Belmont thoughts

[NotAnAlum]

You've got to like the team's heart, coming back twice in the second half from double digit deficits.  I thought we had it when we we're up 1 with the ball.  But then the lack of experience kicked in.  There is no one you can give the ball to and say "close it out for us".
All of this said I think the critical point was when we were up by 4 in the first half and totally booted the last 5 minutes.  That's when a good home team keeps the opposition down and finishes with an 8 or 9 point half time lead. 
Too many missed layups, too many missed free throws.
Boy it would have been nice to pull this one out.

[Lennys Tap]

12. We shot it 65 times. Luke shot it 6 times. With Henry in the game teams can't double Luke. He HAS to assert himself and be more involved offensively.
13. Henry was a beast but he's at best a mediocre 3 point shooter. He's virtually unstoppable down low but does the other team a favor when he plays on the perimeter or launches 3s.
14. JJJ looked solid. 5-7 on 2 pointers, 0-3 on 3s. He's a very bad 3 point shooter yet he continues to launch.
15. We couldn't play man to man last year but Wojo stole some games with a pretty decent zone. Another defensive effort like this one and it may be time to bring it back.

[brandx]

1.   Age, experience, execution over youth and energy.
2.   MU had streaks when they got 3 happy.   Can't have it. 
3.   Defense was just sloppy and weak. 
4.  Henry is the real deal.   Just maybe.   But the call at the end was the right one. 
5.  Apparently emphasizing and practicing free throws doesn't always pay off. 
6.  Freshmen act like freshmen sometimes. 
7.  Roller coaster.   Game of runs.   Pick your cliché. 
8.   Duane has to make a better decision with the ball, up 1, Belmont disorganized.    Worst possible choice.   
9.  There is talent.   This team will get better.  But we can put away the rainbows/unicorns/bubbles of the Italy trip.    This is a young team with a lot of growing to do.   
10.   Going back to the preseason picks, I am officially 1-0.

1. Always look forward to your analysis - 1st thing I look for after the game.

2. #1 and #6 are spot on. 4 huge mistakes in the last minute or so - all by freshmen. 2 by HE (2 missed FTs and offensive foul) and two by Carter )foul away from basket and big TO near the end).

3. In a close game, the team with the best player on the floor usually wins. The skinny white dude from Belmont was clearly the best player on the court tonight.

4. This team has some fight in them. Twice they were down big in the 2nd half and came back to get leads. They ARE going to get better the more they play together.

5. Wojo trusts Carter already. He was in with the game on the line.

[MUMountin]

1. Good loss against a good team.  Although I was hopeful at the end and a bit disappointed as a result, still have to feel confident about the program after that performance.

2. I felt like especially through the first 25-30 mins of the game, a lot of balls just didn't bounce our way--layups just rimming out, long rebounds coming straight back to their shooters, their shooter nailing some circus shot threes in the beginning (including the bank shot), deflections that just got knocked out of bounds giving the ball right back to them.  If a few of those plays go the other way, I think the crowd and momentum would have been very different.  As it was, it felt like we were often knocking at the door, but couldn't quite get through it and gain any sort of rhythm.

3. Didn't love the hand check foul on Carter at the end--not disputing the call itself, but a bit surprised to see that sort of call at the end of a game when a team is down 1 with the double bonus on a play 30 feet from the basket.  Gave 'em the lead.

4. While this W would have been nice from a tourney resume perspective, it gives me a lot of hope that we'll win some games against good teams this year once Wojo calms the frosh down. 

[79Warrior]

Cringed when Duane launched his ill advised three when it was 5 on 4. That was poor judgement on his part. We get an easy 2 there and it was game over.

All the ding bats bagging Wojo after 1 game are morons. There are 5 freshmen on this team. I bet this team looks a lot different in March.

[MUfan12]

The one aspect of the coaching I was a little disappointed in was how far they extended the man defense. Pushing out to 25 feet played right into Belmont's hands. Spread MU out to the point where they could barely keep up.

[tower912]

The one aspect of the coaching I was a little disappointed in was how far they extended the man defense. Pushing out to 25 feet played right into Belmont's hands. Spread MU out to the point where they could barely keep up.

They were defending that far out because Belmont was scoring that far out. 

[tower912]

http://jsonline.sportsdirectinc.com/basketball/ncaab-boxscores.aspx?page=/data/NCAAB/results/2015-2016/boxscore902690.html

Box score. 

[tower912]

If MU makes their layups, MU wins.   

[brewcity77]

If MU makes their layups, MU wins.

I thought that especially about some of Luke's chances. So many missed shots on fouls that should have been and-ones. Need him to finish those around the rim.

That said, our three shooting was rather ugly, outside of Sandy. Guys not named Cohen were 3-21 behind the arc. Further, way too many of those threes were taken when we had no one established in the paint. Long rebound opportunities coupled with guys not in position to get those rebounds led to a lot of shots that were effectively turnovers.

[🏀]

Henry got worked on D

[Dr. Blackheart]

With 5:27 to go in the 1st half, future Hall of Famer Evan Bradds gets his first of his unguarded 24 points to put Belmont in the lead 33-31.  He then scores ten more points to put Belmont up 47-41 at half. I see a lot of comments here about MU's offense but this team is horrid on defense right now. 

[warriorchick]

I am surprised no one has mentioned this in any of the threads.


The marketing folks must have been reading Scoop.  They had the giant soccer-type banner roll out over the students! It was very cool.  I tried to get a picture of it, but it was too dark in the arena.

[Loose Cannon]

Good effort by a young team. 

In addition what has already been mentioned, Sacar will be really good.

  Looking forward to Sacar getting more minutes so he can display his offensive scoring.

[MUDPT]

With 5:27 to go in the 1st half, future Hall of Famer Evan Bradds gets his first of his unguarded 24 points to put Belmont in the lead 33-31.  He then scores ten more points to put Belmont up 47-41 at half. I see a lot of comments here about MU's offense but this team is horrid on defense right now.

This.  For people that think Cheatham should play over Carter, Carter was the one perimeter defender who wasn't getting beat by a cross over drive to the basket. How many slip screen lay ups did they have, 5? 6? How many times did our defensive rotations result in a TRIPLE team of someone while shooters were wide open on the weak side?  And as MUfan12 said earlier, is there a need to pressure guard people 25 feet from the basket? 14 of their 23 assists came from guys that shot 1 for 5 from 3s.  Granted Bradshaw was 5 for 10. It's only one game, but there are plenty of good Big East teams that will pick us apart like last night if things don't change.

[bilsu]

With that roster, there's no way Buzz loses that game.

I do think Buzz is a much better coach than Wojo. However, with 25 seconds to go he would of done the same thing Wojo did. That is call a timeout and set up a play for Ellenson. In that situation I believe you should never call a timeout. You should have already practiced a play for the final shot. Calling timeout allows the other team to set their defense and any coach worth his salt is going to tell his defensive team the ball is going to Ellenson. Wojo played right into Belmont's coaches defensive plan.

[MUfan12]

They were defending that far out because Belmont was scoring that far out.

Give them that shot. If Bradshaw wants to take 28 footers all night, so be it. Better than Bradds getting layups on poorly guarded pick and rolls.

[T-Bone]

What Wojo did different than Buzz, was take the time out at 25 seconds remaining, where Buzz would wait until 10 seconds.  Buzz's 10 seconds often seemed to leave the team scrambling when plan A failed (Derrick Wilson from 3....).  Having a bit more time allows for plan B.

[bilsu]

12. We shot it 65 times. Luke shot it 6 times. With Henry in the game teams can't double Luke. He HAS to assert himself and be more involved offensively.
13. Henry was a beast but he's at best a mediocre 3 point shooter. He's virtually unstoppable down low but does the other team a favor when he plays on the perimeter or launches 3s.
14. JJJ looked solid. 5-7 on 2 pointers, 0-3 on 3s. He's a very bad 3 point shooter yet he continues to launch.
15. We couldn't play man to man last year but Wojo stole some games with a pretty decent zone. Another defensive effort like this one and it may be time to bring it back.

Fischer actually shot more than six times. A missed shot is not counted, if you are fouled. I did feel that Ellenson was not being used properly, especially in the first half. Maybe it was because Wojo promised him in recruiting that he could play all ove the floor.

[bilsu]

80 points should win you most games. If they played any D.....at all?

I am not sure about this.  I thought the 30 second clock would be an issue. However, since you cannot hand check, the offense has a much greater advantage so the 30 second clock is rarely an issue.

[GGGG]

1. PGs are incomplete.  Carter was better defensively and looks like a PG.  Cheatham has a nice first step, but kind of looked like a guy who didn't play point in high school.

2.  This team still can't shoot from the outside.

3. Defense was bad, but that was a difficult team to defend.  Shooters all over the place, and they were running NBA type sets with pick-n-rolls, screens, etc.  I expect that they will get much better. 

4. Henry played at times like a freshman, but he is the best big man I have seen in a Marquette uniform since...maybe McIlvaine?  And Mac never had an offensive game like that.  He is going to be *really* good.

5. Sacar should have played more.  That dude can defend.  Seemed like he was on the floor when MU was making its runs.

6. I thought Wally's experience and athleticism could have helped.  Surprised he saw no time.

7. I was skeptical that the new emphasis on fouls would create more offense. But that was a great college basketball game.  I thought Wojo did a decent job preparing his players for the new rules.

[NickelDimer]

Those Euro teams were hot garbage

[hdog1017]

With 5:27 to go in the 1st half, future Hall of Famer Evan Bradds gets his first of his unguarded 24 points to put Belmont in the lead 33-31.  He then scores ten more points to put Belmont up 47-41 at half. I see a lot of comments here about MU's offense but this team is horrid on defense right now.

+1

[tower912]

Belmont is a future 12 seed that is going to blow up some 5 seed. 

[BM1090]

I am surprised no one has mentioned this in any of the threads.


The marketing folks must have been reading Scoop.  They had the giant soccer-type banner roll out over the students! It was very cool.  I tried to get a picture of it, but it was too dark in the arena.

They also dropped the "best student section in the country" during intros, which is an improvement.