I hate to say it...

[MUfan12]

... and I hope this doesn't degenerate into a bash session. But did anyone else think that the halfcourt offense was much better with Buycks out last night? There was less dribbling, better spacing, and crisp ball movement. Can't help but think that had something to do with it.

My problem with Buycks isn't so much his shot selection, but the fact that his first instinct is to put the ball on the floor. That kills ball reversals, throws off spacing, and leads to him hunting his own shot. Dribbling for dribbling's sake, rather than dribbling with a purpose.

Also, from watching the games tonight, I came away with 3 thoughts:

1) Blue needs to guard Taylor. Have to keep him moving laterally, and not getting into the lane. I think Vander is the best defender out of all the guards.

2) Vanderbilt will be a ton. Really stretch the court.

3) Ben Hansbrough has taken the douche torch from his brother.

[SacWarrior]

I've always thought DB was a much better defensive player than offensive player, so the notion that the offense works better without him is not necessarily a shocking one. He's too much of a tweener for me. Doesn't have the consistent outside shot of a 2 guard and doesn't have the ballhandling abilities of a PG.

Still an asset to the team and he's having a great year.

[Lennys Tap]

... and I hope this doesn't degenerate into a bash session. But did anyone else think that the halfcourt offense was much better with Buycks out last night? There was less dribbling, better spacing, and crisp ball movement. Can't help but think that had something to do with it.

My problem with Buycks isn't so much his shot selection, but the fact that his first instinct is to put the ball on the floor. That kills ball reversals, throws off spacing, and leads to him hunting his own shot. Dribbling for dribbling's sake, rather than dribbling with a purpose.

Also, from watching the games tonight, I came away with 3 thoughts:

1) Blue needs to guard Taylor. Have to keep him moving laterally, and not getting into the lane. I think Vander is the best defender out of all the guards.

2) Vanderbilt will be a ton. Really stretch the court.

3) Ben Hansbrough has taken the douche torch from his brother.

Hate to say it but I agree with much of what you say. Thing is, we're not a good defensive rebounding team and really need him there.

[brewcity77]

I think Buycks is an asset to this team, but I think he's better coming off the bench. From the bench, he can come in and inject energy into the team. When he starts, it seems like he wants to carry the team and direct things, which really isn't where he's at his best. I think our best starting five right now is Otule, Butler, Blue, DJO, and surprisingly (to me) Smith. That allows Cadougan to come in after about 2 minutes since Buzz feels he plays best in spurts, and I think he should do the same with Buycks, letting him spell Blue as a defender and DJO as a scoring option.

However, it's clear that Buzz has faith in Buycks. My guess is that at least for the time being, Buycks will start when he's healthy.

[Steve Buscemi]

que nomorebuycks'  'I told you so's!'

[mu ricer22]

... and I hope this doesn't degenerate into a bash session. But did anyone else think that the halfcourt offense was much better with Buycks out last night? There was less dribbling, better spacing, and crisp ball movement. Can't help but think that had something to do with it.

My problem with Buycks isn't so much his shot selection, but the fact that his first instinct is to put the ball on the floor. That kills ball reversals, throws off spacing, and leads to him hunting his own shot. Dribbling for dribbling's sake, rather than dribbling with a purpose.Also, from watching the games tonight, I came away with 3 thoughts.       1) Blue needs to guard Taylor. Have to keep him moving laterally, and not getting into the lane. I think Vander is the best defender out of all the guards.

2) Vanderbilt will be a ton. Really stretch the court.

3) Ben Hansbrough has taken the douche torch from his brother.

+1000. Cadougan is our natural point guard. Buycks does dribble off and just wants to shoot weird shots that also are sometimes out of his "range" most of the times. We did seem much better in the half court without Buycks last night.

[willie warrior]

I have been saying it until it is really old, Cadougan is our best ball distributor, and that should be what we want from out PG. He will score 5 to 7 points per game and dish out 6 plus assists if given the minutes. He is also the best at getting the ball into the post. I cannot say Buycks is better at defense, although since he has Caddy by three inches, he likely can guard bigger guards. Smith also has potential, but Cadougan should be our starter.

Buycks should be coming off the bench to spell others.

[DCWarriors04]

Amen!

[Canadian Dimes]

I think the original poster and everyone else do arealy good job of descibing the problem...but then again that is not really the challenge.  Heck if Buycks was such a great PG he would have played it at least a few possessions lat year and he never did. 

Therefore .......What is the solution?

1.  Buycks can defend and score and rebound yet over dribbles and is not a natural PG.

2. Junior best natural PG on the team offensively yet cannot go Media Timeout to MEdia timeout without running out of steam and is the worst of the three defensively.

3.  Reggie great athlete...very loose handle...Freshman...not yet a natural PG.

So what is the solution? 

Personally I too beleive Buycks is best subbing Vander and DJO.  However despite his deficiencies i stil think he is a better option than Reggie, Today.  Junior does not set a defensive tone and can physically only go 25 minutes or so.  Therefore I think as the season goes on you will continue to see a combination of the three. 

Not a perfect solution ... but we are right now weak at that spot with each of the three bringing qualities but no one complete in the role.

   

[willie warrior]

How do we know that Cadougan is not in shape as some have suggested. I have not seen that, but will be watching closely.

Also, how do we know that he is the worst of the three defensively? Have many observed that? That is another area I will be looking at over next few games.

Right now, I think that those two areas need to be observed closely.

[StillWarriors]

I saw Buzz's comment too about Cadougan (and Otule?) not being able to go media timeout to media timeout at this point. Particularly with a guard, I don't how that could be possible given all the pre-season conditioning, practices etc... these guys go through. Anyone else find that a little hard to believe?

[VegasWarrior77]

+1
What about the rigorous boot camp?

[Canadian Dimes]

Alot of it is simply body chemistry or make up.  Anyone who has played basketball knows just becuase you are in shape does not mean u are in basketball shape or has played with guys that seemingly can play at an unblelivable pace whith out tiring while other guys are simply gassed.

It is my guess that those are the issues with Otule and Junior.  I also beleive they will get better as their careers go forward in regards to how hard they can play for how long.  bottom line is it what it is and Buzz has to deal with it.  Clearly if Junior had more stamina he would play longer and it would help his defense.

Ahhh Willie,  you seem to come on this board and make such omniscient comments about the players and the program, but then question if Reggie and DB are better defenders than Junior and that you will watch more closely?  Have you watch at all?  All your posts seem to indciate that you have it all figured out, including that Buzz knows less than u!

[BME to MD]

Both Cadougan and Otule suffered very serious injuries last year so I don't think it is surprising that it is taking them longer to get back into condition.  Cadougan probably delayed full recovery by returning to play so quickly last year.  Just like ACLs the time to full recovery (and full ability to condition) is often twice as long as it takes to get back to sports.

[dsfire]

One thing that seemed evident with Buycks out was that DJO is not the answer as our third point guard.  Seemed like he felt it was on him to make a play with Reggie and Junior on the sideline, and I think he turned it over in the midst of 2-3 defenders once or twice trying to make something happen.

[M@RQUETTEW@RRIORS]

Alot of it is simply body chemistry or make up.  Anyone who has played basketball knows just becuase you are in shape does not mean u are in basketball shape or has played with guys that seemingly can play at an unblelivable pace whith out tiring while other guys are simply gassed.

It is my guess that those are the issues with Otule and Junior.  I also beleive they will get better as their careers go forward in regards to how hard they can play for how long.  bottom line is it what it is and Buzz has to deal with it.  Clearly if Junior had more stamina he would play longer and it would help his defense.

Ahhh Willie,  you seem to come on this board and make such omniscient comments about the players and the program, but then question if Reggie and DB are better defenders than Junior and that you will watch more closely?  Have you watch at all?  All your posts seem to indciate that you have it all figured out, including that Buzz knows less than u!

I challenge this premise.  Of course the coach knows more than most all if not everyone else about his team overall.  But there are tiny aspects where the coach can be wrong.  Just ask them.  Im sure Buzz will tell you he has made mistakes and he will make more.  You seem to indicate that he never is wrong.  Or couldnt possibly be mistaken.  If you think about it, its kind of riduculous.

[Canadian Dimes]

I challenge this premise.  Of course the coach knows more than most all if not everyone else about his team overall.  But there are tiny aspects where the coach can be wrong.  Just ask them.  Im sure Buzz will tell you he has made mistakes and he will make more.  You seem to indicate that he never is wrong.  Or couldnt possibly be mistaken.  If you think about it, its kind of riduculous.

MU warriors... I completely agree that Buzz or any coach makes mistakes.  Was on the phone today with a college coach and we a convo about a parent and we both discussed that sometimes coaches make mistakes too.  So I absolutely agree all coaches make mistakes too.

My comment to Willie with some sarcasm...was that he stated that he needed to watch more closely to assess Juniors stamina and defensive abilities.  Yet he has no issue coming onto this board numerous times a day and simply blasting Buzz's recruiting and coaching abilities.  My point to him and others is how can some one make judgements concerning Buzz when that same person cannot even assess Junior is not as strong a defender as DB or Reggie. 

Kind of comical? No?

[M@RQUETTEW@RRIORS]

MU warriors... I completely agree that Buzz or any coach makes mistakes.  Was on the phone today with a college coach and we a convo about a parent and we both discussed that sometimes coaches make mistakes too.  So I absolutely agree all coaches make mistakes too.

My comment to Willie with some sarcasm...was that he stated that he needed to watch more closely to assess Juniors stamina and defensive abilities.  Yet he has no issue coming onto this board numerous times a day and simply blasting Buzz's recruiting and coaching abilities.  My point to him and others is how can some one make judgements concerning Buzz when that same person cannot even assess Junior is not as strong a defender as DB or Reggie. 

Kind of comical? No?

Understood.

[Wade for President]

3) Ben Hansbrough has taken the douche torch from his brother.

Couldn't.  Agree.  More.  That dude was en fuego in the first half last night.  I understand he was fired up about his shoot in a hostile environment.  But his attitude/body language was reminiscent of Syracuse player Eric Devendorf (sans the tats and white trash persona).

I'm looking forward to seeing Blue shut him down.

[Mobot]

#45 Jack Cooley looks like he could be Harangody's little brother.

[Aughnanure]

I wish Blue could play PG, some of his passes and court vision make him look like he would be perfect.

[NersEllenson]

I think our best starting five right now is Otule, Butler, Blue, DJO, and surprisingly (to me) Smith. That allows Cadougan to come in after about 2 minutes since Buzz feels he plays best in spurts, and I think he should do the same with Buycks, letting him spell Blue as a defender and DJO as a scoring option.

However, it's clear that Buzz has faith in Buycks. My guess is that at least for the time being, Buycks will start when he's healthy.

Agree 100% with the above.  I like Reggie, Blue, DJO, Butler, Otule starting.
Sub Cadougan for Reggie, Buckys for Blue/DJO, Crowder for Otule/Jimmy, and Gardner for Otule.

[77ncaachamps]

Buycks is a 2G being used as a PG.

His game is slashing and catching and shooting.
His game is NOT efficiently executing the offense, dribbling with purpose, and setting up his teammates.

[w0bbie]

Agree 100% with the above.  I like Reggie, Blue, DJO, Butler, Otule starting.
Sub Cadougan for Reggie, Buckys for Blue/DJO, Crowder for Otule/Jimmy, and Gardner for Otule.

I agree with this as well.  Reggie has really impressed me in the last two games.  He seems to have tightened up his handle considerably and his defense has been great (stealing the ball like crazy and that blocked 3 in the corner vs. longwood).  I'd like to see Junior and the Ox come in at the same time.  Junior seems to be the best at getting DG in good position to put it up - leading to a score or a foul.  Buycks is best coming off the bench as an energy 2nd/3rd guard.