Great Outcome for MU

[MUfan12]

For a few reasons...

- Expending that much energy and emotion into a comeback is gonna leave those cats drained come Thursday.
- BYU's zone was effective, but it's not the zone that has given MU trouble this season. Teams with a ton of length give MU trouble with a zone. BYU isn't one of those teams.
- MU gets to play their game, at their pace. We all saw what speeding BYU up did. MU can use that to their advantage. I'm not sure they would have been able to run with Iona.

[Blackhat]

agree with you.  their transition d wasn't very good.   half court trap sprinkled in should be effective.  If we're hitting outside this should be a win.

[brewcity77]

In addition, when we have to play half-court, we don't completely suck ass. While I think BYU was underseeded, I also feel their resume didn't merit an at-large bid. I feel pretty good about MU's odds of reinforcing that belief.

[MUBBau]

Also, we'll see much more Davante.

[Silkk the Shaka]

For a few reasons...

- Expending that much energy and emotion into a comeback is gonna leave those cats drained come Thursday.
- BYU's zone was effective, but it's not the zone that has given MU trouble this season. Teams with a ton of length give MU trouble with a zone. BYU isn't one of those teams.
- MU gets to play their game, at their pace. We all saw what speeding BYU up did. MU can use that to their advantage. I'm not sure they would have been able to run with Iona.

Ummmm..... BYU is the 21st tallest team in the country.  Hartsock & Davies go 6'8" and 6'9".  Hartsock reminded me of that goateed mop top Hamilton from LSU that destroyed us with 15 foot jumpers down the stretch.  We would have absolutely ROCKED Iona.  I still absolutely expect a win, but BYU is a worse matchup for us.

[Norm]

I think the key to the BYU-MU game will be keeping Crowder and J Wilson out of foul trouble. If those guys don't have to sit for extended periods of time, and Gardner sees about 15 minutes of action, I think MU can win. BYU's big guys are 6'9" and 6'8", not 6'11" or 7'0". While good, they are also not as athletic as the big guys on Syracuse, Georgetown, LSU, Washington and other teams who have given us trouble inside.

[MUfan12]

Ummmm..... BYU is the 21st tallest team in the country.  Hartsock & Davies go 6'8" and 6'9".  Hartsock reminded me of that goateed mop top Hamilton from LSU that destroyed us with 15 foot jumpers down the stretch.  We would have absolutely ROCKED Iona.  I still absolutely expect a win, but BYU is a worse matchup for us.

They have size up front, but their guards/wings aren't as long (or quick) as the guys from Cuse, or Cincy for instance. Those two teams killed MU with that length at the top of the zone.

[Blackhat]

Our guard play should be superior.   Plus Cadougan won't have to face Machado.

[Silkk the Shaka]

Our guard play should be superior.   Plus Cadougan won't have to face Machado.

Machado didn't do sh*t in the half court.  Cadougan would have held up just fine.

[Blackhat]

BYU was playing zone, homie.

If Buzz didn't go zone(would have been insane not to though), Cadougan would get shredded by Machado much like BYU did for the first 15 minutes before they went zone.

[Silkk the Shaka]

They have size up front, but their guards/wings aren't as long (or quick) as the guys from Cuse, or Cincy for instance. Those two teams killed MU with that length at the top of the zone.

Right.  I'm just saying they present a worse matchup for MU than Iona would have.  Check my posts, even at halftime I didn't think Iona would be much trouble.  I don't necessarily think BYU will be all that much trouble either, it's just that they more closely resemble teams that gave MU trouble, while Iona more closely resembled DePaul coming out draining everything then when things finally settled down they couldn't do a damn thing.

[GOMU85]

Machado didn't do sh*t in the half court.  Cadougan would have held up just fine.

Doubt it

[Silkk the Shaka]

BYU was playing zone, homie.

If Buzz didn't go zone(would have been insane not to though), Cadougan would get shredded by Machado much like BYU did for the first 15 minutes before they went zone.

I think we agree chances are close to 100% that MU would have went zone.  Ergo, Cadougan would have held up just fine.  We matched up very well with Iona.

[Silkk the Shaka]

Doubt it

Nice analysis!  Your posting history reveals you as quite a deep thinker.

[PGsHeroes32]

I also think BYU is a tougher match up. They have some size, they are balanced and can shoot it from every position. They move the ball well around the perimiter. Iona was god awful in the half court. We would have eaten them alive. Jae woulda had 20 and 13 if he played drunk

[Silkk the Shaka]

I also think BYU is a tougher match up. They have some size, they are balanced and can shoot it from every position. They move the ball well around the perimiter. Iona was god awful in the half court. We would have eaten them alive. Jae woulda had 20 and 13 if he played drunk

My thoughts exactly, right down to Crowder's line while drunk.

[warriors1991]

I was a little torn watching this game.
At first I was nervous about playing Iona because they were flying but the 2nd half revealed them as a not particularly smart team and smart teams tend to win in March.
BYU seemed smarter and a little more stable of a team so by the end of the game I was half-hoping Iona would pull it out because BYU probably ends up not being quite as good a matchup for us.
Either way MU needs to and should win; we are a better team than either of them, but all of our boys need to be on top of their game (not just Junior) right from the start, come out strong, and show them right away that we are a 3 seed for a reason.
If we come out sloppy, let them get ahead early, that Murray State crowd is going to feed off the possible brewing upset and will rapidly turn against us.
I hope Buzz has them ready from the opening tip.

Go Warriors!!

[JakeBarnes]

The thing I noticed was, while BYU was the smarter team, they were also the most flustered by pressure.  When they were pressured, they tried to play too fast and "match" and would chuck up bad shots or pass into double teams.  The 3/4 press is going to be a big weapon as well as dictating the tempo of the game.  While I understand BYU supposedly plays a fast game, when combined with pressure it seems to fall apart. 

Should be a very interesting one. With regard to Thursday, in the immortal words of Bart Scott: CAN'T WAIT.

[Lighthouse 84]

Jae woulda had 20 and 13 if he played drunk

Hopefully Junior isn't with Jae having a few chilly ones before the game tomorrow.  Jae can handle it.  Junior?  Not so much.

[MUfan12]

The thing I noticed was, while BYU was the smarter team, they were also the most flustered by pressure.  When they were pressured, they tried to play too fast and "match" and would chuck up bad shots or pass into double teams.  The 3/4 press is going to be a big weapon as well as dictating the tempo of the game.  While I understand BYU supposedly plays a fast game, when combined with pressure it seems to fall apart. 

Should be a very interesting one. With regard to Thursday, in the immortal words of Bart Scott: CAN'T WAIT.

This brings up a question for the stat people...

I don't get into a lot of that, but we all read that BYU has one of the highest amounts of possessions. Does that metric measure for tempo at all?

Reason I ask is that I saw a team that took a lot of quick shots, but didn't necessarily play fast. I could see how that would get the possession numbers way up, though.

[Silkk the Shaka]

This brings up a question for the stat people...

I don't get into a lot of that, but we all read that BYU has one of the highest amounts of possessions. Does that metric measure for tempo at all?

Reason I ask is that I saw a team that took a lot of quick shots, but didn't necessarily play fast. I could see how that would get the possession numbers way up, though.

Number of possessions is the metric for tempo. Taking quick shots means you play at a faster pace. BYU was definitely looking to push the ball and take quick shots in the first half. Once they slowed the game down in the second half the tide turned in their favor.

[NavinRJohnson]

Number of possessions is the metric for tempo. Taking quick shots means you play at a faster pace. BYU was definitely looking to push the ball and take quick shots in the first half. Once they slowed the game down in the second half the tide turned in their favor.

And herin lies the problem as I see it for BYU, and the reason superior talent should result in a win. If they try to play half court from the start, they have to defend the likes of DJO, Crowder, Blue, Wilson, etc. for the entire game. That will be tough. If they try to play transition with us, which they seemingly lie to do themselves, I don't think they have much of a chance.

Nothing for certain, but Marquette should win.

[RushmoreAcademy]

Logic tells me that BYU is the tougher opponent, but having watched us play stretches of loose transition D all year at times I was for some reason more scared to play Iona.  If you play them both 10 times, BYU is going to give you the more consistent game, but Iona may just go off on you that one time, and I wasn't really wanting to roll the dice.
Being an 11 seed felt so much easier.......

[GGGG]

I think we agree chances are close to 100% that MU would have went zone.  Ergo, Cadougan would have held up just fine.  We matched up very well with Iona.

Buzz rarely has played zone here.  I doubt that would have changed with Iona.

[Niv Berkowitz]

I think the key to the BYU-MU game will be keeping Crowder and J Wilson out of foul trouble. 

Norm, I think that's going to be the key to every game in the NCAA Tournament.