Why did MU Lose?

[WarhawkWarrior]

Ugh!  A long way to come and see this debacle. We subbed our way to defeat.  We pull out burton after a quick 7 points.  Other coach has no answer so we help him out. We just got out coached even with a handicapped back court.  Very sad but indicative of the entire year lets hope for a clean slate and different result next year.  We Have faired horrible in NYC.  Been here 8 of last 9 and it maybe my last.  Heartbreaking season.

[WellsstreetWanderer]

Can't win when you have 2-3 offensive players on the court instead of five. Their guards penetrated and made shots , ours did neither

[melissasmooth]

Wow so according to the hunt article burton wasn't injured in second. Buzz just thought we were better without him. Great job buzz.

[NersEllenson]

Don't blame Derrick for Jake's terrible performance.  Derrick had all 5 of those assists and only 1 TO.  Jake - 0 assists and 2 TOs.  But of course it's easier to criticize Derrick if you lump his stats with Jake's.

And did you notice that we had a 7-point lead when Derrick went out with his second foul in the first half...and then trailed by 2 at halftime?  Probably not.  People are so used to bashing our starting PG that they don't even notice when we start out ahead and then hit a roadblock when he sits.

I suppose it was Derrick's fault when Jamil missed those two FTs that were created by Derrick's aggressive drive.

The best three players tonight were Todd, Deonte...and Derrick.

Give me a break...I lumped them together so as to NOT call out Derrick alone...and I did notice our lead shrunk when BURTON went to the bench along with Derrick in 1st half...I tend to think Burton being benched had more to do with than Derrick...but..since you asked for it...here is your stat line for our 3rd best player tonight:

31 minutes, 2 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds, 1 turnover...

Meanwhile Dee Davis goes 38 minutes for 7 points, 3 assists, 5 steals and no turnovers....and we won't talk about Christian....

[GooooMarquette]

Give me a break...I lumped them together so as to NOT call out Derrick alone...and I did notice our lead shrunk when BURTON went to the bench along with Derrick in 1st half...I tend to think Burton being benched had more to do with than Derrick...but..since you asked for it...here is your stat line for our 3rd best player tonight:

31 minutes, 2 points, 5 assists, 3 rebounds, 1 turnover...

Meanwhile Dee Davis goes 38 minutes for 7 points, 3 assists, 5 steals and no turnovers....and we won't talk about Christian....

Stat line for Dawson:  7 minutes, 0 points, 0 assists, 1 rebound, 1 turnover.

And why don't you want to talk about Christon?  Because he scored 6 points in the 7 minutes Dawson was guarding him, and 12 in the 31 that Derrick was guarding him.  How's your math in calculating the points per minute?

Yeah, that's an upgrade....

[Fullodds]

You need more from Jamil.  He was a spectator on offense.  When he is aggressive he puts so much pressure on a D, especially with Todd/Jake and Davante/Deonte on the floor.  With a sleepy Jamil plus Derrick you have too many dead ends on offense.  How many times did dribble drive or kick out come to a Wilson and the ball was walked to the top of the key or the play hit the Wilson dead end?  If you're going to substitute offense for defense with Gardner/Otule how about trying it with Wilson and Dawson?   Disappointing but happy to see burton produce.  He will be our leading scorer next year unless Todd play both halves.  

[NersEllenson]

Stat line for Dawson:  7 minutes, 0 points, 0 assists, 1 rebound, 1 turnover.

Yeah, that's an upgrade....

Actually that's a fairly usual 7 minute stat line for your guy..only difference is he gets 32 minutes per game to put up numbers, game in, game out...gets more consistent PT than any other player on the team...but...it's pointless to debate as it is only going to get into more highlighting of the totally ineffective play of Derrick and he's been piled on enough...thanks in large part to people trying to say he played great or was 3rd best player on team tonight....

[79Warrior]

In the beating-a-dead-horse answer, we lost because our starting backcourt does less to win games than any Top 100 team backcourt in the country.

That is the correct answer. We can point to free throws, bad jamil etc. fact is, the starting back court is as bad as it gets for a high major. Brutal to watch.

[BenCat12]

Why did we lose?  It's a guards game
Our starting backcourt
65 min  2-5 fg/ 4 reb/ 5 ast/ 2 stl/ 3 to/ 5 pts

Xavier starting backcourt
74 min 9-18 fg/ 2 reb/ 8 ast/ 5 stl/ 5 to/ 25 pts

Here are Todd's stats, who again played fewer minutes than either starter
28 min 8-13 fg/ 2 reb/ 3 ast/ 0 stl/ 3 to/ 21 pts

[MU82]

Stat line for Dawson:  7 minutes, 0 points, 0 assists, 1 rebound, 1 turnover.

And why don't you want to talk about Christon?  Because he scored 6 points in the 7 minutes Dawson was guarding him, and 12 in the 31 that Derrick was guarding him.  How's your math in calculating the points per minute?

Yeah, that's an upgrade....

I WANT A BETTER PG THAN DERRICK AND DAWSON!!!

There? Did I shout loud enough?

Aside from Dawson's GTown performance and a couple decent games by Derrick, I saw only the worst PG play in the Big East and what had to be close to the worst in the nation.

Derrick, we all know is mid-major material, at best. Dawson, well, there is a reason he didn't sniff top-100. Does Dawson have a better upside? Sure ... talk about damning with faint praise.

We can do better. We MUST do better. Or 2014-15 will be a repeat.

But to answer the question in the OP: We lost because the APB never did locate Jamil (but Xavier's coach sure located Jamil after Derrick couldn't shoot FTs), because our starting SHOOTING guard managed to take 2 shots in 36 minutes, because even our best FT shooter bricked FTs (as did many of his teammates), because Mayo treated the ball as if it were covered in Crisco for a long stretch of the game, because Buzz had a couple of dopey substitutions, because ... well ... because we deserved to lose. Again.

[Newsdreams]

Why did we lose?  It's a guards game
Our starting backcourt
65 min  2-5 fg/ 4 reb/ 5 ast/ 2 stl/ 3 to/ 5 pts

Xavier starting backcourt
74 min 9-18 fg/ 2 reb/ 8 ast/ 5 stl/ 5 to/ 25 pts

Here are Todd's stats, who again played fewer minutes than either starter
28 min 8-13 fg/ 2 reb/ 3 ast/ 0 stl/ 3 to/ 21 pts

Todd was really bad in first half, so he got good minutes when you consider his first half play.

[GooooMarquette]

Actually that's a fairly usual 7 minute stat line for your guy..only difference is he gets 32 minutes per game to put up numbers, game in, game out...gets more consistent PT than any other player on the team...but...it's pointless to debate as it is only going to get into more highlighting of the totally ineffective play of Derrick and he's been piled on enough...thanks in large part to people trying to say he played great or was 3rd best player on team tonight....

No, a fairly usual stat line for Derrick would be about 5 assists (not 0), 5 rebounds (not 0), usually a steal or two (not 0).  You're right - it's pointless to debate with someone who constantly gets the facts wrong.

[BenCat12]

Todd was really bad in first half, so he got good minutes when you consider his first half play.

You are missing the point, Todd played like crap in the first half, absolute garbage, yet he still put up a better overall stat line for the game than our starting backcourt.  You wouldn't trade 15 more points a game if you had to give up 3 turnovers?  I sure as hell would.

Point being, Todd playing like crap is still better than the consistent output we get from our starting backcourt.  

[brandx]

No, a fairly usual stat line for Derrick would be about 5 assists (not 0), 5 rebounds (not 0), usually a steal or two (not 0).  You're right - it's pointless to debate with someone who constantly gets the facts wrong.

And that's a defense of DW?

[NersEllenson]

Stat line for Dawson:  7 minutes, 0 points, 0 assists, 1 rebound, 1 turnover.

And why don't you want to talk about Christon?  Because he scored 6 points in the 7 minutes Dawson was guarding him, and 12 in the 31 that Derrick was guarding him.  How's your math in calculating the points per minute?

Yeah, that's an upgrade....

Had your eyes checked lately?...Dawson wasn't guarding Christon...Look...do whatever you have to do to try to prop up your guy...he's gotten more opportunity than any other player on this team to show he could play...and at the end of the day...he can't.  I simply believe Dawson as a freshman, couldn't be worse...if you normalized his play and gave him 30 minutes night in and night out.

No, a fairly usual stat line for Derrick would be about 5 assists (not 0), 5 rebounds (not 0), usually a steal or two (not 0).  You're right - it's pointless to debate with someone who constantly gets the facts wrong.

Are you really this dense?  Yes, Derrick might average 4.1 assists for the year in 31 minutes of play...you brought up Dawson playing 7 minutes tonight....and I can find a lot of 7 minute stretches where Derrick has put up 0,0, and 1.

Can you find me one game Dawson played 30+ minutes and reference those stats please?  Thanks.  It's pointless to debate with someone who brings up a 7 minute stat line in criticism and then tries to argue against it with 31 minute stat line.  WOW!

[Newsdreams]

You are missing the point, Todd played like crap in the first half, absolute garbage, yet he still put up a better overall stat line for the game than our starting backcourt.  You wouldn't trade 15 more points a game if you had to give up 3 turnovers?  I sure as hell would.

Point being, Todd playing like crap is still better than the consistent output we get from our starting backcourt.  

What I'm saying is he played really bad 1st half including dumb TO's, but when he played to his potential he was kept in the game. So he ends up with 25 minutes because Buzz did not give up on him and played him for most of the 2nd half.

[Tums Festival]

Because Burton was one point shy of equally the point total of the other 4 starters

The other four starters had 12 points to Burton's 23.

[mr.MUskie]

At least we won't have to watch them get destroyed by Creighton again.

[murphmurphy]

4 starters combined for 12 points in 108 minutes of playing time.  Not sure it could be any worse unless the one fg by Thomas that bounced up off the front of the rim and fell forward thru the net didn't go in.

[Class71]

2-4 relate to the limitations of players and is beyond being addressed on game day by a coach. 5 is coaching and controlled by the coach. Also Todd is in a flow and we call a time out. Can anyone explain how critical a flow is in any sport? How the brain takes over and and the body responds. That is why Todd plays his best at the end of the game. He zones out and concentrates completely without thinking or fear. Also Deonte should have had more minutes than Jake, Derrick or Jamil IMHO.

[Blackhat]

Kinda glad Jamil is gone.  Hate to say it but the kid never was a winner.

[RushmoreAcademy]

Kinda glad Jamil is gone.  Hate to say it but the kid never was a winner.

Maybe a little harsh.  Just never lived up to his potential.   Had some big shots too though, namely those two gigantic 3's against Davidson.

[RushmoreAcademy]

And that's a defense of DW?

Stats are useful to an extent.  Sure, DW has a ton of value as a defender, no doubt about it, but if you cant' see that he brings no aggressiveness and allows the defense to play differently in the guard oriented game of college basketball then I really have no idea how you view the game.   People are right that we really shouldn't attack the kid, because he's trying to do something more than what was asked of him when he was brought here and he's a kid, but that also doesn't mean falsely pumping him up.

[Sunbelt15]

Kinda glad Jamil is gone.  Hate to say it but the kid never was a winner.

Finally some truth. Cause Stone Cold said so!!  Thank You.

The guy is not a winner. He just has a deceiving body.

[Hards Alumni]

Many reasons.  Those defending Derrick Wilson should probably not be defending him.

Those defending Dawson should probably not be.

Honestly, we are better when they are both on the bench.

Jamil was a huge disappointment all year long.  I'll miss Gardner... that's about all for our seniors.  Jake and Chris are great guys, but they are role players at best. 

Looking forward to next season... hoping that Duane Wilson can be the starting PG.

Duane Wilson
Deonte Burton
Todd Mayo
Steve Taylor
Luke Fisher

is what I'm hoping for

Derrick Wilson
Deonte Burton
Juan Anderson
Todd Mayo
Steve Taylor

is what we will probably see.