Jae Crowder

[willie warrior]

We lost to Duke and Wisconsin.

So that is the reason he is not playing? I was at the Duke game--he played well. Do you wear knee pads for Otule? It was gardner's fault we lost? We also lost at Vandy when Gardner didn't play--so was that Otule's fault?

[chren21]

(Last time I will post this)

For those who have not seen this.  Take a look at 2 minutes of the VANDY replay on espn3.com, you can still view the game.  Game time to fast forward to is noted below.

-10:47 left in first half, DG in.
-9:42 Gardner gives up offensive rebound.  Watch him CLEARLY get beat down the court getting back on D.  He starts off ahead of his man but gets beat to the block on the other end of the court somehow.  Results in Taylor putback from the lane.
-9:13 DG gets beat down the floor AGAIN.  His man gets the offensive board and results in Tinsley hitting a 10 footer.
-8:51 OK defense by MU, shot from baseline bounces long and DG's man gets the offensive rebound.  Tuff bounce.  DG gets pulled.

Now I can understand pulling him there but that's where it ends.  I thought he should have gotten a few minutes in the second half and also agree with some posts above that he should have gotten a few minutes vs. WVU.

[denverMU]

I have it taped and have watched it three times now.  Gardner comes in with 11:22 to go.  Somehow you convienently forgot to mention his defensive shot block of Jenkins at the 10:14 mark and his 2 points at the 10:22 mark.  Finally, Tinsley jumper was not Gardner issue VB forced up a poor shot, then failed to block out and then let Kinsley drive right by him. 

[chren21]

I have it taped and have watched it three times now.  Gardner comes in with 11:22 to go.  Somehow you convienently forgot to mention his defensive shot block of Jenkins at the 10:14 mark and his 2 points at the 10:22 mark.  Finally, Tinsley jumper was not Gardner issue VB forced up a poor shot, then failed to block out and then let Kinsley drive right by him. 

Why did you throw conveinently in there?  I missed it... Sorry about that, will try and do better.  If you read the board the day after the vandy game you will see i listed out most of the plays of the entire half and was mostly concentrating on defense.

You are correct his first def possession at 11:22 was good and so was his second.  Not sure how I missed that.  There was a lot of rewinding going on.

At 9:13 I would agree VB deserves some blame but DG clearly gets beat down the court.  Thats DG's man not VB's.  If he hustles a half step more he can be in front of the guy that gets his hand on the rebound.  If he does that Kinsley never has that chance.

[Markusquette]

I think we all can agree that Gardner looks to be a great offensive player, and just needs to improve his defense.  The main reason he's not in there right now I imagine is due to experience which hurts him a bit more on D.  He is going to be a great player and I'm excited to see him play more.  With that said, I don't really know if I want him in a lot in big games quite yet.  I understand some people wanting to see him play more, but just gotta remember his effectiveness on offense will probably be lower during conference play.

[w0bbie]

I love the Ox, but I think at this point he has to get in the game based on matchups.  He seems to be able to score against anyone, but in order to not lose more than he's giving, he needs the right defensive matchup.  A slow or tired big man that doesn't drift too far from the basket would be ideal.  If DG can keep his body between his man and the basket, he seems to do alright on D.  He gets into trouble if his man can use quickness to slip past him or when he has to move out towards the perimeter to guard and then can't slide back to the post in time.

[Skatastrophy]

He gets into trouble if his man can use quickness to slip past him or when he has to move out towards the perimeter to guard and then can't slide back to the post in time.

Otule has the same problem.

A couple teams this year have had their big guy out at the top of the key moving the ball from wing to wing as the team initiates our offense.  It's brutal watching Otule or Gardner hedge their bets between guarding their man out there and trying to be close enough to get back down low.

This is not a unique problem to Otule and Gardner, though

[w0bbie]

Otule has the same problem.

A couple teams this year have had their big guy out at the top of the key moving the ball from wing to wing as the team initiates our offense.  It's brutal watching Otule or Gardner hedge their bets between guarding their man out there and trying to be close enough to get back down low.

This is not a unique problem to Otule and Gardner, though

Definitely true.  I think it's intensfied in DG's case by the fact that he is the slower of the two and doesn't have Otule's length.  Although neither recover that well, Otule has the better chance of be able to contest.  Both guys are works in progress.  Since this was originally a thread about Crowder, I will say that I'm glad that we have DG and Otule so we don't have to rely on Crowder and Fulce splitting all the time at the 5.

[ATL MU Warrior]

nm