Buzz's Loyalty

[mileskishnish72]

If it ain't broke...

[TinyTimsLittleBrother]

So let me get this straight.  People are seriously advocating the following:

**Taking MU's leading scorer, who is finally living up to people's expectations, and moving him from a position in which he has thrived, to point guard.

**Sitting MU's current point guard who has been a solid three year player, and while he certainly hasn't lived up to his lofty expectations, is a solid point guard.

**And in his place, playing a player who is scoring less...shooting worse...missed half the year due to suspension...and coming off a simply terrible game yesterday.

**All for a team that is 19-6 (10-3), ranked, and pretty much exceeding everyone's expectations.

Brilliant plan.

[lab_warrior]

So let me get this straight.  People are seriously advocating the following:

**Taking MU's leading scorer, who is finally living up to people's expectations, and moving him from a position in which he has thrived, to point guard.

**Sitting MU's current point guard who has been a solid three year player, and while he certainly hasn't lived up to his lofty expectations, is a solid point guard.

**And in his place, playing a player who is scoring less...shooting worse...missed half the year due to suspension...and coming off a simply terrible game yesterday.

**All for a team that is 19-6 (10-3), ranked, and pretty much exceeding everyone's expectations.

Brilliant plan.

Applause.

For a first post, that is some quick learnin'!  Nice work.

[BallBoy]

Will Buzz's loyalty to Junior hold this team back from reaching its' full potential this season?  Don't get me wrong, I like Junior's toughness and love the fact that he is a leader and coach on the court.  But how much longer can Buzz allow him to continue to play like he has in conference play?  I know this won't happen, but, I would love to see Vander get more time at the point.  He seems to already have a better capability of beating the press and he is a much better on-ball defender than Junior.  By putting Vander at the point Mayo would get more time at SG, this is important IMO because he can stretch the court, opening up more space for Davante and Jamil.  This also allows us to play much bigger on a regular basis, without losing any athleticism.  I think this not only would help MU reach another sweet 16, but it also would help Vander's pro potential significantly.  As I see it Vander is following in the footsteps of McNeal and DJO, great college SG's but undersized to play the 2 in the NBA, we have seen both McNeal and DJO try to reinvent themselves into PG's just to have a shot at the NBA.  I think it is in Vander and the teams best interest for him to develop into a PG now.  

First off, Junior is a better point guard then Mayo is at the three currently and Blue is doing great at the two.  Let's look at the misperceptions in your statement.

1.  Mayo can stretch the court.  Mayo is currently shooting 31% from three point.  He has only made 4 more threes than Cadougan on as many attempts.  Last year he shot 33.3%.  He isn't exactly stretching the floor with that shooting percentage and he chucks it up there every five minutes on average.  In comparison Blue who is shooting an equivalent percentage only shoots once every 8 minutes.  
2.  Mayo is also a better 3 than Lockett is currently.  Lockett currently avgs more points, blocks, steals, rebounds per game.
3.  Mayo deserves the playing time.  He was out all of first semester, hasn't shown Buzz he deserves the time in practice, and while in has made bad decisions.

[WarriorInNYC]

I agree with you 100%.

IF Todd Mayo was shooting some ungodly % from 3pt., I think you could consider the change because it would address a major area of weakness (shooting).

But, at this point, Todd isn't doing that, so essentially swapping him for Junior doesn't really make MU any better, and it could limit Vander's production.

Interestingly enough, if Vander can play point for 10min. per game, next year's rotation gets very interesting.

Vander
Todd (or Jujuan)
Juan
Jamil
Otule

Second Unit
Der. Wilson (come in early and slides Vander to the 2G)
Jujuan (or Todd)
SF (Burton/Ferguson or possibly Mayo)
Steve Taylor
Gardner

That's a pretty nice 10 man mix, and you still have to find some time for Du. Wilson. I think 1 of the Frosh. will earn significant minutes (15+), at this point, I guess I'm assuming it's Johnson, but I have no idea. The others will probably earn Steve Taylor type minutes.

Super deep. I'd love to see Buzz press a little more and try to wear some teams out.

And you know what is also great about this????  That is a very deep team you listed, and you completely forgot about Jameel McKay!

[T-Bone]

Don't mess with happy. 

I think Buzz would sooner start Derrick than Vander at the point.  He's mentioned that only his loyalty to Junior has kept Derrick out of the starting lineup a few times this year. 

Frankly, I think Junior - despite some minor ups/downs - has been good at the point.

[MU82]

I'll trust the sweater wearing guy who has this team
at 19-6, 10-3, at first place, in the Big East to coach
the team, vs. internet message board commenters.     

Moderator! Moderator! Are we going to let this kind of reasonable, pragmatic, common-sense baloney infect our message board?!?!?!?!

[TJ]

Moderator! Moderator! Are we going to let this kind of reasonable, pragmatic, common-sense baloney infect our message board?!?!?!?!

I disagree.  I hate when people decide that a topic isn't worth discussing because no one in the conversation is the coach.  Obviously Buzz is in charge and we collectively are not qualified to do his job in the real world.  But this is a sports message board - the whole point is to have these discussions.

That being said, I agree it's a silly idea to change PG with 5 games remaining.

[Big Papi]

I don't want Blue playing point this year.  His role is defined and he is excelling in that role.  He has actually taken his game to yet another level from earlier this year.  Vander right now is a scorer not a distributor.  He knows what is a good shot for him and what is a bad shot.  If you have him play point now, it messes with his role and that could really derail this team at a time when you need to be fine-tuning your team. 

Plus, wasn't it Vander who had the ball at the end of the first half, got caught in the air, threw the ball away and Seton Hall came down and hit a 3 to take our lead down to 2?