MU is playing their best basketball in years

[TVDirector]

+1
buzz is playing to this teams strength.
to think that the playbook has been tossed out to let these guys freelance is ignorant.

it seems simpler, more straight-forward:
motion-touch the paint-slash to the hoop...
something will open up, vs. passing around the perimeter for 30 seconds.
generalization, I know.

[NavinRJohnson]

I think Mr. Hayward makes a good post above. We were discussing this topic yesterday. We often got some very good shots in the past, but we also very often ended up with very bad shots when the set plays broke down.

That has not necessarily changed. We still end up getting some very good shots as well as firing up plenty of bad ones. The difference this year seems to be that those shots tend to go up 5-10 seconds into the shot clock as opposed to having 5 seconds left on the shot clock.

If we are going to fire up ill-advised 3 pointers (which has happened under both coaches), I'd much rather have the additional opportunities for good shots that comes with using less of the shot clock before the bad shot goes up.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

Yesterday's game was great, and this is a pretty good discussion.

One thing to keep in mind: They all look like good shots when they go in.

I'm not saying the shots weren't good, but they obviously make the offense look good because they went in. 

It's similar to Travis' pull-up 3pters that he used to love. As a coach, you never really teach that, nor do you encourage it... but when he makes a lot of them, it's hard not to love it and say "Let 'em fly".

With that said, the Big 4 are playing as well as they ever have. They are probably as good as any starting 4 in the country. The only problem is that MU doesn't have much punch after those guys.

It will be interesting to watch the player development under Buzz. If he can get players 5-8 to be productive role players by Feb., then MU has a good chance to make a run in March.

[tower912]

I am not comparing this to a final 4 team.  I am saying this is the best we have looked since then.   Far to go and much improvement to be made by the bench before we can even think those thoughts.

[MR.HAYWARD]

personally i do not look at it that way...that being well it is a good shot when the ball goes in.  wrong.  that is not the way to look at it.  it may be my  coaching experience.  I detest the bad shoot that goes in and equal detest the good shot that is not taken.  Under Crean we shot threes off the dribble.  i dont have the stats off hand but Pitino is famous for having the stats,  3's off the dribble go in at like a 20 some percent rate.  while 3's off the catch are in the low 40's as are 3's off ball reversal and indide out rotation.  I listened to Buzz in the postgame press conferenceand he mad e  the paoint that only 2 of their threes that he could rember were on the strong/ball side.  everything else was off reversal.  when that happens a greater percentage will go in.  some might look at it and say well yeah eveything looks better when the ball goes in.  but if one breaks it down more you can see why.  now granted that is not going to result in a 60% nights every night but contested 3's as the shot clock expires off the dribble have a small chance.  Roth and dumesdown at IU iare catching the ire of IU fans becuase they came in as "some hugely touted three point shooter"  yet are shooting a bad percentage.  watch an Iu game or two stand around and then the ball is in their hands with 5 seconds left.   Obviously that is going to happen at times but when it happens so darn often as a result of a stand around set offense,well i saw that as a problem and Buzz has provided the solution that was so simply unless you think you invented the game. 

[NotAnAlum]

Lets remember boys that last year we opened by running Providence off the court in a game that was every bit as dominate as yesterday only to get blown out by West Virginia ourselves a week later.  Its great when the 3s are falling but you really can't count on that.  Other than Lazar we know these guys well enough to know that they are simply not that great of pure shooters that we can count on anything resembling what went on yesterday.  They had plenty of good games last year.  Actually I thought the game at the BC where they "pick and rolled"a very good Pittsburgh team absolutely to death better fit the definition of "playing our best basketball".
We've got to beat Rutgers and and then continue to pile up the wins in the first part of the season.  We need to finish the first half like 7-2.  Then hope that the 4 guys we've been playing 30+ minutes don't collapse or get hurt and that Hazel and Otule can give us some serious solid minutes at the end of the season.  We've got a long way to go.

[Kramerica]

Lets remember boys that last year we opened by running Providence off the court in a game that was every bit as dominate as yesterday only to get blown out by West Virginia ourselves a week later.  Its great when the 3s are falling but you really can't count on that.  Other than Lazar we know these guys well enough to know that they are simply not that great of pure shooters that we can count on anything resembling what went on yesterday.  They had plenty of good games last year.  Actually I thought the game at the BC where they "pick and rolled"a very good Pittsburgh team absolutely to death better fit the definition of "playing our best basketball".
We've got to beat Rutgers and and then continue to pile up the wins in the first part of the season.  We need to finish the first half like 7-2.  Then hope that the 4 guys we've been playing 30+ minutes don't collapse or get hurt and that Hazel and Otule can give us some serious solid minutes at the end of the season.  We've got a long way to go.

+1.

If Hazel and Otule can progress, that would be a big help to this team and if one of the big 4 go down it would be a major problem. 

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

personally i do not look at it that way...that being well it is a good shot when the ball goes in.  wrong.  that is not the way to look at it.  it may be my  coaching experience.  I detest the bad shoot that goes in and equal detest the good shot that is not taken.  Under Crean we shot threes off the dribble.  i dont have the stats off hand but Pitino is famous for having the stats,  3's off the dribble go in at like a 20 some percent rate.  while 3's off the catch are in the low 40's as are 3's off ball reversal and indide out rotation.  I listened to Buzz in the postgame press conferenceand he mad e  the paoint that only 2 of their threes that he could rember were on the strong/ball side.  everything else was off reversal.  when that happens a greater percentage will go in.  some might look at it and say well yeah eveything looks better when the ball goes in.  but if one breaks it down more you can see why.  now granted that is not going to result in a 60% nights every night but contested 3's as the shot clock expires off the dribble have a small chance.  Roth and dumesdown at IU iare catching the ire of IU fans becuase they came in as "some hugely touted three point shooter"  yet are shooting a bad percentage.  watch an Iu game or two stand around and then the ball is in their hands with 5 seconds left.   Obviously that is going to happen at times but when it happens so darn often as a result of a stand around set offense,well i saw that as a problem and Buzz has provided the solution that was so simply unless you think you invented the game. 

I know McNeal made at least 2 off of the dribble. He's very good at crossing over to his left and then back to his right to get a quick shot. He's made quite a few of those this year and seems to have good rhythm on his jumper off of the dribble.

Anyways, I'm definitely not comparing the current offensive sets to last years (I'm steering clear of that debate), I'm just saying that when a guy shoots 7-7 from 3, the offense is going to look good. I like the ball reversals, I like the flashing to the high post, I like the baseline drive, etc. It looks good... but 15-25 can make a lot of things look good.

I like what Buzz has done and I like what the big 4 are doing... we'll see how it continues to evolve. 

[bamamarquettefan]

I watched the WVU game against Seton Hall last night to see what we are up against Saturday, and at one point late in the game the announcer started talking about how tough Marquette would be this year.  Said something like, "Those three incredible guards, Dominic James, Jerel McNeal and Wesley Matthews - haven't those guys been playing together for like 10 years or something?"

[mviale]

That offense over the last nine years was painful. One could never say anything due to the 2003 success in March.

[4everwarriors]

That offense over the last nine years was painful. One could never say anything due to the 2003 success in March.

Those of us enlightened have been vocal.