The morning after

[tower912]

I did not want to post frustrated, so I slept on it.  Didn't read other threads.  Thoughts after a good night sleep:
Otule's best game.    Still has some hand issues, but I never saw 12 points from him coming.   Bodes well.   Like against Duke, we played about 30 good minutes.   Chronic slow starts.   Too many easy shots for Vandy early.    Also, when JB is sitting, the offense stagnates.   Can't fault the effort.    Last basket for Vandy, it looked like Jae and Buycks switched, leaving Crowder on the guard and Buycks on the big down low.   DB left his to come double, the guard stepped through and hit the guy Buycks had left.   Chris had his guy sealed and then was a half step late recovering to the open player.   Still contested, but a second late.   DG is not ready defensively. 
   For about 28 minutes last night, MU played about as well as they could.   Good defense, solid rebounding, running and getting to the rim, good shot selection, sharing the ball, excellent defensive rotations.     Some really nice runs on the road against a ranked team.   For about 12 minutes, we stunk.    Against the level of competition we play, that is fatal.   Must put 40 minutes together.   

[willie warrior]

I did not want to post frustrated, so I slept on it.  Didn't read other threads.    Also, when JB is sitting, the offense stagnates.           DG is not ready defensively. 
     

JB played terrible d on taylor last night. he had him all of the first half and was torched for 14.

And Otule is ready defensively?

Gardner 3 minutes

Cadougan 10 minutes


Buycks 34 minutes.
Oh well

[chren21]

JB played terrible d on taylor last night. he had him all of the first half and was torched for 14.

And Otule is ready defensively?

Gardner 3 minutes

Cadougan 10 minutes


Buycks 34 minutes.
Oh well

What's the question with Gardner?  He was awful when he came in on D.  Not saying maybe he shouldn't have gotten a chance in the second half but he was terrible.  3 straight O boards given up.

[GGGG]

Cadougan 10 minutes

Buycks 34 minutes.

Buycks is just better.  C'mon now, what does Junior give you?  No assists, one turnover, 0-1 shooting.  I realize that Buycks turns the ball over and isn't the perfect point guard, but IMO that's better than Junior right now.

[willie warrior]

OK--Buycks is better--we will see how that pans out this year. He is a TO machine ala McNeal, and I am not seeing improvement there.

[ATL MU Warrior]

JB played terrible d on taylor last night. he had him all of the first half and was torched for 14.

And Otule is ready defensively?

Gardner 3 minutes

Cadougan 10 minutes

Buycks 34 minutes.
Oh well

Buycks got 34 minutes because, despite the turnovers, he was our best player for many stretches of the game.  

[ATWizJr]

I'd say we are an inexperienced team with many new pieces that are taking time to meld.  We are probably a year away.  Sure do applaud the effort. 

[mugrad99]

I'd say we are an inexperienced team with many new pieces that are taking time to meld.  We are probably a year away.  Sure do applaud the effort. 

-1
Buycks Sr
Butler Sr.

Arguably our two best players, at this moment, and will be gone next year. Can't say we are a year away, since they obviously will be gone. That's what happens when you take more than 1 JUCO each class, it's a win now, or else you are constantly chasing.

That being said, I am not too upset. Our first tough road game, and had a chance to pull it out. These guys competed. I still think we are a tournament team, and we will be playing our best ball at the end of the year.

[bilsu]

Unless you move Blue to point Buycks is our best point guard. Point guard is our weakest position, even weaker than center.

I mentioned either on this board or scout board that Otule's bad hands have to do with being virtually blind in one eye. Posters replied to me that his vision was not the problem and I did not know what I was talking about. The annoucers in last nights game talked about Otule having sight in only one eye, because of something he was born with. Depth perception comes from being able to see out of two eyes. You need depth perception to judge where the ball is.

[jaybilaswho?]

... it still hurts.

[🏀]

... it still hurts.

That's what she said.


Anyways...the team has a lot of basketball talent, but they are missing two essential factors.

1.) Basketball IQ - No one on this team strikes me as a high IQ guy, usually a good PG can cover this for the team, but Lazar filled this role last year. When a play shuts down, the whole team shuts down without anyone there to think.

2.) Leadership - No one is out there rallying the troops. There's no emotional leader, no one is getting everyone fired up. I did see Jimmy make a couple comments and Chris was leading the team in emotion last night. DJO needs to start firing the team, we're going to need it next season.

[WellsstreetWanderer]

Buycks was the reason we were in the game.  i can live with 2.3 TOs per game when assists and key shots are in the mix

[Blackhat]

Help defense and rebounding still suck.  Big problems.

I like Buycks as a shooter

Otule was a man child...impressive to see his development.

Gardner should never see the floor until he learns how to move his feet and actually defend and box a man out. 
Haven't figured out if he's just lazy on D or has no athletic ability.

[damuts222]

 It will be interesting to see how the minutes shake up as the season goes on. If we continue to lose early on in the Big East schedule I see Buzz playing some of the younger guys more. Being realistic we are a mediocre team. Maybe I'm wrong but unless something clicks suddenly our mental lapses will continue to cost us games. I hope I am wrong, and the sky isn't falling because were a young team but I want to see growth throughout the year. I would like to see Vander play point, and Cadougan to me is a slower Cubillan  in the way he defends an he can't shoot. If your point guard doesn't get any respect when he is running the offense he won't be able to create for the rest of the team.

Those are my thoughts after sleeping on it just like tower.

[willie warrior]

I'd say we are an inexperienced team with many new pieces that are taking time to meld.  We are probably a year away.  Sure do applaud the effort. 

I applaud the effort also, except for some shady d by Butler on Taylor first half. Blue did no better second half--they had to finally end up with DJO on him.

The excuse of being an inexperienced team is really getting old. Butler and Buycks are seniors, DJO a Junior, Otule often injured, is in the system for his third year. We have already played almost one- half season this year.

Let's get off the inexperienced excuse wagon. These are Buzz's players--time to hold him accountable for the results. Kind of like blaming Bush for Obamas failures and inexperience.

[willie warrior]

Help defense and rebounding still suck.  Big problems.

I like Buycks as a shooter

Otule was a man child...impressive to see his development.

Gardner should never see the floor until he learns how to move his feet and actually defend and box a man out. 
Haven't figured out if he's just lazy on D or has no athletic ability.

gardner can move his feet better now than Otule can. He is not as tall. I do not believe his d is any worse than Otule's--other than Otule is a better shot blocker. Otule gives up plenty of rebounds to the offense--last night, Duke, Gonzaga, etc.

[Blackhat]

Otule actually jumps for the ball and can block/alter shots.

[🏀]

Let's get off the inexperienced excuse wagon. These are Buzz's players--time to hold him accountable for the results. Kind of like blaming Bush for Obamas failures and inexperience.

Does Buzz control the experience of the players? Not really...

Buycks - Second year
Vander - First year
DJO - Second year
Jae - First year
O'Tule - Second year
Gardner - First year
Caddy - First year
Williams - Second year
Jones - First year

Butler - Third year
Fulce - Third year

He can control the amount of JUCO players though. Look on the bright side, almost 70% of minutes played thus far will return next season. I figured we would be down big this year, but watch out for next year.

[Blackhat]

Need length inside, athletic bigs hell I'll take a Marcus Jackson.

Then we can stop this hyper extension of our d which opens up huge holes and screws up help defense when the pressure is beat.

Really disappointed Buzz hasn't gotten one by year 3, thought he'd get it  done there.  

[MarquetteDano]

Does Buzz control the experience of the players? Not really...

Buycks - Second year
Vander - First year
DJO - Second year
Jae - First year
O'Tule - Second year
Gardner - First year
Caddy - First year
Williams - Second year
Jones - First year

Butler - Third year
Fulce - Third year

Great post.  Everyone looks at the class in the roster sheet but that does not tell you Division I experience.  This is an inexperienced team by all measures.  There was turnover when Buzz came on and that is to be expected with  a coaching change.  That turnover has caused us experience at this point.  I can already see the improvement on this team which is encouraging.  I just hope the improvement happens in time for a NCAA berth.

[Boone]

I'd still rather take my chances with Buycks at the the point than Junior, who brings zero to the game. Erik seems to have regressed back into his role of a few games ago. Where was Jimmy's leadership last nite?

[BrewCity83]

2.) Leadership - No one is out there rallying the troops. There's no emotional leader, no one is getting everyone fired up. I did see Jimmy make a couple comments and Chris was leading the team in emotion last night. DJO needs to start firing the team, we're going to need it next season.

I think Crowder might be that guy.

[🏀]

Great post.  Everyone looks at the class in the roster sheet but that does not tell you Division I experience.  This is an inexperienced team by all measures.  There was turnover when Buzz came on and that is to be expected with  a coaching change.  That turnover has caused us experience at this point.  I can already see the improvement on this team which is encouraging.  I just hope the improvement happens in time for a NCAA berth.

Exactly. Buzz was given a upperclassmen heavy team when Crean left. However, his freshmen & sophmore classes were depleted. Buzz reacted by pulling in more JUCO players, which is fine. Marquette is feeling that coaching turnover now instead of the immediate impact it could have had. We'll still be recovering next year, but with some incredible talent:

DJO - Third year
Vander - Second year
Jae - Second year
O'Tule - Third year
Gardner - Second year
Caddy - Second year
Williams - Third year
Jones - Second year
Wilson - Second year (NCAA experience)
Anderson - First year
Derrick Wilson - First year

[ZiggysFryBoy]

I think Crowder might be that guy.

I thought Crowder would be that guy, maybe my expectations of him were too high, but he's not a team leader right now.

Vander Blue will be the team leader by Feb.

[79Warrior]

OK--Buycks is better--we will see how that pans out this year. He is a TO machine ala McNeal, and I am not seeing improvement there.

junior can't score. DB is the better option.