Chalk this one up to coaching

[Hards Alumni]

I was glad to see Hazel back in there.  He knows how to hustle, and he doesn't get embarassed defensively. 

But I agree, I hope Buzz becomes less and less fixated and his small lineup.  How many times the past two games were we outrebounded underneath simply because out players were all 5 inches shorter?  No sense of having your tallest player at 6'6" on the floor and keeping 6'7", 6'7", 6'8", and 6'10" on the bench. 

are you kidding me?

Hazel looked LOST.

[rocky_warrior]

I think the only coaching change Buzz could've done that he didn't do was put 6 out on the floor.

I seriously question his judgment as a coach for NOT using the 6-man defense 

[bma725]

BMA--good back and forth.  Here is what's different.  Nova has changed their line-up, sets, and rotations since our first game.  We employed the same strategy as Game 1.  Nova is starting taller and going deeper with different looks, exploiting the match-ups they get.   As a result, they totally broke down our defense tonight from the inside out.  We did not adapt our strategy the second time through the league.  Yes, they hit a lot of short range jumpers.  Did MU not scout their WVU game, though? 

No, Nova hasn't.  Watch it again.  Then watch the first game again.  There was no breaking down of the defense from the inside out.  In fact the inside defense was actually good, and much improved from our first game.  You can continue to say they did it that way all you want, but the facts aren't on your side.

Further, this was not a different team on the court.  A grand total of 2 minutes were played by players who didn't play in the first game, and they were both end of bench guys that came in with under a minute left for PR purposes.  Other than that, it was the same players from the first game, playing roughly the same minutes as the first game, with the same lineups as the first game.  

Villanova didn't do anything differently on offense from the first game.  They didn't add height or change how they attacked MU, or who got the ball etc.  The only change was that they hit their shots in game #2, they didn't hit them in game #1.

We better adapt...here comes the big teams.  We are now 2-3 with the small line-up, and Buzz has left himself with few options by going with a short bench.  And, I really don't get the thoughts that Otule, Fulce, Hazel can't give us some "big" minutes to change things up.   Let's at least see, under the right situation.  Tonight was one of those.  Some one tell me what's going on here?  I could very well not know the whole issue....but tonight was indeed our worst defensive game.  Nova's offensive efficiency rate was a 134.2--or 1.34 points per possession versus a 1.09 average coming in.  Schooled!

Here comes the big teams?  You've got to be kidding.  Please, take a look at who was on the court again and how tall they actually are.  Villanova played two players that were taller than 6'7 at any point in the game last night, and one of those guys played maybe 30 seconds.  The line up was the same in terms of height as the lineup MU beat at the BC in January, and was much smaller than the ND and Georgetown teams that MU handled easily with the small lineup.

You can attempt to blame it on inside play and lack of height all you want, but that's not what happened.  MU didn't get beat by a significantly taller team, MU didn't get beat because it couldn't stop scoring from the inside, MU got beat because Villanova's outside players executed better than they did in the first game.

Further, if you really expect Otule and Fulce to help against guys like Thabeet, Onuako(sp?), Blair, Clark, Samuels etc then you're going to be sorely disappointed.  Even without the injuries, those guys would get torn up by the big time inside players in the Big East.  Neither one of them was defensively ready to play when they got here, and the lack of practice to start the year has just made it worse.  They are so far behind in their development now, you put them on the court and they will get schooled.

[nyg]

If Otule and Fulce are so far behind in development, would get destroyed by BE bigtime players and Hazel is just not a BE player, why are they even on the team?  Along with Cubillian as practice players?  My god, they have to at least experience some BE or Division I playing time at some point, see how they play and if they can't cut it, well....  How long does development take.

[Pardner]

Further, this was not a different team on the court.  A grand total of 2 minutes were played by players who didn't play in the first game, and they were both end of bench guys that came in with under a minute left for PR purposes.  Other than that, it was the same players from the first game, playing roughly the same minutes as the first game, with the same lineups as the first game.  
MU opened Big East play with a 79-72 victory over Villanova on Jan. 1.

Since then both teams have been playing some of the best basketball in the conference. The 10th-ranked Golden Eagles, of course, were on a 12-game winning streak and atop the standings until their hiccup at South Florida on Friday.

The 13th-ranked Wildcats, meanwhile, have rattled off five consecutive victories, including a 67-57 decision over No. 4 Pittsburgh, and a 102-87 drubbing of No. 23 Syracuse on Saturday.

This one is being played at the Pavilion, where Villanova has won 25 consecutive games and sold out 92 in a row coming in. MU, of course, beat the Wildcats at the Wachovia Center last season, 85-75, behind a 25-point outing from Dominic James.
Per Rosiak:
"They're a team that's being a lot more aggressive," said Jerel McNeal, who can break the all-time scoring record with 21 points. "They're in a groove, in a rhythm right now, and they're rolling. They've been playing unbelievable lately. We've got to come out and match their intensity and toughness, and try to come out of there with a big road win."

Coach Jay Wright has instituted a couple changes to his starting lineup since the teams' New Year's Day meeting, going bigger and more defensive with Shane Clark and Dwayne Anderson replacing Antonio Pena and Corey Stokes.

Stokes now comes off the bench with Corey Fisher to give the Wildcats some instant offense. Clark, Anderson and Dante Cunningham are all active bodies who have been playing well together."
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/39340227.html

Fact is, Nova did attack us very differently.  Their spacing was magnificent in ther 4 out 1 in.  Always running it inside to cause us to collapse and create the open looks.  Very differently from the first game.  Cunningham also had a face up game knowing the back to the basket played into Burke's strength.  To say that Nova did not break us apart inside out in a much better fashion is not debatable.  They had us helter skelter all night.  Buzz was schooled. 



You can attempt to blame it on inside play and lack of height all you want, but that's not what happened.  MU didn't get beat by a significantly taller team, MU didn't get beat because it couldn't stop scoring from the inside, MU got beat because Villanova's outside players executed better than they did in the first game.

Further, if you really expect Otule and Fulce to help against guys like Thabeet, Onuako(sp?), Blair, Clark, Samuels etc then you're going to be sorely disappointed.  Even without the injuries, those guys would get torn up by the big time inside players in the Big East.  Neither one of them was defensively ready to play when they got here, and the lack of practice to start the year has just made it worse.  They are so far behind in their development now, you put them on the court and they will get schooled.
I have no dreams that these guys can help us beat the these teams.  But they certainly can help if we use them in the proper scheme and Buzz took the time to develop them.  Not gonna happen apparently.  If you think doing the same thing we have done the past three years is going to yield a different result, you are very optimistic.  Using these guys in a rotation to take the air out of the ball and creating different match-up problems will.  They are some of our tallest guys.  They helped us vs. PC and Cinn...why aren't they playing?  This argument they aren't ready is getting old when we throw up a defensive effort like last night.  Piss poor coaching schem.  Fact is, Buzz didn't try everything that could have worked.  The way he has developed his bench is lacking,color]

To end, this from Jerel:
Yet true to form, he was more concerned afterward about getting his team back into the right defensive mind-set.

"It was an F, all around," he said when asked to rate MU's performance. "I think we played a little bit better in the first half; we were just getting a lot of tough breaks and had guys in foul trouble. The second half, it was just ridiculous.

"Anytime you give up 100 points in a college basketball game, it's an F in my book. It wasn't hard to figure out what the problem was. We scored plenty enough baskets. We just didn't get enough stops."

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/goldeneagles/39412722.html

[T.V. Diener 34]

An inside look at Buzz coaching during practice and during the Texas Southern game if you guys want to take a look.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwk-yP3F0Es&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x2BEi2iDgs&feature=related

I'd say I'm pretty damn satisfied by the way he runs this team...