MUScoop

MUScoop => Hangin' at the Al => Topic started by: MU Avenue on January 26, 2008, 08:39:14 PM

Title: Two observations
Post by: MU Avenue on January 26, 2008, 08:39:14 PM
(1) I would rather see Dwight Burke in the game than Ousmane Barro. While not the most-skilled guy on the court, Burke seems to deliver more often and in more ways than Barro.

(2) We commit a lot of fouls in every game. Why? Is it that referees have it in for us or do we really break the rules much more often than our opponents?
Title: Re: Two observations
Post by: mviale on January 26, 2008, 09:00:53 PM
two more:
1) we won
2) big men dont matter
Title: Re: Two observations
Post by: Final Four or Bust on January 26, 2008, 09:06:18 PM
two more:
1) we won
2) big men dont matter

Remind me of no. 2 when we play gtown- or heck when we played uconn
Title: Re: Two observations
Post by: mviale on January 26, 2008, 09:10:44 PM
It must suck to be highlighting the negatives all the time.

Title: Re: Two observations
Post by: ChicosBailBonds on January 26, 2008, 09:13:50 PM
I thought Barro played fairly well.
Title: Re: Two observations
Post by: Eye on January 26, 2008, 09:22:49 PM
I agree Chicos. Thought Barro played one of his better games of the season tonight.
Title: Observations II
Post by: MU Avenue on January 26, 2008, 09:25:53 PM
(1) I said Dwight Burke is a stronger player than Ousmane Barro. That’s all. Barro has his moments, sure, but Burke brings more to the floor.

(2) Hard to argue with, “Big men don’t matter.” That’s that, apparently. None of us should have concerns about our bigs. Who needs ’em?

(3) How is it “highlighting the negatives” to acknowledge that some of our upcoming games are against teams with outstanding big men? I thought Marquette taught us to face reality, not ignore or run from it.
Title: Re: Two observations
Post by: NYWarrior on January 26, 2008, 09:28:34 PM
I agree Chicos. Thought Barro played one of his better games of the season tonight.

yes he did.  nice energy, was assertive as soon as he hit the floor.  needs more touches
Title: Re: Two observations
Post by: mviale on January 26, 2008, 09:28:59 PM
sorry MU just taught me how to have a good time.
Title: Re: Two observations
Post by: EmJ5 on January 26, 2008, 09:38:28 PM
Another observation...
Did anyone notice Fitz's black eye? What was up with that?!
Title: Re: Two observations
Post by: Pago Warrior on January 26, 2008, 09:40:51 PM
Other observations:
* James deserves the "Stud of the Game" but Matthews had a very solid game throughout.  Brought his game and a bunch of energy to the court
* Cubi and Acker handled backcourt duties well, allowing for guys like Matthews and Lazar to play more in position as wings
* Ooze and Burke stepped up fairly well tonight, particular Ooze in the early going
* Fitz - kind of more of the same, wish he would have been a bit more assertive with his shot but he was more in the offense this game than in past
* Only major sore spot is McNeal's poor shooting percentage early on, but then again, they all weren't bad shots (save a couple of those 3s).
Title: Re: Two observations
Post by: 79Warrior on January 26, 2008, 09:43:06 PM
Another observation...
Did anyone notice Fitz's black eye? What was up with that?!

Got slugged for not scoring again. :)
Title: Re: Observations II
Post by: Marquette84 on January 26, 2008, 09:51:53 PM
(2) Hard to argue with, “Big men don’t matter.” That’s that, apparently. None of us should have concerns about our bigs. Who needs ’em?

(3) How is it “highlighting the negatives” to acknowledge that some of our upcoming games are against teams with outstanding big men? I thought Marquette taught us to face reality, not ignore or run from it.

Perhaps the comment was a reflection of the fact that this is the topic that never ends, even though a) there is nothing that we can do about the roster this year and b) we have beaten opponents who have much better front lines.

If you don't think we can beat a team with a good big man, then you should be pleased as punch with our performance this year.  We have FAR overacheived, beating no fewer than FOUR opponents who clearly should have beaten us based on the better quality of their front lines.

My guess is that you thought we had zero chance against Providence with their front line of McDermott and Hanke.  There is no way we could have taken WIsconsin, with three top 50 players on their starting front line.  I'm sure you had Notre Dame pencilled in as a loss, since we have nobody up front who could match up with Harangody, Kurz and Zeller.   You would have had to think that DePaul, with Kowlsahw and Green, would have taken us easily.

Title: Re: Two observations
Post by: mviale on January 26, 2008, 09:55:39 PM
its all about who wants the game more and injuries.  Djames has been hurting since the Seton Hall game and we needed this one bad
Title: Re: Two observations
Post by: MR.HAYWARD on January 26, 2008, 10:16:55 PM
mcneal was absolutely brutal in the first half turnovers and missed bunnies galore.  OMG! was that a bad half.  Singlehandedly kept Depaul in it.  Alos the two centers are what they are but we win by 30 with a competent big.  Koshwal just a freshman absoltuley wore those two out!
Title: Re: Two observations
Post by: NavinRJohnson on January 26, 2008, 10:22:20 PM
Koshwal: Really, really good.
Title: Re: Two observations
Post by: Oldgym on January 26, 2008, 10:39:37 PM
Quote
Koshwal: Really, really good.

Yup.  He will be no fun to deal with the next couple years.

As for Ooze...didn't get a lot of touches, but he made the most of his minutes.  Flew around the court, disrupted DePaul's rebounding a couple times, and played with attitude.  I felt better with Ooze in vs. Burke.
Title: Re: Two observations
Post by: mustever on January 26, 2008, 10:45:53 PM
Quote
Koshwal: Really, really good.

Yup.  He will be no fun to deal with the next couple years.

As for Ooze...didn't get a lot of touches, but he made the most of his minutes.  Flew around the court, disrupted DePaul's rebounding a couple times, and played with attitude.  I felt better with Ooze in vs. Burke.
Koshwal maybe gone after this year,for sure after next season.He has NBA wriitten all over him.
Title: Re: Two observations
Post by: mviale on January 26, 2008, 10:49:23 PM
The guy gets 6 boards in 13 min of play.  Is he really playing that poorly to not get the 27 min he averaged LY?
Title: Re: Two observations
Post by: robmufan on January 26, 2008, 10:50:41 PM
another observation...

when did depaul basketball become the and1 mixtape tour?
Title: Re: Two observations
Post by: Thomas' Danish Delight on January 26, 2008, 11:07:57 PM
another observation...

when did depaul basketball become the and1 mixtape tour?

besides that botched alley-oop at the beginning (hilarious btw), we were like a glass of milk and DePaul was Oreo's (esp Tucker) the way they dunked on us
Title: Re: Two observations
Post by: SGWarrior on January 26, 2008, 11:17:34 PM
My Observations:

Oooze needs more minutes.  Brought some energy tonight, especially in the first half when we needed it. 

Cubes seemed to stabilize the O.  For some unknown reason Daveed was not getting hardly any minutes in the loses v. Ville and UConn.  Tonight he was real solid.  Cubes becomes extremely valuable, as in the first half tonight, when Jerel commits multiple TOs and can't hit a shot.  Cubes comes in, plays great D and some solid O.

James felt better tonight.  Still some lingering effects from the wrist injury, but played with much more aggressiveness tonight.

Looking forward to another big W Tuesday night.
Title: Re: Two observations
Post by: mu_hilltopper on January 26, 2008, 11:29:33 PM
Funny this thread started with Burke being better than Ooze ... tonight was Ooze's best game .. since .. UProv, 7 games ago.  He did some nice things here and there, and minimal ball handling mistakes .. DePaul abandoned the zone shortly after Ooze's short stint of productivity ..

I was surprised Trend didn't get in, though. 
Title: Re: Two observations
Post by: Final Four or Bust on January 27, 2008, 11:02:26 AM
my comment was simply absurd to state "big men don't matter" - maybe its my recollection of all our our undersized players getting their shots smacked away during some games. I didnt say we can't win- particularly against unathletic bigs, I said the comment was far too broad.  Don't read more into it- and heck the fact that some people have an issue with my reaction suggests they didnt see the x number of threads about lack of size after the last few games ( none started by me)
Title: Re: Two observations
Post by: mviale on January 27, 2008, 04:22:38 PM
Bust - big men dont matter for our success. we beat some teams with formidable front courts and the lack of a stud big man didnt hurt us in these games.
1) Wisconsin
2) Providence
3) Notre Dame
4) Depaul

Our losses to Uconn, WVU, Duke, & Louisville were due to road game situations where the big 3 couldnt get their game together and one could argue Duke could have gone either way. At home, these losses may have converted into wins.

So "big men dont matter" to us, its more about game preparation and relearning how to win on the road.  I refuse to excuse our deficiencies by saying if we had a big man we would be undefeated. 

Title: Re: Two observations
Post by: mu_hilltopper on January 27, 2008, 05:14:00 PM
I finally burned my tivo'd copy of the MU@UW December game onto DVD and watched it again.

Amazing how much better our 5 spot was "way back then".

 Burke looked like a quality starter, 4 for 5, 4 for 5 at the line.. 12 points and 9 rebounds in 17 quality minutes.  Ooze 3-5 and 3-5 at the line, 9 pts and 4 rebs in 21 minutes.  And, each of them had a couple blocks.  Ooze had 4 pfs, but a few of them were questionable.

And that was our last road win. 

http://wiki.muscoop.com/doku.php/men_s_basketball/uw_12_08_07
Title: Re: Two observations
Post by: mviale on January 27, 2008, 08:39:24 PM
wisconsin was a total team effort and yes our team did well on the boards.  No reason we cant do that against Uconn
Title: Re: Two observations
Post by: muwarrior87 on January 27, 2008, 10:56:31 PM
Funny this thread started with Burke being better than Ooze ... tonight was Ooze's best game .. since .. UProv, 7 games ago.  He did some nice things here and there, and minimal ball handling mistakes .. DePaul abandoned the zone shortly after Ooze's short stint of productivity ..

I was surprised Trend didn't get in, though. 

RE Trend:  He and Hazel have not been following the team's rules/mentality.  Trend, at one point was moving down the bench like he thought he was going to come in soon and one of the assistants looked at him and told him he wasn't. Crean also apparently said something to Hazel and Blackledge that, "that won't fly on this team."  The context of that I do not know.  From one of the Humphrey DR's, Hazel and someone else, either Trevor or Trend, they didn't know, were not behaving in the night before a game manner that they are supposed to.  That may have something to do with it as well.
Title: Re: Two observations
Post by: MUfan12 on January 28, 2008, 01:44:20 AM
A couple friends of mine saw Hazel and Trevor out on campus at like 1:30 Saturday morning. That might have something to do with it, as I'd imagine they'd have a curfew the night before the game.
Title: Re: Two observations
Post by: jage on January 28, 2008, 09:21:29 AM
i can't say i'm terribly surprised. trend, despite is flashes of ability this year, has been a nightmare off the court from the moment he set foot on campus and hazel may never see many more minutes that what he's seeing now in four years here, especially if we sign jamil wilson next year (knock on wood). Wouldn't be surprised/care very much if he transfers.
Title: Re: Two observations
Post by: NavinRJohnson on January 28, 2008, 09:47:05 AM
Crean also apparently said something to Hazel and Blackledge that, "that won't fly on this team."  The context of that I do not know.

From one of the Humphrey DR's, Hazel and someone else, either Trevor or Trend, they didn't know, were not behaving in the night before a game manner that they are supposed to.

A couple friends of mine saw Hazel and Trevor out on campus at like 1:30 Saturday morning. That might have something to do with it, as I'd imagine they'd have a curfew the night before the game.

trend, despite is flashes of ability this year, has been a nightmare off the court from the moment he set foot on campus


Well gee, with factual first hand accounts like that, I guess now we know why Blackledge doesn't play more. Good grief people!