound off the missed FT to Mellow.
Quote from: Jblattner7 on January 16, 2012, 08:28:52 PM9) Devante, Jae and Jamil are becoming a pretty good front court committee.
It's a good mix, but I still wish we had Otule. Dieng killed us down low, we're fortunate UL wasn't better at getting him the ball. But when Jae is possessed like that, we look really good. And offensively, I'm not sure I've ever seen a better big man at Marquette than Gardner. Dude must have a vacuum for a left hand that he uses to suck the ball down through the rim after he shoots.
Quote from: Jblattner7 on January 16, 2012, 08:28:52 PMLots of hoops left to play and tough games ahead, but glad to see improvement and everyone settling into their roles nicely so far.
They're looking good...at the moment I'm feeling better about their future. They are starting to learn how to play defense without Otule. That's a good thing, not just for this year, but beyond.