Villanova is MU with a decent big man

[MU_4_Life]

Watching the Pitt/Villanova game made me think about the possibilities of this year's team if we had one decent interior player.

[4everwarriors]

Nope, Villanova is in the Final Four and MU is sitting home.

[MU_4_Life]

My point is that with one decent big man, MU might have been in the final four.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Watching the Pitt/Villanova game made me think about the possibilities of this year's team if we had one decent interior player.

And yet MU should have beaten them twice.  A total bonehead play at the end of the Nova game by us, poor clock management, poor defense, a shot way too early in the clock prevented it from happening.

[4everwarriors]

My point is that with one decent big man, MU might have been in the final four.

Maybe, but I don't necessarily buy that it follows. Assuming, though, your point is valid, who crapped his pants on that one?

[Nukem2]

The lack of decent bigs (whether 5's or long 4's ) was a hallmark, FBOW, of the TC regime.  He was quite fortunate to have RJax fall into his lap.  TC was the "king" of the unbalanced roster.  He did well with what he had; but, his recruiting shortcomings were obvious with the lack of bigs, washout classes, etc.

[denverMU]

+1,000,000
I said the exact same thing to my 10 year old son as we were watching the game last night!

[SCdem@MU]

Watching the Pitt/Villanova game made me think about the possibilities of this year's team if we had one decent interior player.

And Nova has a PG that will actually play in the NBA despite what people on this board think of DJ.

[Tom Crean's Tanning Bed]

And Nova has a PG that will actually play in the NBA despite what people on this board think of DJ.

Really couldn't resist taking a shot at DJ there, huh?

Why don't you read what one of the experts had to say about DJ's pro possibilities.  Seems to me that there's more than just this board that thinks James has a shot at the NBA.

http://www.muscoop.com/index.php?topic=14308.0

[Buzz4Prez]

I think with DJ we could have been a final four team. Can you imagine if we would have had him? we almost would have been assured a better seed, and even if we weren't I think we could have beaten Mizzou, and Memphis (not impressed). and based off of our game against UCONN without DJ, I think we could have at least given UCONN a decent run for there money. I think if you add DJ and a big guy, we could have had an extremely special year. However we can play what if games all off season, the fact of the matter is, we didn't have a big man or a healthy DJ, and we lost. On to next season!

[augoman]

you know, as much as I think crean only thinks of crean, he DID have all the pieces in place- a healthy DJ, and Mbakwe banging, and I think we're final 4..., and if my aunt had balls she'd be my uncle.

[Nukem2]

you know, as much as I think crean only thinks of crean, he DID have all the pieces in place- a healthy DJ, and Mbakwe banging, and I think we're final 4..., and if my aunt had balls she'd be my uncle.

Also would have had Tyshawn Taylor toff the bench.  But, not to be.

[tower912]

Is Augoman uncle John or just quoting him?

[sailwi]

This logic is woulda, shoulda.  I think VU is similar to MU + a few skilled big men but theyare also peaking at the right time, no way to know if DJ had stayed healthy would we have been improving or maintaining.  The moral of the story is it was a fun but frustrating year because we were very close to being an elite 8 team, not sure in our actual bracket if we could beat Uconn to get to Motown.  I know that if we had DJ and most likely a higher seed the opponents would have been different but that is too much thinking for me.

[Norm]

Another difference is that Villanova has 3 McDonalds All Americans on their roster - Scottie Reynolds, Corey Stokes and Taylor King (transfer from Duke sitting out this year). They have 2 more coming in next year - Dominic Cheek (6'6" G) and Maalik Wayns (6'1" G). Marquette has not had a McDonalds All-American since 1982.

[sailwi]

VU will be loaded next year in a down BE compared to this year.  Hard to believe the only McD AA MU ever had was Kerry Trotter.  Part of that trivia question is the McD AA was started after Al's great teams, I'm guessing Butch Lee and Bernard Toone would have been McD AA along with a few others but didn't follow HS recruiitng back then and following it was very different, Street and Smith was about the only source of info.

[Badgerhater920]

I would have taken DJ, Wes, and Jerel over Nova's starting backcourt but the depth of the backcourts is uncomparable.

[SCdem@MU]

I would have taken DJ, Wes, and Jerel over Nova's starting backcourt but the depth of the backcourts is uncomparable.

You are nuts if you would seriously take DJ over Reynolds. Reynolds = everything we hoped DJ would become but never did.

[SCdem@MU]

Really couldn't resist taking a shot at DJ there, huh?

Why don't you read what one of the experts had to say about DJ's pro possibilities.  Seems to me that there's more than just this board that thinks James has a shot at the NBA.

http://www.muscoop.com/index.php?topic=14308.0

I guess I should have just simply stated Reynolds > DJ. DJ may play in the NBA, but Reynolds is a much better player and will have a better pro career than DJ.

[mviale]

 When MU was healthy, MU could school nova.

[Pardner]

Hard to believe the only McD AA MU ever had was Kerry Trotter. 

Trotter, Doc and Sir Walter were MU's McD AA's.

http://www.sportsstats.com/duke/compare/mcdonald.html

[Tom Crean's Tanning Bed]

I guess I should have just simply stated Reynolds > DJ. DJ may play in the NBA, but Reynolds is a much better player and will have a better pro career than DJ.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sn3kPBww2w0

Substitute Dominic James for Gerry McNamera here, and this statement is more than likely true. 

Scottie Renyolds is a DAMN FINE player, don't get me wrong.  But there's also a place in the NBA for pass-first, lockdown defender point guards like James.  They're a lot harder to find than shoot-first point guards like Renyolds if you ask me.

Sophomore and Junior year DJ probably don't get into the NBA.  Senior year DJ will. 

[Badgerhater920]

You are nuts if you would seriously take DJ over Reynolds. Reynolds = everything we hoped DJ would become but never did.

I meant I'd take our starting backcourt as a whole over Nova's. As far as comparing DJ and Reynolds, I think they are different types of players. Reynolds is more a shoot first point guard (and often plays the 2 while Fisher handles the point) , and while DJ took his share of ill-advised shots this year, he really became a pass first point guard this year.

The comment about Reynolds being everything that we hoped DJ would become but never did is unwarranted I think. Perhaps Reynolds is a better shooter and scorer (although he shot .403 from the field this year while DJ shot .424), but only averaged 3.3 assists per game while DJ averaged 5.0. DJ averaged 1.9 T.O's a game and Reynolds 2.7.
What exactly did we want DJ to become?  

[DJO's Pump Fake]

Don't forget, I am the biggest Buzz fan there is, but Jay Wright >>>>>>Buzz

[77fan88warrior]

I meant I'd take our starting backcourt as a whole over Nova's. As far as comparing DJ and Reynolds, I think they are different types of players. Reynolds is more a shoot first point guard (and often plays the 2 while Fisher handles the point) , and while DJ took his share of ill advised shots this year, he really became a pass first point guard this year.

The comment about Reynolds being everything that we hoped DJ would become but never did is unwarranted I think. Perhaps Reynolds is a better shooter and scorer (although he shot .403 from the field this year while DJ shot .424), but only averaged 3.3 assists per game while DJ averaged 5.0. DJ averaged 1.9 T.O's a game and Reynolds 2.7.
What exactly did we want DJ to become?  

You saved me the work Badgerhater. His stats don't match the hype. I will say that he seemed a lot harder to defend this year. I think MU fans might have a higher opinion of Reynolds than most. He hurt us in that game where Vill. couldn't miss but the guy tries to do to much a lot of times. I think there might be more negative threads on the Vill. board than we have had about DJ.

I won't argue that he could have a better NBA career. He reminds me of Rod Strickland in many ways.