Worried about our Defense

[Blackhat]

You and the "many others" would be wrong then according to the numbers.

[MR.HAYWARD]

well i do not have defensive numbers at my disposal but I will look them up and guarabtee you are wrong.  As some one who was not even around then how can you say that??!!  Looking at Deans teams and Oneills teams they both avergaged more points offensively than Cream.  oneils 92-93 team anf 2 others averaged over 73 a game.  Crean had his final four team that avergaed more.  Deane 95-96 team averaged 73 agame .  why reference offensive numbers?...becuase the comment will be well those guys slowed the game down....actually they did not not to the point of the stand around dribble with a three at the shot clock horn like Crean patented. additioanlly Crean actually had two teams that averaged !! under 63 points a game and one at 67 and one at 65.  and any one that watch those three coaches can attest that Creans teams played nothing of the sort of defense that oneills and deanes teams did and those guys did not sacrafice offense.  the teams of mcilavaine key, etc...and then amal, crawford, faisal etc.  not only were some of the best defensive teams in NCAA history but were very offensively talented.  My recollection is the 95-96 team had 5 double digit scorers in the starting lineup.. Sorry stone cold but Mu defense has fallen off the table under the tan one.

[Marquette84]

well i do not have defensive numbers at my disposal but I will look them up and guarabtee you are wrong.  As some one who was not even around then how can you say that??!!  Looking at Deans teams and Oneills teams they both avergaged more points offensively than Cream.  oneils 92-93 team anf 2 others averaged over 73 a game.  Crean had his final four team that avergaed more.  Deane 95-96 team averaged 73 agame .  why reference offensive numbers?...becuase the comment will be well those guys slowed the game down....actually they did not not to the point of the stand around dribble with a three at the shot clock horn like Crean patented. additioanlly Crean actually had two teams that averaged !! under 63 points a game and one at 67 and one at 65.  and any one that watch those three coaches can attest that Creans teams played nothing of the sort of defense that oneills and deanes teams did and those guys did not sacrafice offense.  the teams of mcilavaine key, etc...and then amal, crawford, faisal etc.  not only were some of the best defensive teams in NCAA history but were very offensively talented.  My recollection is the 95-96 team had 5 double digit scorers in the starting lineup.. Sorry stone cold but Mu defense has fallen off the table under the tan one.

So Deane's BEST offensive team averaged 73 per game, and Crean's WORST team averaged 63.  Nice comparison.  Can we trust anything you say? 

How about we reverse it?  Crean's teams averaged in the 70's six times, with 75 ppg twice, and 78.5 once.  Meanwhile, in Deane's last season he averaged just 63 points, and just 65 the year before that. 

Different picture, wouldn't you say?

And perhaps you simply forgot to mention that Crean's 63 ppg year was his first season, playing with Deane's players. 

Why didn't you cite Deane's '99 team, when he was playing with his own recruits?  Only 63 ppg--that's why.

Or his '98 team?  65.3. 

Or his '97 team?  68.0. 

Or his '95 team?  70.9.

Here's a fact for you:  You make it sound like Deane had a high powered offense--yet his final season he failed to crack the 60 point barrier 9 times.  Nine times with MU's final score in the 50's.  And he failed to crack 50 points three times.   Crean had an occasional stinker, but he never failed to post 60 points in over 1/3 of the games en route to a losing season.     

As for cherry picking, O'Neill's best team you cite had a defensive percentage of about 35% and reached the sweet sixteen. His worst team still holds the record for most points given up by a Marquette team (108 versus Kansas).

The fact is that Deane ran a less-good version of bennettball, and was slowing the game down to hold down socres.  Your memory so depleted that you cannot remember beating teams like Nicholls State by scores of like 51 to 47.  Sorry, but Deane DID slow the game down, and his tendency to do so increased as O'Neill's players left the program and were replaced by his own.

The only excitement was whether he would call one, two or three timeouts within the first minute.  It was a style of play that was driving both fans and recruits away.