Samford Thoughts

[tower912]

1.   Get well soon, Jamil
2.  Nice dunk, Deonte.
3.  Solid games from Burton and Johnson.   Man, they are going to be good.
4.  I miss the old Davante.   The senior version......well, if you can't say anything good....
5.  Otule, it is clear you are outworking Davante
6.  STjr, hurry up and heal.   Would have liked to see him get a few minutes today.
7.  Good ball movement against the zone.
8.  Please, do not say for the rest of the season that Dawson should be starting at the point.
9.  Todd with a solid, under control game.   Good decisons for the most part.
10.   Freshmen still do dumb freshmen moves
11.  Love cupcakes.
12. Larrivee is not good at basketball on TV.

[GGGG]

I pretty much agree except for #7.  I thought the ball stopped too much.

[hepennypacker5000]

Didn't watch, what happened to Jamil? Saw he only got 5 minutes.

[Goose]

Tower

Think 2&3 might be understatements. The kids are basketball players and great athletes. Going to be awfully fun to watch them continue to improve. Having DuWilson phishing the ball hard up court next year will make those two even better.

[Earl Tatum]

For the last time where is Taylor or is his injury more serious than thought it was. I hope Buzz is not putting on a grandstand show with him otherwise we lose players from Illinois if he transfers out. WE NEED HIM IF HEALTHY.

[tower912]

I liked Deonte and JJJ today, but they need to do it against the good teams.   

[Goose]

Tower

No doubt. But we are seeing glimpses of what they can do and it is far better than the glimpses we saw of the guys playing ahead of them earlier this year. Buzz rode VB a great deal last year and I believe he will ride the young guys rest of he way.

[chapman]

For the last time where is Taylor or is his injury more serious than thought it was. I hope Buzz is not putting on a grandstand show with him otherwise we lose players from Illinois if he transfers out. WE NEED HIM IF HEALTHY.

He's at the bottom of the list of transfer candidates.  Kid loves MU.  Sported the shirt signed by Buzz's Bunch at the game.

[jesmu84]

Tower - I now look forward to these at the end of every game. Thanks.

[Markusquette]

I like Mayo when he drives but I wish he would pass more on fast breaks when it's 2 on 1.  I think today was the first time i saw him crack a smile on the bench too.  Thought Thomas would have at least 3 treys this afternoon but he disappeared.  Buzz really wants his young'ns to earn these minutes, because the ability is clear.  Burton and Johnson are our most talented players with Jamil. Deonte is a great passer too.  He can do it all.

You're right about Gardner too.  He was hardly fed inside today which I found rather strange.  Surely we could have gotten him some more looks in the post.  Overall pretty good game.  Thought we played alright but I have no idea about our ability to succeed in conference.

[rocky_warrior]

13. No Samford is evil thread?
14. No SOTG thread?

Disappointed in MUScoopers performance today. ☺☺☺☺:-)

[tower912]

I am going to promote the Scout site right now.   He has a synopsis of Buzz's thoughts on the team so far, how this team came to be 8-5 right now.     In a sentence, leadership and consistent effort.   Also, Jamil is having an MRI tonight.  

Edit:   I just saw 19 assists on 23 made baskets.     Nice.   

[Sunbelt15]

1.   Get well soon, Jamil
2.  Nice dunk, Deonte.
3.  Solid games from Burton and Johnson.   Man, they are going to be good.
4.  I miss the old Davante.   The senior version......well, if you can't say anything good....
5.  Otule, it is clear you are outworking Davante
6.  STjr, hurry up and heal.   Would have liked to see him get a few minutes today.
7.  Good ball movement against the zone.
8.  Please, do not say for the rest of the season that Dawson should be starting at the point.
9.  Todd with a solid, under control game.   Good decisons for the most part.
10.   Freshmen still do dumb freshmen moves
11.  Love cupcakes.
12. Larrivee is not good at basketball on TV.

#10 is so stupid, as if upperclassmen don't make the same mistakes. They're out there making the same screw-ups as the others. If they weren't we'd probably be leading the BE. Stop putting the freshmen down.

[jesmu84]

I am going to promote the Scout site right now.   He has a synopsis of Buzz's thoughts on the team so far, how this team came to be 8-5 right now.     In a sentence, leadership and consistent effort.   Also, Jamil is having an MRI tonight.  

Edit:   I just saw 19 assists on 23 made baskets.     Nice.   

Link?

[melissasmooth]

Not going to get excited about how well we play or how great the freshmen look against crappy teams like samford and grambling.  Let us see if we can beat a good team other than gw before the end of the season 

[tower912]

http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?s=415&f=2850&t=12515843

[john31]

My thoughts are that MU will be a better team when JJJ and Burton earn Buzz's trust on defense, that means more time for both. I want to see that because I think that dramatically changes our offensive game for the better.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

#10 is so stupid, as if upperclassmen don't make the same mistakes. They're out there making the same screw-ups as the others. If they weren't we'd probably be leading the BE. Stop putting the freshmen down.

Valid point, but the frosh made more glaring mistakes. Whether it was Burton trying to dribble between two defenders that were shoulder to shoulder, Dawson throwing the ball away, or JJJ making "8 defensive mistakes" as Kevin O'Neill put it.

[PGsHeroes32]

Valid point, but the frosh made more glaring mistakes. Whether it was Burton trying to dribble between two defenders that were shoulder to shoulder, Dawson throwing the ball away, or JJJ making "8 defensive mistakes" as Kevin O'Neill put it.

Kevin oneill didn't put it that way. He used that as Buzz line of thinking.

He did however say Derrick makes us play 4-5 and Jake can't get his own shot so having him with Derrick is pointless

[Lighthouse 84]

14. No SOTG thread?

Disappointed in MUScoopers performance today. ☺☺☺☺:-)

I was out all day and didn't see the game!  Otherwise, I'd have started it....

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Kevin oneill didn't put it that way. He used that as Buzz line of thinking.

He did however say Derrick makes us play 4-5 and Jake can't get his own shot so having him with Derrick is pointless

I agree that Jake and Derrick shouldn't be on the floor together as much as they are. But I don't think it's pointless. Derrick has to get better at his entry passes.

And yes O'Neill was saying it from Buzz's perspective but he was also pointing out that there were "eight" defensive lapses (eight in parentheses because I'm pretty sure he made up a large number off the top of his head)

[chapman]

"If you look at the numbers and you go, `Well, how did the starters play more minutes than the subs and the subs scored more points? Buzz, you're starting the wrong guys," he said. "Maybe."

Maybe is much better than we've heard the past six weeks.  I'll take it, especially since it came without "earn it" and "but they flopped around like fish and came up with that one loose ball!" attached. 

[MU82]

I like Mayo when he drives but I wish he would pass more on fast breaks when it's 2 on 1.  I think today was the first time i saw him crack a smile on the bench too.  Thought Thomas would have at least 3 treys this afternoon but he disappeared.  Buzz really wants his young'ns to earn these minutes, because the ability is clear.  Burton and Johnson are our most talented players with Jamil. Deonte is a great passer too.  He can do it all.

You're right about Gardner too.  He was hardly fed inside today which I found rather strange.  Surely we could have gotten him some more looks in the post.  Overall pretty good game.  Thought we played alright but I have no idea about our ability to succeed in conference.

Re: Jake -- He had more great, wide-open looks today than any game all season. The shot wasn't on. So is he a dead-eye sniper because he's capable of going 4-for-6? Or is he an unreliable shooter after his seventh game of 0 or 1 three-pointers this season (which is more than half our games)? The answer, as always, is probably in between. Personally, I'd rather have less Jake and more JJJ, but I don't think he should be completely cut off as he was last year during the conference season (and that won't happen this year, so it doesn't really matter what I think).

Re: Gardner -- When he and Burton are on the floor at the same time, Burton gets some of the low-post touches Gardner would have. Then, if Derrick also is on the floor, defenses are collapsing into the lane and making it tough for either Burton or Gardner to get it.

[77ncaachamps]

Kevin oneill didn't put it that way. He used that as Buzz line of thinking.

He did however say Derrick makes us play 4-5 and Jake can't get his own shot so having him with Derrick is pointless

AMEN

[CTWarrior]

O'Neill was basically saying that Derrick was the problem, and didn't sugarcoat it all that much.  He said we were playing 4 on 5 with Derrick, that he has to make himself more of a threat, and casually mentioned that for Marquette to get better they have to "solve their point guard issue."  When the play by play guy asked if MU should run more stuff to get Thomas more shots, he replied that normally guys like Thomas would get shots on kickouts from Gardner, but with our lineup we have to kick it out and then swing it around to get the ball to Jake.  I think he was implying that because the double was coming from Derrick's man, but to be fair he didn't say that.

I'm not sure what we do.  Dawson sure doesn't look ready either when he gets his chances.  Derrick seems to be the only guy we have that can handle guarding the opposition's PG, too.  I think maybe we'll see more of the Jamil at the point experiment, with Mayo trying to guard the other PG on the defensive end when that happens.