How about STARTING Cadougan?

[tower912]

It is time to start Cadougan.    Bring Buycks off of the bench.   Junior goes out with Jae, Jimmy, DJO and Chris, gets Chris quality looks in the post, gets the other three good looks in their spots, etc.    Bring Buycks in off of the bench to provide offense when Blue and DG/Fulce come in.   Buycks faces a worn down or second string PG, Blue and Cadougan don't spend as much time on the floor together.     We get bigger at guard going to the three guard set with Buycks in instead of Junior.    Actual playing time doesn't have to change that much.

[lab_warrior]

It's also time to play Gardner more.  Even if only for a few min. stretches at a time.  We need the scoring in the post.  Badly.

[BobWildLoyalist]

I say let Vander cry on the bench. He has been forcing and pressing to much on offense

[Clam Crowder]

Junior definitely has been looking better than Buycks lately no question. I dk where Buycks has gone the last 2 games. Pretty terrible stretch for him. I also agree with Gardner. Vander should still get a decent amount of minutes remember the stretch last night with all of the force turnovers has Vander and Cadougan applying alot of the pressure on their guards. He also gets to rim but just fails miserably when he gets there.

[Clarence]

Our best Lineup is

1. Junior
2. Dwight
2. DJO
4. Jae (just for the trail 3's)
5. Jimmy

Vander, Otule and Gardner off the bench.  Fulce only in emergencies.   Buzz needs to shorten the rotation and let his top players play together.  We have to get back to scoring 80+ per game.   It is the only way we can compete for 40 minutes.

[Skatastrophy]

I say let Vander cry on the bench. He has been forcing and pressing to much on offense

We don't need Vander to score this year.  He's been a breath of fresh air on defense. 

[Norm]

I don't think Cadougan should start for Buycks and get the majority of point guard minutes.

Buycks has the best field goal percentage on the team in BE play at .523. He also leads the team in 3 point field goal percentage in BE play at .552. Cadougan shhots at a .273 and .000 rate respectively.

Buycks is averaging 11.6 points per game in BE play while Cadougan averages 3 points a game.

Cadougan has a better free throw percentage in BE play at .706 (12-17), while Buycks shoots at a .643 rate (9-14).

In terms of assists and turnovers, Cadougan has a better assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.7 (24 assists, 9 turnovers) to Buycks' 1.6 (26 assists, 16 turnovers). (Surprisingly, Crowder has the best ratio at 4.5 in BE play (18 assists to 4 turnovers).

All in all, in my opinion, the team needs Buycks shooting percentage and points to start and get more playing time.

[BobWildLoyalist]

We don't need Vander to score this year.  He's been a breath of fresh air on defense. 

Not that he is bad on D, but we dwight, djo, JC, or jimmy can do everything that vander can do on D.

[MUBurrow]

i am not a fan of using a starting lineup that you don't really play together for long stretches generally.  Except in extreme cases, i think your starting 5 should be your best lineup together, irrespective of seniority, practice effort, or any of those types of consideration.  the only time that a starting lineup that really didnt see any time during the game made sense to me was when dwight burke started but then didnt get huge minutes.  that made sense from a seniority standpoint, and because it was some semblance of a traditionally 1-5 lineup, which we didnt have the personnel to consistently run.
it would be interesting to see how many times, other than to start, the 5 of Buycks, DJO, JFB, Jae, and Otule are on the floor together. from what i can think of, its extremely rare. So i guess i just dont see what you gain by starting that 5.  It seems like it can be an issue that can undermine contuity on the floor, as well as it seems like an unrealistic lineup that makes it hard for both the players and Buzz to establish minute expectations or quick reactions to fatigue or looks from the opponent.

[Stretchdeltsig]

I don't know where your seats are, but Buycks is playing 1000% better than Cadugan.  Cadugan needs to work on his game period.  He should relieve Buycks and DJO only.  Buycks has the offensive game and is a much more of a threat than Cadugan.

[brewcity77]

I don't know where your seats are, but Buycks is playing 1000% better than Cadugan.  Cadugan needs to work on his game period.  He should relieve Buycks and DJO only.  Buycks has the offensive game and is a much more of a threat than Cadugan.

+1

I agree with this. Cadougan has improved, but Buycks is still the better player. If the minutes didn't change, I guess it wouldn't be a bad move to start Cadougan, but we should have Buycks out there 30+ mpg. He's earning it.

[Freeport Warrior]

I don't know where your seats are, but Buycks is playing 1000% better than Cadugan.  Cadugan needs to work on his game period.  He should relieve Buycks and DJO only.  Buycks has the offensive game and is a much more of a threat than Cadugan.

+2
Buycks was a little erratic on offense last night, but he played some awesome D on Walker. Walker would have destroyed Cadougan, his wheels just aren't there. Cadougan's definitely gotten better, but he's no better than a serviceable back-up right now. He had some good inside passes and is a capable ballhandler, but his ceiling compared to Buycks at this point isn't close IMO. Someone else said it on another thread, but having Cadougan and Blue in at the same time is insane. Neither has confidence in their shot and won't put it up. This will change next year, but for now it's Buycks. At least Buycks can score. Yes, he turns it over more than I'd like, but he plays pretty solid defense.

[GGGG]

Guys, I posted this earlier in a different thread, but Junior and Blue were on the floor together for an almost seven minute period in the second half.  (From about the 14:00 to the 7:00 mark)  During that time, MU went from down four to up five.  The run stopped when DJO was subbed in for Junior...UConn scored five straight.

Look at the ball.  It moves better with Junior.  He is a pure point...he knows where the ball is supposed to go and gets it there.  DB is better at this point I know, but the ball too often stops with DJO and DB.  Everyone wants to look at stats, but look at that stretch.  It was the best basketball we played all night aside from the opening five minutes.

[Nukem2]

Guys, I posted this earlier in a different thread, but Junior and Blue were on the floor together for an almost seven minute period in the second half.  (From about the 14:00 to the 7:00 mark)  During that time, MU went from down four to up five.  The run stopped when DJO was subbed in for Junior...UConn scored five straight.

Look at the ball.  It moves better with Junior.  He is a pure point...he knows where the ball is supposed to go and gets it there.  DB is better at this point I know, but the ball too often stops with DJO and DB.  Everyone wants to look at stats, but look at that stretch.  It was the best basketball we played all night aside from the opening five minutes.

Agreed.  I was just about to post the same thing.  That duo looked pretty fine in person at the BC last night.  the wheels started to fall of when Caddy was pulled for a breather.  damage was done by the time he came back.

[GGGG]

And Nukem, that is when they got the ball to JFB on the block.  Junior and Blue both fed him from the wing.  They weren't given assists because he dribbled too much, but they got him the ball where it needed to be.  People want to rag on JFB but he has to get the ball where he can be effective.  That is a PG's job.  Mo did that last year for Zar.  DB isn't doing that in the half court set.

[Golden Avalanche]

And Nukem, that is when they got the ball to JFB on the block.  Junior and Blue both fed him from the wing.  They weren't given assists because he dribbled too much, but they got him the ball where it needed to be.  People want to rag on JFB but he has to get the ball where he can be effective.  That is a PG's job.  Mo did that last year for Zar.  DB isn't doing that in the half court set.

And the next level question is clearly Buzz had to see that Butler was starting to take the game over like a Senior, and Junior was key to that as you mention with his entry passes and overall understanding of finding Jimmy's spot, so why did he cut off Butler's supply guy (and doom the rhythm to stagnant) when he kept Cadougan on the bench at the under-8?

[GGGG]

Maybe he felt he was playing with fire due to a lack of backcourt scoring?  Maybe Junior can't go that long?  Blue was in before Junior and came out after he left.  Who knows?

[brewcity77]

And the next level question is clearly Buzz had to see that Butler was starting to take the game over like a Senior, and Junior was key to that as you mention with his entry passes and overall understanding of finding Jimmy's spot, so why did he cut off Butler's supply guy (and doom the rhythm to stagnant) when he kept Cadougan on the bench at the under-8?

Because DJO is our leading scorer and he wanted to get him back on the floor, and DJO was having a pretty stellar game to that point despite some foul trouble. My guess is Buzz was thinking first about getting our two best players back on the floor at the same time.

[willie warrior]

+2
Buycks was a little erratic on offense last night, but he played some awesome D on Walker. Walker would have destroyed Cadougan, his wheels just aren't there. Cadougan's definitely gotten better, but he's no better than a serviceable back-up right now. He had some good inside passes and is a capable ballhandler, but his ceiling compared to Buycks at this point isn't close IMO. Someone else said it on another thread, but having Cadougan and Blue in at the same time is insane. Neither has confidence in their shot and won't put it up. This will change next year, but for now it's Buycks. At least Buycks can score. Yes, he turns it over more than I'd like, but he plays pretty solid defense.

Buycks only played average D on Walker. DJO guarded him for several minutes and so did Blue. Down the stretch, Walker scored about 8 points off Buycks.

[dwaderoy2004]

i really don't think anyone is saying that Junior is a better all around player than Buycks.  However, playing/starting buycks with DJO is just redundant as they are the same player.  Junior is the best option at point.  When he's in, he sets up easy looks for Crowder and Butler.  And DJO or Buycks can play the 2 and have a little more space to operate.  Every once in a while, Buycks remembers he's the PG, and tries to force passes to teammates in tough spots, but he can't do it.  Junior is our best option at the point, and is just as good defensively as buycks or djo.  I'm fine with Junior not starting, but he should be getting the bulk of the PG minutes.

[RawdogDX]

I don't think JR should be starting.  I do think he should be closing out the last 8 minutes of our leads when the game gets slown down.

[Spaniel with a Short Tail]

The intriguing part of Junior starting is I think he can get Otule the ball in a better way than DB does. When DB drives and does a quick, short dump-off to CO, he tends to fumble it (and everyone here rags on him). I can see Junior being able to get CO the ball when he gets in position and asks for it - thereby eliminating fumble-itis - and leading to better offensive production from CO.

[79Warrior]

It's also time to play Gardner more.  Even if only for a few min. stretches at a time.  We need the scoring in the post.  Badly.

what scoring? We are playing real teams now, not cupcakes.

[ken8406]

Buycks was being guarded by Kemba Walker yesterday. Walker is one of the best defensive guards in the conference.

[chapman]

what scoring? We are playing real teams now, not cupcakes.

What happened to the Gardner that scored 9 in 15 minutes and grabbed 4 rebounds while playing hurt against Duke?  Or the Gardner that scored 9 in 18 minutes and grabbed 3 rebounds against UW?  Ever since the pseudo-benching where he played 3 minutes against Centenary he's barely been a blip on the radar with 3 points and 4 rebounds in 33 minutes of Big East play.  Were UW and Duke just unprepared, but every single Big East team got the memo so they were ready for him to the point where he became unplayable and ineffective on both ends when he did get in the game?  Or is it some kind of slump, us playing a different style of ball, him not being utilized in a way which he can be most productive, perhaps fighting through injuries?  Given that he was at worst a breath of fresh air against UW and that he played spectacular when his shoulder injury should've kept him out against Duke I don't buy that "the Big East" is the sole reason for his lack of productivity, but I can't answer as to why he barely plays and does not look very good when he does get in.