This is not the end of the world people

[SCdem@MU]

The notion that Hayward is more important than James is ludicrous.  Hayward's scoring can be replaced.  His lack of defense can be replaced.  His rebounding can be replaced.  The other players can pick up the slack and do those things.  They can't pick up the slack and replace DJ.

Really? Name one other player on the team that can defend, score, and rebound in the paint like Hayward can.

Burke sucks so bad we had Hayward and Butler on Thabeet last night and Hayward actually did a pretty good job. Hayward was also crucial in limiting Goaty in the second half of the ND game.

Pound for pound and inch for inch, Hayward is the toughest 4/5 I've ever seen. It is incredible that he has been able to play at the level he has while playing out of position amongst beasts that have 50 more lbs and 6-8 inches on him in height.

[Wareagle]

I think the combination of Acker and Butler worked out pretty well:

Combined they had 18 pnts, 7 boards, 5 assists, 2 steals, and 0 turnovers.

James has averaged 11.7 pnts, 3.6 boards, 2.3 steals, and 2 turnovers a game.

You are right in that no single player is going to be able step up and do what James did, but last night against the #2 team in the country these two stepped up pretty well.

I don't believe you can't add up Butler and Acker's statistics and then compare them to DJ's. 

- Butler averaged 22 minutes in the last 5 conference games, and played 26 minutes in this game.
- Acker averaged 7 minutes in last 5 conference games and played 33 in this game. 

Butler only played 4 more minutes than his average, so combining his stats with Acker's to create "Maurimmy Ackutler"  isn't really fair.  Butler played about the same as he has before, which is to say that he played well, within himself, and made his free throws. 

A.J. Price ate our lunch because DJ wasn't on him.  We don't have a replacement for DJ's on the ball defense.  The Syracuse came has turned from a game we would probably win 75-80% of the time into a much bigger question mark.  Who is going to guard Johnny Flynn?  If your answer is McNeal, that means that Acker guards Devendorf and gives up roughly 7 inches to him.

[ATWizJr]

Would expect Jerel, former BE defensive player of the year, to step into the primary defensive role in the future on the opposition's top backcourt threat.

[bma725]

I think the combination of Acker and Butler worked out pretty well:

Combined they had 18 pnts, 7 boards, 5 assists, 2 steals, and 0 turnovers.

James has averaged 11.7 pnts, 3.6 boards, 2.3 steals, and 2 turnovers a game.

You are right in that no single player is going to be able step up and do what James did, but last night against the #2 team in the country these two stepped up pretty well.

Not everything is measurable by stats.  Watch the game again and watch how the offense looked with Acker running the point.  The flow was completely different, the spacing was bad etc.  He has no idea when to slow it down and when to speed it up.  He has no idea when he should try to do something himself, nor does he have the ability.  He doesn't know how to direct people in this offense.  

MU was in it despite his play, not because of it.  

[RawdogDX]

Butler just played the position he always does and had a great game.  Acker replaced James pretty much straight up and had 6 points and 4 assists and whille the box score said 0 turnovers, they missed at least one .  More importantly UConn basically didn't guard him and it made it tougher on everyone else, not to mention the fact that without James we couldn't guard Price who lit us up.  Suffice to say the way we solved the missing DJ problem didn't give me the warm fuzzies (as my wife would say) last night.

yep, It was painful watching him pass up open looks.  3 of those 6 points came on a shot that clanked off that back of the rim and was one of the luckier bounces i've seen.  Not to mention our D is a huge step back with acker in and james is one of the best rebounding pg's in the cournty.  A big blow considering a team that doesn't have a productive player over 6'6.  Funny how 17 year olds who just started watching basketball think they can look at point totals in a box score and figure out everything.  

Was it his freshman year that he had a over a 3 ast to TO ratio?  No, that was this year.  What a douche.  

[4everwarriors]

For all of DJ's shortcomings, this year's team is screwed without him. It's unlikely that anyone on the bench will impact an outcome since only Butler has player significant minutes. Don't expect advancement past the NCAA first round game.

[lurch91]

Without James we scored 76 points against one of the better defensive teams in the BE, so I think we will be fine offensively.

Chalk it up to;

1) a very emotional night, and
2) a packed Bradley Center.

Everyone played with LOTS of heart last night, but no way does MU score 82 points against UConn at UConn with Acker running the point.

[bma725]

Really? Name one other player on the team that can defend, score, and rebound in the paint like Hayward can.

Burke sucks so bad we had Hayward and Butler on Thabeet last night and Hayward actually did a pretty good job. Hayward was also crucial in limiting Goaty in the second half of the ND game.

Pound for pound and inch for inch, Hayward is the toughest 4/5 I've ever seen. It is incredible that he has been able to play at the level he has while playing out of position amongst beasts that have 50 more lbs and 6-8 inches on him in height.

Burke did well against Marcus Landry earlier in the year and he's done well the past defensively.  Matthews actually did well defending Gody as well.

My point is, Hayward plays an expendable position.  If you have great guards, you can win games without having any inside presence, and you can do well in the NCAA Tournament without any inside presence.  But you can't make up for a lack of a PG by having a good inside player.

DJ plays the most important position on the court in each and every game MU plays.  That doesn't mean he's the best player, that doesn't mean he's the most skilled, or my favorite or anything like that.  It means just what I said.  The PG role is the most important in controlling the game, controlling the offense, controlling the defense, the attitude etc.  No other position is like it in the game, and no other position is more crucial to a teams' success.

You can overcome a loss anywhere else, but unless you have an incredibly good back up PG, you won't be able to overcome a loss there.

[CTWarrior]

Watch the game again and watch how the offense looked with Acker running the point.  The flow was completely different, the spacing was bad etc.  He has no idea when to slow it down and when to speed it up.  

One thing I will give Acker credit for is his ability to push the ball on the break.  He does that quite well.  He is very ineffective in the half court set both on offense and defense.  Perhaps the 94 foot helter-skelter style favored by Louisville will give him a chance to excel.  

[RawdogDX]

 Matthews actually did well defending Gody as well.

That is correct they switched assignments in the 2nd half and it was matthews that shut him down and gave us the win at ND.

[CTWarrior]

My point is, Hayward plays an expendable position.  
DJ plays the most important position on the court in each and every game MU plays.  

It's silly to quibble over this one.  They're both indespensible because we don't have the horses to back either one up.  Forced to choose, I think Butler/Hazel would do better replacing Hayward than Acker/Cubillan will replacing James, so I agree more with bma, but we'd be pretty much screwed if ANY of our four main guys was injured.

[SCdem@MU]

yep, It was painful watching him pass up open looks.  3 of those 6 points came on a shot that clanked off that back of the rim and was one of the luckier bounces i've seen.  Not to mention our D is a huge step back with acker in and james is one of the best rebounding pg's in the cournty.  A big blow considering a team that doesn't have a productive player over 6'6.  Funny how 17 year olds who just started watching basketball think they can look at point totals in a box score and figure out everything.  

Was it his freshman year that he had a over a 3 ast to TO ratio?  No, that was this year.  What a douche.  

It has also been pretty painful to watch James take open shot after open shot and miss. Butler and Acker can also make free throws. Watching your starting PG completely miss the rim on fts on several occasions is pretty painful to watch too.

If we can figure out the defensive part and as long as Acker lets McNeal, Hayward, and Mathews do their thing while limiting turnovers and hiting an open shot here and there, I think we will do better than the doomsayers here think.

Lets give Acker and the rest of the team a chance before we declare the season over.

And btw I'm not 17

[Niv Berkowitz]

Jesus. I'm not about to be all "let's support the team" here, but...my God. We just lost a tough battle to arguably the #1 team in the country. This wasn't a loss to DePaul or Houston here. This team can still do a lot of damage.

Am I as optimistic as with a healthy DJ? No. But, do we have the tools and heart and senior leadership to go far? Yes we do.

[Marquette84]

So what you are saying is that it is inconceivable to think the James' defense would have tightened up?

simple extrapolation of statistics does not prove anything.

If you think James and Aacker are on par with each other defensively, you must be watching something different than the rest of us.

what a crock.

Oh, please.  Get off your high horse.

Where did I say Acker was as good as James?

All I did was point out that James was incapable of stopping Price last night as well, to dispute the comment that the only reason Price went off was because Acker was guarding him. 

Yes, I extrapolated the scoring.  So what?  Is that any worse than pretending that you know what would have happened?

Here's what you did:  in order to fit your pre-conceived notion, you have invented the concept that James defense would have tightened up.

Here's what I did:  looked at the actual defense the two player actually played, then made them comparable given the time differences.

[mugrack]

Not the end of the world, maybe the end of the season

[NavinRJohnson]

Here's what I did:  looked at the actual defense the two player actually played, then made them comparable given the time differences.

And had to ignore a well documented history of excellent defense in order to do so. I'll ask yet again for anyone who wants to minimize the defensive impact, name the other gaurds, PG or otherwise who have put up 35 against MU the past 4 years (I don't know that someone hasn't come close, but nothing comes to mind.).

No different than saying James was on his way to a 40 point game last night before he got hurt.

[MUhoops12]

Although James was one of our best lock down defenders, I believe it was his leadership and charisma that made him so important to this team. Let's not forget that James will still be with the team, providing motivation and encouragement to every player on the court. Remember when Mo knocked down that three and James hopped off his seat and began applauding and motivating Mo. During the timeouts, DJ spent every second mentoring Mo and doing what he could to help out his teammates. Although he will be missed on the court, the players will have an added motivation to not only play for their school, but also their friend and teammate.

[Marquette84]

And had to ignore a well documented history of excellent defense in order to do so. I'll ask yet again for anyone who wants to minimize the defensive impact, name the other gaurds, PG or otherwise who have put up 35 against MU the past 4 years (I don't know that someone hasn't come close, but nothing comes to mind.).

No different than saying James was on his way to a 40 point game last night before he got hurt.

That "well documented" history includes no games this year against the top point guards in the league--Fields, Price, Flynn. 

The best PG that James DID face was Scottie Reyonds, who scored 29.  And let's not forget about Dayton's Rob Lowrey who scored 23 off the bench.

We all want to pretend that every game was like James versus Deonte Vaughn.  Sorry, that's not reality.



Sometimes an offensive player goes off on a career night, regardless of the defense.  I certainly hope that you're not going to try and take something away from Steve Novak when he scored 41 against UConn in 2006. 

So the question is why you would be unwilling to believe that Price could--on his own--

BTW, David Holston of Chicago State put up 33 on James earlier this season.  Scottie Reynolds put up 29.   Its not impossible to think that perhaps AJ Price might be able to do something similar--especially when he made it look effortless in the first five minutes.

In my opinion, based on the way he played the game, Price was having an outstanding game.  To take something away from him by suggesting that he only had it because Acker was guarding him is a disservice to Price and a disservice to Acker.

[bma725]

You conveniently ignore the fact that when MU played Villanova the first time, not a single one of Reynold's points came when James was guarding him.