Gardner could not guard a waste basket!

[Nevada233]

You clearly didn't watch the game.  He played over about 6 minutes in the first half in over 3 minute stretches each time.  He was -3 in that first half.  In the 2nd half he was in for a bit over a minute stretch and was -4.

In the first stretch in the first half he came in and on the first three possessions was beat badly by the man he was guarding.  I believe 7 of the 9 points Nova scored in that stretch were scored by the guy Dawson was guarding.  I remember thinking after the first possession that Buzz was going to yank him for the horrible defense, but he didn't he let him work through it till the next media timeout.  I was happy with that.

Got more run later in the first half and again struggled a lot on D.  Buzz gave him a lot of rope and was patient with him.  

Sorry I saw the game... fans in crowd yelling put Dawson in... As your starter was getting crucified by Archiediacono in overtime... I sure did see it, your claims are more than false... I Haven't seen anyone score 9 points on him this season... yet alone in 3 minutes.. stop it

[forgetful]

Sorry I saw the game... fans in crowd yelling put Dawson in... As your starter was getting crucified by Archiediacono in overtime... I sure did see it, your claims are more than false... I Haven't seen anyone score 9 points on him this season... yet alone in 3 minutes.. stop it

Not sure why I am entertaining this.  But for the record:

Dawson comes in:  Score is 10-7.

James Bell hits a 2.  (12-7). 
Chennault scores 2 over Dawson.  (14-9).   2 pts for Dawson's man.
Dawson's mistake lets Hilliard nails a 3.  (17-12).  5 pts for Dawson's man.
Dawson gets beat bad off the dribble by Chennault who banks home a leaner.  (19-14).  7 pts for Dawson's man.

Dawson comes out:  Score is 19-14...-2 in a little over 3 minutes.  Dawson's man score's 7 pts.

Dawson's second stint in the first half...in at 6:22 score 23-21.  Out at 3:14 score 30-27.  -1 for that stretch and -3 for the 1st half.

The fans calling for Dawson does not make it the right thing to do.

[bamamarquettefan]

Yep...Gardner's guy had five points, at least when we weren't making him guard a guard by putting Otule out there with him.  Yet we expect him to also guard the quick guards that made ours look foolish, while also exerting everything he had on the offensive end to score 29 without committing a turnover, which was necessary to keep pace because our starting guards were outscored 40-6?  Let's just ask the guy to cure cancer instead of wearing the biggest pink shirt to raise awareness for it.

Thank you! He is the best player we have by far, so while subbing in Otule for defense when we can do it is great, we've just got to get Dawson, Mayo and Gardner on the court as much as we can. Yes, Dawson will have growing pains but WOW, I just couldn't believe we were back with the old lineup after seeing how much better we can be with the lineup against Georgetown.

This deep in the season I believe we need to go Burton-Mayo-Taylor-JWilson-Gardner as the regular line-up - we just can't keep putting a lineup out there that has players the opponent does not have to guard.

Of course I'd love to see a good bit of Burton too, and Derrick, Otule and Anderson all do bring defense, so let's try more of that when we are guarding a lead. Against certain teams Jake can be a key, but Mayo can hit the three too and do other things. Love Buzz, but I believe he is so attached that he doesn't want to sit longtime players, but believe we just need a different combination right now.

[murphmurphy]

Let's see if we can agree on some facts.  Thomas is on the floor for his 3 pt shooting and he is slow for a guard and not a good defender.  If the Buzz plan was to feed DG and not have Thomas shoot then why have him in the game.  If JA is a better defender and rebounder (which he is) give Thomas the day off and play JA. Hell, Buzz could have played me and I could have scored 0 pts.
You saw a very good pg on Nova who penetrates and draws the defense to him and passes to one of the bigs for an easy shot in the lane, or goes to the basket if the defense doesn't come to him, or recognizes when a big slower defender switches to him and steps back to the 3pt line for an easy open shot (did this to DG).  D. Wilson is not a good pg.  Did anyone say to themselves during this game 1 time, "that was a great pass by DW".  I know I didn't.  He passes the ball around the perimeter probably 90% of the time.  They actually gave him an assist for passing the ball to Mayo outside the 3pt arc when he made that unbelievable step-back 3 with 20 seconds left in regulation.  I'm sure a few of his assists were passing the ball to DG on the perimeter and DG backing his man down into the lane and scoring down low.  I don't count those as assists.  A far as his rebounding, rebounds by pgs are usually catching the ball after a badly missed 3pt attempt that bounces wildly off the rim.  I think I recall 1 defensive rebound that DW got down in the lane and that might have been from a missed 3 by the guy he was supposed to be guarding.
Whoever was quoting from the game tape I would love for you to revisit the tape and see how many baskets JT let up to his man, how many baskets DW gave up to his man, how many rebounds by DW were inside the lane, and how many assists by DW were passes to the post inside 8 feet from the basket.  You might also count how many times DW was beat off the dribble.  I think these stats might put an end the argument about minutes for DW.

IMO, if MU makes the 3 uncontested bunnies they missed they obvious win in regulation and if Mu had Villanova's pg, MU wins by 15 - 20 in regulation.
     

[CTWarrior]

Let's face it.  Gardner is great on offense and a liability on defense.  Watching him try to guard a pick and roll is just brutal.  His help defense is non-existent.  He was put in a terrible position yesterday both by Buzz (he shouldn't be asked to guard anybody on the perimeter) and by the failure of our guards to prevent penetration.  

That being said, this team would be just awful without him.  

He is this team in a microcosm.  Good (in his case great) at one thing and pretty pedestrian/poor at everything else.  That's why this team struggles.  And there are no easy fixes with this roster...otherwise Buzz would have figured it out by now (at least based on history). 

Bolded comments are right on.  You want your center to provide help defense and Gardner is terrible at that.  I can't imagine how scary bad our offense might be without him. 

Your larger point is the simplest, most accurate analysis of what ails us.  A team full of incomplete players who excel in one area, but are below average in other areas, and not a good mix to mesh together.

[jesmu84]

Let's see if we can agree on some facts.  Thomas is on the floor for his 3 pt shooting and he is slow for a guard and not a good defender.  If the Buzz plan was to feed DG and not have Thomas shoot then why have him in the game.  If JA is a better defender and rebounder (which he is) give Thomas the day off and play JA. Hell, Buzz could have played me and I could have scored 0 pts.

Why Jake instead of Juan? Because the defense has to be honest on Jake and whoever is guarding him has to be on him at all times. Juan's shooting/driving is so bad that Juan's defender could easily have doubled down on Gardner when he got the ball. That's why Jake.

[Dawson Rental]

Let's see if we can agree on some facts.  Thomas is on the floor for his 3 pt shooting and he is slow for a guard and not a good defender.  If the Buzz plan was to feed DG and not have Thomas shoot then why have him in the game.  If JA is a better defender and rebounder (which he is) give Thomas the day off and play JA. Hell, Buzz could have played me and I could have scored 0 pts.
You saw a very good pg on Nova who penetrates and draws the defense to him and passes to one of the bigs for an easy shot in the lane, or goes to the basket if the defense doesn't come to him, or recognizes when a big slower defender switches to him and steps back to the 3pt line for an easy open shot (did this to DG).  D. Wilson is not a good pg.  Did anyone say to themselves during this game 1 time, "that was a great pass by DW".  I know I didn't.  He passes the ball around the perimeter probably 90% of the time.  They actually gave him an assist for passing the ball to Mayo outside the 3pt arc when he made that unbelievable step-back 3 with 20 seconds left in regulation.  I'm sure a few of his assists were passing the ball to DG on the perimeter and DG backing his man down into the lane and scoring down low.  I don't count those as assists.  A far as his rebounding, rebounds by pgs are usually catching the ball after a badly missed 3pt attempt that bounces wildly off the rim.  I think I recall 1 defensive rebound that DW got down in the lane and that might have been from a missed 3 by the guy he was supposed to be guarding.
Whoever was quoting from the game tape I would love for you to revisit the tape and see how many baskets JT let up to his man, how many baskets DW gave up to his man, how many rebounds by DW were inside the lane, and how many assists by DW were passes to the post inside 8 feet from the basket.  You might also count how many times DW was beat off the dribble.  I think these stats might put an end the argument about minutes for DW.

IMO, if MU makes the 3 uncontested bunnies they missed they obvious win in regulation and if Mu had Villanova's pg, MU wins by 15 - 20 in regulation.
    

"Thomas is on the floor for his 3 pt shooting and he is slow for a guard and not a good defender."

The "fact" is Thomas is a good defender is on the floor for that reason, not his three point shooting.  MU does not play in a recreational league where players always stay on the same guy, we play a team defense where it's necessary to switch off and make the proper rotations, things that Jake excels at.

[ATL MU Warrior]

"Thomas is on the floor for his 3 pt shooting and he is slow for a guard and not a good defender."

The "fact" is Thomas is a good defender is on the floor for that reason, not his three point shooting.  MU does not play in a recreational league where players always stay on the same guy, we play a team defense where it's necessary to switch off and make the proper rotations, things that Jake excels at.

Where were you with this gem the last couple of days?