Offensive style or coaching

[BCHoopster]

You can look all you want at our players, but lets talk a little about the lack of offensive plays that the coaches give to the players to run.  I saw a lot of easy baskets for Vandy
tonight off of set plays.  The offense is very stagnant.  The group is fine when they can run a little but without another big we play small ball again except this team is short on talent
on the offensive end.  I am not going to knock Vander, but Vander should be playing less minutes as he is does not have an offensive game at this point.  Junior has to start shooting the
ball more or he is a offensive detriment.  In saying all of this, you need to get DJO in better situations to shoot the ball.  There really are no set plays that I can see for DJO.  You have to
set-up DJO more, that is coaching.  Understanding your talent.  The offense has to run through him, that is not happening.  Last but not least, what Junior does in the air is ridiculous.
Players are taught not to get stuck in the air when passing, he does all the time.  Better beat Ville on Sunday or this is going to a long 5 game stretch.

[Tugg Speedman]

MU does not run set plays, that coach is at IU now.

[BCHoopster]

And you saw what happened tonight???

[Tugg Speedman]

You said; There really are no set plays that I can see for DJO.

The reason you see no set plays for DJO is their are no set plays for anyone.  Buzz doesn't work that way.  Crean did.

[DomJamesToTheBasket]

It doesn't help taking your starting PG out 30 times in one game....that is totally ridiculous and is not done by others for a reason.  Way too much subbing all around. Buzz needs to let guys get more in the flow of the game.

Also,  5 minutes for DG needs some explaining. Very poor management of his desperately needed minutes, regardless of his foul situation.  When you have your worst possible shooting night,  you need the high percentage shots that DG gets. 

[DomJamesToTheBasket]

MU does not run set plays, that coach is at IU now.

Not running set plays has more potential,   but you need the guys to consistently make good decisions on where to exploit what the defense is giving.  Bottom line: The guys need to start making better decisions or MU is going to take a lot of losses in the BEAST.

Cadougan needs to stop getting subbed out every minute and start getting into the lane and passing.  Passing as a whole has turned into bowel movement.  MU started with an average of close to 20 assists per game and has had just 31 in the last 3 games.  So MU was among the top 10 in assists....and last 3 games were around 310th.  That is obviously attributed to poor shooting,  but that has a lot to do with horrible ball movement.

[seakm4]

How about cracking a 2-3.  After crean and now with buzz I'm convinced a 2-3 cannot be cracked.  Teams have now found out that if they get back in transition we have no o.  we need a half court offense and to learn how to play against a zone.

[g0lden3agle]

Also,  5 minutes for DG needs some explaining. Very poor management of his desperately needed minutes, regardless of his foul situation.  When you have your worst possible shooting night,  you need the high percentage shots that DG gets. 

We were going to lose that game with DG on the bench in foul trouble.  Might as well have kept him out there until he fouled out. Outcome probably wouldn't have been any different, but what's the point of keeping someone on the bench with too many fouls in a game that you desperately needed more inside presence?  

[g0lden3agle]

How about cracking a 2-3.  After crean and now with buzz I'm convinced a 2-3 cannot be cracked.  Teams have now found out that if they get back in transition we have no o.  we need a half court offense and to learn how to play against a zone.

We seemed to do just fine against the 2-3 when we played Syracuse last year.  Vandy went into the 2-3 when they were up by an unbelievable margin and realized MU was ice cold from the field and wouldn't be able to shoot out of it if their lives depended on it.

[ATWizJr]

We were going to lose that game with DG on the bench in foul trouble.  Might as well have kept him out there until he fouled out. Outcome probably wouldn't have been any different, but what's the point of keeping someone on the bench with too many fouls in a game that you desperately needed more inside presence?  

Was he sending DG or the team a message?

[GGGG]

The problem with last night wasn't the "offensive style."  MU had a number of decent looks.  They couldn't knock them down.  This is the same exact "offensive style" that he has run the last couple of years when they were one of the most efficient scoring teams in the country.  We miss JFB's ability to take it to the hole...Jae really can't do that...Jamil hasn't shown that ability yet.

[BCHoopster]

Every team has a different make-up, DJO needs lots of picks to get open.  Last year, Jimmy could get his own shot, DJO really has a set shot.  Need some plays run
for him.

[GGGG]

Every team has a different make-up, DJO needs lots of picks to get open.  Last year, Jimmy could get his own shot, DJO really has a set shot.  Need some plays run
for him.

BC...he had open looks within the flow of the offense.  He didn't knock them down.

[bilsu]

Last night Crowder was going to the free throw line and I said to my wife as bad as we are playing, if Crowder makes these we will only be down 7-4. He missed both and the wheels came off. Sure Vandy played good defense, but we missed several shots we were capable of making. When your game is off, you get brutalized when fate goes against you. Vandy misses free throw and ball bounces way out and Vandy player hits a three. Vandy player hits free throw we save two points. Vandy player misses open shot and Gardner picks up second foul on rebound. We were being hurt when Vandy made shots and also being hurt when they were missing shots. Sometimes that is the way games go. I do think the better team won, but generally the game will be closer than that one. As far as coaching, our weaknesses in past years have been on the defensive side. This year Buzz has been placing the emphasis on defense and that is a coaching decision. Of course losing Otule has hurt us badly on the defensive side. Defense led to our fast start, which was a common theme under Crean  whose teams generally did very well in November and generally poor in March. I think the elite coaches are willing to lose November games to have the best team in March. After all it is not about who you beat in November, it is about who you can beat in March.

[MarquetteDano]

Last night Crowder was going to the free throw line and I said to my wife as bad as we are playing, if Crowder makes these we will only be down 7-4. He missed both and the wheels came off. Sure Vandy played good defense, but we missed several shots we were capable of making. When your game is off, you get brutalized when fate goes against you. Vandy misses free throw and ball bounces way out and Vandy player hits a three. Vandy player hits free throw we save two points. Vandy player misses open shot and Gardner picks up second foul on rebound. We were being hurt when Vandy made shots and also being hurt when they were missing shots. Sometimes that is the way games go. I do think the better team won, but generally the game will be closer than that one. As far as coaching, our weaknesses in past years have been on the defensive side. This year Buzz has been placing the emphasis on defense and that is a coaching decision. Of course losing Otule has hurt us badly on the defensive side. Defense led to our fast start, which was a common theme under Crean  whose teams generally did very well in November and generally poor in March. I think the elite coaches are willing to lose November games to have the best team in March. After all it is not about who you beat in November, it is about who you can beat in March.

Great post.  Our problem is still our defense.  We had a bad game offensively but that will improve.  They had 9 offensive rebounds and we had 18 defensive rebounds.  Thus they got 33% of their missed shots.  I know I sound like a broken record but this cannot continue.  We will shoot better in our future games  but I am not seeing any improvement in our defensive rebounding.

[downtown85]

Didn't we run a set play on the last second 3 shot by Crowder vs Washington?  I am pretty sure we run set plays especially after time outs and out-of-bounds situations. 

[brewcity77]

The problem with last night wasn't the "offensive style."  MU had a number of decent looks.  They couldn't knock them down.  This is the same exact "offensive style" that he has run the last couple of years when they were one of the most efficient scoring teams in the country.  We miss JFB's ability to take it to the hole...Jae really can't do that...Jamil hasn't shown that ability yet.

+1

We had a lot of open looks that just didn't go down, and when we finally did hit a few, Vandy always had an answer. Just one of those nights.

[GGGG]

Didn't we run a set play on the last second 3 shot by Crowder vs Washington?  I am pretty sure we run set plays especially after time outs and out-of-bounds situations. 

Yes, we do run sets in those situations.  We don't call out set plays as part of the offense though like we did under Crean.

[77ncaachamps]

How about cracking a 2-3.  After crean and now with buzz I'm convinced a 2-3 cannot be cracked.  Teams have now found out that if they get back in transition we have no o.  we need a half court offense and to learn how to play against a zone.

+2...or 3

[bilsu]

The team before the Otule injury just seemed to be more agressive offensively and defensively. I think the loss of Otule has changed Buzz's approach to this team. Unfortunately, it does not seem to be working well. Gardner went out and did not return after the LSU bigman beat him to the basket by 20 ft on  fast break. Gardner is not effective against big, strong, athletic big men who will run laps around him any day of the week. That actually gives me some encouragment against Georgetown. Georgetown has some size, but I do not see their size having the athleticism that LSU and Vandy does. The same goes for Pitt.