Creighton Thoughts

[humanlung]

Last night, my 12 year old daughter who knows nothing about basketball asked me, "Dad, why isn't the other team standing near number 12?".

I love De Wilson's heart and effort but that one question sums up the problem.  He tries as hard as he can at all times but it's 4 on 5 for Marquette this season on the offensive end.  Against any kind of quality opponent, you simply cannot win playing under that constraint.

Hopefully, next year will be better with Du Wilson back and another year of development for Dawson.

 

[GGGG]

As I said, unless exploiting a mismatch. Most of his drives were against smaller guards after switches or against JWilson when he was playing with 4 fouls. Those plays are a great example of how he uses his superior bball IQ, crafty moves, and his knack for finding a way to get the ball in the basket. Like I said, he is a great college bball player, but I think many of those drives would get stuffed back in his face in the NBA. He just doesn't have the athletic ability to take NBA 2s and 3s off the dribble.

He's got a real quick release though.  That will serve him well.  He'll be in the league many years without being a superstar.

[NavinRJohnson]

Last night, my 12 year old daughter who knows nothing about basketball asked me, "Dad, why isn't the other team standing near number 12?".

Put me on record as suggesting this did not happen.

[GGGG]

Agree strongly with this point.  There is a stretch in every game where we go several consecutive possessions settling for long jump shots, often with plenty of time on the shot clock.  Happened again last night.  And when you shoot like we do, that is a recipe for failure.

This is a very good point.  At one point last night, a smaller defender got switched onto Deonte, and he settled for a jump shot instead of trying to back him down or make some sort of move.

[WarriorDoc]

Put me on record as suggesting this did not happen.

Seconded.

[ChicosBailBonds]

3 FG attempts by DG
2 FG attempts by DG first game we played them.

[NavinRJohnson]

3 FG attempts by DG
2 FG attempts by DG first game we played them.

Yep. Unfortunately, there was absolutely no place on the floor for him last night. Anytime he was out there on D, Creighton found him.

[GGGG]

Finally, I don't see how we beat this team other than letting them shoot the 3 and hoping they have an off night, which will be a disaster more often than not.  Other option is to forget Otule and Gardner and go back to massive substitutions with the other guys and try to wear them out.  Neither are promising options.

First half...they doubled McDermott...and he passed the ball and they eventually found the open guy.

Second half...they let Jamil go one-on-one...and McDermott schooled him.

Unless they aren't hitting their shots, Marquette just isn't going to beat that team.

[Henry Sugar]

Last night was the worst MU defensive eFG% in Pomeroy's history (going back to 2003).

How about we don't just chalk it up to "eh - Creighton's pretty good"? MU has played lots of teams better than Creighton over the past ten years.

[willie warrior]

Yep. Unfortunately, there was absolutely no place on the floor for him last night. Anytime he was out there on D, Creighton found him.

Absolutely--and they sloughed off our PG more than I have ever seen a team. Absolutely no respect for the perimeter game.

[KenoshaWarrior]

I agree that Creighton is simply better, but I have a few ideas what Marquette could have done differently.

How about if we start with something as simple as making a few of the 16 freakin' free throws we missed?

Also, maybe not lose track of Wragge for six 3-pointers? It's actually a fairly simple assignment but whoever was on him seemed to lose focus for a brief second and then - bang - it was too late.

Also, how about not giving up about a half-dozen wide-open layups?

Also, needed more out of Jamil.

So there's a start. Not sure if all of that would have added up to victory but at least doing a few of those things differently might have kept us from getting wiped out on our home court.

3 of those 6, Wragge had a hand in his face and drilled it.

[willie warrior]

Put me on record as suggesting this did not happen.

So noted--except it absolutely did happen on numerous occasions. At least 3 times when he was down low on the baseline, and at least 3 times when he was dribbling at the FT line. His defender was sagged at least 3 feet off. C-mon man!

[willie warrior]

Last night, my 12 year old daughter who knows nothing about basketball asked me, "Dad, why isn't the other team standing near number 12?".

I love De Wilson's heart and effort but that one question sums up the problem.  He tries as hard as he can at all times but it's 4 on 5 for Marquette this season on the offensive end.  Against any kind of quality opponent, you simply cannot win playing under that constraint.

Hopefully, next year will be better with Du Wilson back and another year of development for Dawson.

 

Amazing that a 12 year old can see this, but the coach cannot, because he fails to remedy it, but blindly pursues his stubbornness. Several people on this board also do not notice it. Here come the insults.

[MarquetteDano]

My fear is that Creighton will become the "duke" of the big east conference:/

I hate them

Why would you fear this?  Every conference needs a Duke shooting type team.  The more diversity of offenses and defenses there are in the conference the better all of the Big East teams will be prepared come NCAA tournament time.

[Nevada233]

Aye if the man doesnt require a Defender then why Defend him.

We 25 Games into the season teams already know. Its no secret.

[GGGG]

Last night was the worst MU defensive eFG% in Pomeroy's history (going back to 2003).

Yep.  But people want to continue to place blame on the point guard...despite the fact that the offense has been steadily getting better as his minutes have increased.

[humanlung]

Put me on record as suggesting this did not happen.

Sorry, gentlemen, it did happen.  On my other side, my 16 year old son, who does know about basketball, was screaming about the officiating and that's what got her to look up from texting every so often, leading to the question.

As I said, I love his effort but his performance on the offensive end is just so tough to watch and easy to see.

[swoopem]

IMO the game was lost when we were down 5 with about 7 minutes left and we got a stop then Todd rushed a 3 and missed. Next thing you know McDermont hit a 3 and we're down 8, basically a 6 point swing. I don't fault Todd for shooting because if he'd have hit it the game woulda been ours, but it seemed a little rushed.

[CTWarrior]

Last night was the worst MU defensive eFG% in Pomeroy's history (going back to 2003).

How about we don't just chalk it up to "eh - Creighton's pretty good"? MU has played lots of teams better than Creighton over the past ten years.

Henry, we may have faced better teams, but not teams with their particular skill set.  In another thread, someone mentioned the old Pittsnogle WVU teams, who used to score on us efficiently, and this Creighton team is a better offensive version of those teams.  Basically, Otule and especially Gardner can't guard anyone of those guys.  Anderson is our best defender against that team, I think, but put him on the floor with Jake and Derrick and how do we score?  I don't know what the alignment is that matches up with them.

[GGGG]

Henry, we may have faced better teams, but not teams with their particular skill set.  In another thread, someone mentioned the old Pittsnogle WVU teams, who used to score on us efficiently, and this Creighton team is a better offensive version of those teams.  Basically, Otule and especially Gardner can't guard anyone of those guys.  Anderson is our best defender against that team, I think, but put him on the floor with Jake and Derrick and how do we score?  I don't know what the alignment is that matches up with them.

At one point, I was thinking a line up of Derrick, Todd, Jamil, Deonte and Juan might be the best.  The biggest hole defensively is Deonte, but even he is better equipped to chase people on the perimeter.

No post, but Creighton was rending them ineffective on the offensive end anyway.

[frozena pizza]

I'd say if we played Creighton 10 times we might beat them once.  There just isn't much more we can do defensively.  Double McDermott and the other shooters will kill you, even with contested 3s 4-5 feet behind the arc.  We don't have the right personnel to chase them all over and even if we tried to lock down the perimeter shooters, DMC (I like that) would drive us all day and probably foul out Jamil and get 30.  We just don't have the offense to keep up with them even on our best nights.

[Henry Sugar]

Henry, we may have faced better teams, but not teams with their particular skill set.  In another thread, someone mentioned the old Pittsnogle WVU teams, who used to score on us efficiently, and this Creighton team is a better offensive version of those teams.  Basically, Otule and especially Gardner can't guard anyone of those guys.  Anderson is our best defender against that team, I think, but put him on the floor with Jake and Derrick and how do we score?  I don't know what the alignment is that matches up with them.

I just think any time the result is the WORST EVER IN RECORDED HISTORY, perhaps something could have been done differently to prevent that result.

Of course, I have no idea what the answer is and won't pretend to know.

[CTWarrior]

Of course, I have no idea what the answer is and won't pretend to know.

Yup, that's what I was trying to say in too many words. 

[MU82]

Agree about the FTs.  Don't agree with much else. 

Wragge was open because neither Otule nor Gardner can chase guys all over the court, so as long as one of them is on the court, a shooter was going to get open.

In the previous 5 games, Wragge's 3-point shooting went like this: 1-for-3, 3-for-5, 1-for-4, 0-for-4, 1-for-2. Creighton lost one of those games, had narrow wins in two others and even struggled a little before beating DePaul by 12.

Just as our opponents can totally eliminate Jake from the game if they want to, opponents who are committed to stopping Wragge can do so.

Bigger picture, despite all of the things Marquette did wrong -- including let Wragge go off as he hadn't in weeks -- it was only a 5-point game with 7 minutes to go. So I reject the notion that Creighton was unbeatable no matter what we could have done. I mean, Butler only lost to 'em by 5! Creighton is a nice team with outstanding shooters, but let's not make them out to be some unbeatable juggernaut.

[willie warrior]

Yep.  But people want to continue to place blame on the point guard...despite the fact that the offense has been steadily getting better as his minutes have increased.

Well, as I predicted, it took less than half a day to come to PG defense.