Post-game thoughts: SE Louisiana

[MUCrew]

Thought defense wasn't as good as one would think.  We got caught a TON on switches out on the perimeter (one player would switch and the other wouldn't).  When SELA took advantage, our help side defense was too slow and just trickled down to our rotation and recovery.  Thought we defended the back screens poorly.  Actually felt SELA had way more opportunities to capitalize on it than they actually did. 

Defensive intensity, IMO, wasn't there all game. 

[hairy worthen]

When you constantly troll one player for the better part of 2 years, people are going to call out your jackassery. Clearly BC hasn't earned the same troll reputation you've worked so hard to create. Everyone is given a certain amount of rope. You chose to hang yourself with it. I'm sure if others do the same they'll also be called out.

Word of the day.  Goes right up there with "douchebaggerry"

[tower912]

Next up:  'asshattery'.

[GGGG]

How dare you say anything bad about Blue. You clearly are a hater.

Seriously, do you not get it?  Do you talk about anything else?

BCHoopster kept his criticism to Blue's offensive game.  He didn't say "Blue is not good," or other some such nonsense, but had legitimate points about his performance on the offensive end.  (But the idea that Anderson will start ahead of him is not accurate.)  But you did notice that Blue was guarding Fortenberry for most of the game right?  No one seems to notice that.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

None of the guards played particularly well, especially Blue. His all-around game is still very good, but he just can't find ways to score. His upper body looks good, but his lower body is far too active on his jumper for my liking.

Also, if anybody listened to the post-game interview, Buzz said the exact same things he said after the Virgin Islands game (when MU gave up a big lead).

He purposefully didn't coach big chunks of the game to allow the players to learn on their own. He uses the terminology "I didn't protect them".

I'm not particularly worried about the team's overall performance because Buzz is testing them, but I am a little worried about the teams collective shooting ability. Even if they can execute, they need to be able to make open shots. I'm not really confident in any of them to make those shots right now.

[MerrittsMustache]

The offense will come around once Buzz gets more set on his rotation. There's a reason why MU plays teams like Colgate and SE Louisiana. Buzz treats them like "scrimmages with the lights on." When BE play gets here, we're not going to see Thomas and DWilson getting 14-18 minutes a game or see Ferguson in the first half of games. Buzz has seemed to have two distinct teams of 5 that he's played in the first couple of games. As Ammo mentioned, he has also let them play and work things out on their own a lot of times.

Fans may be concerned about scoring/shooting but MU shot 48% against Colgate and made 6-13 threes. They had a bad shooting night last night and considering they traveled home from South Carolina late Friday/early Saturday, played Sunday afternoon and played again Tuesday night, it's a recipe for a poor, fatigued shooting performance. These early games are scheduled every other day to help get players used to those rigors.

While no returning player was the focal point of the offense last season, there are several players with the ability to shoot and score.

Player: PPG/FG%/3%
Lockett: 13.0/49.8/41.2
Gardner: 9.5/56.1/--
Blue: 8.4/41.3/25.8
Jamil: 7.1/44.8/34.5

Those 4 players combined put up 38/47.2/34.5 and each of them should see their shots/offensive production increase this season. Not to mention, Juan and Otule's offensive improvements and another assumed 6-8 ppg from Cadougan.

[BCHoopster]

Seriously, do you not get it?  Do you talk about anything else?

BCHoopster kept his criticism to Blue's offensive game.  He didn't say "Blue is not good," or other some such nonsense, but had legitimate points about his performance on the offensive end.  (But the idea that Anderson will start ahead of him is not accurate.)  But you did notice that Blue was guarding Fortenberry for most of the game right?  No one seems to notice that.

Thanks, for sure I am not a Vander hater, I do not even know him, hate is a strong word, I hate what the KKK stand for or for sure what Adolph Hitler did.  I wish nothing but the best
for Vander, something has to click for Vander on the offensive end.  Watch his body language after a missed jumper, he goes back on the defensive end and is sulking, the start of the
second half he got picked and his man got a lay-up.  He needs confidence, needs to hit a few shots.  Without Mayo, they need 10-12 points a night from him.  If he can not give them
that, then Anderson is an option.  That is all I am saying.  Vander has the potential, I saw it when he was a junior in high school, he was better then.

[GGGG]

BC I do think that Anderson looks like he is going to be the biggest beneficiary from Mayo's absence.  I simply don't think he starts however.  Good points.

[bilsu]

Blue offense depends on steals off fast breaks. I have not seen to many of those so far this year. Blue is an open court player versus a half court player.
I am assuming Buzz has not changed and therefore he focuses on defense in practices. He expects his players to learn to make good decisions within his offensive system. It does seem that the top of the key 3 pt shot (favored by Zar) is back in MU's plan. All of the forwards threes have come from there. 2 by Wilson, 2 by Anderson and 1 by Taylor.

[MUfan12]

I think we all want to see Vander succeed, but he's been nothing more than a role player through his first two years. With Mayo likely gone, the stage was set for him to take that next step. Right now, it looks like he's just a guy. The real shame of it is they really need him to produce offensively, and I don't think he's capable of doing that consistently.

[esotericmindguy]

Right now, it looks like he's just a guy.

You obviously know little about baskeball. PM Sultan and he'll enlighten you.

[Canned Goods n Ammo]

I think we all want to see Vander succeed, but he's been nothing more than a role player through his first two years.

Every guy on the roster has never been more than a role player.

They all are going to have to grow and improve if MU wants to be any good. If they all play like they did last season, MU will be below .500 in the Big East.

If Vander, Jamil and Lockett play like they did last night, MU is going to be in big trouble.

[frozena pizza]

First off, it's disappointing to see how often these threads degenerate into personal attacks resulting from a critique of Vander's game.  I do think some people need to lower their expectations for him.  Anyway, I didn't see the whole game, but my observations:

1.  The defense was good at times and we forced a few shot clock violations, but we still gave up too many good looks when we were out of position.  We also benefitted from some poor shot selection by SELA and a rebounding advantage for us.
2.  Blue and Lockett did not do much offensively but the bright spot is that they were able to get to the line and convert 10-10 from there.  I have a feeling a lot of Lockett's scoring will come from the stripe.
3.  For the first time in a while I think our strength wil be our bigs.  Otule and Gardner might be our best players (please stay healthy!).  J. Wilson didn't have a great night, be he will be key for us as well.  Without Mayo, our backcourt is pretty thin.
4.  Completely aware that it was a Tuesday night against a team nobody cares about, but the BC looked pretty empty.
5.  Can't say I saw anything last night to get me excited for this season, but was happy to see that we were able to close them out on a bad night for us.  As others have said, the effort just isn't going to be the same every time out and SELA is better than they showed in the Wisc game.