some observations before scotch takes over my reason

[Da 'Lanche]

1.  Florida is really good....if they are hitting their 3s (and with a beastly inside game to match), they can beat anyone.
2.  Nice to see some offense from Derrick Wilson
3.  Trent Lockett was one of the best players in the Pac 10 last year....then I remembered the Pac 10 absolutely sucked last year.  My expectations of him were way too high.   Now realizing perhaps the saying "the one-eyed man is king in the land of the blind" may apply.
4.  Vander has really upped his game...pleasure to watch him maturing before our eyes and if his outside shots can continue to fall and his game evolve...his impact this year will be the driver of the team success and his upside is tremendous.
5. Jake Thomas....meet top 10 competition.  Not knocking the kid and rooting for him....but, any doubt that Mayo would (will) take his minutes???
6.  Davante is toast against an athletic, beast of a big man...
7.  Jamil....oh Jamil.....if he is on....we can be very good...when he is drinking patron' on the beach before a game (just kidding)..we are affected.
8.  An ass-whuppin before UW is much preferred to an ass-whuppin after.....Buzz will ride these dudes the entire week and we will be more than prepared for Becky.
9.  If we don't defend the 3 any better against Becky than we have tonight against Florida....we may be in trouble.
10.   Want more Steve Taylor and more Juan Anderson.....
11.  Florida has very attractive women.
12.  Good night.

[4everwarriors]

Dylan Flood should enter soon along with Dewars

[MarsupialMadness]

Agree on points 4, 9, and 10. And 11 for that matter.

[MerrittsMustache]

Jamil has obviously seen better days but Blue looks like the only player on this team who can compete with a team like Florida. On an ugly night, he's been very good.

[nyg]

Why not Jamil?  Add a free throw violation to the stat line.  Wow.  Then Young eats him for lunch.  

#3 is my main pick.

[JoBo2756]

I actually though Jake Thomas played with some good intensity.

Man, we could have made a decent game out of this... but NOPE.

We'll have to wait for our ranking till after the Big East season starts.

[The Process]

I've been drinking since before halftime.

Mmm... Scotch.

That is all.

[79Warrior]

I actually though Jake Thomas played with some good intensity.

Man, we could have made a decent game out of this... but NOPE.

We'll have to wait for our ranking till after the Big East season starts.

Jake Thomas played with intensity? Really? He is going to get smoked in the BE>

[Stronghold]

Davante didn't play well vs Young but I doubt many people do this year.

[WarriorHal]

Jake Thomas played with intensity? Really? He is going to get smoked in the BE>

There are reasons he went to South Dakota and then walked on at MU.

[MU82]

OK, my turn:

1. Not that it should have been any secret, but Florida showed every MU opponent the blueprint: Take away Gardner with aggressive play behind him and double-teams in front of him; dare the Golden Warriors to beat you from the outside.

2. Florida beat our lads to almost every loose ball and every 50-50 rebound. If this happens, we are just talented enough to lose to a good team on the road by, oh, 33 points.

3. Lockett can be a valuable contributor, but he is not a game-changer and, frankly, not a really great athlete.

4. Jamil is a great athlete but often is willing to just float around out there. We have played two good teams -- Florida and Butler -- and Jamil was a waste of space both games. Does Buzz have to bench him again?

5. Vander is our most talented player and it is great to see him come into his own. Glad at least one player was a Warrior tonight.

6. Junior probably is our most important player. When he is good, our offense clicks. When he is bad, we struggle to get off any decent shots.

7. While Florida stretched its lead from single digits to double digits to 20, Buzz apparently wanted to save his timeouts for the Wisconsin game. Not saying calling them would have changed anything, but this wasn't his best game, either.

8. I have been worried about our ability to score since the day Jae and DJO became ex-Warriors. Not a single thing has happened this season to calm those worries.

9. I didn't think we'd have to worry about our ability to defend athletic, well-coached teams, but we do.

10. Here's hoping this simply was this year's Vanderbilt game.

[JoBo2756]

There are reasons he went to South Dakota and then walked on at MU.

Actually yeah I stil believe that despite what you say... thought he looked pretty decent.

[WarriorHal]

Actually yeah I stil believe that despite what you say... thought he looked pretty decent.

I thought he looked pretty decent, too. Problem is, the talent level at Florida and other elite programs is way, way, way beyond decent. We're not one of those programs, and haven't been for 35 years.

[madtownwarrior]

I thought he looked pretty decent, too. Problem is, the talent level at Florida and other elite programs is way, way, way beyond decent. We're not one of those programs, and haven't been for 35 years.

Seems like people think MU has made the jump to elite -  MU is a top 25 at best program right now... and get lucky / over-achieve, might make the sweet 16 some years (like the last 2).   Getting clobbered by 30+ Florida shows this team may be lucky to make the tourney this year...

and for the money MU spends on bball, sorry - should be way better...

[rocky_warrior]

Not an observation, but I don't ever want MU to play basketball in Florida ever again.  We generally don't do as well as we should @USF, and tonight in Gainesville we looked even worse.

[seakm4]

I've been an silent knocker on Van for a bit, but today he really impressed me.  He has since Maui.  When we were down big he was the only one playing our type of ball.  Everybody hung their heads and he had a play where he got knocked down on his baseline jumper, got up hustled back pressured the ball up the court, got knocked down by a hard screen that nobody communicated to him, got back up and pressured the ball and picked up an unfortunate foul.  Possibly by frustration, but I tip my cap to him for being the only one not to back down. 

We have things to work on.  We will all season long.  We're not NIT bound.  This is our Vandy.  We will learn from this and move on to Becky.  There won't be another game where we don't show up for all 40. 

It's a traumatic experience and I'm going to blank it out in my memory.  I'm sure some therapist can drag it out of me years down the line, but until then we have 9 days to prep and are gonna be fired up come game time.

[Dr. Blackheart]

>>Junior continues to struggle against the zone. Derek played a very good game, while he and Vander shut down Boynton.
>>Florida's frontline dominated MU in all aspects. Most concerning to me was the effort. Just not there tonight from any of them and Jamil needs to understand he has the talent.
>>Scheme was horrible. Buzz said he was studying zone offense during the summer as it has been a weakness...as it still is.
>>This team doesn't yet understand its roles. No one wanted to shoot except Vander.  Jake is passing up threes to drive to the hoop down big. Too many random subs without a purpose.  Buzz was schooled out of every time out tonight.  Find the roles, which is what Buzz does in OOC.  Patience.
>>Florida is #1. No real weaknesses, very athletic, great shooters, great inside.
>>This team was intimidated from the get go, ex Vander and Derek.

[UticaBusBarn]

>>Junior continues to struggle against the zone. Derek played a very good game, while he and Vander shut down Boynton.
>>Florida's frontline dominated MU in all aspects. Most concerning to me was the effort. Just not there tonight from any of them and Jamil needs to understand he has the talent.
>>Scheme was horrible. Buzz said he was studying zone offense during the summer as it has been a weakness...as it still is.
>>This team doesn't yet understand its roles. No one wanted to shoot except Vander.  Jake is passing up threes to drive to the hoop down big. Too many random subs without a purpose.  Buzz was schooled out of every time out tonight.  Find the roles, which is what Buzz does in OOC.  Patience.
>>Florida is #1. No real weaknesses, very athletic, great shooters, great inside.
>>This team was intimidated from the get go, ex Vander and Derek.

In total agreement with the Mr. Blackheart.

"Fast beats big, if fast is fast" is what Coach Williams has stated. The Warriors with Otule, Lockett and Junior on the floor simply make for a slow team. And, as we all know, slow is not Coach Williams. (Otule, Lockett and Junior by all reports are great kids, but Otule has slowed down as he has bulked up, Lockett is of average speed, and Junior has a way of not being very effective in big games because really good teams target him.)

This fan has observed that in the past it has taken Coach Williams the pre-Big East season to figure out his team. This is a team with a great deal of talent/speed, and now has an emerging leader in Blue.

Said in another way, this fan believes the pieces of a very good team are there; however, Coach Williams has yet to find out the best 5 of the the 64, or so, combinations that exist. However, if the past is a guide, then by the start of the Big East season, he will have figured out his rotation.

[Parsighian]

I think Trent Lockett will not come anywhere close to replacing either Crowder or DJO. He has shown little thus far. I fear this will only become worse when Marquette hits the BEAST.

[MUHoopsFan2]

I think Trent Lockett will not come anywhere close to replacing either Crowder or DJO. He has shown little thus far. I fear this will only become worse when Marquette hits the BEAST.

Agreed. He is just an average player...if that. No real skill that stands out from another.

[MUHoopsFan2]

MU really needed to play Ohio State inside....they would be further along win or lose in knowing about their team if they had played that game.

No harm or problem in playing Ohio State and Florida and seeing what you got. But the only game they played was the Gators, and they took it to them.

[GGGG]

Actually yeah I stil believe that despite what you say... thought he looked pretty decent.

Do I think he played with intensity?  Yes.  He plays hard.

But the problem is he cannot get his shot off at this level.  There were times that he seemed wide open and he simply didn't shoot.

[JamilJaeJamailJrJuan]

MU really needed to play Ohio State inside....they would be further along win or lose in knowing about their team if they had played that game.

No harm or problem in playing Ohio State and Florida and seeing what you got. But the only game they played was the Gators, and they took it to them.

Meh. First game of the year? Probably not.