It's Raining 3's But...........

[MUfanatic22]

Hey I loved how we shot the ball today and hope we can continue to shoot the basketball that way. It was against Cincy though but still we took it to them at the Bradley Center. I was watching the game and when we play the top tier teams in the Big East I think we need to do more on offense. When watching the game, I noticed we barely ever get a touch inside to Hazel, Burke, Otule, or whoever else is posting up. I just feel we should throw it in the post so the defense at least has to acknowledge our post game. Does anyone else agree on me with this one? Go Marquette!


P.S. I can not wait to see the new polls out tomorrow!

[jce]

If a guard heavy team gets a bunch of uncontested looks from 3, and they keep knocking them down, I see no reason to go to our fifth option.

[Oldgym]

UC loaded up their zone in the paint today.   If you believe what Deonta Vaughn said, that was by design (and if it's true, somebody needs to go back to the drawing board).  'Zar and Jerel had a ridiculous number of wide open looks and put on a show for us.  Basically, UC played as though we had a Thabeet at the five and apart from doubling Jerel from time to time did not adjust to MU shooting the lights out. 

[Daniel]

It's true - we ahd a lot of good, open, uncontested looks from 3-land.  We moved the ball well today and found the open man.  Great game.

[lab_warrior]

I thought that our O against the zone is much better this year.  There still are possessions that are complete wastes, just dribbling at the top until about 10 on the shot clock, but most of the time yesterday, we swung the ball around, drove and kicked to wide open shooters.  And these guys are shooting much better just in the past 4-5 games than they have in the past few seasons.
My only worry is yes, that we'll settle for too many jump shots, but if you've got an open 3 with any of these All-BE caliber guards, take it.

[StillAWarrior]

I thought that our O against the zone is much better this year.

I thought so too.  'Nova also went into a zone against us and it didn't last long.  Obviously, hitting 3's will do wonders for beating a zone, but I think it's more than that.  The last couple of years the team seemed to really freeze when facing a zone, but this year they seem more comfortable.  I know that there will be times when the shots don't fall, but I think these guys believe that they can beat a zone.  I think the last two years they didn't have too much confidence.

But, what the hell do I know?!  Maybe it's just a couple of hot shooting games.

[MUfan12]

They're attacking the zone from a couple of spots now, as opposed to the TC "pass it around and jack up a long 3" zone offense.

They've been using both Zar and Wes to flash across the lane, from elbow to elbow and reversing it from there, which has led to some clean looks from outside. They did this every now and then last year.

The main change I saw, especially against Nova, is they are doing a great job exploiting the baseline defender. They are moving the ball quickly, and dribble penetrating from the wing in the seam created when the zone is slow to rotate over. Wesley had a layup and got fouled another time against Nova driving through that seam. Against UC, Jerel cut through it and kicked to an open Wes in the corner for a three in the first half.

I think this is a direct product of the new offense in general, not necessarily a "zone" offense. Guys are becoming increasingly comfortable with their reads on offense, and are seeing seams open up that they couldn't see when running a set play.