[Cracked Sidewalks] Improved Guard Play Will Be Key To Reversing Trends

[CrackedSidewalksSays]

Improved Guard Play Will Be Key To Reversing Trends

Written by: noreply@blogger.com (Rob Lowe)

Tonight, Marquette begins a difficult two-game stretch of road games.  Unfortunately, despite the recent conference opening win over Villanova, the Warriors have been slumping.  This chart shows the cumulative total of how many points Marquette has been winning (or losing) by since the second Norfolk State game.



However, that chart just shows Marquette plateauing, mostly due to two rough losses.  There is a definite slump on the current efficiency trends.  Below is a five-game moving average of Marquette's efficiency (offensive and defensive) since the NFSU #2.



Both our offensive efficiency and defensive efficiency are getting worse as the season goes along.  Part of this can be chalked up to poor recent outings.  However, consider that Marquette hasn't been strong offensively almost the entire month of December (Northern Colorado is the exception).  That the defensive efficiency is getting worse is not really a surprise (unfortunately), but the offensive trend is a real concern.  After all, offense has never been an issue under Buzz.



When we look at the same trends of the top three players on Marquette (Jae, DJO, and Gardner), their net contributions are still continuing to trend mostly upwards.  DJO has also had a stretch of slumping/plateauing.  However, it is the play of the remaining guards that tells a different story.


Junior's contributions float along sideways and are fairly varied.  Lately, his net contributions have been either  really good or really bad on the court.  It is the current trends of Vander Blue and Todd Mayo that are concerning.  After a very strong start to the season for both players, their net contributions on the court are both trending negative, somewhat in mirror to the overall team trends.
After the year that Vander had last year, this is especially reason to worry.  He likewise started the year strong and struggled mightily at the end.  Mayo was sensational to open the season, but he remains a freshman.  It would be the exception for Todd to not have struggles this year.  Regardless of what happens, we will almost certainly need their overall contributions to improve for Marquette to get better.  Improved guard play tonight and this weekend appears to be the key.

http://www.crackedsidewalks.com/2012/01/improved-guard-play-will-be-key-to.html

[Dr. Blackheart]

Hello zone.  Four guards not scoring lately, and this is MU's new reality.  GU and Cuse will zone us.  Need to go big primarily with DG, Jae and JW just because of size match-ups, with DJO and one of these four.  Have to have a 3rd or 4th scoring option in these two games, whether starting or off the bench. Both opponents will control the boards, and GU will slow us down in transition.  Let's see who of the four step up for a road win.  Getting one would be huge.

If Junior gets us in a paint touch groove like Nova with his assists, we are good to go.  Junior had only one assist in each game vs. LSU, Vandy and UWM, otherwise he has had at least six assists in every MU game except the first NSU game (4). 

[UticaBusBarn]

This fan probably says it too often, but, "if you ain't got guards, you ain't got s**t." Big man, or no big man, you have to have guards who can play - shoot, dribble, defend. The best recent example is the midget Warrior team of two years ago. Coach Williams is correct in his continued efforts to recruit guards.