Thoughts on the Rutgers game.....

[warriors1991]

Having had to watch the game on DVR delay because of work....

1)DJO looked great tonight. Needless to say it was great having him back just like for UWM. I hope he keeps it going.
2)Butler is out there a lot but seems to sort of 'disappear' for long stretches offensively. I'd love to see him get the ball on the blocks occasionally and be a bit more of a force.
3)The TV feed from TWC was awful. Can't wait for HD, hopefully it will improve.
4)The announcers were comically bad. CaRdougan, Darius Odom, innumerable factual errors, the list goes on and on, it's like they didn't even know our team.
5)Everyone yelling for Junior to get more PT now has a full game to see the effect. Some nice passing, not-awful ball handling, but essentially no threat on offense. With the shot clock under 10 seconds, someone here said it perfectly: It's like we're playing 4-on-5. Why Buycks only played like 6 minutes is beyond comprehension.
6)Vander better forget about getting evaluated for the NBA after the season (althought that 6-step nontravel looked straight out of the big leagues). He is good now, he's going to be very good eventually, but he isn't going to ever play anywhere beyond college until he works an entire offseason on changing his jump/free throw shooting mechanics.
7)Rebounding will continue to hurt us against actually good teams.
8)FT shooting is going to KILL us. 20 of 32 is painful.
And lastly........

JIM BURR WASN'T THERE TONIGHT!

[MU B2002]

Buycks was sick.

[warriors1991]

Was it true DB was sick? I didn't hear that until now. That makes a little more sense I guess if it's true.

[MauraDay]

I liked Vander's play -- he has a nose for the ball and got a lot of good rebounds,  and smart, hustle plays that don't show up on the stat sheet. Yes, his free throw shooting was bad, but, overall, I'm a fan.

[warriors1991]

I like Vander a lot too, he's going to be great for us. He will be outstanding if he can get a jump shot.

[Blackhat]

He's a solid player but we ain't talking Mike Rosario as far as shooting ability.

When I saw him light it up his junior year in hs that's what i thought he was.

have adjusted expectations.

[karavotsos]

On defense, 4 turkeys in the first half.
Only 1 turkey in the second half, and it didn't come until about 2 min. left.

[MarquetteDano]

Dwight hurt his thigh in practice.

[chren21]

Buzz on postgame.

- Least number of paint touches
- Didn't defend the paint well 35 box touches to 31 non box touches
- Ball screen needs work
- Dwight's "injury"...  DG kneed him in practice in the thigh.
- Best practice of buzz's tenure on Monday
- Terrible practice on tuesday
- Buycks helped us even though injured
- Not sure if Buycks will be ready for Sat.  Buycks said its really tender and it hurts.
- Homer has a cold

[MerrittsMustache]

I thought Butler played well tonight and seems like he's back in his element. He had a very quiet 16 points, but at the end of the day, it's still 16 points. When MU can get scoring from DJO and Crowder, Butler can go back to being an outstanding role player as opposed to having to carry the load of being "the man," which is a role that he did not appear comfortable with.

FYI - TWC now has an HD channel (1332).

[PGsHeroes32]

Im fine with Vander when hes on the court, he plays hard so mistakes will happen from the freshman.

Need DJO to keep this up against the good teams.

If we rebound like today and team like Pitt and ND are going to kill us coming up with length.

Free throws have to improve, but I still love the amount we are getting during games.

[warriors1991]

DB's injury makes the playing time much more understandable. Thanks.

[Ari Gold]

Was it true DB was sick? I didn't hear that until now. That makes a little more sense I guess if it's true.

Took a knee to the thigh in practice (via Mike Broeker/Todd Rosiak tweets)

Thought we did a great job getting to the line tonight. That was really impressive. We made 2x the free throws that took. 20 of 32 may not look great but we were 16-22 before the last 4 minutes.
Wanted Crowder to get some more looks in the 2nd half. He had the hot hand in the first half.
Turnovers kept the game close in the first half. We were able to cut those down in the 2nd half. It helped us pull away
We were hurt by the lack of in the paint points.

[NersEllenson]

Observations:

1) We need Buycks on the floor - Cadougan is at LEAST still a year away from being a Big East caliber player.  Of his 8 assists - i'd say 3 were of a decent degree of skill level -where he did actually help create the shot for the player.

2) Think we are trying to get too exotic in our defensive package with some of the half court trapping.  It's causing break downs elsewhere..and our rotations once the trap is beat leave us scarmbling which leads to:

3) Poor rebounding position.  Another bad night on the glass for MU.

4) It is clear this team needs DJO to be a superstar for it to be able to win at a high level.

5) Jimmy, Jae, DJO and Buycks are going to have to supply almost all of the teams offense.

6) Vander has a lot of potential, but offensively is NOWHERE near ready to even consider the NBA.  That said he is a fantastic defender, and has great court awareness/presence.

[Shanunu]

3)The TV feed from TWC was awful. Can't wait for HD, hopefully it will improve.

It wasn't just TWC that had a bad feed. I have Cox in CT and it was really choppy. Probably a crappy feed from the Big East Network.

[warriors1991]

It wasn't just TWC that had a bad feed. I have Cox in CT and it was really choppy. Probably a crappy feed from the Big East Network.

And I had it recorded on TWC's new HD channel; it wasn't in HD and the feed was very choppy. Hopefully Saturday will look better.

[chren21]

Mac picked Butler as player of game.  He said cause DJO played 36 min with no rebounds and Butler was the only one hitting FT's down the stretch.

[warriors1991]

Mac picked Butler as player of game.  He said cause DJO played 36 min with no rebounds and Butler was the only one hitting FT's down the stretch.

Clearly Mac is in love with JFB then, because he did the same thing in the WVU game on the radio. Butler rebounds but is essentially nonexistent on offense for 35 minutes and then makes some FTs down the stretch and he's the SOTG? We lose without DJO tonight.

[MauraDay]

I think it's amazing that Jimmy can score 16 points and seem like 5. He would definitely not have guessed he had that many. I like how he doesn't force it.

Agree that the full court pressure trap idea leaves us too vulnerable down low on defense, when we're not even that good down low on defense in a normal half court set.

[brewcity77]

It wasn't just TWC that had a bad feed. I have Cox in CT and it was really choppy. Probably a crappy feed from the Big East Network.

Watched it on CASN (I think), some Milwaukee non-TWC cable station, and had the same sort of feed. It was sad, the commercials looked better than the game.

Butler was solid tonight, and I think in his element. He's the kind of guy who's willing to step up when we need it, but it's almost like he'd rather not be the focal point. Despite the scoreless first half against WVU, he played a pretty good game. Going scoreless is fine if you are finding your passing targets and aren't forcing bad shots. JFB seems to be proving that he's a smart player who will do what it takes to win, even if it costs him personally in the stat department.

[Da 'Lanche]

Road win in the BEast with a relatively young team.  Granted Rutgers is not an overly intimidating environment by Big East standards, but a great sign that MU wins a game it should, away, even when the game tightened up a bit in the 2nd half.  JC, Blue, Crowder, Otule, Gardner with little to no Big East experience and they had significant minutes.   Blue's offense is going to come and I love the other things he is doing.  He had a couple great boards, some nice passes, good defense and great court awareness.   Plus, the fact that he is on the floor for so many minutes indicates he must do very well in practice and shows things that we can not see.

I thought Jr.C was okay and tend to be critical but then I remember that he is maturing right before our eyes...I really can't compare him to other 2nd year players.
I do hope he has some type of offensive game that will develop...like a jump shot.

To whatever voodoo has been in the mix....thank you for returning the real DJO.   His confidence is booming again.

Crowder is another that just keeps getting better.  I am pleasantly surprised with his 3 point shooting...I was harsh on him earlier in the year for taking those shots and was obviously wrong.


The evolution of this team is going in the right direction.  Pitt will be one heck of  an indicator of our true competitiveness for a good run in the conference and a possible invitation to the dance.

[Ari Gold]

Crowder is another that just keeps getting better.  I am pleasantly surprised with his 3 point shooting...I was harsh on him earlier in the year for taking those shots and was obviously wrong.

12/13 on his first three point attempt this season. Really wanted to see him touch the ball more in the 2nd half though

[Earl Tatum]

E-Will's butt must have red blisters by now, sitting on the bench for most of two years. He's dead wood. Come on E-Will, transfer, so we can get someone who wants to play or comprehend the system.

[Mutaman]

Norm Roberts doing the post game on SNY: "Buzz Williams' teams are tough, aggressive, and know how to win on the road in the Big East".

[chren21]

E-Will's butt must have red blisters by now, sitting on the bench for most of two years. He's dead wood. Come on E-Will, transfer, so we can get someone who wants to play or comprehend the system.

You honestly think he does not want to play?