Another great comeback, but

[Doris Burkes Thong]

The biggest comeback was when Davante returned to the game. Lose him for the season like Otule and MU's season is over. So Davante not getting seriously injured was the biggest positive out of this game. But the win is pretty nice too.

[brewcity77]

Still, this early-game deficit thing is getting old. This team loves the comeback, but once it gets to March, all you have to do is fail to come back once and your season is over.

[96warrior]

No kidding, I was sick when Ox went down. DJO stayed back with him so I thought it was going to be bad. WHEW, what a win. I'm still a little nauseous from all the adrenaline.

[MUMac]

No kidding, I was sick when Ox went down. DJO stayed back with him so I thought it was going to be bad. WHEW, what a win. I'm still a little nauseous from all the adrenaline.

I was yelling at DJO for staying back.  Then when Ox stayed on the ground after the TO, I understood why he did.  My stomach pitted up a bit after that.

[Slim]

Post game Show

Homer: " How's Devante?"

Buzz: "He's laid up in there like ... well, have you ever been to SeaWorld..."

Hilarious

[bilsu]

This team is something else. You cannot assume they will win if they are up double figures. Both LSU and Georgetwon they had double figure leads. You also cannot assume they will lose if they are down double figures. At this point I have more confidence in them, if they start down.

[Canadian Dimes]

Double digit deficits against teams in the bottom half of the conference in Louisville without Kuric and others and Villanova are one thing.

giving early double digit leads to the top teams is a wholly different deal...see Vandy and Syracuse.

This team will not acheive its goals if they continue to put itself in these types of holes

[esotericmindguy]

Does the starting 5 need to be altered? I know he likes scoring off the bench so maybe you start Wilson and Mayo and sub in blue and Gardner. They get outplayed the first 4 minutes nearly every game. Painful

[🏀]

Does the starting 5 need to be altered? I know he likes scoring off the bench so maybe you start Wilson and Mayo and sub in blue and Gardner. They get outplayed the first 4 minutes nearly every game. Painful

Mayo's bee lackluster the last two games.

The USF and Providence games the whole offense ran through DG when he was in, so not quite getting your point.

[esotericmindguy]

Mayo's bee lackluster the last two games.

The USF and Providence games the whole offense ran through DG when he was in, so not quite getting your point.

Mayo has only played 35 minutes the last two games, are you denying he's better offensive weapon then blue? You may lose a bit of defense but you gain it with Wilson over gardner. Most on the board said mayo doesn't start because buzz likes the spark of the bench, but devante could provide that production off the bench. It's more than coincidental that we start out so poorly with this starting 5.

[🏀]

Mayo has only played 35 minutes the last two games, are you denying he's better offensive weapon then blue? You may lose a bit of defense but you gain it with Wilson over gardner. Most on the board said mayo doesn't start because buzz likes the spark of the bench, but devante could provide that production off the bench. It's more than coincidental that we start out so poorly with this starting 5.

Blue and Gardner don't start out slow. It's DJO and Jae.

[MU82]

Blue and Gardner don't start out slow. It's DJO and Jae.

Excellent point.

They were terrible offensively early today. Jae missed 2 layups and not only was DJO ice cold, he was treating the basketball as if it were covered in Crisco.

As great players do, they recovered nicely and were the two main reasons for the win.

But this wasn't the first time both have gotten off to poor starts in the same game.

[esotericmindguy]

I would argue that's because40% of the team offers very little on the offensive end. Start Wilson and mayo and the burden isn't as great on those two.

[RawdogDX]

Still, this early-game deficit thing is getting old. This team loves the comeback, but once it gets to March, all you have to do is fail to come back once and your season is over.

So do you still think this team would be better if they could trade a healthy DJO or Crowder for a healthy Otule?  I think your reasoning was that we wouldn't miss DJO as much because Mayo would step up and replace him...

[MUMac]

I would argue that's because40% of the team offers very little on the offensive end. Start Wilson and mayo and the burden isn't as great on those two.

So, who plays PG in your world?  What happens when fouls occur on the bigs?

[tower912]

I would argue that's because40% of the team offers very little on the offensive end. Start Wilson and mayo and the burden isn't as great on those two.

Blue and Cadougan had better days than Mayo and Wilson.   Junior's defense on Wayns was critical.   What games have you been watching?

[Danny Noonan]

Blue and Cadougan had better days than Mayo and Wilson.   Junior's defense on Wayns was critical.   What games have you been watching?

Blue played well and Cadougan's lone basket was huge but his 5 turnovers were brutal.  Hopefully Mayo gets back on track and Gardner isn't too gimpy for Seton Hall and ND this week. Great win today!

[MUrugger]

Admit it Doris, you're smitten by this team...

[wadesworld]

Here's an idea, the team spends the last 10 minutes of warmup time in full out 5-on-5 scrimmage.  Then the brutal starts are over before the game even begins and we can play 40 minutes of good basketball rather than 30.

Anyways, guys like eso and Canadian need to relax a bit.  We're 18-4 and 7-2 in conference, alone in 2nd place in the Big East.  We've lost 2 games on the road to top 10 teams, lost a home game to a team that has more losses than they should due to injuries and could legitimately make the Final Four (2 guards and a center who will all be 1st round draft picks...recipe for Tournament success), and one "bad" loss on the road.  I'll take it, even if we have slow starts and haven't been able to make it back to win in a couple of them (Vanderbilt and Syracuse).  Have our 7 wins been against the toughest teams in the world?  No.  But some have been against dangerous teams (see what Pittsburgh did today?  How about St. John's beating West Virginia?  Providence against Louisville?) and all you can do is play the teams that are put in front of you.  We are on a 6 game winning streak.  Enjoy it and be happy we haven't dropped any of these games to the lesser teams that are still dangerous, like a lot of the other top-half Big East teams have.

[BCHoopster]

DJO and Crowder should come off the bench as it takes them 10 minutes to warm up, down 15, then all of a sudden they
wake up.  Secondly, it seems the opposition likes to hit like 4 or 5 threes in the first 5 minutes.  Is it the D is bad or the O
is slow taking off?

[RubyWiscy]

I blame the D for the slow starts.  The O is sparked by the D with this team.  Once it picks up the O gets into a rhythm and things start to turn in our favor. 

[DomJamesToTheBasket]

This team is something else. You cannot assume they will win if they are up double figures. Both LSU and Georgetwon they had double figure leads. You also cannot assume they will lose if they are down double figures. At this point I have more confidence in them, if they start down.

+1

This team plays better after their confidence is adjusted.....they play better with a chip on their shoulder.  I honestly could see this team taking out a 1 seed in a huge upset.  MU can unintentionally rope-a-dope anyone! 

[brewcity77]

So do you still think this team would be better if they could trade a healthy DJO or Crowder for a healthy Otule?  I think your reasoning was that we wouldn't miss DJO as much because Mayo would step up and replace him...

...and I also feel we wouldn't miss Crowder as much because Jamil would step up to replace him.

No injuries are ever good, especially not to starting players, but what I've felt is that CO was the least replaceable member of the team. We just don't have anyone else that fills the 6'11" aircraft carrier role. DG has been great, better than expected, but we're still playing undersized against most teams.

[NotAnAlum]

Blue and Gardner don't start out slow. It's DJO and Jae.

True.  That's even more reason to try to add some offensive punch, particularly outside shooting into the starting lineup.  Blue doesn't start out slow, from an offensive standpoint he never starts.  Look you must start DJO and Jae (seniors), you need to start Junior, you're right about DG; so that leaves only Vander.  I think if you started Mayo you have a proven 3rd shooter while Jae and DJO in effect "warm-up".  Its great that we have been able to recover from these slow starts but you can only go to the well so many times.