Trevor welcome to the team. Boy its great to have a guy who can just muscle guys out of the way to get rebounding position and still has the hops and the balance to go get rebounds that don't come right to him. If the team really starts to get comfortable with this guy we might go into the tournes with a low post scoring threat. Would that open things up.
With a healthy Mbakwe MU is a legit Top 15 team. Without him they're somewhere in that 20-30 range. Burke is no where near Trevor's level. Trend doesn't have the bulk to be able to bang in the BE. Trevor makes a huge difference on this team because we really have only one decent big over 6'7"(Barro) when Trevor's not playing.
He really looked solid in the paint tonight. He has definitely exceeded my expectations for a freshman playing in only his second game. He's listed at 6'7 but with his long arms and width he plays more like 6'10. He's exactly what this team has been missing all season. You might as well give Burke a spot on the bench between Brice and Frozena because I'm guessing we won't be seeing a lot of Dwight anymore.
On another topic...no Blackledge tonight and I prefer him over Burke. Otherwise a great performance by the entire team.
I liked how it looked like TM was having fun out there. He looked nice and loose, but intense and completely into the game. My impression was that this is a guy who isn't as "all-business" as the rest of the guys out there, in a good way. Fun watching this guy.
He looked great, but keep in mine we were playing St. Johns...interested in seeing him against the contenders.
He looked great against a BEast team on their floor. OK, not the best BEast team, but we will take it anyway. A serious question. Other than ND, which of our losses does he change? I am not sure he makes a difference against Duke, and he certainly doesn't make a 20 point difference against Louisville or UConn. WVU maybe, because of his offensive rebounding. He will make a difference down the stretch and during the tourney, though.
Quote from: tower912 on February 21, 2008, 08:47:14 AM
He looked great against a BEast team on their floor. OK, not the best BEast team, but we will take it anyway. A serious question. Other than ND, which of our losses does he change? I am not sure he makes a difference against Duke, and he certainly doesn't make a 20 point difference against Louisville or UConn. WVU maybe, because of his offensive rebounding. He will make a difference down the stretch and during the tourney, though.
Offensive Rebounding Percentages in Four of our Losses
Duke - 41.4%
MU - 21.9%
WVU - 43.8%
MU - 25.0%
UL#1 - 45.2%
MU - 31.0%
UConn - 44.4%
MU - 25.7%
Against UL#2, we won on this factor, and against ND, the percentages were close (although we also lost)
In all four of those games, we lost the Offensive Rebounding Percentage battle, and we lost by a significant margin. Now,
I'm not saying that he would have made THE difference, certainly against UL or UConn. However, if he helps MU fare better on the offensive boards then maybe those games go differently.
We got killed on the glass against Duke and we missed at ton of no-footers against ND. Trevor looks like the type of player who is a difference maker on the glass and can finish around the hoop.
A win against Duke would have helped our tourney seeding, and that win against ND would have helped our BE tourney & NCAA tourney seeding. Even if he was only enough to win one of those, it would have made a huge difference. He was sorely missed, and I'm glad he's back.
He maybe could of been the difference in the Duke and ND game. Both close games where an extra offensive rebound here or there could have made a difference.
As far as tempering enthusiasm because this production was against St. Johns, well I don't buy it. He outperformed our entire frontline in limited minutes. Remember this is St. Johns so Barro should have had 15 and 10 right? Nope. Hayward should have had 15 and 10 right? Nope. Burke should have had 5 and 7 right? Nope.
I don't expect Mbakwe to get this type of production consistently the rest of the way but he is better than Burke and Trend so that is a huge improvement no matter who we play South FLorida or Georgetown.
I think the reason we shoot so poorly is that most of our shots are contested. If he can establish himself as an inside presence it will take some of the pressure off the guards. The way he played last night, the hole in our donut team has been filled with JAM.
He definitly would have made a difference in the Duke and ND games...besides his rebounding, last night he made a few players divert their drive on the way to the basket, a stat that will never show up.
The most telling thing last night, the commentators were talking about Crean's comments about Trevor.
Prior to the game Crean said something to the effect of: Despite the fact that Beasley killed MU in the KSU scrimmage, Trevor was the only guy that was ready to go toe-to-toe with him and not back down. Not Barro, Burke, Trend, or Hazel.
I'd guess he's still rusty now, and he'll be a beast in the future. Also, I've got to imagine that playing with that knee brace limits his hops to some extent.
Good point, Rocky, but I don't think he has much in the way of 'hops', rather I think his strength lies in playing 'position' ball. The right place at the right time is the best way to rebound..., if the refs don't start calling the 3 sec violation.
Quote from: augoman on February 21, 2008, 06:36:18 PM
Good point, Rocky, but I don't think he has much in the way of 'hops', rather I think his strength lies in playing 'position' ball. The right place at the right time is the best way to rebound..., if the refs don't start calling the 3 sec violation.
No Trevor definitely has hops. I watched his game against Marquette High at the Al last year and Marquette's big guy (about 6'4") tried to take a charge standing pretty much straight up and Trevor literally T-bagged him (and knocked him on is ass). He does have great positioning, but he sure can jump as well.
Oh Trevor has hops. He broke his nose on the backboard.
great! I'm anxious to see 'em..., I didn't see much evidence in the open practice/scrimmage, but that was my only opportunity before injury. Hope the knee doesn't hinder him- I can't forget Will Gates.
Here's some video from his HS days - thought I'm certain he'll dazzle us with some better stuff at MU :)
http://www.brightcove.tv/playerswf?initVideoId=459097318&servicesURL=http://www.brightcove.tv&viewerSecureGatewayURL=https://www.brightcove.tv&cdnURL=http://admin.brightcove.com&autoStart=false
Great vid, rocky.
"basket by Trevor Mbakwe..."
"basket by Trevor Mbakwe."
"TREVORR MMBAKWE!
TM's so good, he even had the home court announcer gettin' excited.