House Money on Saturday

[tower912]

They are guarding him closer than Derrick because he has hit 3's in the past.   And nobody shoots 3's as bad as Derrick.   But over the last few games, he is making 3's at about the same clip.   He will find it.

[Uncle Rico]

They are guarding him closer than Derrick because he has hit 3's in the past.   And nobody shoots 3's as bad as Derrick.   Bit over the last few games, he is making 3's at about the same clip.   He will find it.

John Dawson could

[TSmith34, Inc.]

They are guarding him closer than Derrick because he has hit 3's in the past.   And nobody shoots 3's as bad as Derrick.   But over the last few games, he is making 3's at about the same clip.   He will find it.

Somehow Derrick Wilson became a good shooter after college. There is hope for Tyler, let's just hope he figures it out more quickly.

[tower912]

I don't understand why anybody is discounting him now.   He is in a shooting slump.   He continues to do a lot of other things instead of sulking.

Patience and process.

[4everwarriors]

There is no house money to play with in college ball. Need every win, aina?

[UWW2MU]

I don't understand the Kolek hate... the kid is a baller and runs the floor excellently.  He's not making his shots, but even if that gets to a moderate level that makes him a key piece.  Heck, the way he's playing now makes him key.  The way he controls the floor, his passing ability, to drive and kick it out, the hustle on defense, steals, deflections, even def rebounding is pretty good.   

I'm not sure what you guys are looking at, but even with his shooting slump, I want him on the floor.

[lawdog77]

We should win, as we are 24 spots higher in the RPI.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/rankings/rpi/

[MuggsyB]

Let's not get completely irrational about Kolek.  He's clearly a high D-1 player.  Unfortunately he has shot poorly the last few games and it appears to be a mental issue.  But as others have said he does a lot of good things on the floor and is our primary facilitator.  He's played for the most part well in all areas besides shooting. 

There is no question we need Morsell and Kolek to score and shoot at a far better clip if we're going to make some noise in the BEast.  It's not debatable and the last several games have been rather brutal.  But it takes one game to break out of a funk and hopefully it will be Saturday.  That said, I would be emphatic with both guys not to force their shots under pressure off the dribble.  There's just no need for that.  Slow down in our half-court sets, survey the floor to create, and use the shot fake if you are trying to score or get fouled inside.  Both players have be ineffective going one on one to score using multiple dribbles.  Once Kolek sees a triple go down I think he can get out of this and Morsell just needs to settle down and stop forcing things.

[Herman Cain]

There is no house money to play with in college ball. Need every win, aina?

I agree with this analysis

[MarquetteDano]

Let's not get completely irrational about Kolek.  He's clearly a high D-1 player.  Unfortunately he has shot poorly the last few games and it appears to be a mental issue.  But as others have said he does a lot of good things on the floor and is our primary facilitator.  He's played for the most part well in all areas besides shooting. 

There is no question we need Morsell and Kolek to score and shoot at a far better clip if we're going to make some noise in the BEast.  It's not debatable and the last several games have been rather brutal.  But it takes one game to break out of a funk and hopefully it will be Saturday.  That said, I would be emphatic with both guys not to force their shots under pressure off the dribble.  There's just no need for that.  Slow down in our half-court sets, survey the floor to create, and use the shot fake if you are trying to score or get fouled inside.  Both players have be ineffective going one on one to score using multiple dribbles.  Once Kolek sees a triple go down I think he can get out of this and Morsell just needs to settle down and stop forcing things.

Also,  Kolek is a pretty good defender as well.  He must be one of the highest on the team in deflections,  which Coach Smart considers critical on the defensive side.

[BM1090]

Not sure I see a path to victory in this one. UCLA has four upperclassmen who should be able to handle the press. They can all shoot. They play good defense. They have another good shooter (Singleton) off the bench. They get a ton of offensive rebounds, which is obviously a weakness for MU.

If MU can force Campbell into a bunch of threes and he regresses to his shooting % from previous years, maybe. Their 3P% defense isn't good but I haven't watched them enough to know if it's surrendering open shots or bad luck in a small sample. We will need a lot of things to break our way.

But even with a loss we will have had a better non-conference season than I expected.

[Dickthedribbler]

I'm willing to wait quite a long time on Kolek and his shot. As others have said, he's a good player who does other things well.

He is getting himself open to get good looks at the basket. And he's got a nice stroke and generally doesn't force shots or take bad shots. He's just in a horrendous shooting slump.

I'll hang in there. The kid can have a big upside as an outside threat, I believe.

[MuggsyB]

I'm worried about pressing UCLA.  I just don't think it's a good tactical decision.  Is it conceivable we ditch the trapping and just play solid man to man?

[MUfan12]

I'm worried about pressing UCLA.  I just don't think it's a good tactical decision.  Is it conceivable we ditch the trapping and just play solid man to man?

I think it'll be a softer press. Truly only to get them into their halfcourt offense later.

We might see a few hard traps depending on who catches where, but with their talent I wouldn't make a habit of it.

[Dickthedribbler]

I'm worried about pressing UCLA.  I just don't think it's a good tactical decision.  Is it conceivable we ditch the trapping and just play solid man to man?

It's conceivable we ditch the trapping. It's a little less conceivable that we then play "solid man to man". So far, I'm less than impressed with our half court defense at times.

[MUfan12]

It's conceivable we ditch the trapping. It's a little less conceivable that we then play "solid man to man". So far, I'm less than impressed with our half court defense at times.

Overall the defense has been largely fine. They rely a bit too much on rim protection at times, but they have done a far better job handling the PNR than Wojo's teams did.

[Daniel]

Not worried about Kolek shooting.   We have seen him hit threes.   So he can do it.  Seems more mental at this time and the more he sees the value he adds to the team, as others here have pointed out - defense, rebounds, assists etc the easier it will be for him to start hitting 3s again.    Shaka I'm sure is telling him that.   

My biggest concern is we settle for 3s too much.    Shaka doesn't like long 2s, fine.   Then let's focus on getting the ball to our bigs, Kur and OSA.   They both can do a great job offensively inside.   At least balance that with our love of 3s.    We don't have anyone like Markus.

[tower912]

I'm worried about pressing UCLA.  I just don't think it's a good tactical decision.  Is it conceivable we ditch the trapping and just play solid man to man?

You worry about everything.    Shaka is not going to stop pressing.   It isn't just for this game.    Press, play lots of people, get all 11 used to playing good teams in the style Shaka wants.     The culture he is trying to build is to play aggressively and fearlessly.    That means that MU will press and play for deflections and steals on defense.    It means that everybody on the team except Kur and Osa has the green light to shoot open 3's.   

That is MU's identity under Shaka.