Crean

[AlumKCof93]

The easiest thing to do following these losses is to blame coaching.  But this has to be Creans most difficult team to coach.  In DJ, he has a potential star who has the ego of a star and that has helped us win (Pitt, Valpo, Duke) and led to losses (Wisc, G-town, DePaul (that last shot was awful)).  So his dilemma is how do you keep DJs confidence high while also breaking him down and making him realize that he is hurting the team when he bombs away.  McNeal is also a challenge in his toughness makes him very good but his fearlessness leads to many turnovers. 

IMO, Creans mistake is that a few years ago he recruited mostly shooters.  He then realized he needed to increase athletism and he did that at the expense of shooters.  He needs to balance it out and hopefully Christopherson and Hayward can develop into shooters in the years ahead.

I thought last nights game was among the most frustrating I've seen in awhile.  But I thought the team played hard and that's a credit to Crean.  The challenging part is to get them to play smarter and that's necessary if they are going to have end this season successfully b/c they have too many weaknesses to rely on their athleticism alone.

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

This is a great, great post.

I think both DJ and McNeal are handfuls for the entire coaching staff as far as their style of play is concerned. I also think DJ is a very delicate type.

One factor you did not mention is the transfer issue. Whether some on this board acknowledge it or not (or cite the transfers from other schools), it HAD to be in the back of Crean's head beginning last year that he could not afford to lose any more high profile players to transfer. There's no way that can't affect the way certain recruits are treated. It was really beginning to look bad and I think he clearly gave the three guys a lot of freedom last year, including at the expense of senior Joe Chapman. Now that they're sophomores, I believe he's starting to come down on them a little more than he might have last year. At the same time, while acknowledging that the transfers have been a bit of a blackeye for Marquette, I will say this...I'm fairly convinced nobody that has transferred TO Marquette under Crean has regretted it. I'm also fairly convinced that almost all that transferred OUT have regretted it.

Definitely a tough coaching job for Crean. I think he's revealed some frustration with this team in some of his interviews, which is not like him. Again, very good post.

[LastWarrior]

He needs to balance it out and hopefully Christopherson and Hayward can develop into shooters in the years ahead.

Most recuiting sources said Hayward was the best shooter in last year's class.  I still yet to see this in a game... perhaps it's because of the NCAA imposed layoff but I doubt such a highly regarded shooter would still be this far off.

[MUBasketball]

I consider Hayward my boy, I was following his recruiting pretty closely and was pumped when he verballed. I haven't wavered at all, I think he's a great talent. He doesn't shoot enough 3's, but when he does, it always looks good. (OK, I know he's had one or two that were a little ugly). He just needs the confidence and I think we'll see him break it open some game. Georgetown was a flash of what he's capable of.

[Big Papi]

TC has done a very good job at MU and I rarely criticize him for his game management but considering that DePaul is a very poor free throw shooting team, we really needed to stretch that game out at the end.  I know they were hitting their free throws but we really needed to play the percentages.  Especially if you take into account that we had very poor 3 point shooters on the court.  We needed to take the ball to the hole every time and crash the boards.

Hayward is a very good 3 point shooter based on a ton of reports I read on the kid.  This year is a wash as the practice imposed layoff just messed with him mentally.  Expect a vastly improved perimeter game from him next year.

[Harrison]

The whole last few minutes were pathetic, decison making wise.  Not only was DJ's 3 ill-advised.  But Jerel put up a couple of dumb 3 pointers as well.  We were down 3 numerous times decent amount of time to go,  And we are just chucking 3's.  Then at the one point only down 1 with over a minute and we do foul? What about solid defense and play for the rebound at that point?  Like i said the whole end of the game was absolutely perplexing and only reaffirms my concerns with this teams decison making.  A little scary after these guys have been starting for 2 years now.  Does not bode well for the end of game situations that we will face in the next month.  The people with a bug up their rear can blame it all on James, the entire team looked lost and made poor choices.

[RawdogDX]

The easiest thing to do following these losses is to blame coaching.  But this has to be Creans most difficult team to coach.  In DJ, he has a potential star who has the ego of a star and that has helped us win (Pitt, Valpo, Duke) and led to losses (Wisc, G-town, DePaul (that last shot was awful)).  So his dilemma is how do you keep DJs confidence high while also breaking him down and making him realize that he is hurting the team when he bombs away.  McNeal is also a challenge in his toughness makes him very good but his fearlessness leads to many turnovers. 

IMO, Creans mistake is that a few years ago he recruited mostly shooters.  He then realized he needed to increase athletism and he did that at the expense of shooters.  He needs to balance it out and hopefully Christopherson and Hayward can develop into shooters in the years ahead.

I thought last nights game was among the most frustrating I've seen in awhile.  But I thought the team played hard and that's a credit to Crean.  The challenging part is to get them to play smarter and that's necessary if they are going to have end this season successfully b/c they have too many weaknesses to rely on their athleticism alone.

Really you think this year is harder to coach than the year we had so many injuries we had our center bringing the ball up the court to get past the press?

[SoCalwarrior]

The easiest thing to do following these losses is to blame coaching.  But this has to be Creans most difficult team to coach.  In DJ, he has a potential star who has the ego of a star and that has helped us win (Pitt, Valpo, Duke) and led to losses (Wisc, G-town, DePaul (that last shot was awful)).  So his dilemma is how do you keep DJs confidence high while also breaking him down and making him realize that he is hurting the team when he bombs away.  McNeal is also a challenge in his toughness makes him very good but his fearlessness leads to many turnovers. 

IMO, Creans mistake is that a few years ago he recruited mostly shooters.  He then realized he needed to increase athletism and he did that at the expense of shooters.  He needs to balance it out and hopefully Christopherson and Hayward can develop into shooters in the years ahead.

I thought last nights game was among the most frustrating I've seen in awhile.  But I thought the team played hard and that's a credit to Crean.  The challenging part is to get them to play smarter and that's necessary if they are going to have end this season successfully b/c they have too many weaknesses to rely on their athleticism alone.

Really you think this year is harder to coach than the year we had so many injuries we had our center bringing the ball up the court to get past the press?

Only if talent is your criteria.  I would say that less talent doesn't equal harder coaching job.  We are immensily talented this year, but getting them to play disciplined and within a set offense without diminishing their talents is probably harder than getting a team of mostly role players to do the same.

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

That year wasn't a coaching problem, it was a recruiting/transfers problem.

[Murffieus]

IMO what makes this team hard to coach is the NBA ambition of McNeal, Mathews, and particularily DJ. DJ told TC well before the season that he was going to opt for the NBA after the season (I know this for a fact)----hence his scholarship was used and Acker brought in.

IMO DJ is too focused on where he's going in the draft and therefore is pressing (which is obvious)-------TC probably had a talk with him after the 2 losses and he regained his old form ----now recently he's started pressing again (forcing things)-----obviously he's trying to move up in the mocks.

Meanwhile McNeal and Mathews resent DJ's attitude as his forcing means less opps for them and that it hurts the team------results in less than ideal team chemistry! The closer we get to the end of the season----the less control TC has over DJ.

Just a theory!

[79Warrior]

IMO what makes this team hard to coach is the NBA ambition of McNeal, Mathews, and particularily DJ. DJ told TC well before the season that he was going to opt for the NBA after the season (I know this for a fact)----hence his scholarship was used and Acker brought in.

IMO DJ is too focused on where he's going in the draft and therefore is pressing (which is obvious)-------TC probably had a talk with him after the 2 losses and he regained his old form ----now recently he's started pressing again (forcing things)-----obviously he's trying to move up in the mocks.

Meanwhile McNeal and Mathews resent DJ's attitude as his forcing means less opps for them and that it hurts the team------results in less than ideal team chemistry! The closer we get to the end of the season----the less control TC has over DJ.

Just a theory!

muffin must be watching reruns of 24.  Now McNeal and Matthews resent DJ and Crean is losing control over DJ. Lets call in Jack Bauer to remedy the situation.

[Murffieus]

Well Warrior----what's your reasoning behind 3-4 horrendus games in a row by DJ------don't you think TC would have corrected the "forcing" if he could??????