Nova Thoughts

[tower912]

1.  6 isn't enough to beat Nova.
2.  Every MU player today played like a Warrior.   They played their guts out and were sucking wind at the end.   My hat is tipped to each and every one of them. 
3.   Practicing free throws is way overrated.

[mattyv1908]

With the exception of the free throw shooting it's hard to see this as anything but a great game from the team today.

Juan's typical effort plays resulting in tips/put backs/blocks/etc may have been the difference in this one.

Does it seem like Duane trys to do to much on even fairly uncontested lay ins?

Johnson had a really solid game.  He had a couple of miscues but if he can put it all together he has the tools to be the best of the 2013 class.

[GGGG]

Nice to see JJJ blossom under Wojo's coaching.

[tower912]

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=400588464

Now we know which one of the twins is better. 

[BM1090]

Duane is going to be great when he gets a bit stronger around the hoop. JJJ teased us with his potential today. Would like to see him build on that. Totally under control. If he knocks down a few jumpers that really opens up the game for him.

Team is sharper offensively without Juan. Defensively, not so much. Fischer, JJJ, Duane looked like future very good players today. Sandy showed flashes. Nothing to be upset about today.

Oh and Steve can be a good player when allowed to play in the high post.

[MuMark]

Nice to see JJJ blossom under Wojo's coaching.

I see what you did there......

[chapman]

Time to back track for anyone who wanted to write off JJ.  Really seemed to have a good understanding of what was going on, much different from a month ago where it seemed like he never played basketball before.  Found his shot, perfect from the line, and was finding open teammates consistently.  Only burned badly once or twice defensively.  That's why it's rarely fruitful to rush to judgment of player or coach in the midst of a long season.

Protecting the ball makes all the difference.  Only eight turnovers for a team of six players is a great effort.  Add in seven or eight bad turnovers like we've seen too much recently and it turns into a blowout.

[brewcity77]

Really proud of those guys today. They played their hearts out and kept the crowd interested against a great opponent. That said, I do have a few gripes...
.

• Luke needs to stop putting it on the floor so often. Just begging for turnovers.
• How many times did Derrick pick up his dribble against the full-court press? Amazed he finished with only 1 turnover.
• Jajuan gambled far too often on steals. Took himself way out of position on defense at least 3 times.
• Sometimes making a 3 is the worst thing Steve can do. He falls in love with it, and the subsequent attempts weren't pretty.
• Wish Jajuan or Duane would have committed a silly foul in the last 29.6 seconds. Would have been nice to get double-Mache time.

[ATWizJr]

Really proud of those guys today. They played their hearts out and kept the crowd interested against a great opponent. That said, I do have a few gripes...
.

• Luke needs to stop putting it on the floor so often. Just begging for turnovers.
• How many times did Derrick pick up his dribble against the full-court press? Amazed he finished with only 1 turnover.
• Jajuan gambled far too often on steals. Took himself way out of position on defense at least 3 times.
• Sometimes making a 3 is the worst thing Steve can do. He falls in love with it, and the subsequent attempts weren't pretty.
• Wish Jajuan or Duane would have committed a silly foul in the last 29.6 seconds. Would have been nice to get double-Mache time.

[/quote  that seems like a lot of gripes for a guy who's "really proud of those guys today."

[Goose]

Proud of the fella's.

[OhioGoldenEagle]

Yeah can't complain about the effort running 6 deep(4 underclassman) verus a very deep, talented, AND experienced #6 rated Villanova.  Wright has a nice squad there.  I'll be happy if we see continued growth out of the youngsters as we close this year out.  I like the core of Duane, JJJ, Fish, and Chief going forward.....combined with next years class that is.  I will say this - will be very curious if Woj will have as much success with the '16 class as '15.....ie., how much will this years performance influence kids/coaches opinion of the program.  We can't lose the momentum from his first class.  Time will tell.

[dgies9156]

Luke needs to stop putting it on the floor so often. Just begging for turnovers.


Very proud of the fellows as well. If we were 9 deep, we probably would have beaten them.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who screams at my TV when Luke puts it on the floor!  Davante had the same problem and it led to the same result. Luke has to get in position, take the ball, put a move on his guard and score. Period.

All year, I think we have run out of gas at the end because we were lacking one or two players of depth. Hang on, Help is on its way!

[Stretchdeltsig]

Cheered Marquette on with 20 other alums in New Orleans.  Love how hard we played until the buzzer.  Roderick plays too slow and eats up too much clock when we are behind.  Next year!

[Blackhat]

Man defense still lacks.  Can't give up 90 pts at home.  Surprised we didn't play zone with a short roster.

[muspc]

     The players who will be back next year have shown great improvement since the beginning of the year. Wojo found out that the whole team (except perhaps for Derrick) could not play defense. Particularly Duane and JJJ looked like they were in an NBA All-Stargame with the matador "defense" and trying to poke the ball away as their man went in for an uncontested layup. The switch to a zone by Wojo was an absolute necessity because there were no defensive fundamentals. Unfortunately, particularly Steve Taylor, had no real feel on how to play a zone either, which lead to many open shots/layups.
     Not to be in any way "giving up" on the current team, but the glaring deficiencies of Derrick's offensive game made it virtually impossible to accurately gauge this year's offense. There was too much of the new guys clapping for/demanding the ball as they stood in one place. Then the shot clock would wind down, and the ball would go back outside to the "open" man, Derrick, who threw up a prayer as the time clock expired. Derrick and Juan give everything they have, but at best they would be substitute/'glue" guys on a Big East winning team.
     Steve, Duane, Luke, Sandy and JJJ certainly have more to learn, but now they seem to have better defensive fundamentals, which has to bode for a better future. As they get more floor time, it appears that better fundamentals, particularly by the underclassmen, will put them in position to let their innate skills come out in a more productive manner.
     It seemed like Vander Blue, despite his athleticism, would never learn to finish at the rim. Vander certainly did start making the layups, rather than throwing the ball at the rim, in his junior year. I can only hope Duane, JJJ and Sandy can learn to consistently do so also. And when Luke gets more experience, and isn't playing four on five on offense, let's hope he too will finish strong, and not hesitate to throw back to the open man on the perimeter.
     This pertains to this Villanova game in that Villanova is a very good team, and still the guys who were able to play showed improvement and fight. This whole season has been skewed by an overall lack of high level talent in the upper classes, and the defections and fundamental instability with the underclassmen who remained. Considering only six scholarship guys played today, they showed an upward trend. If anyone would have hit their foul shoots, they would have showed even better today. We would like this year's team to actually win a couple as they finish their schedule, but the overall improvement being shown is a good sign for next year and beyond.  
 
      

[Lennys Tap]

JJJ looked very good today. Under control on offense and maybe it's just me but his form looked better from distance. Anyway, but for a few poor defensive plays (losing his man on the back door, giving up open shots off of missed steals) he looked like a top 35 player. In the post game Wojo praised his attitude and work ethic at practice. Fingers crossed, I'm hopeful he's turned the corner.

Nova played Luke honestly today (rarely doubled) and he played well. Needs to get stronger but will be very good.

Duane was a little out of control today, but he's a good player who will get better. Not a point guard, though. He thinks shoot first and second, pass third. JJJ and Sandy are better passers. Love his toughness though at times he can be a bit of a punk.

The Derrick we got today IS better than Junior Cadougan. 10 points, 4-7, 1-2 from 3 (barely missed a 50 footer at the end of the half), 4 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block, 8 assists to 1 TO. Solid D as always, can't shoot free throws (as always).

Sandy and Steve had moments good and bad. Neither shot well from 3 but each made some plays.

All in all a good effort. I'm excited for JJJ - if he's really turned the corner we may be pretty good next year.

[NotBuzzWilliams]

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=400588464

Now we know which one of the twins is better. 

Matthew didn't get a fair chance!  Wojo is throwing the season!

[Big Papi]

Awful free throw shooting again and nova hot from 3 point land with Archie knocking 3 threes to start the second half was the difference.

[thehammock]

Guys played hard and played pretty well. Just undersized and undermanned.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

Time to back track for anyone who wanted to write off JJ.  Really seemed to have a good understanding of what was going on, much different from a month ago where it seemed like he never played basketball before.  Found his shot, perfect from the line, and was finding open teammates consistently.  Only burned badly once or twice defensively.  That's why it's rarely fruitful to rush to judgment of player or coach in the midst of a long season.

Protecting the ball makes all the difference.  Only eight turnovers for a team of six players is a great effort.  Add in seven or eight bad turnovers like we've seen too much recently and it turns into a blowout.

Agreed, only one out of control drive he somehow made that one.  A couple of others he started to drive, didn't see anything and pulled it back out.  A month ago he would have charged straight in regardless.  His bad pass followed by classic go-for-the-steal-give-up-the-points stung.  But, overall, playing much better since he was benched.

[mattyv1908]

Guys played hard and played pretty well. Just undersized and undermanned.

We're undermanned, but we're not as undersized as you think.

Villanova, #6 in the country, has one guy 6'11" in Ochefu with two other guys at 6'7" and one of them played only one minute today.

This is also not the shortest Marquette team in recent memory.

[wadesworld]

Regarding Luke putting the ball on the floor, while I do agree there are 2 things that I think cause this.  The first is he needs to be quicker with his decision making in general.  Even when he doesn't put the ball on the floor he still catches, then gathers himself before going up to try to finish the play, and it lets defenders at the very least foul him, if not block or contest the shot cleanly.  The second is the guards simply don't get the ball into the post quickly enough.  Pretty much every game this season I have seen Luke and Steve come open in the post, only to see pretty much all of our guards (Derrick is very guilty of it, as are Duane, Matt, Sandy, and JJJ) wait a second too long and the bigs get the ball while the defender has reestablished solid defensive positioning.  To be honest, in my opinion Steve is the best passer into the post on the team.  Maybe it has something to do with him understanding when and where the big man needs to get the ball because he plays in the post as well, but in my opinion Steve's passing from the high post to the low post is better than any guard's passing from the perimeter to the low post.

As far as today's game went, outside of the missed free throws we played about as well as we could have.  Missing our best player and our glue guy, leaving our team only 6 deep, against a very legitimate top 10 team, we played very well.  Obviously some defensive lapses here and there but that's going to happen to every team in every game.  All of the players played their role and gave a good effort today.

JJJ looked really good today.  The hitch in his shot is still there, but to my eyes it seems to have been cut down a lot.  When he's hitting the outside shot it opens up the drive and that's where he's at his best.  If he can play a game like this (he's obviously not going to be that good night in and night out, but that style of game) for the rest of his time at Marquette he'll be a big time contributor to a Milwaukee Bucks style turnaround.

If we can find a transfer point guard of some sort (JUCO or 5th year grad transfer) that can just be solid immediately next season we are going to be a top 3 Big East team.  If not we will be a second tier Big East team on the bubble.  I think Hank, Duane, and Luke will be 12-15 ppg guys next season.  If JJJ continues to improve like he has he will be another guy who will get double digits per game.  Then you will have a glue/effort guy in Wally and a 3 point specialist in Sandy as well as a utility guy in Haanif and hopefully a guy finally playing his natural position in Steve who can be 7 and 5.  I really like the makeup of that team.  Well balanced.  Just really, really need that point guard.

[NersEllenson]

Derrick played a nice game tonight. Was glad to see him take midrange shots, even if he missed 3 of 4 of them.  Has to be a threat out there.  Handled Nova's pressure well, although pulled his dribble up in bad place just before timeline in corner allowing for easy trap - but was tough enough to find a way to not turn it over.

Steve and Luke need to play together more from here on out - they play well together.

Missed some of Juan's energy out there, yet feel we were more dynamic offensively with JJJ/Cohen/Duane/Steve eating Juan's minutes.

Where would JJJ be without the incredible benching against Xavier? 

As is the case 9 times out of 10 with talented players - you play them big minutes - and over the course of the 30+ minutes their talent comes to the fore.  Numbers now in games over 25 minutes since benching:

4 games:  11.5ppg, 3.5 rebounds per game, 3 assists, 1.5 steals.  In other words, virtually the same as before the benching.   

JJJ is still a sophomore - there is a lot of room for growth and improvement in his game - he has all the tools you'd want in a guard at this level.  He adds some strength over the offseason, tightens up his jumper - he'll be a load, particularly by senior year.

[thehammock]

We're undermanned, but we're not as undersized as you think.

Villanova, #6 in the country, has one guy 6'11" in Ochefu with two other guys at 6'7" and one of them played only one minute today.

This is also not the shortest Marquette team in recent memory.

Not much bulk/strength on the MU guys tho.

[mattyv1908]

Not much bulk/strength on the MU guys tho.

That's mostly due in part to maturity.  Being 21-22 is much different than being 18-20.  I'm not saying there are not exceptions but in general these kids fill out as they mature physically.