Where's that yearly checklist?

[4everwarriors]

Will look super at the Y on Saturday mornin's.

[brewcity77]

Buzz needs to run some plays for him so he can get open looks.  Otherwise, not going to happen

He had some open looks yesterday. Still didn't hit them. Until he proves otherwise, he's just a guy with a great stroke that can't knock down shots. I don't know if it's a non-evident mechanical issue, an inability to live up to the expectation of being a sharpshooter, or the yips, but I'm not convinced open looks will help.

[Dr. Blackheart]

Hey Brew.  After today's weather you may want to change your sig line.  The sky was falling.

[brewcity77]

Hey Brew.  After today's weather you may want to change your sig line.  The sky was falling.

LOL...just a little precipitation, Doc

[Dawson Rental]

Getting back to that yearly checklist....

"We always stink it up on national TV!"

Kind of nice to have avoided that crap this year.

[MU82]

I don't think Derrick and Jake will become Junior and Vander. I think this is a different team.

I could see Derrick becoming a solid replacement for Junior. While JC was a solid point for us, his quality has been built into overwhelming proportions with all the DeWil hatred. As Chicos said, he was a pretty good point guard. Not great, not bad, certainly not consistent, but by and large pretty good. DeWil has shown he can drive a little (as seen yesterday) and shown he can make passes and move the ball around (as seen against the cupcakes, 10/1 A/T ratio against anyone is impressive). I don't think he'll ever be a 10 ppg/6 apg guy, but neither was Junior. I do think DeWil could average 5 ppg and 4 apg, and I think that would be pretty good, enough to keep defenses honest. And as long as guys like Mayo, Gardner, and Jamil can make good on the opportunities DeWil gives them, the offense can be good.

Jake I think is what he is. I know he's a great practice shooter, but I consider him to be a defensive gap filler. He knows what to do on defense and while not a shut-down defender can play his role. I fully expect him to give way to Mayo eventually, but I feel Mayo has to earn it by proving consistency of his own. Eventually I see Mayo getting 25 mpg and Jake getting around 10 with the freshmen filling in the gaps at the 2/3 swing spots. But so far, our defense has been fantastic and I feel Buzz is giving minutes based on that. Jake has done an adequate job in that regard and will continue to get chances for that. When it matters, I think it will be Mayo. For now, I have no problem with alternating between them to make sure that the defense, which will be the strength of the defense, is well established.

I don't think any of the freshmen are going to be a salvation, or necessarily better than what we have now. JJJ has great potential as a scorer, but until his defense catches up to Jake's he's going to get more pine than time. Dawson has definite upside, but is the classic backup quarterback. Popular with the people that don't like the starter, but not as good as the starter. And Duane...if we get similar production to Junior's injury-impeded freshman season, I think that would be more than anyone should expect at this point. I expect pretty much zero contribution from him this year.

EDIT: All that said, this is a different team. I think that Derrick could be good enough that we could have a pretty good offense as long as Jamil is willing to assert himself and guys like Juan, Steve, and Mayo can hit enough threes to loosen up the passing lanes so Wilson can feed Gardner and Otule in the post. If our defense plays all season like we did yesterday, we are going to win a ton of games. We likely won't see another defense as good as Ohio State's all year long, and that includes Bucky.

OK, brew, you and I will have to agree to disagree on Derrick Wilson's ceiling.

For the record, I hope you are right and I am wrong.

[CTWarrior]

I do think DeWil could average 5 ppg and 4 apg, and I think that would be pretty good, enough to keep defenses honest.

DeWil might be able to survive or thrive on an uber-talented scoring team.  This isn't that team.  He is our PG, and in the second half OSU didn't feel it was particularly important to pay attention to him when he was 20 feet from the basket WITH the ball!  Have you ever seen that before with a point guard?

As for Jake Thomas, running him off of screens isn't going to do the trick.  He needs a guard who will penetrate and then kick the ball out to him or have a big on the blocks kick it out to him so he receives that pass squared up to the hoop and can launch immediately.  He is not effective running off of screens, catching the ball stopping, squaring and shooting.  He takes a long time to do that and he still seems rushed.  So basically, you can neutralize him if you keep someone on him.  And it is easy to keep someone on him when you don't have to respect the offense of the PG.

So, in summation, in certain situations, these guards may be OK, but they do not complement one another at all, as each's weakness on the offensive end exacerbates the weakness of the other.

[LloydMooresLegs]

DeWil might be able to survive or thrive on an uber-talented scoring team.  This isn't that team.  He is our PG, and in the second half OSU didn't feel it was particularly important to pay attention to him when he was 20 feet from the basket WITH the ball!  Have you ever seen that before with a point guard?

As for Jake Thomas, running him off of screens isn't going to do the trick.  He needs a guard who will penetrate and then kick the ball out to him or have a big on the blocks kick it out to him so he receives that pass squared up to the hoop and can launch immediately.  He is not effective running off of screens, catching the ball stopping, squaring and shooting.  He takes a long time to do that and he still seems rushed.  So basically, you can neutralize him if you keep someone on him.  And it is easy to keep someone on him when you don't have to respect the offense of the PG.

So, in summation, in certain situations, these guards may be OK, but they do not complement one another at all, as each's weakness on the offensive end exacerbates the weakness of the other.

Good, thoughtful analysis that makes a lot of sense to me (I suppose that is why I think it is good)

[jesmu84]

DeWil might be able to survive or thrive on an uber-talented scoring team.  This isn't that team.  He is our PG, and in the second half OSU didn't feel it was particularly important to pay attention to him when he was 20 feet from the basket WITH the ball!  Have you ever seen that before with a point guard?

As for Jake Thomas, running him off of screens isn't going to do the trick.  He needs a guard who will penetrate and then kick the ball out to him or have a big on the blocks kick it out to him so he receives that pass squared up to the hoop and can launch immediately.  He is not effective running off of screens, catching the ball stopping, squaring and shooting.  He takes a long time to do that and he still seems rushed.  So basically, you can neutralize him if you keep someone on him.  And it is easy to keep someone on him when you don't have to respect the offense of the PG.

So, in summation, in certain situations, these guards may be OK, but they do not complement one another at all, as each's weakness on the offensive end exacerbates the weakness of the other.

What about Jake at the point? Can't sag off a sniper, right?

[Skatastrophy]

http://www.muscoop.com/index.php?topic=28543.msg329344#msg329344

Right on cue.

Season checklist
( ) Non-conference near-miss against inferior opponent (sky falls on Scoop)
( ) Non-conference stinker to inferior opponent (more sky-falling)
(x) Non-conference loss on big stage convinces board MU not ready for Big East
( ) Unmentionable conference loss
( ) Road Game we weren't supposed to win
( ) Late surge
( ) Top-half Big East Finish

This checklist should be in the left navigation along with the SotG.

[brewcity77]

DeWil might be able to survive or thrive on an uber-talented scoring team.  This isn't that team.  He is our PG, and in the second half OSU didn't feel it was particularly important to pay attention to him when he was 20 feet from the basket WITH the ball!  Have you ever seen that before with a point guard?

As for Jake Thomas, running him off of screens isn't going to do the trick.  He needs a guard who will penetrate and then kick the ball out to him or have a big on the blocks kick it out to him so he receives that pass squared up to the hoop and can launch immediately.  He is not effective running off of screens, catching the ball stopping, squaring and shooting.  He takes a long time to do that and he still seems rushed.  So basically, you can neutralize him if you keep someone on him.  And it is easy to keep someone on him when you don't have to respect the offense of the PG.

So, in summation, in certain situations, these guards may be OK, but they do not complement one another at all, as each's weakness on the offensive end exacerbates the weakness of the other.

On the defensive end, they do compliment each other. I have no problem with them both starting, along with Otule starting to set a defensive tone. However, I agree with you that on the offensive end having both in together can be problematic.

I do think that we will see Mayo start to take more of the minutes as the season goes on, and I would like to see Dawson develop into the kind of guy that can play 10 mpg against high-major competition. Of course, thus far Dawson has shown no greater offensive acumen than Derrick, and there's a definite case that he has shown less. (***Cue that Nebraska guy coming in kicking and screaming***)

[CTWarrior]

On the defensive end, they do compliment each other. I have no problem with them both starting, along with Otule starting to set a defensive tone. However, I agree with you that on the offensive end having both in together can be problematic.

I do think that we will see Mayo start to take more of the minutes as the season goes on, and I would like to see Dawson develop into the kind of guy that can play 10 mpg against high-major competition. Of course, thus far Dawson has shown no greater offensive acumen than Derrick, and there's a definite case that he has shown less. (***Cue that Nebraska guy coming in kicking and screaming***)

I agree that Thomas is the guy whose minutes are going to have to get reduced.  We have several options there.  I don't know what the argument is that Dawson has shown less offensive acumen than DWil, but I haven't seen Dawson (or JJJ) near enough to have much of an opinion about him one way or another.  I'd have given him some minutes against Ohio State to see if his presence would make their defense more honest, but I have confidence Buzz knows what he is doing. 

Mayo couldn't hit the broad side of a barn Saturday, and often seems to playing a different offense than everyone else, but he is the one guard who we know can create space for himself and generate offense.  If wae have a successful season, I think he will be an integral part of it.

[🏀]

He had some open looks yesterday. Still didn't hit them. Until he proves otherwise, he's just a guy with a great stroke that can't knock down shots. I don't know if it's a non-evident mechanical issue, an inability to live up to the expectation of being a sharpshooter, or the yips, but I'm not convinced open looks will help.