Awful Performance

[brewcity77]

I try to be positive, I do. In fact, I'm going to start this with some positives from tonight's game.

• Jimmy Butler was very good tonight. Strong inside, willing to take the shot, and a great line with 23 and 7. Stepped up like a senior.
  
• Jae Crowder did a bit of everything. Boards, points, all in all, helped Butler make a solid frontcourt.
  
• Chris Otule will probably be maligned for some plays, but he doesn't deserve it. Great rebounding, awesome blocks, and while he "missed" some boards it's hard to blame a guy when there are four guys on the perimeter and he's 1-on-3 down low. He's really developing into a solid player for us.

And that's it. Those three guys are all I have. My lord, I felt a bit disgusted tonight. It was like we'd never seen the press before. I've been trying for months to put a finger on why Buzz's teams never seem to lose by more than ten points. And tonight, I think I finally figured it out. It was the quote from Al that flashed on the screen pregame, "A team should reflect its coach. Mine are obnoxious and arrogant." Well, I think that Buzz's team reflects him, and that's why we struggle in so many close games. Buzz is a hard-worker with a never say die attitude. When we get down, even by large margins, the mindset is to fight back and scrap for everything we can get, which is what Buzz has had to do to get to where he is today. But then there are all those close losses. Again, I look at Buzz. It seems like when we get up, we get lost in the details. We try to play the odds, slow the game down, bleed the clock, and win by attrition. That reminds me of Buzz's love for stats. He gets lost in the details, tries to look at the game as a mathematical equation rather than a competition. And that overwhelming attention to detail becomes a hindrance rather than a positive.

Which brings us to tonight. Tonight was the night where the team finally seemed to give up out there. In the last 10 minutes, after pulling back within one at 53-52, it seemed that was all we had to give. The guardplay was atrocious. The only guard with a positive A/T ratio was Junior at 4/3. Ugh...I don't know what to say, I'll focus on the guards one-by-one.

• Dwight Buycks: Playing like he's on a bell curve. He rose steadily through the year, then spiked up after Big East play started, going for double digits in 5/6 games. Now he's on the downside of the bell. Had his progress continued trending up, I think he could have had a shot at the NBDL or even latching on with an NBA team (yes willie, that was me) but based on his recent play, there's no chance of that. Tonight he pressed his offense too hard in the first half, seemed to lose confidence, and was a void in the second. No offense, no ball-handling, and his worst shooting performance of the year.
  
• DJO: Please, please, please actually use your pump fake! He gets guys up, instead of shooting and drawing the easy foul, he dribbles by them, then instead of shooting, passes to someone else. He started fine, but got worse as the game went on. Seemed scared to shoot or take over in the second half. Amazed he played 37 minutes, because so many times, it seemed he just wasn't there.
  
• Vander Blue: I figured we'd bring him in to press, but we never really pressed until the very end. Offensively, he seems petrified of shooting ever. I want so bad for him to succeed, but he just seems to be getting lost out there. I'm praying for a big performance against either SHU or Providence, he needs confidence badly.
  
• Junior Cadougan: Should have done more to break the press when he was in. Why did it seem Crowder was the only guy who could break the press tonight? I digress. Junior was underwhelming tonight. As someone else said, he can't be on the court with Blue. It turns it into 3-on-5, it's not good. He also tends to dribble far too high. Pretty sure he got a travel once because of it, and was lucky to get away with carries at least 2 other times.
  
• General Notes: How badly did we waste that block by Otule after Buycks 3 free throws? Massive block took down 2 SJU players, we had a 5-on-3 and the guards pulled out to set the offense. Why did we pick up the dribble so often in the backcourt? It's the press, you keep dribbling? Where were the guards when Butler got doubled in the backcourt? No one was there to bail him out. That happened numerous times, and we simply weren't there to help.

But most of all, tonight felt like Buzz just lost the team. So many things I simply don't get. Why didn't we use the press? We've had success with it of late, so keep at it. St. John's dominated tempo. The one good run we had was the 7-0 spurt to start the second, and they called a TO, seized back the tempo, and we were done. And again, poor timeout usage. With 2:11 to play, Butler scores and Buzz instantly calls a timeout. Why? You get within single digits, get the crowd into it, and have a last gasp at a comeback. Instead, the crowd is taken out, momentum is lost, and that timeout basically allowed St. John's to cruise. But above all else, why did they quit tonight? Am I the only one who felt that? It just seemed like everyone in the building, including our players, knew it was hopeless when based on the scoreboard it wasn't.

For the record, I still think we go 10-8 and make the tournament. But tonight took away all margin for error. We can afford to lose at UConn, but that's it. While the soft bubble will probably let us sneak in at 9-9, it will be dicey. Probably a 60-70% chance if that's our record. Tonight did us no favors at all. It doesn't look good to lose to a fellow bubble-team on your home court. Damn. I'm not happy.

[Boone]

Well put. I'm not as optimistic, though, about making the tournament. For one thing, we're trending downward and for another, we can't string 2 consecutive halves of winning ball together, let alone the 8-10 or so we'd need to get this team into the NCAAs.

[warriors1991]

Good original post here. I agree with a lot of what was said.

DB played very very poorly tonight. His worst game of the year.

VB's confidence is in the toilet. He won't even shoot now. Not that I want him to, really, everyone in the place right now knows it's a brick coming. VB and JC on the court at the same time is a massive liability.

CO played a nice game. It's tough to get all the rebounds, though, when the guards are just standing there. ALL FIVE GUYS need to rebound on the defensive end, not just 2 or 3. I'm looking forward to having him 2 more years.

DJO, when we're down 10 late, please for the love of God SHOOT the 3, don't pump fake and run more offense.

It's amazing to see how desperately important it is for a team to have a solid point guard to lead the team and run the team. DB has done a nice job outside of tonight and JC has shown flashes of improvement but both have major drawbacks.

Buzz, I'm trying really hard to stay behind you but this has been a frustrating season. I wasn't expecting a final four run but I am very underwhelmed so far. This was the first game this year where I feel the team really lost heart. I love MU, I'm still 100% behind Buzz, and I love our basketball program but tonight was a big disappointment  IMHO.

I don't see us getting into the NCAAs this year. Maybe by the numbers we still have a shot but we just don't look like one. Anyone in the country would LOVE to draw us in the first round this year.

[willie warrior]

Oh well. We can wait until next year when we will have 7 top 100 recruits on the roster, and maybe a couple more when Buzz lands some studs. Hope springs eternal.

And in the meanwhile, we can watch at least two BEast teams make deep runs in the dance. And after that we will watch 8 BEast teams have top 25 recruiting classes.

[groove]

Was Erik Williams a top 100 recruit?

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

Great post by brewcity. That was such a putrid performance I actually turned the game off and I am thankful that I had to cancel plans to attend the game at the last minute.

Incidentally, Otule is turning into a player for us. I think he's already a bigger presence back there than Barro was. The future is bright...I think.

[wyzgy]

buzz is over-coaching and has them playin afraid!  no one wants to take a shot or they have designated shot takers from certain spots on floor.  jimmy, jdo have pretty mch free reign, dwight is like third on the pecking order. they get a little more slack playin D too  if he hits his first or second shot, then he gets a little more rope.  dougin, otle are absotely off limits unless its a layup or dunk.  and they have no room for error on d. that's when the door swings open and becomes a spinning door off the bench

[groove]

Great post by brewcity. That was such a putrid performance I actually turned the game off and I am thankful that I had to cancel plans to attend the game at the last minute.

Incidentally, Otule is turning into a player for us. I think he's already a bigger presence back there than Barro was. The future is bright...I think.

Yes looking much smoother out there. You can see the confidence building.

[nyg]

Oh well. We can wait until next year when we will have 7 top 100 recruits on the roster, and maybe a couple more when Buzz lands some studs. Hope springs eternal.

And in the meanwhile, we can watch at least two BEast teams make deep runs in the dance. And after that we will watch 8 BEast teams have top 25 recruiting classes.

Of the four top 100 recruits currently on playing roster:

In BE play:

Blue:   36 points in 13 games, to include 12 in blowout against Depaul.  2.7 ppg
Junior: 36 points in 13 games. 2.7ppg
Jones:  10 total minutes played
Williams: 6 total minutes played

[NickelDimer]

Great post.  I feel the frustration as well.  But I disagree on the tourney bid.  I don't think there's any way we sweep SH.  Right now this team doesn't deserve a bid.  We were a better team a month ago, and that's disturbing

[ATL MU Warrior]

Great post by brewcity. That was such a putrid performance I actually turned the game off and I am thankful that I had to cancel plans to attend the game at the last minute.

Incidentally, Otule is turning into a player for us. I think he's already a bigger presence back there than Barro was. The future is bright...I think.

Agree 100%  There were times when he was off the court last night that I was thinking "there's no way he should be out of the game right now, we have no chance to win without him".   Who ever would have predicted that? 

BTW, I really think he could be a double figure scorer if our guards could feed the post at the right times.  Not that crazy playground dropoff crap that Buycks tries, but actually pass the ball to him when he's got good deep post position and is calling for the ball.

[groove]

Agree 100%  There were times when he was off the court last night that I was thinking "there's no way he should be out of the game right now, we have no chance to win without him".   Who ever would have predicted that? 

BTW, I really think he could be a double figure scorer if our guards could feed the post at the right times.  Not that crazy playground dropoff crap that Buycks tries, but actually pass the ball to him when he's got good deep post position and is calling for the ball.

Yes, would love to see some clean entry passes for a change.

[Lighthouse 84]

Chris played well.  He needs to finish a couple of those bunnies with dunks but he played well.  

Watching them last night, I couldn't help but feel that this team, if it makes the tournament, can either go far or lose the first round.  They've got potential to make a run if they can somehow put 40 minutes together.  They could give anyone in the country fits.  But on the other hand, I could picture them in the play-in game and only play well for 30 minutes and lose.

You couldn't be more right about DJO.  Get your guy up in the air and get to the line for 3 FTs. Or here's a novel idea....shoot it when you get the ball instead of drawing your defender out, pump faking and driving around him just to pass off or take an ill advised shot.  When he hit that 3 at the end, I was thinking, he should be doing that more throughout the game.

Need to take care SH.

[CTWarrior]

Agree 100%  There were times when he was off the court last night that I was thinking "there's no way he should be out of the game right now, we have no chance to win without him".   Who ever would have predicted that? 

This is going to sound strange, but it seems that the better/more Otule plays, the worse we play, especially on offense.  I think when he posts down low he clogs the middle and takes away our driving lanes.  Since we can't drive and dish to him because he can't catch the ball in that scenario our offense suffers.  He is also not the kind of player we can dump the ball to in the low post and expect a score to result from a basket or a nice pass with any consistency.  He's not a great offensive rebounder and has a propensity for missing the bunny on those occasions when he does get an offensive board.  I think all of the above was true last night and I still thought he played really.

On the other hand, he is rapidly becoming our most important defender.  He's become a very nice piece that we haven't figured out how to place proeperly in our puzzle.  I think we should stick him in the high post to set screens up high and trail penetrators in hopes of a putback.

[79Warrior]

Of the four top 100 recruits currently on playing roster:

In BE play:

Blue:   36 points in 13 games, to include 12 in blowout against Depaul.  2.7 ppg
Junior: 36 points in 13 games. 2.7ppg
Jones:  10 total minutes played
Williams: 6 total minutes played

anyone expecting JJ or EWILL to help out next year may be sadly mistaken. Thses guys are not going to go from benchwarmers to contributors sitting on their asses. I am not sold on next year at all.

[drbob]

I too am not very optimistic regarding next year.Fulce DB and Butler gone,Vander and Junior with limited offensive skills,  where do the points come from. Crowder-  yes      DJO does not carry a team  he was great last year because Mo and Lazar and Cubi either drew attention or knew how to set him up for the spot up.  Wilson- depends if he lives up to the hype  didn't show much at Oregon.  So we are left 2 incoming freshman and Eric and Jamail - who have not been given a chance to develop.   I just don't see where we will be stronger.  I know some people see big upside in Gardner, but I honestly think he has serious physical limitations - eg:  slow and no hops.  Maybe Buzz pulls a rabbit or two out of his hat with the 2 open spots.

[Silkk the Shaka]

anyone expecting JJ or EWILL to help out next year may be sadly mistaken. Thses guys are not going to go from benchwarmers to contributors sitting on their asses. I am not sold on next year at all.

David Cubillan's junior year stats in 14 Big East games before DJames went down:

3.9 Minutes/game (3 DNP - Coach's decision)
0/5 FG
0.0 Points/game
0.2 Rebounds/game
0.2 Assists/game
0.1 Steals/game

The most minutes he saw during that stretch was 9 in a 34 point blowout of Cincinnati.

David Cubillan's senior year stats in 21 games (including Big East Tournament)

33.2 Minutes/game (0 DNP)
43.6% FG
73.3% FT
38.5% 3P
6.8 Points/game
1.6 Rebounds/game
2.7 Assists/game
0.8 Steals/game

He went from DNP's and mop-up minutes to a player Buzz wouldn't pull off the floor the following year

Maurice Acker's junior year stats in 11 Big East games before DJames went down:

8.8 Minutes/game (2 DNP - Coach's decision)
6.7% FG
66.7% FT
7.1% 3P
0.4 Points/game
0.8 Rebounds/game
1.3 Assists/game
0.5 Steals/game

Maurice Acker's senior year stats in 21 games (including Big East Tournament)

32.2 Minutes/game
44.4% FG
69.0% FT
51.5% 3P
8.6 Points/game
2.0 Rebounds/game
4.0 Assists/game
0.9 Steals/game

He went from DNP's and mop-up minutes to a player Buzz wouldn't pull off the floor the following year



Not making any predictions, just saying that to write off players Buzz has riding the pine doesn't make much sense.