No suckage for JJJ

[MU82]

Almost lost in the Luke hysteria is the fact that JJJ was our leading scorer and had a very nice all-around game.

I can't remember which Scooper kept saying JJJ sucked and shouldn't even see the floor, and I'm far too lazy to look it up. But obviously JJJ doesn't suck and obviously Wojo felt JJJ deserved to see the floor -- and to stay on the floor after playing well in his early minutes.

This was the best game of his career and it came against a real opponent. Not the best opponent in the history of basketball, but not a bad team at all.

JJJ was buried on the bench by Buzz and was struggling to find his role under Wojo.
Is it possible that Deonte's departure saved JJJ's Marquette career? Fact is, Deonte had few if any performances as good as this one, regardless of opponent.

Here's hoping this was the start of something very good!

[PGsHeroes32]

Easy it was that Hutch guy. JJJ needs about 4 more of these games to start conference play to shut that guy up though.

He's on the fast track to reach Ners level by mid February.


Fantastic game by JJJ. The guy is just incredible in transition.

[mattyv1908]

I've been hard on him when it came to the discussion of Burton's playing time following the transfer as the most likely guy he could/should have gotten more time because he was playing poorly.

Somehow he seemed to slow down just a bit and it made all the difference in the world.

[bamamarquettefan]

Agreed. The thing I've learned in all the statistical breakdown of how much players impact their team is that steals have the most impact of anything you can do. JJJ is truly amazing in that he is in the top 2% of all players in steals  (4.4% of opponents trips) and somehow does it while committing less than one foul per 20 minutes. Yes, he has to stop turning the ball over and make more of his threes to go along with his 59.5% on two pointers - but he is taking points off the board with his defense.

[Tums Festival]

JJJ started the 2nd half ahead of Derrick. Props to Wojo for going with the hot hands (JJJ and Fischer).

[TSmith34, Inc.]

JJJ is one of my favorite players and it was good seeing him have a great offensive game.  That said, his defense still needs considerable work.  Like Deonte, he gets a fantastic amount of steals, his overall D is still a work-in-progress. But he is making strides, and I hope he continues to improve on that end of the floor.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

The best thing I saw from JjJ last night was decent man to man defense! Not great, but he stayed on his man and helped disrupt things. Just playing at that level will allow him to stay on the floor.

[1318WWells]

JJJ is one of my favorite players and it was good seeing him have a great offensive game.  That said, his defense still needs considerable work.  Like Deonte, he gets a fantastic amount of steals, his overall D is still a work-in-progress. But he is making strides, and I hope he continues to improve on that end of the floor.

He may benefit the most from Fischer.  Can gamble for the steals knowing there's someone to back him up at the rim. Would've helped Burton too, shame he didn't stick it out.

[Goose]

JJJ is going to be a great player before he is done. He is a true basketball player and an athlete. Very high hopes for him moving forward.

[Texas Western]

JJJ has been my favorite player on this team for a long time. Some of the plays he made in transition take incredible athletic ability. Last year I thought Todd Mayo said it best about JJJ in referring to him as a pure scorer.  He is the kind of kid that just racks up points when he is in the flow. He needs to keep working hard on D so he can stay on the floor.

[Lighthouse 84]

I agree that JjJ's game will begin to pick up and I think Luke will have the most impact on his breakout. Luke's D created many fast breaks last night, allowing both JjJ and Du to use their speed to blow by ASU defenders.  JjJ stil needs to get consistent with his shot, but he looked great in transition last night.

[MUfan12]

I was tough on him as well, and he showed up big. Looked competent in the man-to-man.

The key for him is bringing that effort level when he's not scoring. Good first step last night, though.

[bilsu]

Both JJJ and Anderson are open court players. They need to get out in run. Fischer allows them to do that.

[RubyWiscy]

Both JJJ and Anderson are open court players. They need to get out in run. Fischer allows them to do that.

This. Remains to be seen if this is the new style of play or just one game. But hopefully Fischer makes guards better because he fills a void aka backs them up and allows them to focus more on what they are good at. Good for me as a fan because I love the style of play by the team last night.

[mu03eng]

I was one of the folks making the argument that JjJ minutes should go to Burton.  I think JjJ is a good guy and can be a good play, and I think he was great last night.  He seems to have a thing against Arizona State because his best performance last year was against ASU.

I think his offensive decision making was good, and he seemed to play in control.  I think he still needs to get better defensively but if Fischer is going to play like that, it will forgive a multitude of sins.  JjJ's biggest issue is consistency, which we still haven't seen.

I hope this is a corner turn for JjJ and this run of cupcakes should help to get him confidence.  I think we'll know if he has turned the corner and if Fischer is legit by January 18th.

[mu03eng]

Both JJJ and Anderson are open court players. They need to get out in run. Fischer allows them to do that.

It helps that ASU is apparently allergic to the ball.  We'll see if we can play open court with a team that protects the ball.  I would hope so but we'll see.

[KenoshaWarrior]

Almost lost in the Luke hysteria is the fact that JJJ was our leading scorer and had a very nice all-around game.

I can't remember which Scooper kept saying JJJ sucked and shouldn't even see the floor, and I'm far too lazy to look it up. But obviously JJJ doesn't suck and obviously Wojo felt JJJ deserved to see the floor -- and to stay on the floor after playing well in his early minutes.

This was the best game of his career and it came against a real opponent. Not the best opponent in the history of basketball, but not a bad team at all.

JJJ was buried on the bench by Buzz and was struggling to find his role under Wojo.
Is it possible that Deonte's departure saved JJJ's Marquette career? Fact is, Deonte had few if any performances as good as this one, regardless of opponent.

Here's hoping this was the start of something very good!

Amaroso once scored 30 against South Carolina.  Lets not take one performance as gospel.  I am hoping their will be more of these games to come.   I am not not skeptical, just playing devils advocate

[avid1010]

Amaroso once scored 30 against South Carolina.  Lets not take one performance as gospel.  I am hoping their will be more of these games to come.   I am not not skeptical, just playing devils advocate

i don't understand what this has to do with JJJ...i don't think the two will have anything in common regarding their development at MU.

[frozena pizza]

Duane and Jajuan were in attack mode all night and kept ASU on their heels.  Jajuan fits in nicely with this group and if he can keep improving his defense and get some consistency with his outside shot he is going to be a huge factor.

[MU82]

The best thing I saw from JjJ last night was decent man to man defense! Not great, but he stayed on his man and helped disrupt things. Just playing at that level will allow him to stay on the floor.

I agree totally. He was where he was supposed to be most of the night, and created some havoc at times, too. Having a shot-blocker behind him can only help him and everybody else on D.

On offense, JJJ is like a lot of natural scorers who aren't pure shooters. He is going to throw up a brick or three and will have the occasional turnover in transition, but he is going to put pressure on the defense and create opportunities for himself and his teammates.

I'm not (Denny Green) crowning his a$$ based on one performance, but anybody who watches him closely knows he has a lot of natural ability and a very high upside.

I was thrilled to see Wojo start him over Derrick in the second half. Beyond thrilled, in fact. And then for JJJ to come through after being trusted like that was huge.

[RubyWiscy]

If we keep reminding ourselves that this is a VERY young team and game by game we will see awesome and/or terrible performances from individual players, but the goal is experience and building a core, then I am very encouraged. We have a lot of raw talent to develop. Then next year we add the new guys and a few more recruits, I can't help but be ecstatic about the future of MU basketball.

At the beginning of the season I noted that some of the young players will take off and some will crash and burn. I was afraid JJJ was headed to the ladder, but after last night, I am much more encouraged toward the former.  Go for it JJJ!!!  I really love what you can bring to MU basketball.

[KenoshaWarrior]

i don't understand what this has to do with JJJ...i don't think the two will have anything in common regarding their development at MU.

Im just saying that sometimes OK players have AWESOME Games.  David Diggs against Gonzaga,  Brian Barone against UC.  I am not saying that JJJ is any of those guys, but we have seen many more clunkers than we have seen great games from him.  I believe CSU Fullerton was his last great game

[WarriorInNYC]

He may benefit the most from Fischer.  Can gamble for the steals knowing there's someone to back him up at the rim. Would've helped Burton too, shame he didn't stick it out.

Agreed.  Defensively, Fischer allows him to take a few more gambles.  But also on the other end, Fischer can clear out space down low by sealing off driving lanes, as well as drawing taller defenders out with his ability to hit the 15 foot jumper.  This then giving JjJ and others more space to drive the lane and finish against shorter defenders.

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

Luke also helped because he did what Otule did last year which was seal off his defender. Say what you want about Otule but he was really good at that.

[BCHoopster]

One thing young offensive players need to learn is once they miss a shot get back and play D, JJJ seems to be in another world when that happens.  His energy level on getting back is
basically bad, bad body language.  His shot is still really funky, not sure who taught him how to shot the ball, like Keith Wilkes, lets see if he can follow up with another good game or how
he shots it on the road.