Thoughts on the offense?

[MUfan12]

Personally, I love it.... when they don't jack up early threes. They were able to get some easy buckets off of some nice cuts. It looked like they still need to work on the transition to their secondary break. I'd like to see a little more ball movement with the movement off the ball, as well as better spacing. It was nice to see them run an offense rather than have Dom dribble for 30 seconds while 8 sets are called out from the bench. There is still a ton of room to dump the ball inside, Otule had position several times but they didn't go to him.

[Blackhat]

I think the offense will be fine.  The defense is what has me really worried.   

[nola03]

I think the offense will be fine.  The defense is what has me really worried.   

With the talent of our guards, the offense will always be the least to worry about.

Defense seemed to trouble everyone inside and outside of the program yesterday. That's worrisome because reading all the quotes and reports over the last month Buzz made defense the priority of practice and the lessons seemed not to stick.

[MUBasketball]

I agree, I was a little worried with the defense yesterday. I guess we'll have to wait until Friday and see how things look then. I try not to get too excited or too dejected about things during an exhibition game. We'll know soon enough if this will be a chronic problem.

I like the new offense as well.

[MUfan12]

I guess I'm not worried about the defense... the rotations and help situations will tighten up. The closeouts were a little slow, but CSUP hit some crazy threes as well.

I'm sure shot selection and defensive positioning will be emphasized this week. It'll be interesting to see how they come out on Friday.

[Blackhat]

Some of the worry comes from knowing Buzz's team at UNO sucked at defense.   Otherwise I would take the game with a grain of salt.   I remember plenty of times in early season games being down or barely beating crappy teams at halftime with Crean, so there's always some rust. 

[Nukem2]

I guess I'm not worried about the defense... the rotations and help situations will tighten up. The closeouts were a little slow, but CSUP hit some crazy threes as well.

I'm sure shot selection and defensive positioning will be emphasized this week. It'll be interesting to see how they come out on Friday.

Agreed.  I suspect the defense will be fine. 

[Murffieus]

Stone is correct------Buzz's defense at UNO was ranked something like #330 in the nation according to RPI's efficiency rankings.

However I like his offense-----I didn't see the CSP game, but the thing that bothered me was that a mediocure Div 2 team scored 73 points against us. CSP only won 10 games last year!

[MUBasketball]

However I like his offense-----I didn't see the CSP game, but the thing that bothered me was that a mediocure Div 2 team scored 73 points against us. CSP only won 10 games last year!

I think it's a legitimate concern. Nothing to sweat over yet though.

CSU-Pueblo hit some tough 3's, no doubt. But I won't say each was well guarded. They had some good looks. I anticipate things looking better Friday night. This team has been a pesky defensive squad for years, I don't see things changing.

We'll see how it goes.

[Daniel]

I didn't see the defensive intensity that they are capable of.  But I think we will see that on Friday - this is the first game that coutns for this team and Buzz, so I think the gloves will be off and they will hustle hard.

[rocky_warrior]

the thing that bothered me was that a mediocure Div 2 team scored 73 points against us. CSP only won 10 games last year!

I honestly don't know how good the exhibition teams have been in prior years, but the 73 points doesn't concern me since it was the first game.

Last Year...
- Moult Athletic scored 91 points against us in our first game in Canada (107-91)
- Douglas College scored 70 points against us in our 3rd game in Canada (92-70)

O6-07...
- Cardinal Stritch scored 70 points against us in an exhibition game (99-70)

Point is....you can't read too much into the first (exhibition) game of the season.  By all accounts, we won by a similar margin as the past few years.  The next two games (and really...the rest of the season) are more important in my eyes.  We just need to see steady improvement.  Our starters haven't changed, but the subs off the bench certainly have - so it takes some time to adjust.

[muarmy81]

I guess I'm not worried about the defense... the rotations and help situations will tighten up. The closeouts were a little slow, but CSUP hit some crazy threes as well.

I'm sure shot selection and defensive positioning will be emphasized this week. It'll be interesting to see how they come out on Friday.

I was only able to watch the game online but defensively, they looked eerily similar to last year:
Solid through most of the possession and then they'd find themselves out of position or slow on the last rotation and allow an open look with 3 or 4 seconds on the shot clock.  I too think that this will be addressed this week and we'll see how they look in the opener.  All in all I think they did well.  First "game", under a new coach, with new players...lots of rust.
I did like what I saw out of Butler (Hit the glass hard and was very aggressive) and O'Tule. (A little lax at times on Defense but he was very aggressive for a freshman)

[StillWarriors]

I was not able to see the game, but have read a lot of the posts talking about the game. It has been interesting to read several favorable comments about Otule, when it looks like he fouled out in about 15 minutes. There's no reason to get worked up about an exhibition game, but I'm curious as to how to reconcile the comments with the production. Can anyone shed light on what he showed in that limited time that was so encouraging? He'll have to develop quite a bit in the pre-BEast season to be able to stay on the court against far better competition I would imagine. I'm not being critical, just looking for an explanation from folks who saw the game.

[rocky_warrior]

Can anyone shed light on what he showed in that limited time that was so encouraging?

He didn't look completely lost.  And for a freshman big, I think that's very encouraging.  In my opinion, he'll get some quality minutes this year, and in the next couple years he should be very solid in the post.  Barring injury of course.

[downtown85]

I watched the game.  From what I remember, Otule played a fair amount.  With about a minute left in the half, he had a nice move in the low post after getting fed the ball.  He made it look easy when he layed the ball in.  On defense, he did seem to get out of position on the opposing center too much.  When he was out of position he often had to foul to stop the guy.  However, Otule is a freshman and the other guy was a senior so I think that is to be expected in his first game.  I think he will improve on defense.  On rebounding he seemed a bit slow.  His body was often in the right spot but his hands in the wrong spot for the board.  In terms of running the floor, he seemed to get up and down the floor nicely but I would not say he was super quick.  I was impressed by Hazel's ability to run the floor, believe it or not.  Hazel had a nice 2 handed dunk on a break.  

Overall, I think Chris is way, way, way ahead of Ousmane as a freshman.  I would even say he already seems to have a better low post game than Ousman as a senior.  He has lots of upside and I think by the end of the season he will be contributing a lot to this team.  

[StillWarriors]

Thanks. He's going to have to log minutes one way or the other, so it's good to hear he showed flashes of productivity.

A big body can go a long way defensively. McIlvaine was not all that coordinated as a freshman, but he made a big impact in terms of limiting penetration and altering shots. If Otule can do that alone this year it'll help.

From the little I saw of McMorrow at Marquette Madness, he and Otule should be a nice combo over the next few years.

[bilsu]

Offense has turned McNeal into a three point shooter vs a driver. Aker had a terrible shooting night. Offense will be good for Culliban. As far as defense, I thought it was good at the beginning of the game. Early on CSUB started shooting threes instead of running their offense. defense broke down some as we started subbing.