Buzz...it's called "defense"

[Niv Berkowitz]

For all the praise Buzz has gotten, this team has regressed immensely on the defensive end and they better get it fixed in a hurry.

Shooting 55% is great. Allowing opponents to shoot 60% is piss poor.

[mr.MUskie]

+10000000000

just can't watch anymore.  too painful.

[MUeng]

watching a team drop 100 on you is pathetic to watch

[MUfan12]

They'd have to go zone to hide him... Buzz has lost a step laterally.

For F's sake he can't play defense for them. He's tried  every defense in the book and nothing has worked.

[CTWarrior]

This remided me of the Kansas debacle on defense.  We had no answer for anything.  Only difference is we were more effective on offense.

[Niv Berkowitz]

If:
a) he's tried everything
b) nothing's working
c) we've played much better in the past with the same guys

...it's coaching and practice and not focusing on it.

To me, I think MU has actually played worse against teams that are just like it...smaller and quick. We play better, in my opinion, against teams that are bigger, slower than us.

[lab_warrior]

Think the better comparison to this game would be the WVU game from '05.  That crew of Gansey, Pittsnogle, Ruoff, and Alexander LIT UP the scoreboard, and scored well over 100. 
You just have to say that Nova is playing their best basketball right now, and hit some very difficult shots.  We beat them at home earlier, and I wouldn't mind playing them again in NYC, no way they shoot that well in the Garden.

[bma725]

If:
a) he's tried everything
b) nothing's working
c) we've played much better in the past with the same guys

...it's coaching and practice and not focusing on it.

Bull, look at the numbers. 

Shane Clark is a 50% shooter from the field and 26% from three.  He went 100% from the field today including 3 of 3 beyond the line.

Corey Fisher is 43% shooter from the field and 28% from three.  He shot 60% from the field and 80% from beyond the arc.

Any coach in the country would love to have those two shooting 8 three pointers in a game, because if they have to shoot from out there it means your defense is forcing the last perimeter option to shoot.  Further, Dwayne Anderson is a 36% shooter, he went 1 for 2.  Scottie Reynolds is a 36% shooter, he went 5 for 11.  Those guys just did an abnormally good job of shooting tonight. Better than anyone who's watch them would have expected.

Yes, some of them were open looks because of bad switches, but most of the time if you let those guys get open looks they'll miss them.  Today they didn't.  That's not coaching, that's not strategy or lack of practice, that's guys playing way above their level and there's nothing any coach in the country could do about short of John Chaney taking a job and sending in a goon to take them out.

[MUBasketball]

You guys are ridiculous.

Let's not even look at the game, and just look at the numbers...102 points given up. Did the same thing to Syracuse. Man...that Boeheim is a lousy coach, isn't he?

Now, for those of you without basketball knowledge, this is not a team that can play traditional defense. Buzz is obviously not playing the way he wants to. He inherited what he inherited, and he's doing the best he can.

OK, Johnny Armchair-Head Coach, what would you do differently? Let them abuse us down low with their superior size playing one on one?

Think people!

[MarquetteDano]

For all the praise Buzz has gotten, this team has regressed immensely on the defensive end and they better get it fixed in a hurry.

Shooting 55% is great. Allowing opponents to shoot 60% is piss poor.

I agree that this team is not as good as last year on the defense end, but let's remember some things compared to last year:

1. Buzz has asked them not to foul/reach as much which is allowing for more easy baskets.  However, we have not fouled out as many players as last year.  Plus, we are not in foul trouble as much as last year.  We have a thinner bench this year... we cannot afford any of the "Big Four" to foul out.

2. Our front line is weaker this year without Blackledge and Barro.  Our interior "D" has to be masked more with help which is allowing more offensive rebounds and outside open looks


  One thing we should keep in mind is that come NCAA tourney time, refs call a lot of fouls.  Teams like WVU, and even some extent Nova, will get a lot of fouls called with their constant reaching/hacking.  We might be better off than previous years as Buzz is teaching to foul less.  The game tonight would have had MUCH more fouls called if it was a tournament game.

[yellow chickens]

i saw blackledge in the rec center today balling it up. next to all of us he looked like an nba hof. i see him occasionally around campus. is he still a student?