Colgate Post game thread

[tower912]

Not an artistic success.    Juan looked good.    Need better shooting, particularly from our guards.     The young guys need to play better defense if they want more minutes.   Jake got, wait for it, 3rd guard minutes.    CO and DG are a nice combination.   JWilson can be very good.   Nobody got hurt.

[Dreadman24]

Wisconsin scored more than us today. Im very disappointed.

[ATL MU Warrior]

young guys got minutes.  played alot of different combinations.  I thought we looked alright considering we're going to take some time to find our way without last year's leaders.  Trent looked pretty good.  Juan looked really promising...for first time I saw the promise in his all around game.  Post play pretty good in most areas but not rebounding.  

[tower912]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/ncaa/men/gameflash/2012/11/11/78439_boxscore.html

Box score.   Jamil, most minutes with 26, Junior next with 22.    A whole bunch of guys in the 15-20 range.    Which is good for a season opener.   Just not a lot of flow to the game.   

[martyconlonontherun]

I think Gardner needs to be better on the boards. Take away his 4 O-boards he got from missing shots, he only had 2 boards that started possesions.

I like how he can get to the hoop at will but he also needs to slow down at let his post play set up the o so it makes it easier for him to score when he does take it. Part of the problem is that the guards would feed him and cut towards him instead of isolating him and forcing an extra defender on that side of the court.

[macman320]

I love Jamal.

[MU_LOL]

I love Jamal.

He had a nice little stuff at the end there. He's real skinny though, I get afraid he'll break an arm or wrist or something.

[macman320]

I was surprised to even see him out there. It would be a nice bonus if he could add a few minutes for us in league play.

[AZWarrior]

Most surprising stat - Otule with zero boards.  Liked his offensive efficiency however.

LOVED Ferguson's steal and dunk!   

[GGGG]

Not an artistic success.    Juan looked good.    Need better shooting, particularly from our guards.

They shot 48%...46% from three...I'll take that pretty much every night.

[KenoshaWarrior]

Wisconsin scored more than us today. Im very disappointed.

They also played with there starters in almost the entire game.  If we werent experiementing with lineups the whole night we could have won by 50 as well.

Plus my buddy said all the Badgers did was shoot threes.   

[MU82]

LOVED:

++ Anderson's energy and all-around play. Also his toughness, returning after his shoulder got tweaked a little.

++ Jamil's offensive versatility. He showed many flashes of NBA-type ability.

++ Junior's leadership.

++ Otule looking healthy and ready to contribute. Really loved those little jump hooks -- even a lefty one. Those will work against any big man he faces all season.

++ Ferguson's steal, dunk and energy in a limited role.

++ Jake Thomas looking like he belonged. Jury's still out, but he certainly didn't seem overwhelmed. First 3 attempt was rushed but second was in stride.

++ Gardner's soft hands, footwork and use of his body inside.

++ We apparently got out of the game healthy. Which is the single most important thing in these throwaway nonconference games.

DIDN'T LOVE:

-- Vander seemed a little lost and his shot was still tragic. I'm chalking this up to him trying too hard and not saying it's a portent of things to come.

-- Lockett was not smooth offensively. Again, maybe trying too hard to impress in his first game. Had 7 boards and 5 steals, so didn't let offensive woes bother him, which is nice.

-- Colgate's open 3s. If Butler gets this many wide open looks, they'll beat us by double-digits in Maui.

-- During a three-minute span that began with his comically missed dunk, Gardner was bad and looked disinterested. Got away with it today but won't against a good team.

-- Gave up too many offensive rebounds. Given our athletic ability, hustle and size, this shouldn't happen against a team like Colgate.

---------

I didn't qualify each of those things by saying "it was our first game so it's too early to judge anything," because that's obvious. Just talking about what I saw.

Still excited about our team but, as was the case last year, a little concerned about our offense if the opponent clogs the lane, the 3s we give up on defense and our defensive rebounding.

[forgetful]

Although Vander still couldn't finish going to the hoop, I though his jump shot looked a lot better.  Still not perfect, but alright.

I was really happy with Junior's shot.  Looked smooth.  Even the 2 three's he missed were on target but a bit long.  If we needed him to be a scorer, I actually think he could do it.

[jeffreyweee]

How about Otule's hands? Each lob down to him he handled pretty easily. No brick hands today.

[bilsu]

LOVED:

++ Anderson's energy and all-around play. Also his toughness, returning after his shoulder got tweaked a little.

++ Jamil's offensive versatility. He showed many flashes of NBA-type ability.

++ Junior's leadership.

++ Otule looking healthy and ready to contribute. Really loved those little jump hooks -- even a lefty one. Those will work against any big man he faces all season.

++ Ferguson's steal, dunk and energy in a limited role.

++ Jake Thomas looking like he belonged. Jury's still out, but he certainly didn't seem overwhelmed. First 3 attempt was rushed but second was in stride.

++ Gardner's soft hands, footwork and use of his body inside.

++ We apparently got out of the game healthy. Which is the single most important thing in these throwaway nonconference games.

DIDN'T LOVE:

-- Vander seemed a little lost and his shot was still tragic. I'm chalking this up to him trying too hard and not saying it's a portent of things to come.

-- Lockett was not smooth offensively. Again, maybe trying too hard to impress in his first game. Had 7 boards and 5 steals, so didn't let offensive woes bother him, which is nice.

-- Colgate's open 3s. If Butler gets this many wide open looks, they'll beat us by double-digits in Maui.

-- During a three-minute span that began with his comically missed dunk, Gardner was bad and looked disinterested. Got away with it today but won't against a good team.

-- Gave up too many offensive rebounds. Given our athletic ability, hustle and size, this shouldn't happen against a team like Colgate.

---------

I didn't qualify each of those things by saying "it was our first game so it's too early to judge anything," because that's obvious. Just talking about what I saw.

Still excited about our team but, as was the case last year, a little concerned about our offense if the opponent clogs the lane, the 3s we give up on defense and our defensive rebounding.

What I did not like the most was J. Wilson getting only 2 rebounds. We will lose a lot of games, if that is all the rebounding he will give us. Second there is almost no offense from our guards. Best was Anderson who I believe will be a real stud next year, if he can stay away from injuries. Thomas did not score much, but he had 4 rebounds and 4 assists.

[ATL MU Warrior]

How about Otule's hands? Each lob down to him he handled pretty easily. No brick hands today.

I don't recall him ever having trouble catching a good post-entry pass.  He's pretty reliable there.  Where he has trouble is the fast zingers from a penetrator.  He brought the ball down low a couple of times today which is a fundamental no-no for someone his size. 

[tower912]

On the scout site, Jamil pointed at the number of long rebounds as the reason Colgate got so many boards.  He said MU had good position down low, but there were a lot of long boards.   I will have to rewatch to see if he's right.

[AirPunches]

Positive- being able to take the Juan Anderson card out of the transfer hat. Really liked Juan from the start because of his extreme passion for MU. Kid also has a nice and developing game.

[TVDirector]

positives:
good student section- lots of gold shirts on the north end, lower and upper
Juan- good energy, not as tentative, very active, showed some skill
DWilson- handled things well out there... not flashy, but quite competent
Otules baby hooks around the basket- his defender wasn't small either
Lockett looks like a player- impressed with his play around the basket, even if it didn't show in the box score
JWilson- very nice game- 3 point shot is a plus
JR- solid
Davante is an offensive load
JFerg- not shy in his few minutes
Low team TO's

not so's:
D... played a bit behind the play... while active, not impressive
rebounding- lots of goofy bounces, but position wasn't there
Jake- so?  plenty of minutes and played hard... nice on the assists and solid on the boards, but otherwise just a guy
Vander- never into the flow... invisible
Taylor- kinda lost... step slow
Locketts outside shot


overall, Colgate was solid for what they are, but they shouldn't have been close to MU at all... there were some times when, though the game never seemed out of hand, they weren't out of it.
decent opener- Colgate got plenty of open looks... MU much more athletic, but it didn't show possession to possession all the time.
lots of 5 player for 5 player subs... not sure if Buzz is looking for combos, or just getting guys minutes in early games.
zone is gonna give us challenges all year if we can't or won't take and make the 3.

a win with lots to learn from.

great Nat Anthem singer!

[tower912]

Until last year, there were many criticisms of Buzz' defense, particularly the switches and rotations.  Last year, everybody knew where they were going and our defense looked solid.  It looked to me that perhaps the new guys were  off on some rotations/doubles/switches, sometimes too eager, sometimes too slow,  leading to the dreaded open 3 and embarrassingly open look.   Hopefully, they figure it out.  

[Clam Crowder]

On the scout site, Jamil pointed at the number of long rebounds as the reason Colgate got so many boards.  He said MU had good position down low, but there were a lot of long boards.   I will have to rewatch to see if he's right.

They shot what? 28 3s and missed 19 of them...yes there were a lot of long boards. A lot of them still should have been ours.

[tower912]

They shot 48%...46% from three...I'll take that pretty much every night.

I have 8-26 from our guards.   30%    3-8 from 3.    37.5%   I was pleased with how they controlled the ball and their defense.     They got good looks.   I think they will hit them going forward. 

[The Equalizer]

LOVED:

++ Anderson's energy and all-around play. Also his toughness, returning after his shoulder got tweaked a little.

++ Jamil's offensive versatility. He showed many flashes of NBA-type ability.

++ Junior's leadership.

++ Otule looking healthy and ready to contribute. Really loved those little jump hooks -- even a lefty one. Those will work against any big man he faces all season.

++ Ferguson's steal, dunk and energy in a limited role.

++ Jake Thomas looking like he belonged. Jury's still out, but he certainly didn't seem overwhelmed. First 3 attempt was rushed but second was in stride.

++ Gardner's soft hands, footwork and use of his body inside.

++ We apparently got out of the game healthy. Which is the single most important thing in these throwaway nonconference games.

DIDN'T LOVE:

-- Vander seemed a little lost and his shot was still tragic. I'm chalking this up to him trying too hard and not saying it's a portent of things to come.

-- Lockett was not smooth offensively. Again, maybe trying too hard to impress in his first game. Had 7 boards and 5 steals, so didn't let offensive woes bother him, which is nice.

-- Colgate's open 3s. If Butler gets this many wide open looks, they'll beat us by double-digits in Maui.

-- During a three-minute span that began with his comically missed dunk, Gardner was bad and looked disinterested. Got away with it today but won't against a good team.

-- Gave up too many offensive rebounds. Given our athletic ability, hustle and size, this shouldn't happen against a team like Colgate.

---------

I didn't qualify each of those things by saying "it was our first game so it's too early to judge anything," because that's obvious. Just talking about what I saw.

Still excited about our team but, as was the case last year, a little concerned about our offense if the opponent clogs the lane, the 3s we give up on defense and our defensive rebounding.

Agree with all the points above, esp. the 3 point defense.  Colgate missed a ton of wide open looks in the 2nd half, shooting 4 of 17.  

A few additional observations:.

++ Buzz used his bench more than last year.  He gave the bench more total minutes today (96) than he did in in last year's 54 point blowout against Mount St Mary's (89).

-- There were at least two completely uncontested Colgate drives down the lane for easy layups. Uncharacterisic that it would happen at all.  I'm sure it happened last year, but I don't remeber it--there was always someone helping out inside.

-- We didn't seem to get to the line as easily as we have in prior seasons--considering how little Colgate shot inside, the fact that we only led FT attempts 24 to 18 may be concerning.

- Disappointing attendance of 13,065 vs. 13,834 for last year's opener against Mount St. Mary.  Yeah, I know it's a Sunday--but I can't image the Mount was the type of team that would draw 800 more for a Friday night than Colgate for a Sunday afternoon.

[77ncaachamps]

- Disappointing attendance of 13,065 vs. 13,834 for last year's opener against Mount St. Mary.  Yeah, I know it's a Sunday--but I can't image the Mount was the type of team that would draw 800 more for a Friday night than Colgate for a Sunday afternoon.

And the Packers were on a BYE! WTF?!?

Are there really Packer fans who would rather watch a Bears game than a Marquette game? I guess so...

[Hards Alumni]

And the Packers were on a BYE! WTF?!?

Are there really Packer fans who would rather watch a Bears game than a Marquette game? I guess so...

Bears played at night.