Day 1 at the Pro Am

[avid1010]

Talk to "Homer" at the Pro-Am. He is worried about the PG spot. He said looked for Buycks to play at the PG spot.

I can see PG by committee if JC can't cut it, and that's a nasty thought.  I have got to believe Buzz has confidence in him.

[miamiflashfan]

Some stats according to DJO's twitter:

DJO: 36 points, 11 rebounds
JB: 36 and 17
Buycks: 41 and 8
Smith: 30 points
Williams: 15 and 12

[NersEllenson]

Some stats according to DJO's twitter:

DJO: 36 points, 11 rebounds
JB: 36 and 17
Buycks: 41 and 8
Smith: 30 points
Williams: 15 and 12

Good to see my darkhorse candidate Reggie Smith putting up some numbers.  Thanks for the updates everybody -great stuff..this next season is going to be very intruiging seeing how Buzz uses all of this talent..

[Mr. Nielsen]

Why was there so many players missing on teams? Where was Wes?

[GOMU1104]

Why was there so many players missing on teams? Where was Wes?

I highly doubt any pro (Wes, Diener, Novak) will play until they sign their contracts.

[Tom Crean's Tanning Bed]

Why was there so many players missing on teams? Where was Wes?

Not sure Wes will be able to play until his contract situation is settled.  Last thing I imagine he wants to do is play and risk an injury before he gets his next contract signed.

[Thomas' Danish Delight]

THIS IS AWESOME!

Thanks for all the updates, can't get enough of them!

[77ncaachamps]

I highly doubt any pro (Wes, Diener, Novak) will play until they sign their contracts.

Hence the roster asterisk.

Too bad jerel and DJ weren't there, or should I say, it's good they weren't there but on NBA summer teams

[BCHoopster]

Once the contracts are signed by all the MU players, it would be a really interesting league adding
DJ, Jerel, Wes, Travis and Steve and who knows maybe a game or two of DWade and Lazar.  Add
those 7and the league would be more fun than the real season!  Maybe a few Badgers could show up,
Trevon, Butch, Tucker, Devon Harris, lot of talent around right now.  Even those guys would love to
play a little uptempo!

[bilsu]

Based on what I saw today, my starting lineup would be Butler, Williams, DJO, Cadougan and Buyckes. I saw parts of all the games, but I spent more time at court 1 than court 2. Court 1 had announcers and court 2 did not. That would be my only complaint about the tournament.

I heard from more than one person that they thought Smith had game, but the times I was watching him, he is was missing his shots. I saw maybe 15 minutes of Smith and O'tule's game. Physically O'tule looked good, but I saw him lose a couple of rebounds he had both hands on and another time a player reach from behind and knocked the ball out of his hands. Apparently I missed a lot of his good plays, because I concluded MU should stick with a small lineup. O'tule's team lost their game. I would start Williams at center. Williams is a much better rebounder and a better offensive player. O'tule would have the edge on defense.

DJO and to a lesser extent Buyckes could do whatever they wanted on offense.
DJO because of his three point shooting and strength is almost impossible to stop. Buyckes relies on his quickness to take the ball to the basket and is easier to defend, because he does not have DJO's outside shot. However, Buyckes was very impressive today.

Cadougan is  the best passer on the team by far, but still does not show the ability to put the ball in the basket. Blue offense is taking the ball inside. I do not see Cadougan and Blue starting together, because their weak offensive game would allow other teams to concentrate on DJO. At this point I think Cadougan would make less mistakes than Blue, so I think he is the third guard in a three guard starting lineup.

[romey]

DJO and to a lesser extent Buyckes could do whatever they wanted on offense.
DJO because of his three point shooting and strength is almost impossible to stop. Buyckes relies on his quickness to take the ball to the basket and is easier to defend, because he does not have DJO's outside shot. However, Buyckes was very impressive today.

How did Dwight do handling the ball?  last season he seemed to lose the handle on his drives more often than we'd like?

[BCHoopster]

I would rather see Williams play the 4 spot, D on the 5 for him would be hard, no way is as strong
as Lazar was.  MU can go big this coming year with Crowder, Williams, Otule with Vander and DJO.
Maybe that is the starting line-up in 2011.  

Now add Bucyks, Butler and Fulce.  Solid 8 plus Cadougan.

We will really see how Buzz can coach this group, as he has a ton of depth!

[QuetteHoops]

DB showed great handles today all of the moves were quick, had a few TO's but nothing ball handling wise. I always  thought DB was a pretty good ball handler anyways. DJO showed the most improvement in his ball handling and also mixed in quite a few pull up mid range shots which only make him more dangerous.

While I agree JC couldn't find the range today his quickness and strength allowed him to get to the lane quite a bit. He seems fully recovered from the injury, he even out jumped EWill for an offensive rebound today. I think he will be fine as the starting PG.

Granted i didn't watch much of Reggie's game from what i saw he was very quick a good handle and fearless in the lane. That being said didn't get Otule involved much in the post when he was open and he did shoot a lot, much more of a shoot first PG almost a polar opposite of Junior. As a side note, I would really be surprised if he was 6'0''

[Mr. Nielsen]

Hence the roster asterisk.

Too bad jerel and DJ weren't there, or should I say, it's good they weren't there but on NBA summer teams

There were many guys not there who don't have the "asterisk" by there name.

Maurice Acker, Jerry Smith, Ben Hebl, Ricky Franklin, Marcus Jackson, Wesley Matthews, Trend Blacklege, JaRob McCallum, Quemont Greer, Avery Smith and Jamil Wilson. (I know Wilson is sick)

[Mr. Nielsen]

How did Dwight do handling the ball?  last season he seemed to lose the handle on his drives more often than we'd like?

Homer said, he should be the PG.

[chapman]

Looks like the point guard spot is key for the upcoming season.  Seems like there are plenty of weapons that the point guard doesn’t have to be dominant, just smart.  Which means Cadougan is in a good position, but still not sure Cadougan’s going to be a 30 mpg player.  So Buycks/Smith/Blue need to take advantage of that open playing time by learning to take care of the ball, play within the offense, and guard the other team’s point guard.  If they’re going for the highlight reel and putting up shots all the time they’ll miss out on 20+ minutes of open playing time. 

[79Warrior]

Talk to "Homer" at the Pro-Am. He is worried about the PG spot. He said looked for Buycks to play at the PG spot.

Otule, looked strong and powerfull.

DJO, looked a bit faster and better handle of the ball.

Jimmy was Jimmy!!

does that mean Junior is not all that?

[syscokid]

guys, i was there for most of the day today. otule and reggie smith really stood out to me. obviously DJO did, but that's almost expected. i didn't expect what i saw out of reggie smith. WOW! i thought vander was quick, reggie is unreal! not afraid at all to go into the lane. he seemed a bit wild at times, but very fearless! i saw him drive right into the lane against 3 defenders, hit the floor, and have a smooth stroke making his 2 "money" free throws. he made everyone play up to his speed, which is really something considering he is a frosh.

otule, looks to be on a mission. looks better than barrow did in his senior season.

past player scott merritt, looked horrible! lol

[Skatastrophy]

Here's my "before I went and got drunk watching the World Cup" facebook updates.  This is from what I saw of the 4 games... popping back and forth between them:

1.  Great morning at the Milwaukee Pro-Am. Jimmy Butler and Chris Otule looked great!

2.  Vander Blue looked timid. I heard Buycks was draining 3s, but I was watching the Butler+Blue game. Fulce was playing sloppy because his team was losing.  Spent his time cursing instead of trying to get his game in order. E.Will played like he did last year... really disappointing. Reggie Smith disappeared on on team he was with, but he and DJO were chillin between games so that's a good sign. Butler and Blue seem to be BFF's (again between games), which is a good sign. Devonte Gardner is huge... and he chilled by himself after his game (he played the first game, so it was a good long time). I hope he buys into the program and finds an oldbie to hang out with and bring him into the fold.

3.  Cadougan was driving as effortlessly as DJO, he just couldn't finish. I didn't even regognize him at first cause he slimmed down so much! He'll be dunkin like Mo Acker next year

Happy Saturday folks

Edit:  One of the things that I disagree with in this thread is that Barro helped out Butler and Blue's team.  I feel that Butler and Blue won in spite of Ouse.   Barro couldn't seem to get his feet to bring himself down court to help out on offense or defense on most plays throughout the game.

Also:  The most hilarious part of the tourney so far-- Chris Grimm yelled out to a ref during his game that the other team was getting away with moving picks.  I lol'd good and hard at that... but he played a great game tbh.  If Wes shows up, with Grimm and Otule on his team, they'll run the tourney.

Tommy Brice also had about 15 fouls during his game.  He's golden from the high-school 3-point line though.  I think we should bring him on as a scholarship player.

[Mr. Nielsen]

does that mean Junior is not all that?

JC is good passer and a bad shooter. I'll try to watch him more on Friday night.

With two games going on at once in two different gym, I was getting bits of the games.

[NersEllenson]

It is pretty startling/revealing that Reggie Smith scored 30 and Junior didn't score.  Granted, Junior is a pass first point guard, but this is quite a disparity.  Should be really interesting to see how that battle plays out, and if Buzz can groom Reggie into a point guard - though I don't think being a point guard means you can't be a great scorer too..so maybe Reggie just would need to have his shoot first mentality dialed back just a little bit...yet maintain his offensive tenacity/agressiveness.

[ATL MU Warrior]

It is pretty startling/revealing that Reggie Smith scored 30 and Junior didn't score.  Granted, Junior is a pass first point guard, but this is quite a disparity.  Should be really interesting to see how that battle plays out, and if Buzz can groom Reggie into a point guard - though I don't think being a point guard means you can't be a great scorer too..so maybe Reggie just would need to have his shoot first mentality dialed back just a little bit...yet maintain his offensive tenacity/agressiveness.

Where did you find the full box score?  I haven't seen anything that indicated JC didn't score at all.

[Afroman]

I took in a good portion of Saturday's event. While I didn't get to see every player (two gyms), here are a few impressions ...

Otule looked huge to me and his footwork and stamina seem to have improved.
Buycks is so quick and smooth. I told him he looked like he was in midseason form.
DJO is a flat-out star.
Fulce is a leader who will surprise some people in his senior season.

I know it's early, but this recruiting class will end up rivaling that of Jerel, Wes, DJ and Burke.

I can't remember the last time I have been more excited about a Marquette season. The future looks extremely bright.

[NersEllenson]

Where did you find the full box score?  I haven't seen anything that indicated JC didn't score at all.

There wasn't an official box score put out, but its been posted by several here and on the Scout site that JC didn't score - I think one mentioned he was 0-7.  It was publicized by DJO (via Twitter) and on Gomarquette.com that Smith scored 30...

I think it is going to be tough to keep Smith's athleticism off the floor, and it sounds as though he is a much better shooter than JC already.  JC is more the pure point guard type, that sees the floor really, really, well..which Smith does not at this point - according to the scouting reports..

[reinko]

C'mon Ners, Reggie already a much better shooter than JC?

It was 1 open gym game.  And who knows, Reggie may be a better shooter, but to gleam that assumption from an account of some rando fan, is bit presumptious.