Creighton thoughts

[Newsdreams]

Couple issues pertaining to Luke.

1. He scored the first basket of the game on the 1st possession of the game. He had 2 shots the rest of the game....2.

2. He hasn't had more than 3 boards in a BE game yet.

We are still infinitely better with him on the floor...but those things above can't happen.

He is getting lots of attention now. Teams are just packing the paint.

[rocky_warrior]

He is getting lots of attention now. Teams are just packing the paint.

Yup.  It was clear in the first half they were just challenging us to shoot -- as much room as the perimeter guys not named Carlino were getting.  After our barrage of 3's, they tightened up a bit, but still were pulling the easy double on Luke by playing off Derrick.

[MarquetteDano]

Couple issues pertaining to Luke.

1. He scored the first basket of the game on the 1st possession of the game. He had 2 shots the rest of the game....2.

2. He hasn't had more than 3 boards in a BE game yet.

We are still infinitely better with him on the floor...but those things above can't happen.

Two things regarding Luke:

1. Really glad he boxes out well.  Good fundamentals.  That said, he boxes out sometimes to a fault. I can think of at least two occasions where he was super busy boxing out that the rebound went by his face.

2. Also glad Wojo has him playing vertical defense and getting his hands up.  However, he is now so interested in getting vertical that when someone simply sidesteps him he is not affecting the shot other than the sidestep.  He should be swatting at a shot whenever someone is physically separated from him.

Point is Luke is sometimes so focused on fundamentals that I feel like he is missing opportunities in rebounding and blocking/altering shots.

[Lennys Tap]

1. McDermott is a good coach. Adjusted to our 1-3-1 that was giving them fits and got a lot of open looks/easy shots down the stretch.
2. Did any of our coaches/players know we had TWO freakin' fouls to give when Creighton inbounded the ball under their own basket with only 11 seconds left? If we lose that game in the last few seconds it would have been unforgivable.
3. I don't blame Duane and Carlino for being "chuckers". When a team packs it in against us they're all we have in the half court offense (assuming Sandy is on the bench).

[Newsdreams]

Did anyone else hear Perrish call wojo the "cute" floor slapping pg? Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Hope you didn't mean this in a bad way....

[jsheim]

Im forgetting this game except that its a W. Xavier away is huge. We can beat them there....its one of those away games we have to somehow steal.

[Loose Cannon]

I said I would judge success for this team based on progress. I am afraid if there has been progress I have missed it. Please help me see the improvement in this team. I would feel much better if we played well and lost to a good team then watch us play a horrible team and win by one. Where is the improvement? There must be something besides Derrick's two 3's.

Try "Being Lucky rather than Good"..........Who know how this impacts our final record and maybe determine if we go anywhere.

[rocky_warrior]

Im forgetting this game except that its a W. Xavier away is huge. We can beat them there....its one of those away games we have to somehow steal.

It's crazy that if we somehow steal that one, they'll be 2-4 and we'd be 3-2 in BE play.

[JoeSmith1721]

1. McDermott is a good coach. Adjusted to our 1-3-1 that was giving them fits and got a lot of open looks/easy shots down the stretch.
2. Did any of our coaches/players know we had TWO freakin' foul to give when Creighton inbounded the ball under their own basket with only 11 seconds left? If we lose that game in the last few seconds it would have been unforgivable.
3. I don't blame Duane and Carlino for being "chuckers". When a team packs it in against us they're all we have in the half court offense (assuming Sandy is on the bench).

Wojo was screaming at someone to foul when the ball was inbounded but it went unnoticed by the team.

[jsheim]

It's crazy that if we somehow steal that one, they'll be 2-4 and we'd be 3-2 in BE play.

This year we need Crazy.

[PGsHeroes32]

Really don't see us beating them at X or even hanging close but yeah that would be awesome.

Stainbrook down low is going to make it just as hard to get good 2 pt looks like today an they got shooters to get that home court "hot".

[brewcity77]

1. Really glad he boxes out well.  Good fundamentals.  That said, he boxes out sometimes to a fault. I can think of at least two occasions where he was super busy boxing out that the rebound went by his face.

Agree with this, but that's when the guards and forwards have to take advantage of the Big man doing his job and getting good position themselves. Otule was great at boxing out to get others rebounds, but the key is the other guys taking advantage.

Another note...by my calculation, Derrick is now shooting over 30% from three (7/23). Considering his history, that's remarkable. He'll never be a sniper for us but he has established himself as a guy that can hit the open shot.

[MU82]

I would feel much better if we played well and lost to a good team then watch us play a horrible team and win by one.

Always better to win.

Always.

[Lennys Tap]

Wojo was screaming at someone to foul when the ball was inbounded but it went unnoticed by the team.

That should have been addressed during the timeout with 21.6 seconds left. "We're down 2. If we miss foul immediately 3 times. If we make a 2 play D but don't be afraid to foul a non shooter if he's got a step. If we make a 3 DO NOT LET THEM GET INTO A SHOOTING POSITION. 2 fouls when they have to go 94 feet in 11 seconds should pretty much ensure they won't get any shot off or have to put up a prayer. We gave them a very good look that they never should have had.

[Dr. Blackheart]

MU's three starting point guards were 8-14 from treyland.

[79Warrior]

Rust...this team has had a somewhat odd schedule and needs to find a rhythm. These staggered games don't help. Add the fact that Creighton drew us into a shooting contest and it was going to be ugly.

We won...all good as far as I'm concerned.

Bull##it on the rust. We stunk. take the win but wow we will be fortunate to win 9 games.

[Dr. Blackheart]

Only Matt and Du over 100 on ORating. MU really needs to focus on their spacing in the half court offense. Way too mch dribbling without a purpose.

[willie warrior]

Its been proven to you multiple times that both Duane and Johnson shoot at a higher and more inconsistent rate than Carlino. Carlino also leads the team in assists. Don't know too many chuckers who do that.

Actually I like Carlino. he and Duane are the ONLY TWO guys on this team you can count on to create shots at crunch time. None of the others can. My comment about him was meant for all those who denigrate Carlino--and there are plenty of them on this board. Hopefully Wojo hs figured out who should be the shooters at crunch time. It is one of those two. It isn't Derrick, it isn't Juan, etc.
You sure as hell have not "proven" Carlino to me.

[tower912]

6.  No (but close).  Carlino also wanted the ball.  He always wants the ball.

Carlino did want it at the end.    Actually, he played a pretty solid game.    But outside of Duane and Matt, the offensive execution looked similar to what I am seeing in the 5th grade Catholic league I am coaching in.

[Goose]

I have been out of touch last couple of weeks and wanted to weigh in on Carlino. I saw on a thread a week or so ago about Matt's lack of basketball IQ and was shocked with the number of comments supporting that thought. Matt may be a lot of things, good and bad, but lacking a basketball IQ is beyond crazy. The kid is a basketball player first and knows the game beyond vast majority of D1 players IMO. He is born to be a basketball player and his knowledge of the game is extremely high.

He is called a chucker and he was brought here to be one. If leads team in assists and if he had better talent around him that number would be higher. No doubt he slacks on D too much for my liking but he is top tier offensive player on a team that struggles on that side of the court. IMO he would be a great piece to a talented team and unfortunately he has become a lightning rod for an average team.

Not often do you see you guys that want the ball in crunch time and he wants in his hands all the time. His forcing shoots or passes he based off talent around him and not him being selfish. He was brought here to fill a gap and he has done so well more than not. Again, I would take 12 guys with his basketball IQ and willingness to step up in crunch time any day of the week.

[ATL MU Warrior]

I have been out of touch last couple of weeks and wanted to weigh in on Carlino. I saw on a thread a week or so ago about Matt's lack of basketball IQ and was shocked with the number of comments supporting that thought. Matt may be a lot of things, good and bad, but lacking a basketball IQ is beyond crazy. The kid is a basketball player first and knows the game beyond vast majority of D1 players IMO. He is born to be a basketball player and his knowledge of the game is extremely high.

He is called a chucker and he was brought here to be one. If leads team in assists and if he had better talent around him that number would be higher. No doubt he slacks on D too much for my liking but he is top tier offensive player on a team that struggles on that side of the court. IMO he would be a great piece to a talented team and unfortunately he has become a lightning rod for an average team.

Not often do you see you guys that want the ball in crunch time and he wants in his hands all the time. His forcing shoots or passes he based off talent around him and not him being selfish. He was brought here to fill a gap and he has done so well more than not. Again, I would take 12 guys with his basketball IQ and willingness to step up in crunch time any day of the week.

Damn straight.  He is simply doing what he was brought to MU to do...score the ball.  Not a chucker at all.  Agree on the D comments as well.

[hairy worthen]

Carlino did want it at the end.    Actually, he played a pretty solid game.    But outside of Duane and Matt, the offensive execution looked similar to what I am seeing in the 5th grade Catholic league I am coaching in.

Do you run a play called "MARQUETTE"?

[Stretchdeltsig]

It was a tough game to watch courtside.  Fischer was well guarded.  Derrick, Duane and Carlino played extremely well.  All three are leaders.  Carlino played like a veteran floor general directing traffic during most of the game.  He is ultra quick.  During the final minute he knew what he had to do.  He played to win.  He was fun to watch.  Sure glad he's a Warrior!

[CTWarrior]

Yup.  It was clear in the first half they were just challenging us to shoot -- as much room as the perimeter guys not named Carlino were getting.  After our barrage of 3's, they tightened up a bit, but still were pulling the easy double on Luke by playing off Derrick.

This.  They defended us like it was last season, ignoring Derrick at the three point line.  
Carlino is much better than Jake at creating scoring opportunities despite constant attention.  
Teams are going to take away Luke as much as possible the same way they tried to with Gardner last year.  We need to find more creative ways to get him the ball.

As for our defense, it was pretty good, but Creighton missed a boatload of easy shots right at the basket in the first half, as well as a lot of wide open, in rhythm 3s.  Happy to escape with a win, lots to improve on.

One positive way you could look at this is that we played poorly and won anyone, which is a sign of a good team.  (Unfortunately it could also be a sign of a bad team playing a worse one).

[jsglow]

Wojo was screaming at someone to foul when the ball was inbounded but it went unnoticed by the team.

As was I.  Absolutely crazy that they were allowed to get out of the backcourt without us committing multiple fouls forcing yet another inbound as the final 10 seconds drained.  Crazy that guys with supposedly high basketball IQs didn't recognize that.  Now from where I sit I was unaware that Wojo was calling for it.  At the time I was actually disappointed in him for not recognizing the situation himself.  Glad that's straightened out.