Fell in love with the 3 again for a while...

[Harrison]

Was a stretch there in the second half where we stopped attacking the zone with the dribble and were bombing 3's every time down the court.  It coincided with a Louisville run.  Then we rotated the ball as I am screaming to drive it and Wesley shot fakes and dribble penetrates and gets fouled on the layup.  It seemed like after that we remebered to take the ball at them and we rebuilt the lead granted on a few3's but we went back to driving the ball.  A little disappointed with the number of threes in the second half.  It seems we hit a few and then fall in love with them.  we are much better with the drive and dish.  Ooze had 12 in the first half and I dont think he touched it in the second half.  That says alot on how we are driving the ball.  Great win but we cannot forget how we are going to win most nights. We will not shoot that percentage day in and day out.  But I will say 90% of our threes were taken on great ball movement which obviously helped the percentage , I just hope the coaches stress... "great win guys but we got away form the drive there in the second half and that will burn us"

[NYWarrior]

yup......for about a three minute stretch, the offense was lost.......but tonight at least, James made those clutch threes.  Ville pushed that 15 point lead down to seven quickly and ultimately to 5, and DJ's three's stemmed the tide.  nice effort but who knows if it works next time. 

Still, this team played great for 37 minutes on offense.....they are coming around

[Harrison]

totally agree but if DJ does not drill those 3's which we all know most nights he will not we are in deep trouble.  Yes 35 minutes or so of great O. Ball movement tonight at times was alot of fun to watch.

[ChicosBailBonds]

totally agree but if DJ does not drill those 3's which we all know most nights he will not we are in deep trouble.  Yes 35 minutes or so of great O. Ball movement tonight at times was alot of fun to watch.

DJ's defensive play of taking that charge was HUGE.  Could have made it a 4 point game but instead kept it at 7.  That was the play of the second half in my opinion because we were turning the ball over left and right.

[Harrison]

Yes, it was a huge play but MU only turned the ball over 6 times in the second half.  the problem was we shot nothing but 3's for about 5 minutes.

[TVDirector]

that's one of the things that really impressed me...
against fairly aggressive pressure, zone, etc., we did a pretty good job of protecting the ball.
a real plus.
on the other hand, we didn't force that many to's... and that's a minus.

[MUEng92]

I am not exactly sure how to word this without sounding like Yogi Berra.  The shots DJ took last night didn't look any different to me than the ones he took last week, they just went in.  If you had film of all of his shots over the last 2 weeks that stopped after the ball left his hand, the shots seemed the same.  Just as far behind the line, as closely guarded, etc.

Everyone was upset last week about the 3's MU kept shooting (especially DJ) against Providence and Syracuse (me included).  Now that they go in its seems some (not in this thread) think all is good.  Don't get me wrong, I am as happy with the last few wins as anyone.

It just makes me a little nervous that the 3 pt shot can come and go so easily, unless you have a Steve Novak on your team.

I guess its just comes with being a basketball fan.  You have to ride the wave you are on.

[NavinRJohnson]

I am not exactly sure how to word this without sounding like Yogi Berra.  The shots DJ took last night didn't look any different to me than the ones he took last week, they just went in.  If you had film of all of his shots over the last 2 weeks that stopped after the ball left his hand, the shots seemed the same.  Just as far behind the line, as closely guarded, etc.

I completely disagree with you from one perspective - his approach to taking those shots last night was night and day compared to his approach against Providence and Syracuse. In the latter he was far more tentative. He put those shots up because he felt he had to. Last night he put those shots up because he wanted to - because he understood that he was the best player on the floor and he was going to play like it. Last night he attacked the opponent, as opposed to simply taking what was there because it was there. Last night in his mind, those shots were going in, as opposed to simply going up in the others.

You brought up Yogi Berra and as DJ and this team have proven quite well, 90% of the game is half mental.

[MUEng92]

I could be guilty of an infraction normally attributed to a certain poster, but I have to admit, I only saw the highlights of the game.  I was only able to listen to the game.  So, I was basing my statement on the 3 second snipets on the 10:00 news.

At least I am not forming my entire opinion of DJ's college career and future life prospects based on the highlights from last night!

[WashDCWarrior]

MUEng92 -
I did watch the game and agree with you about DJ.  When he started jacking up those 3s in the second half I found myself yelling at him, just like in the previous games. (i.e. Syracuse)  I loved how he took over that game at a point where momentum was slipping, but I still think over the course of a season, shots like those (long, contested 3s) will cause problems, not provide salvation.

I said in an earlier post and still think that this team should be averaging ten 3 attempts per game.  Granted it will fluctuate based on the defense we're seeing, but DJ should only be taking 1 or 2 of them.  I'd still rather have him penetrating and pulling up for 10-15 footers or dishing to teammates Cubillan, Fitz, and Matthews.