Areas of Concern

[MUfan12]

Don't get me wrong, MU played a helluva last 10 minutes. Felt good about the heart they showed, and the intensity they played with. But going forward, I think these things have to be addressed... and soon.

1) PG by committee has not worked. You can get away with that if the guys you have play a similar style. All three (Buycks, Reggie, Junior) are all different from each other. And with the guys still learning on the offensive end, I worry about them having to adjust to 3 different types of point guard. The offense has little continuity right now... except for that run today.

2) DJO has to get going. I know it's only been two games, but it seems like he doesn't trust his shot. He passed up a couple of looks from three today only to drive into traffic. I wonder if Buzz not starting him has screwed him up mentally a bit.

3) Halfcourt defense was putrid for most of the day. There seems to be a lack of communication on defense. Bucknell executed their offense well, which had a lot of movement and screening. Our guys had no idea how they were supposed to deal with it, whether to switch or show, when to leave for help, etc. This needs to improve, KC could be an ugly trip if it doesn't get better.

4) Attacking a zone. MU looked clueless against the 2-3 for a good part of that game. Part of the problem is that no one filled the spot around the FT line that Lazar did so well. Jimmy or Jae might have to fill that role. They were most effective when Gardner was doing his thang, as that helped open up some space. I'm not sure they can rely on a performance like that, or hot 3 point shooting, on a nightly basis. They need to figure out how to attack the zone more effectively, as they are going to see a lot of it.

[DCWarriors04]

I wouldn't worry about yesterday or even the season at this point, it's still very early and the team is still coming together and adjusting. How many new faces do we have this year? Plus, Bucknell was insane from beyond the 3PT line yesterday in the first half and this team also gave Nova a stiff challenge late last week. Now, if we still have similar issues come January 1st when BEast play begins, then start worrying.

[willie warrior]

2) DJO has to get going. I know it's only been two games, but it seems like he doesn't trust his shot. He passed up a couple of looks from three today only to drive into traffic. I wonder if Buzz not starting him has screwed him up mentally a bit.

The answer to what you wonder about is yes, Buzz has screwed him up mentally. How else can it be explained. You go from a great 3 point shooter and a stud to a dud in one year. Either way you look at it, it is coaching--motivational coaching!

[reinko]

The answer to what you wonder about is yes, Buzz has screwed him up mentally. How else can it be explained. You go from a great 3 point shooter and a stud to a dud in one year. Either way you look at it, it is coaching--motivational coaching!

Oh Willie, I'm glad you found your way back to the 'Scoop, of course commenting in one of the few negative threads.  Care to comment on your favorite player, Buycks performance from yesterday?

And it's been two games.  So clearly, YOU have seen enough to know that DJO is now a dud.

Every time it rains, are you convinced that catastrophic flash floods will ensue, and the Earth will drown?

[tower912]

There are areas of concern.   Nearly all can be boiled down to this.  Going into the season, we had 4 guys with more than 100 minutes of D1 basketball.  Guys who have never had to be 'the man' before now have to lead.   Everyone else has to make the transition to D1 basketball.   There is a lot more teaching going on than installation of the whole offense and defense.   Everybody has to find their ways to their new roles.   This team has a very high ceiling.   But it is certainly a work in progress and certainly not there yet. 

[willie warrior]

Oh Willie, I'm glad you found your way back to the 'Scoop, of course commenting in one of the few negative threads.  Care to comment on your favorite player, Buycks performance from yesterday?

And it's been two games.  So clearly, YOU have seen enough to know that DJO is now a dud.

Every time it rains, are you convinced that catastrophic flash floods will ensue, and the Earth will drown?

I am not saying he is a dud. I still say he is a stud, which I have always maintained. It is others that have written him off--not me. If you look at many of the posts, he should not be starting, he has lost confidence, he is not looking for his 3 point shot, etc. Those are the ones that are inferring he is a dud, by the way after one or two games.

What I am saying is that I believe that whatever state he is in right now, it is the coach's job to motivate him. It seems that Buzz's mo of motivation has been to put people in the dog house (DJO, Williams, Cadougan, etc.}

[bma725]

Have you all forgotten the details of DJO's shooting last year?  His final numbers ended up being very good, but when you compare how he did from game to game, what you find is a guy that was very streaky from beyond the arc.  He mixed quite a few clunkers in with the outstanding performances, and I think people have forgotten just how bad the bad games actually were...1-5 against Maryland-Eastern Shore, 1-5 against GTown, 1-5 against DePaul, 1-4 against USF, 0-fers in the ND game, 1st Nova game and 2nd GTown game. 

When he's good, he's very very good.  But when he's off, he's way off.

[MauraDay]

Regarding DJO, I believe Buzz is just sticking to his philosophy that if you don't play great defense, you don't play. If you make bad decisions, like driving into 3 defenders and get your shot blocked (as he did a few times against PVAM), you don't play.

[willie warrior]

Regarding DJO, I believe Buzz is just sticking to his philosophy that if you don't play great defense, you don't play. If you make bad decisions, like driving into 3 defenders and get your shot blocked (as he did a few times against PVAM), you don't play.

If that is Buzz's philosophy, I see problems with it.
Every player, and I do mean every one of them makes bad decisions, so drawing that line becomes more difficult to enforce--except in the rare case of a constant screw up
Jerel Mcneal made many bad decisions: defensive lapses, turnovers etc., but that did not affect his minutes under Buzz.
You could make the argument that the seniors should be less tolerated for poor decisions by nature of their experience/being in Buzz's system longer.
Point is the bad decision route bec omes difficult to enforce.

[KipsBayEagle]

Regarding DJO, I believe Buzz is just sticking to his philosophy that if you don't play great defense, you don't play. If you make bad decisions, like driving into 3 defenders and get your shot blocked (as he did a few times against PVAM), you don't play.

I really think it simply comes down to how this team is going to be very different than last years team.  last years team lived and died by the three and allowed us to stay competitive with much larger teams.  It gave DJO, lazar, Cubillian, and acker a license to shoot the three whenever they had a glimpse of daylight.  this years team is already shaping up to be an inside the paint team, where we will be looking to score our points down low with gardner, otule, and butler, with shooting the three as a second option.  DJO will need to learn to change his shot selection, and recognize that he won't have the same greenlight to shoot this year as he did last.

[Mr. Nielsen]

Here is some area of concern, where the hell were the students for the Bucknell game? The lower bowl was only half-way full.

[MUfan12]

Here is some area of concern, where the hell were the students for the Bucknell game? The lower bowl was only half-way full.

Seriously. That was pathetic. And if someone says "homework" I'm going to freaking scream.

[Daniel]

My areas for concern:
1) Perimeter defense
2) Turnovers
3) Free throws

And I believe we will improve in all three areas - hopefully sooner than later.

[Benny B]

Let's not get too out of sorts here... sure, the team has been rusty the first few games, but they are finding ways to make things happen already - they have issues, but nothing that didn't expect.

Honestly, I was somewhat nervous yesterday until Muscala picked up his 4th foul... at that point, I felt quite a bit better; when Ox checked in, I just smiled and told my wife, "keep your eyes on this guy."

Bucknell is a good team.  Not Final Four good, and certainly not the best that we'll see all year, but they had a weakness that MU exploited (a weakness that most teams, compared to MU, have): they're not as quick.

Faster than the other team = more fouls on them.  Get them into trouble early, defense softens, turn the Ox loose.

[Chili]

Seriously. That was pathetic. And if someone says "homework" I'm going to freaking scream.

No way that many of the students were Bears fans.

[mikem91288]

Here is some area of concern, where the hell were the students for the Bucknell game? The lower bowl was only half-way full.

Agreed mupanther, I live with 7 guys at MU, none of them went Sunday. Just me and one other buddy. I even knew one guy that went to the volleyball game instead because they had free pizza. He should have his tickets taken away for that one!

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

The answer to what you wonder about is yes, Buzz has screwed him up mentally. How else can it be explained. You go from a great 3 point shooter and a stud to a dud in one year. Either way you look at it, it is coaching--motivational coaching!

I know that a certain portion of shooting is mental, but I don't think Buzz screwed up DJO's shot by not starting him.

Also, I'm don't think you can call a player a 3 point shooting "dud" after 2 games.

Take a deep breath.

Gardner is probably not as good as everybody is singing, DJO isn't as bad as you are pretending. Law of averages will catch up.

[MerrittsMustache]

It's incredibly early in the season. There's a reason why programs schedule games against Prairie View, Longwood, Corpus Cristi, etc early in the season. They have to get the bugs worked out while chalking up W's. Give it time. A month from now things will look differently and a few weeks after that, we'll have a better idea of who the contributors are going to be and what the typical rotation will look like. Does anyone really think that Smith, Blue, Williams and Otule will all be starting come Jan. 1?

The student section just isn't very good. It wasn't very good before I got there (according to some family friends). It wasn't very good when I was there. It hasn't been very good since. I think it's time we just come to terms with that.

[Mr. Nielsen]

Agreed mupanther, I live with 7 guys at MU, none of them went Sunday. Just me and one other buddy. I even knew one guy that went to the volleyball game instead because they had free pizza. He should have his tickets taken away for that one!

Friday night was great! The lower bowl was filled and the upper area was almost filled. I would say 3500 students.

Sunday there was I bet 600 students at that game. The paid crowd was just under 14,000, many missed a great game.

[Mr. Nielsen]

It's incredibly early in the season. There's a reason why programs schedule games against Prairie View, Longwood, Corpus Cristi, etc early in the season. They have to get the bugs worked out while chalking up W's. Give it time. A month from now things will look differently and a few weeks after that, we'll have a better idea of who the contributors are going to be and what the typical rotation will look like. Does anyone really think that Smith, Blue, Williams and Otule will all be starting come Jan. 1?

The student section just isn't very good. It wasn't very good before I got there (according to some family friends). It wasn't very good when I was there. It hasn't been very good since. I think it's time we just come to terms with that.

Another main reason people schedule the PV A&M and Longwood's is money.

If you are selling over 4,000 student season-tickets, that is great! Many other schools are 50,000 students and they can't even sell 500 student season-tickets.

[avid1010]

The answer to what you wonder about is yes, Buzz has screwed him up mentally. How else can it be explained. You go from a great 3 point shooter and a stud to a dud in one year. Either way you look at it, it is coaching--motivational coaching!

You're really writing him off after two games???  Think Buzz deserves any credit for making him a stud in his first year at MU?

[willie warrior]

How many times do I need to say I have not written him off--others have.
I question Buzz's decisions on this issue.

I realize that anybody saying that will be labeled a blasphemer, but it seems to me that Buzz may have screwed this guy up by putting him to the bench at start of game.

[w0bbie]

Friday night was great! The lower bowl was filled and the upper area was almost filled. I would say 3500 students.

Sunday there was I bet 600 students at that game. The paid crowd was just under 14,000, many missed a great game.

As a member of the student section for every home game this year and the past two seasons, I was extremely disappointed with the turnout.  I think one of the main reasons was that most students were uninformed that Bucknell was a decent team and were just expecting the usual blowout over some cupcake. Some other pathetic excuses I heard were: too much hw, too hungover, too cold outside, would rather watch the NFL, just went to a game on Friday night.  I think it goes without saying that I'm no longer on speaking terms with these people.  It was embarrassing to say the least, but I'm sure it will get better come Big East play.

[Clam Crowder]

That small group of students are the real fans. They seemed almost as loud as when the whole group of kids are there

[chren21]

Does anyone really think that Smith, Blue, Williams and Otule will all be starting come Jan. 1?

The student section just isn't very good. It wasn't very good before I got there (according to some family friends). It wasn't very good when I was there. It hasn't been very good since. I think it's time we just come to terms with that.

Yes, I believe Blue will be starting all year long.

The student section is just average and never has been anything more than that.  I agree completely.  We need the students to come up with some things that will truly make our student section different than the norm.  I hate Madison but I have to tell you that when I use my sisters season tickets to the football games I find myself watching the student section during the breaks.  they are funny, interesting, and always think outside of the box.  I can't tell you the last time I thought that at an MU game.  Maybe the first time I saw the big noggins...??  When I hear jump around I think of the start of the fouth quarter at a UW football game not a big moment at a Marquette game.  I also firmly belive that the students should be given one more section on the lower level.  Just the section extra headed behind the visitors bench.  This would have a huge impact.