Blue Jay thoughts

[tower912]

1.   This team misses Carlino.
2.  Nice game, Duane.
3.  Flashes from Steve and Sandy.
4.  Nothing from Derrick or Luke.
5.  7 is just not enough.
6.  The effort is off the charts.   Players who are mad at the coach or feel disrespected or misused by the coach don't play that hard.
7.  I hope JuJuan is OK. 

[GGGG]

Interior defense was simply terrible.  Luke *might* be an average defender.  STJ isn't.  This team is sorely lacking in physicality.  Can't see it next year either.

[forgetful]

Rebounding.

[willie warrior]

8. Last place in the BEast. Shades of Dukiet. There is no excuse for being in last place with our talent.
9. Taylor had a nice game. Might as well give him more of Juan's minutes.
10. Duane played about 3-4 minutes at point. Looked OK. He can create shots. Derrick can't.
11. Our seniors were about 2-15.
12. Should go man more than zone.
13. Sandy had flashes but is not good defending.
14. Fischer and Steve need to learn to kick it out when double teamed. Very rarely do that.
15. Derrick is a good kid, a good defender but nobody guards him 15 feet out. Announcer mentioned that 3 times.
16. Had our ass kicked on the boards. 42-26. Luke needs to get stronger.

[Big Papi]

Still a ton of missed shots around the rim.

Still a ton of missed free throws.

When an opposing player gets hot, you have to defend him better.  Kreklow should not be allowed to go off consistently.  Blame has to go on Wojo.  He tells the players they have to find Kreklow at the corner and then proceeds to call a 1-3-1 zone.  DUMB!!!!

How many layups did we give up on the pick and roll in the second half?

How many offensive rebounds did we give up the few times we did defend well?

The lack of strength on this team is unbelievable.  Todd Smith is hailed as a great strength and conditioning coach yet everyone on the team looks weak compared to other Big East teams.

[ATL MU Warrior]

Interior defense was simply terrible.  Luke *might* be an average defender.  STJ isn't.  This team is sorely lacking in physicality.  Can't see it next year either.

+1,000,000

We let scrubs like Artino and whoever the other guy was shoot 70-80% from the field.  D was absolutely BRUTAL today.

I don't like the term basketball IQ, but man, do we make a lot of mental mistakes.

- two (maybe three?) missed FT's by CU where we give up the O Rebound
- Kreklow is on fire and somehow he still gets loose for open threes time after time after time
- Multiple unforced TOs killing momentum
- Multiple missed FTs

I am sure there are other examples.

This kind of stuff is what really drives me nuts when watching these guys.  They are in almost every game.  Correct these things that are eminently correctable and we could have won a few more games.

[Tugg Speedman]

8. Last place in the BEast. Shades of Dukiet. There is no excuse for being in last place with our talent.

What talent?  We have 7 players and 5 of them cannot shoot.  No one can play D, incapable of man-to-man.

[Wojo'sMojo]

1.   This team misses Carlino.
2.  Nice game, Duane.
3.  Flashes from Steve and Sandy.
4.  Nothing from Derrick or Luke.
5.  7 is just not enough.
6.  The effort is off the charts.   Players who are mad at the coach or feel disrespected or misused by the coach don't play that hard.
7.  I hope JuJuan is OK. 

Was the effort off the charts? I think a lot of times this year we played with very good effort...today, not so much.

[MarquetteDano]

No answers defensively today.  We play zone and they can threes all over the place or go high-low and get easy baskets near the rim.  We play man and they kill us on the pick and roll.

Even the man defense could not stop offensive rebounds.  I think a lot of that had to with Anderson being on the perimeter defending Kreklow (sp?).  Without Anderson on the interior defending we don't have a good defensive rebounder in there.

I really hope Heldt and Ellenson can board.  Because Fischer is a below average defensive rebounder for his size.  No Juan next year is going to be an issue unless the freshmen can rebound.

[Jables1604]

Willie...no critique of JjJ?

[Big Papi]

8. Last place in the BEast. Shades of Dukiet. There is no excuse for being in last place with our talent.

That is what I am afraid of.  This team should not be 3-10 and in last place.  Not the best of situations for Wojo to walk into but a lot of blame falls on him.

[NBBomber]

Tower wrote: "Nothing from Derrick or Luke."

11 points and 5 boards is about all you could expect from a 1st year Sophomore. If Luke finishes the season with those averages, I'd take it. Add a bucket and a board in each of his next 2 years, and he hears his name get called in the last week of June.

[GGGG]

Tower wrote: "Nothing from Derrick or Luke."

11 points and 5 boards is about all you could expect from a 1st year Sophomore. If Luke finishes the season with those averages, I'd take it. Add a bucket and a board in each of his next 2 years, and he hears his name get called in the last week of June.

He will clearly get better, but his defense allowed more points and rebounds than he scored.

[willie warrior]

Willie...no critique of JjJ?

Sure--he played poorly. As did Derrick and Juan. Sandy played poor defense. Fischer is a good shot blocker but needs to get stronger and has a bit to learn about the post. Duane was the only guy to create his shot. And the defensive guru is not getting that instilled in some of his players.

The team hustled, but did not play smart. 11-14 with our talent is poor!!!

[Jables1604]

I was just curious.  You mentioned every player by name except JjJ.

[nyg]

I was just curious.  You mentioned every player by name except JjJ.

JJJ was 1 for 7, 3 points, 3 turnovers, 3 assists.  Not a good day for the young fella.......

[ATL MU Warrior]

That is what I am afraid of.  This team should not be 3-10 and in last place.  Not the best of situations for Wojo to walk into but a lot of blame falls on him.

What talent do you think we have?  We have 7 guys.  That in and of itself is not going to get it done.  

As was the case with most Buzz recruits, these guys all have HUGE holes in their games.  They either can't shoot, can't defend, can't rebound...are weak inside...you name it our highly ranked HS recruits can't do it.  Duane is the one bright spot -- he is a legit player.  Luke I think will be once he gets stronger.  Jajuan I am not sure about but I think he can be as well.  Maybe Sandy.  That's four guys...one of which has actually played college ball before this year.  THAT is our Talent.  SMH.

What were the HS rankings of the two big guys on Creighton that dominated us today?  

[BM1090]

8. Last place in the BEast. Shades of Dukiet. There is no excuse for being in last place with our talent.
9. Taylor had a nice game. Might as well give him more of Juan's minutes.
10. Duane played about 3-4 minutes at point. Looked OK. He can create shots. Derrick can't.
11. Our seniors were about 2-15.
12. Should go man more than zone.
13. Sandy had flashes but is not good defending.
14. Fischer and Steve need to learn to kick it out when double teamed. Very rarely do that.
15. Derrick is a good kid, a good defender but nobody guards him 15 feet out. Announcer mentioned that 3 times.
16. Had our ass kicked on the boards. 42-26. Luke needs to get stronger.

Agree with every single point other than 8. Not much talent.

[Dr. Blackheart]

For the second time this year, MU ourscored a conference opponent in the 2nd half.

Monster 2nd half from Duane as he stopped deferring and started taking over.

MU outscored CU 23-7 on points off turnovers.

While MU needs more muscle, Sandy led the teams in rebounds with six. He is scrappy but he could be really good when he adds strength.

MU outscored the Jays from both lines...three point and free throw. But, gets demolished in the paint. Only time MU looked good in the paint was when Steve and Luke were in the game together, but Steve only gets 18 minutes.

[Big Papi]

What talent do you think we have?  We have 7 guys.  That in and of itself is not going to get it done.  

As was the case with most Buzz recruits, these guys all have HUGE holes in their games.  They either can't shoot, can't defend, can't rebound...are weak inside...you name it our highly ranked HS recruits can't do it.  Duane is the one bright spot -- he is a legit player.  Luke I think will be once he gets stronger.  Jajuan I am not sure about but I think he can be as well.  Maybe Sandy.  That's four guys...one of which has actually played college ball before this year.  THAT is our Talent.  SMH.

What were the HS rankings of the two big guys on Creighton that dominated us today?  

I hate the excuse of us only having 7/8 guys as a reason why we lose.  A lot of teams only play 7/8 players.  Dayton is in the exact same boat as us and they are rolling.  St. Johns typically plays 7/8 and are better than us.  The players on this roster have talent.  Most were top 100.  It is up to Wojo to put together a game plan to get them to mesh.  This team was playing better earlier in the year than they are now.

[JTBMU7]

Annoying to lose, but not nearly as bad as we have been the past few weeks. The offense looked better overall and it's really nice to see Duane play with confidence. After that rough start I thought they did a good job of hanging around and had a few shots to close the gap, just couldn't quite get there.
The effort was definitely there, just too many holes in the roster and not enough talent to cover them up enough to win on the road.

[We R Final Four]

8. If you can't box out on a frickin Free throw, you are in trouble. That was poor.

[ChuckyChip]

I hate the excuse of us only having 7/8 guys as a reason why we lose.  A lot of teams only play 7/8 players.  

There is a big difference between "having" 7/8 players and "playing" 7/8 players.  Those teams that play 7/8 typically have 12/13 players to draw from.  More competition in practice, more depth.  When we have an injury (Carlino) we're down to 7 - other teams have the depth to cover it.  When Taylor and JjJ got banged up in the game today, we have nobody behind then.  Other teams choose their best 7/8 players - we don't have that luxury.  Big difference.

[drewm88]

Props to the Creighton crowd. That's legit for a bad team.

[NersEllenson]

There is a big difference between "having" 7/8 players and "playing" 7/8 players.  Those teams that play 7/8 typically have 12/13 players to draw from.  More competition in practice, more depth.  When we have an injury (Carlino) we're down to 7 - other teams have the depth to cover it.  When Taylor and JjJ got banged up in the game today, we have nobody behind then.  Other teams choose their best 7/8 players - we don't have that luxury.  Big difference.

I could go along with this, yet Wojo had 10 to choose from.  How he chose to dole out minutes led to the roster being down to 8 guys.  And in my view and most reasonable posters view - one of those two guys who transferred - Burton was arguably the teams 2nd most proven player going into the season.  Wojo could have filled the open scholarship last summer/fall if he wanted - though I'm sure never would he have anticipated having 3 additional scholarships to fill with Burton, Dawson and NN not being in the program.

Putting all of this season's woes on Buzz is a cop out - and nothing more than being kind to our new head coach.