Trojan Horses

[Mr. Sand-Knit]

Fun game for Marquette.  Critical error by the USC coach to come out of the zone.  USC cut it to around 13 and then they went back to man to man and the lead ballooned to 30 again.
Nice to see the entire team contribute.
Howard was in the zone. 
Get ready for Maryland, the bar is being raised.

They came out of the zone when Marcus buried like 3 3's in their faces.  Seemed mu became comfortable with it. And begann extending again.  I think a zone when markus is in a zone may be short term fools gold

[RushmoreAcademy]

Don't want the whistles to stop the aggressive D.  So nice to see this team getting stops.

[TallTitan34]

FWIW Maryland is 8 spots behind Purdue on Kenpom.

[BallBoy]

No mention of defense amongst the Scoop Intelligencia. Despite the ridiculous foul rate today in the Song of the Whistles, this is the fifth game of six of < .91 opposing ORat. This hasn't been seen since 2012 to start the season.  Clearly, the defense has mattered.

I harped on this early in the Wojo regime but this has clearly turned around.  Difference maker.

#winorlando

You just didn't scroll to the right time

[Mr. Sand-Knit]

That's what great offensive players do.

Agree n disagree,  there has been an emphasis  on enforcing the rule of verticality, even when the defenders jumps. Today any contact even if offensive player initiated seemed to be called.  An absolute ton of which i felt were play ons on both sides really but more bad whistles against mu defense. 

[Dr. Blackheart]

You just didn't scroll to the right time

True. Great post.

[muguru]

Play....with...tempo. That's the key to their offense. Wojo's teams have always been better offensively when they can play faster..we saw that tonight. Maryland plays at the 40th fastest tempo in the country...that helps immensely. This should be a great game.

[StillWarriors]

Hero ball is so much fun!

Not sure I'd even call it hero ball when maybe one shot all day was forced. What an amazing and efficient performance.

[StillWarriors]

No idea if it actually clicks for him, but Bailey feels SO close to figuring it all out. He can get his own shot and good looks, but he needs to drain them.

I'd love to see Bailey develop a simple set shot on the open 3s and even from the high post. His stroke looks good but he just doesn't knock them down consistently. I wonder if eliminating some of the variables inherent with a jump shot would help him be more consistent. Would be such a boost to our offense as he gets several open opportunities each game.

[79Warrior]

I'd love to see Bailey develop a simple set shot on the open 3s and even from the high post. His stroke looks good but he just doesn't knock them down consistently. I wonder if eliminating some of the variables inherent with a jump shot would help him be more consistent. Would be such a boost to our offense as he gets several open opportunities each game.

BB has had some tough luck. He gets some good looks but the ball just is not going in the net. If he ever can knock them down we will be in great shape.

[Slim]

I'd love to see Bailey develop a simple set shot on the open 3s and even from the high post. His stroke looks good but he just doesn't knock them down consistently. I wonder if eliminating some of the variables inherent with a jump shot would help him be more consistent. Would be such a boost to our offense as he gets several open opportunities each game.

I'm with you 100%. I think he will and by March this will be a different team.

[The Sultan]

I hope so.  I'm not really impressed with his court awareness.  Seems to decide to take shots early when he thinks its his turn, then leaves others even when the flow of the offense dictates it.  Been more impressed with Cain this year.

[skianth16]

BB has had some tough luck. He gets some good looks but the ball just is not going in the net. If he ever can knock them down we will be in great shape.

Maybe it's tough luck, but maybe that's just not his forte. I've said it before, but I think Brendan, Jamal, and Sacar are all better when they put the ball on the floor rather than when they try to knock down threes. It would be awesome for us if they can start hitting at a 30%-35% clip, but I don't think we need that from them this year.

It's fine if Koby, Markus, and Greg are the primary shooters. Let them stretch the D, and let Sacar, Brendan, and Jamal be the guys who can beat their man off the dribble. We know guys have different skill sets, so I'd like to see ways to let our better athletes showcase that rather than keeping them outside away from the hoop. It could help with scoring and rebounding if we could get these guys moving to the rim more often.

[The Sultan]

Wojo's offense starts four out at the perimeter.  It certainly doesn''t preclude anyone from attacking the basket.  But all perimeter players should have the green light to shoot in the flow of the offense.