NCCU SOTG

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Omax is Marquette's 3rd best player in Marquette's four big games so far this year. He will probably finish our second best player in big games. He has a 7.3 Real adjusted plus minus. He has a 44.1 FTR. He is able to rise to raise his rebounding rate in those games. 

The only two better players in games against good teams have been Kam and Joplin because they shot abnormally well even for them.

Kam, has a plus 10.6 RAPM in those games, and is truly taking a step forward right now. Plus those are some of his hottest game of the year. In those games, Kam is shooting abnormally well making 42% of his threes and 75% from two. He will regress a bit but will be better than Omax.

Joplin on the other hand is hot and cold. And he just happened to have two good offensive games vs Baylor and Purdue. He shot 70.5% from three and midrange in those two games on 17 attempts. Against Wisconsin and Mississippi Joplin was 1/8 from three and midrange.

I would say O-Max has been our best player in those games (and all season). All these offensive stats are true, but O-Max has been our best defender all season and Kam and Joplin are the two worst.

[DoctorV]

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore/_/gameId/401479684

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore/_/gameId/401483424

That was a legitimate statement before Thanksgiving but in the two significant games since then he's scored 24 and 14 points.

Baylor absolutely, several guys had a great game and OMax was awesome.

Wisconsin game he got to the line, scored the 14, but that doesn't necessarily mean he stepped up and played a good game.
He was 1/7 from 3, and it's not necessarily that he missed the 3s, but more so how open he was for several of them and the magnitude of the point in the game when he missed.
He also got beat defensively on a few key occasions, which is rare for him.

If he would have played well against Wisconsin Marquette would have won.
If he would have played well against Purdue and Mississippi State Marquette would have likely won.

That's not to dog him, because he's been a beast and very efficient getting his points in many games- even though most were of the cupcake variety- and he's the best defender and second leading rebounder on the team.
Just because he is those things doesn't mean that in the 3 games MU lost they would have won had he have played better.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Baylor absolutely, several guys had a great game and OMax was awesome.

Wisconsin game he got to the line, scored the 14, but that doesn't necessarily mean he stepped up and played a good game.
He was 1/7 from 3, and it's not necessarily that he missed the 3s, but more so how open he was for several of them and the magnitude of the point in the game when he missed.
He also got beat defensively on a few key occasions, which is rare for him.

If he would have played well against Wisconsin Marquette would have won.
If he would have played well against Purdue and Mississippi State Marquette would have likely won.

That's not to dog him, because he's been a beast and very efficient getting his points in many games- even though most were of the cupcake variety- and he's the best defender and second leading rebounder on the team.
Just because he is those things doesn't mean that in the 3 games MU lost they would have won had he have played better.

I don't disagree with any of that. I was just commenting on BC's comment of "It's obvious he can score against cupcakes" which I took to imply that O-Max can't score against good teams. He scored against Wisconsin, yes he missed a lot of threes but he went 2/4 from drew enough fouls to shot 8 FTs (and make 7 of them).

[Dr. Blackheart]

I would say O-Max has been our best player in those games (and all season). All these offensive stats are true, but O-Max has been our best defender all season and Kam and Joplin are the two worst.

I spent a good part of last night watching Kam's defense and his defensive focus and intensity has vastly improved in the past few games. Shaka even recognized it in his post game presser.  He even tied for the team lead in rebounds.

Shaka wasn't pleased with some other's efforts.

[MUfan12]

Kolek and Gold looked really bad out there defensively. Jop had some nice hustle plays but still the off ball awareness is not great.

I do worry about the defense holding up over the long haul. Oso has to play relatively carefully to not pick up fouls, so his rim protection is limited. And in the halfcourt if the other team can complete a skip pass to the opposite corner the whole thing folds.

[muwarrior69]

Baylor absolutely, several guys had a great game and OMax was awesome.

Wisconsin game he got to the line, scored the 14, but that doesn't necessarily mean he stepped up and played a good game.
He was 1/7 from 3, and it's not necessarily that he missed the 3s, but more so how open he was for several of them and the magnitude of the point in the game when he missed.
He also got beat defensively on a few key occasions, which is rare for him.

If he would have played well against Wisconsin Marquette would have won.
If he would have played well against Purdue and Mississippi State Marquette would have likely won.

That's not to dog him, because he's been a beast and very efficient getting his points in many games- even though most were of the cupcake variety- and he's the best defender and second leading rebounder on the team.
Just because he is those things doesn't mean that in the 3 games MU lost they would have won had he have played better.

So which is it?

[DoctorV]

So which is it?

The best, or second best overall player on the team who didn't play like it in MUs three losses?

Justin was the best player on the team last season.
Justin played very poorly in the NCAAt.
Marquette got embarrassed in the national spotlight.

Olivier's importance isn't quite as extreme, as this years team seems much more balanced offensively, but he still holds major value and if he's not very good on both ends bad things will likely happen

[Spotcheck Billy]

Omax

[brewcity77]

He's had better scoring nights but this was his most complete game at MU. Was really good defensively as well.

Agreed. That one Ross steal was created by great man defense from Kam, something I haven't expected from him. He's really improved on that end, both on and off the ball.

[Newsdreams]

I get it. The difference for me tonight was assists. Not assists dished out, but assists received. 10 of O-Max's 11 makes were assisted. His teammates were creating those looks for him. Yes, he still had to finish, but in the first half Kam had three makes where it was his own creation. In the second against the zone, Kam looked off two times her could've jacked a shot, passed to Tyler to get a little more space, and on the third time when he had the room took the shot.

All summer long, people were worried about where we'd go when we needed a bucket. Last night, Kam was showing us the answer.

And I just love being able to inject some debate into otherwise stagnant discussions, because 10 people posting some variant of "O-Max" in a row isn't exactly riveting message board conversation.

So, are you saying Omax only makes the easy baskets?

[Spotcheck Billy]

Still no SOTG?

[Its DJOver]

Still no SOTG?

You seen the War in Ukraine thread?  Mods are clearly AWOL.

[pbiflyer]

Still no SOTG?

I assume this is why the team loses focus occasionally. They are breathlessly waiting on the SOTG proclamation!

[Newsdreams]

I assume this is why the team loses focus occasionally. They are breathlessly waiting on the SOTG proclamation!

Yes if we lose tomorrow, mods fault!

[MU82]

Yes if we lose tomorrow, mods fault!

It would be especially tragic to lose on a day that we don't even have a game!

[lawdog77]

It would be especially tragic to lose on a day that we don't even have a game!

On games we don't have a game, we all lose.

[Newsdreams]

It would be especially tragic to lose on a day that we don't even have a game!

I'm on a quick getaway, feels like Saturday