i like buzz, but...

[wyzgy]

i believe he is over coaching.  i know, the man side of him says, no way, these are young kids who need guidance and teaching.  i love them to death and i will live and die by them.  the humble side of buzz should say, wyz, your absolutely right on.  i need to step back and take a breath (and maybe get part of my voice back).  he subs way too much.  these guys barely get in, miss a block out assignment and just automatically head back to the bench without even waiting for the substitution horn to go off.  they don't even break a sweat.  i'm not saying start playing like kentucky(read, playground, although not too badly), but get a core group and work around them. sub in waves and overlap your players.  just as i posted last week, work a couple of plays working to get a specific guy(jamil, dwight, djo) some threes to see who is going to step forward and drain them at a 40-50% clip. should have done this with longwood...  i don't care who it is, but someone who can do it-there has to be someone-under the lights in front of the tv cameras and big crowds.  now that you have one or two guys able to make 40% it opens up other options and doesn't expose us to the dreaded zone.  bottom line however, i believe we are playing scared.  yesterday he had dwight hitting a few-go to him until he misses for chriminy sakes-feed him the rock, but he pulls him out and then...??    buzzz needs to chill a little bit-try something different.  alright all of you with your buzz knee-pads on, come and beat me down

[GGGG]

Buzz doesn't over sub.

[chren21]

Buzz doesn't over sub.

I understand what he is trying to do...  Offense for defense, playing guys at times for thier precieved strengths, etc.  But do you give any merit to the idea that having a set 7-8 man rotation and all the guys knowing thier roles / knowing they wont get pulled immediately for a mistake can lead to guys getting comfortable and into the flow of the game more?

[GGGG]

Buzz basically played a 7 man rotation yesterday.  Only seven players were in double didgit minutes, and Gardner was the least of those with 18.  Otule and Smith started the halves...Williams and Jones were just in to buy time for Crowder when he got in foul trouble in the first half.

[Mr. Nielsen]

Shouldn't Otule be getting some more minutes? 8 minutes vs. UW

[GGGG]

It was too tough of a match up for him.  They had him guard Nankilvil, who prompty drained a couple of outside shots.  Otule is going to stuggle against mobile, outside shooting big men.

[chren21]

Williams subbed in for Butler around the 13:30 mark.  He played 2 minutes and never got in again.  Yes he gave up a 3 to Leuer but he was closing out on him when he shot and Leuer was 2 feet behind the 3.

Otule came in for Crowder at 11:20.  (Crowders 2 fouls were very questionable calls).

Otule and Smith started the game but only lasted about 2.5 minutes.  What's the point?  Otule just to get the jump ball?

Gardner comes in for Otule at 8:30 cause Otule gives up a 3 to Vand and then next trip dosent get to the spot quick enough and gets called for blocking resulting in count it and a foul.

Jones comes in at 4:10 for just a little to give breather around the 4 min timeout.

All and all not bad substuting in the first half.  I needed to watch it again.  2nd half to come.

[GGGG]

Williams subbed in for Butler around the 13:30 mark.  He played 2 minutes and never got in again.  Yes he gave up a 3 to Leuer but he was closing out on him when he shot and Leuer was 2 feet behind the 3.

He lost track of him on the weak side.  He had no idea where he was until the pass was made.

[chren21]

He lost track of him on the weak side.  He had no idea where he was until the pass was made.

Correct me if I am wrong but has he made at least one terrible, boneheaded defensive play in every single game he has entered this year or am I crazy?

[GGGG]

Yep.  And that's why he doesn't play more despite the fact that we could use his length.

[jeffreyweee]

Gardner got the minutes from otule not just because he was drawing fouls underneath but his footwork and hands are much better on the defensive end around the 3 point line. He cut Leuer off from driving to the hole more than once in the 2nd half.

[Canadian Dimes]

i love Where Otule has come from and like where he is going but for right now he is an absolutely horrendous rebounder.  He cannot go get anything, gets easily discarded and if the ball happens to come to him he drops 50% of them.  And he should play more than 8 minutes?

I feel we lost the game yesterday becuase Jae and DJO were horrible.  Djo needs to shoot and hit jumpers or Buycks and VAnder are better than him.  they both play better Defense as well.  Buycks can drive infinitely better than DJO, so if DJo is going to pass up jumpers than we are way better off with Buycks.  DJO's spin move followed by a turnover or off balanced shot is a possesion killer every time. 

Jae needs to step up his intensity and toughness

[avalanche]

  I do like Buzz but....why didn't he keep the 3/4zone press on.  It caused Wisconsin problems in forst 10 min offirst half and then  he quit using it.   The man to man press is useless against the good athletic point guards and causes the defender to get beat as the point gets past half court.

The team does not box out and believes they can jump for a rebound.  It is all positioning and as he said we were out  of position all afternoon.

Buzz has also recruited the same type of long player and you need some shooters and your system has to make room for the Scott Christophersons of the world(30 points in his last game)   I know he looked scared out there his freshman year but he would have been a sophomore.

It's time to root for the Bears

[willie warrior]

Gardner got the minutes from otule not just because he was drawing fouls underneath but his footwork and hands are much better on the defensive end around the 3 point line. He cut Leuer off from driving to the hole more than once in the 2nd half.

Absolutely correct. Gardner has good footwork--a hell of a lot better than Otule. And Gardner takes up more space. Otule is a better shot blocker though.

[muhoops1]

My question is this...is Buzz's system too complex or are his teaching methods off?  These guys don't get how to play defense.  EW has had 2 + years and he is a total defensive liability.  WTF?

[NersEllenson]

  I do like Buzz but....why didn't he keep the 3/4zone press on.  It caused Wisconsin problems in forst 10 min offirst half and then  he quit using it.   The man to man press is useless against the good athletic point guards and causes the defender to get beat as the point gets past half court.

The team does not box out and believes they can jump for a rebound.  It is all positioning and as he said we were out  of position all afternoon.

Buzz has also recruited the same type of long player and you need some shooters and your system has to make room for the Scott Christophersons of the world(30 points in his last game)   I know he looked scared out there his freshman year but he would have been a sophomore.
It's time to root for the Bears

Case in point..we had Reggie Smith, Junior Cadougan, Vander Blue, Devante Gardner, and Chris Otule + Jae Crowder...all playing a fair amount of minutes..and all basically being in their 10th game of high major basketball.  Let's give this team a little time to grow up before jumping off the ledge.  We all saw how scared Scotty C was as a freshman..and it was absolutely terrifying seeing him dribble with his left hand...but guess waht..kids grow up..and get better.  MU's current young crop will as well.

[RawdogDX]

Case in point..we had Reggie Smith, Junior Cadougan, Vander Blue, Devante Gardner, and Chris Otule + Jae Crowder...all playing a fair amount of minutes..and all basically being in their 10th game of high major basketball.  Let's give this team a little time to grow up before jumping off the ledge.  We all saw how scared Scotty C was as a freshman..and it was absolutely terrifying seeing him dribble with his left hand...but guess waht..kids grow up..and get better.  MU's current young crop will as well.

How does someone preach about perspective but then accuse everyone who says anything other than unadulterated praise of jumping off a ledge? 

[NersEllenson]

How does someone preach about perspective but then accuse everyone who says anything other than unadulterated praise of jumping off a ledge? 

Fair question - guess it just depends on your opinion and the context with which you use to form your opinions/perspective.  The context with which I choose to form my opinions are that much of the same stuff that is being said right now..was being said many times over last year - after losing to Wisconsin, after losing to DePaul, etc.  It is a long season..and we are just 1/3 of the way into it..and are relying in many young, inexperienced players at present..plus DJO is NOT going to play any worse than he has thus far..plus one of our losses was to the Number 1 team in the country.  Did we really think we'd beat Duke?  So that's the context with which I base my opinions and perspective...

[shiloh26]

i love Where Otule has come from and like where he is going but for right now he is an absolutely horrendous rebounder.  He cannot go get anything, gets easily discarded and if the ball happens to come to him he drops 50% of them.  And he should play more than 8 minutes?

I feel we lost the game yesterday becuase Jae and DJO were horrible.  Djo needs to shoot and hit jumpers or Buycks and VAnder are better than him.  they both play better Defense as well.  Buycks can drive infinitely better than DJO, so if DJo is going to pass up jumpers than we are way better off with Buycks.  DJO's spin move followed by a turnover or off balanced shot is a possesion killer every time. 

Jae needs to step up his intensity and toughness

I agree, DJO is playing waaay too out of control.  If I had a nickel for every failed DJO spin move, I'd have a lot of nickels. Kid just needs some shots to fall, and I think he'll start to turn it around, but right now Buycks is a more reliable shooter if he'd just stop trying to handle the ball, and Junior and Blue are getting into the lane easier. 

Right now, this team entirely lacks an identity. Last year, Lazar was the guy who could get us a basket when the other team was going on a run.  It was an incredible luxury to have. We don't know who that guy is right now... we don't have a "scorer" on the team when DJO is playing like he is, we just have a bunch of bit players.  I thought it would be Jimmy, and I still love what Jimmy does for the team, but he doesn't quite have that 'get on my back' instinct that Lazar had. 

Maybe you guys are right, and we need to pare down the number of players getting minutes to try and form a group that we can rely on now.  I think this team still needs time to mesh, and I don't think its going to hurt in the long run to have our young guys on the court together now.

[brewcity77]

..plus one of our losses was to the Number 1 team in the country.  Did we really think we'd beat Duke?  So that's the context with which I base my opinions and perspective...

One of our losses was to #1, yes, and the other two were to two teams that frankly aren't all that good. Gonzaga looks like a sinking ship, played poorly against us, and we still lost that game. UW has been unimpressive away from home and other than the NC State game simply looks like a team that doesn't really do anything well except slow the pace.

There's really no excuse for us losing to those types of teams, outside of this team not being as good as we expected/hoped. There's still time because we play in the Big East, but considering Gonzaga didn't look any better against us than they did in their 5 losses, and against Bucky we simply looked scared, unwilling to shoot and unwilling to press the pace when they did give us the chances to. We couldn't even make a run when Leuer was out, instead falling further behind.

I really want to see this team succeed, and I certainly think the talent is there, but we need to show and prove better if we want to be in the NCAAs. We need to win the games we've been losing.

[NersEllenson]

One of our losses was to #1, yes, and the other two were to two teams that frankly aren't all that good. Gonzaga looks like a sinking ship, played poorly against us, and we still lost that game. UW has been unimpressive away from home and other than the NC State game simply looks like a team that doesn't really do anything well except slow the pace.

There's really no excuse for us losing to those types of teams, outside of this team not being as good as we expected/hoped. There's still time because we play in the Big East, but considering Gonzaga didn't look any better against us than they did in their 5 losses, and against Bucky we simply looked scared, unwilling to shoot and unwilling to press the pace when they did give us the chances to. We couldn't even make a run when Leuer was out, instead falling further behind.

I really want to see this team succeed, and I certainly think the talent is there, but we need to show and prove better if we want to be in the NCAAs. We need to win the games we've been losing.

I'm not ready to write off UW as not being very good...think they will compete, as always toward the Top 1/3rd of Big Ten...Bo Ryan may very well be the best coach in America..he's got an NBA first round pick on the team in Leuer, Jordan Taylor looks to be an Al big Ten Caliber point guard, and Nakivil is very long, athletic and can shoot it pretty well.  The rest of teh squad..yes..bit players..but solid.

[Big Papi]

I think we need 3 things to happen to turn this season around some.  We need DJO to shoot like he can shoot.  We need to improve our defensive rebounding.  We need the offense to run through Jimmy as much as possible. 

We need to green light DJO.  He is in a huge slump but we can't afford to have him shy away from shooting the 3 ball like he did against UW.

Defensive rebounding is obvious.  We don't need to be great at it as we don't have the personnel for it, but it is a mindset.  Needs to start with Jimmy, Jae and DJO.  Also, maybe we start attacking the boards more instead of trying to get a fastbreak going on every opponent's shot.  Need team rebounding. 

Jimmy makes good decisions when he has the ball and is our best clutch shooter.  Coach Knight made a great point about running the offense through Jimmy in the Duke game.  We need it in his hands more. 

[MUfan12]

I may well be off, but I think what ails DJO is Buzz's insistance on him guarding their best perimeter player. Buzz has said often that he wants him guarding "the other team's DJO."

His offensive game suffered when he had to guard guys like Jones from USF last year. And I think there's some of that happening this year. At some point, he's gotta make the decision about what helps the team more- hiding DJO in hopes his scoring picks up, or staying the course.

[wyzgy]

i think the coaches should make the players watch the tape of our game against duke until their eyes bleed.  they would have beaten uw by 30.  tell the players that every game from here on out is against duke.