Buzz mistake

[tower912]

Taylor needed to play more.  And feed him in the post like he was Gardner.   I wonder if Buzz didn't want him guarding Connaughton.

[We R Final Four]

But it doesn't happen all that often.  I don't think we have a big committing a foul hedging a ball screen more than a dozen times a year...maybe not even that often.  Then the question has to be whether or not it is worth those dozen fouls a year to completely change the defense.

Where ND was *killing* MU last night is that they were running Grant off down screens and letting him curl and get down the lane with impunity.  Everything that Buzz's defense is predicated upon is keeping the ball out of the lane...the anti-paint touch.

Who said completely change the Def.?
They need to impede the pg so as not to brush off the
screen unaltered. That is it--instead at times we take 2-3 steps and at times draw fouls 30' from the hoop. It happened One time last night but had a negative effect on our bigs rotation for the remainder of the game.

Secondly, there is difference between screens 30' out and 15' out.

[martyconlonontherun]

Hind sight is always 20-20.

I think what he did was right. So...he leaves in Otule or Ox and they get to four fouls. Then what? You have to now pray ND doesn't have a coach smart enough to hammer it down low w/Cooley against whoever has 4.

It's a 40 minute game. IMHO, you have to play the odds/clock and sit those guys for 20% of the first half and roll w/the second half essentially at a tie game.

It's not hindsight if you thought it was a mistake from the beginning. If they had 3 or 4 fouls each, I would defer to the strategy of spacing the minutes. This was not the case and we lost quality minutes because we were scared and played reactionary.

I have a feeling ND would've wasted a ton of positions trying to get Cooley involved when in reality Otule did a great job on him. If Otule fouled out with ten minutes left, so be it. Cooley would've been exhausted at that point and we possibly would've still had a lead. They had 6 fouls between the two of them, no need to panic that early.

What odds are you talking about? I'm betting on playing your best players until the refs kicks them out. As it turns out, Otule and Ox could've played the full game and not fouled out.

[RJax55]

Who said completely change the Def.?
They need to impede the pg so as not to brush off the
screen unaltered. That is it--instead at times we take 2-3 steps and at times draw fouls 30' from the hoop.

I have to disagree. The big hedging the screen needs to do more than just impede the ball handler. A good hedge will cause the ball handler to have turn his shoulders away from facing the basket. You want the guard's shoulders to be squared to the sidelines.  A flash won't accomplish that. I rather see our bigs hedge hard, even with the increased chance for a foul call.

Secondly, there is difference between screens 30' out and 15' out.

Most teams defend ball screens the same way, no matter how far away from the basket they are.

[Norm]

Still waiting for the three center lineup in college like half the teams in college employ on the guard side.

Brey had 4 6'10 guys and a 6'5" guy on the floor at the same time for about 3-4 minutes in the 2nd half last night. MU had a hard time driving the lane or getting paint touches because of it.

[Daniel]

I hope Otule returns next year. Or our biggest guy is 6'8". I think McKay is the same. 

[Sunbelt15]

MU found out how hard it is to play without one of the centers in the game, big mistake.  You have 2 centers with 2 fouls in the first half, so what.  That is 10 fouls between the 2
of them.  Play one of them, Notre Dame is to long to not have one of them in the game, it cost Buzz and the team.  So one picks up a third foul, so what.  The team had no idea what to do offensively once they were on the bench.

The problem wasn't the centers. The problem was guard defense and defensive ball rotation. A problem they've had all year. Especially against teams with good long range shooters. The guards continuosly lost sight of their men.

[Marqevans]

Buzz didn't seem himself after he ran on the court on that charge play early in the game.  The ref said something to him.  He looked upset most of the game.  As far as the centers go he probably could have left Otule in until he got a third foul, whether it would have changed the outcome, I don't know.

[bilsu]

I think what hurt us was our depth. We were rolling on ND until Buzz started subbing. We started out both halves strong, but the subs let ND back in the game.