Point Guard Problems

[GGGG]

Last night showed the problem MU is going to have with quick backcourts.  Junior really had trouble keeping his guy in front of him all night.  The problem is the offense looks a little ragged without him out there.  During one stretch, they had Blue running the point with neither Wilson nor Junior in the game...and let's just say I was holding my breath.  As much as I love his defense and his energy, he is still good for a couple TOs and wild shots per game.

And Wilson was OK...nothing spectacular...but he has zero offensive game at this point.  Unfortunately, I think we might be struggling with point guard issues again against top BE level teams.

[APieperFan3]

Thats because EVERY Big East point guard can shoot/score.

[NersEllenson]

Agree that Junior had a rough game last night, yet he competed fairly well in the Big East down the stretch last year, and I certainly don't think he's regressed.  IF anything the Big East this year will have regressed with regard to talent, than in past years.  I'm still bullish on Derrick Wilson, though he may not look to score much, scoring isn't needed on this team.  His defense is 5-star talent good.

[jsglow]

I thought JC's game was a little off last night with respect to on court decisioning.  The pace was so fast that I thought he rushed a number of semi fast breaks and didn't allow the flow to happen.  In some ways much of this might be because I underestimated UW.  They look like a pretty good team (albeit young and somewhat prone to mistakes) to me.

[GGGG]

Agree that Junior had a rough game last night, yet he competed fairly well in the Big East down the stretch last year, and I certainly don't think he's regressed.  IF anything the Big East this year will have regressed with regard to talent, than in past years.  I'm still bullish on Derrick Wilson, though he may not look to score much, scoring isn't needed on this team.  His defense is 5-star talent good.

Well, I'm not sure about that.  Blue is the better defender.  I think Sugar pointed out that Wilson was -7 against Wisconsin.  He can defend, but he doesn't do much for you offensively now.  (I fully expect him in a couple years to do so though.)

I don't think Junior has regressed, but his defense is a problem.

[JD]

I watched most of the game, however I had to miss the ending.  I heard Buzz had Junior in the game for the final possession(s), can somebody explain why?

I understand him being in the game to be the field marshal and help run the offense, but at that point in the game why would he play JC?  Is it a leadership thing? Seniority thing?  To me he was a liability on the defensive end to say the least

[GGGG]

I watched most of the game, however I had to miss the ending.  I heard Buzz had Junior in the game for the final possession(s), can somebody explain why?

I understand him being in the game to be the field marshal and help run the offense, but at that point in the game why would he play JC?  Is it a leadership thing? Seniority thing?  To me he was a liability on the defensive end to say the least

At some point in time, you have to go with the guys you know and who have been there.  Mayo and DWilson have never been in that situation before.  Junior has.  You win or lose with the guys you trust.

[Dr. Blackheart]

Junior had six assists last night. Against Bucky, MU as a team had eight total. First and foremost, MU is an offensive team, and Junior makes it go.

[Goose]

Junior needs to play in crunch time. Much better half court offense when he is in the game. He needs to make some better decisions from time to time, but overall he needs to play.

[JD]

So you guys are telling me that he can run the offense through the half court better than anybody, which is good, but what happens on the defensive end?  Do we just hope his man is a non factor in the next possession? 

And also don't we have guys who can make there own shots when it comes to crunch time?  DJO, Crowder, Mayo?

Just not sure i understand the logic in that.

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

Junior does not "make the offense go." If anything he's the one slowing it down, I would assume by design. He seems to me to be the one guy who always seems a little out of sync on offense and he's been that way since he got here. On a team full of tremendous athletes, he's a little bit of a fish out of water. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Wilson is a better player. He's clearly been told to assume a non scoring role on offense as Butler was told as a soph. Junior is no more talented offensively and a whole lot worse defensively.

[Stronghold]

I thought JC's game was a little off last night with respect to on court decisioning.  The pace was so fast that I thought he rushed a number of semi fast breaks and didn't allow the flow to happen.  In some ways much of this might be because I underestimated UW.  They look like a pretty good team (albeit young and somewhat prone to mistakes) to me.

Washington is definitely the most athletic team we have played this year.  If all of their players stick around I feel like they could be very good in the near future.

[MUMac]

So you guys are telling me that he can run the offense through the half court better than anybody, which is good, but what happens on the defensive end?  Do we just hope his man is a non factor in the next possession? 

And also don't we have guys who can make there own shots when it comes to crunch time?  DJO, Crowder, Mayo?

Just not sure i understand the logic in that.

Play for situational substitutions.  It also depends upon the score/time left when we are on defense.  Did we just score?  Miss the shot and need to foul? ...  Too many variables to give absolutes, but situational substitution.  Otherwise, I suspect Buzz will go with Junior on the court as the default.

[CTWarrior]

We've got a roster full of imperfect, but good, players.  None of them are do everything guys, but at any time we have a good combination on the floor of scorers, defenders, etc.  I like Buzz's analogy of a tool shed and he has various tools to use depending on the job that needs to be done.

Junior does a good job running the offense, getting others involved, but is not a great shooter nor a great defender.  D Wilson is a solid on the ball defender, but doesn't initiate offense.  You can say something similar about all our guys.  I think the maniacal way Buzz is constantly running guys in and out of the game makes sense in some weird way when you consider game situations and the merits of each player.

[PBRme]

Unlikely we see the combination of point guards we saw last night Gaddy (5 star rated No. 2 PG 2009) and Wroten(5 star rated No. 4 PG 2011).  That is 2 of the top 16 PG's currently playing (according to their rankings coming out of HS)

That team was stacked at the point guard position.  

[dw3dw3dw3]

Junior does not "make the offense go." If anything he's the one slowing it down, I would assume by design. He seems to me to be the one guy who always seems a little out of sync on offense and he's been that way since he got here. On a team full of tremendous athletes, he's a little bit of a fish out of water. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Wilson is a better player. He's clearly been told to assume a non scoring role on offense as Butler was told as a soph. Junior is no more talented offensively and a whole lot worse defensively.

He does seem like a little bit of a fish out of water, but I wouldn't say Wilson is better. JC is a fairly confident guy on offense and I like his 15 footer. I think DJO and Jae work better off a higher performing JC too at least because of trust. There was a lot of stagnant 1 on 1 stuff last night by DJO, he's better when defenders are trying to catch up to the offense and he has someone off balance already.  I would think without looking that the assist percentages were down last night. I was definitely not feeling confident when DWilson tried to penetrate.

I agree with everyone else though.. it will be a matchup thing.. there are plenty of other options depending how the game is going. I think JC having Chris behind him would have helped a lot, there just wasn't anybody to redirect the player once they got passed JC. Nobody is the total package on the team.

[Hards Alumni]

Blue seems to have a major problem when he drives the lane.  He drives, and has no outlet in mind until he is all the way committed and in a bad position to shoot.  This happened at least 3 or 4 times yesterday and just infuriates me.

[jsglow]

Unlikely we see the combination of point guards we saw last night Gaddy (5 star rated No. 2 PG 2009) and Wroten(5 star rated No. 4 PG 2011).  That is 2 of the top 16 PG's currently playing (according to their rankings coming out of HS)

That team was stacked at the point guard position.  

Didn't Buzz say they had 4-5 future NBA guys on their team?  UW was super athletic and caused problems.

[Boone]

We need a PG to round out the '13 class. Wish we had someone to give Junior a run for his money this season and next. I fear he's reached his ceiling as a player. His D is atrocious and he doesn't shoot well enough to keep defenses honest.  Wilson's a defender. Offensively, the best thing you can say about him is that he's a caretaker PG. He doesn't/can't initiate offense, be creative with the ball, drive the lane or shoot. The opportunity is certainly there for a highly rated high school PG to come in and earn significant minutes as a freshman in the fall of '13.

[GGGG]

Wilson's a defender. Offensively, the best thing you can say about him is that he's a caretaker PG. He doesn't/can't initiate offense or drive the lane.

He's 8 games into his freshman year.  Let's let the dude develop a little.

[pillardean]

Blue seems to have a major problem when he drives the lane.  He drives, and has no outlet in mind until he is all the way committed and in a bad position to shoot.  This happened at least 3 or 4 times yesterday and just infuriates me.

I was thinking the same thing. I like his penetrating ability, but he doesn't need to get to the basket EVERY time he enters the lane. Work on step backs when the lane is clogged-something DJO has done an exceptional job at since his Sophomore year. Blue puts his head down and goes. I like it, but there needs to be diversity to that. That should come in time. I think this is the type of performance we should expect out of Blue throughout the year. Great plays, the dunk and one, and then some plays where you hit your head and say, "come on Blue, you're better than that." I had no problem with his performance tonight.

Also, I was extremely impressed last saturday and tonight, at times, when he handled the PG responsibilities. I was not holding my breath, as some were, when he controls the 1. He'll have more turnovers, sure, but he's going to make more plays.  

[MU82]

Though I am a skeptic by nature, I am not super worried about this yet. Buzz has options, and so far this season he has used them pretty darned well.

[ErickJD08]

Everyone can have a bad night.  I think alot of guys on the team looked a little sluggish and gassed.  JC was not the only problem on defense.  Alot of guys were missing their assignments so you can't just blame it on one guy.

And Washington is a very athletic team but does the coach teach them to chicken wing and hook?  They did that about 10 times and were called about 4 times on it.  I am not too concerned about the PG position.

[tower912]

6 assists, 1 turnover.   Most athletic PG he has guarded so far this year.   I fail to see a concern here. 

[Lennys Tap]

We've got a roster full of imperfect, but good, players.  None of them are do everything guys, but at any time we have a good combination on the floor of scorers, defenders, etc.  I like Buzz's analogy of a tool shed and he has various tools to use depending on the job that needs to be done.

Junior does a good job running the offense, getting others involved, but is not a great shooter nor a great defender.  D Wilson is a solid on the ball defender, but doesn't initiate offense.  You can say something similar about all our guys.  I think the maniacal way Buzz is constantly running guys in and out of the game makes sense in some weird way when you consider game situations and the merits of each player.

Well said. If there's a guy out there who can run a team like Junior AND play lockdown D like Derrick, he's probably not coming to MU. Guys without any holes in their game stop off briefly at UK, UNC, Duke, etc., on their way to the NBA. Those teams don't have to sub offense/defense or small/big like Buzz does. When we add all the attributes of our 11 guys we can come close to replicating what the elites roll out there every night in their starting fives. It's why Buzz has preached from the beginning the need to have a roster full of guys who can play (even if they're "specialty" types) at a Big East level.