Maine Thoughts

[MU82]

Or Wojo will go with 3 small guards like he's shown he's willing to do at times this season (Carter, Cheatham, and Duane have all been on the floor together for extended minutes I believe in NYC).  Cheatham is proving he's a very good option off the ball.  If I had to guess it'd be Carter starting at the point with Rowsey backing him up for 8-10 minutes per game and then playing 15-20 minutes off the ball at the 2, with Cheatham, JJJ, Cohen, and Duane splitting up the rest of the 2/3 minutes between them, plus JJJ and Cohen getting a few very limited minutes at the 4.

Exactly. I don't see why, in this day and age of versatile players sharing the court and of teams' willingness to play small-ball, so many here keep trying to label guys as 1s, 2s and 3s. There might be times next season that Traci, Duane and Rowsey are on the court together. Who knows?

[MU82]

1) It was the closest game we had to an "everything comes together" game. We developed a game plan, stuck to it and did well.

2) We took advantage of a height differential and pounded the ball inside. More importantly, we did dribble drives, penetration and hit outside shots.

3) Jujuan is playing against cupcakes but he continues to look solid. Hope this lasts through Big East schedule.

4) Traci is the real thing. Period. Love him already.

5) See number 4 for Haniff Cheatham.

OK, this cupcake was nice. It's part of a conference where the teams will occupy seeds 13 to 16 in the NCAA tournament. Not as good steam as we are by a long shot. But that said, it was nice to watch a game where it all came together.

JJJ did great against LSU, too. He's a good player. Not great, not a superstar, but a nice player in the rotation and I really like him coming off the bench to provide a spark.

[keefe]

He was a string bean in high school and PG'd
http://highschoolsports.nj.com/news/article/3486692034668602007/boys-basketball-union-catholics-devine-eke-will-take-postgrad-year-at-robinson-school-reopens-recruitment/

Evidently, from the article, God led Eke to Orono. Who knew The Alimghty liked Maine that much.

[Chicos' Buzz Scandal Countdown]

I love that we are beating cupcake teams by a margin you'd expect. Didn't really ever see blowouts like this with Crean/Buzz... Played down to the competition.

[keefe]

I love that we are beating cupcake teams by a margin you'd expect. Didn't really ever see blowouts like this with Crean/Buzz... Played down to the competition.

Actually, Tanned Tommy led us to defeat against Maine

[BM1090]

I love that we are beating cupcake teams by a margin you'd expect. Didn't really ever see blowouts like this with Crean/Buzz... Played down to the competition.

That's not true. We killed a lot of cupcakes under Buzz in 2009 and 2011

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Yeah that's true.  That can likely wait until 2017 then.

Paging Markus Howard

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Only thought of day is...... I hope Wojo has a bigman up his sleeve for next year or following.  Matt Heldt is not going to be the answer when Luke graduates, or even as a backup next year.

I'm not worried about Heldt. He's a freshmen center. It usually takes them a year or two to even figure out how to use their bodies properly. He'll be ready to go by his junior year.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Actually, Tanned Tommy led us to defeat against Maine

I didn't know Mike Deane went by Tanned Tommy

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

• The W gives Wojo his first 5 game winning streak as a head coach

[keefe]

I didn't know Mike Deane went by Tanned Tommy

He often does after a bad loss or when the Harbaughs are in a big game and he wants tickets

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

Duanewade and Warriorfish have been awful quiet lately huh?

[brewcity77]

Or Wojo will go with 3 small guards like he's shown he's willing to do at times this season (Carter, Cheatham, and Duane have all been on the floor together for extended minutes I believe in NYC).  Cheatham is proving he's a very good option off the ball.  If I had to guess it'd be Carter starting at the point with Rowsey backing him up for 8-10 minutes per game and then playing 15-20 minutes off the ball at the 2, with Cheatham, JJJ, Cohen, and Duane splitting up the rest of the 2/3 minutes between them, plus JJJ and Cohen getting a few very limited minutes at the 4.

I agree with this, and do think we'll see a lot of multiple guard sets. I was more saying that I don't think of Rowsey as a point guard. It's easy to discard the labels, but if we've seen anything the past few weeks, it's that Traci really has that point guard mentality. Duane or Haanif can fill in there, but it's a little bit of square peg, round hole.

We have one guy who is definitely a point and a number of guys who can probably fill in that role if necessary. I think we'd be fine with a backcourt rotation of Traci, Duane, Haanif, and Rowsey, but if something happened to Traci, I would still love one more guy around that was more of a pass-first player.

I love that we are beating cupcake teams by a margin you'd expect. Didn't really ever see blowouts like this with Crean/Buzz... Played down to the competition.

We saw them from time to time, but I do like that we outdid expectations in three straight cupcakes. It will be interesting to see if we win the next three by 25+ as well, as currently we're about a 19-20 point favorite in all three of our remaining December cupcakes.

[naginiF]

• Turnovers were improved. I didn't track numbers by half, but 14 turnovers in an 82 possession game (17.1%) isn't bad.
  
  
• For Maine, that Devine Eke kid is pretty darn good. Scoring, rebounding, blocking shots, and being forced to play bigger than he is. Enjoyed watching him.
  
  

*  Thank you for your verbose answer on the turnovers in another thread, except when they got lax, they were much more in control and on game plan the entire game.
*  A dad came by to pick up his kid from a play date when the game was on after a couple minutes says "that kid is not going to be in a Maine uniform his entire career"

[tower912]

Life is about setting priorities.

I question your loyalty to our beloved alma mater.

(Hangs head in shame)

[MU82]

Duanewade and Warriorfish have been awful quiet lately huh?

No Wojo bashing by mattyv1908, either.

It's pretty sad when all certain "fans" can do is whine when the team struggles. They rip when we lose, rarely praise when we win. They almost seem to root for failure so they can be "right."

[ChicosBailBonds]

Actually, Tanned Tommy led us to defeat against Maine

Actually he didn't....Mike Deane did in 1997.  I worked in the athletic department.  It was not a fun evening to be sure.

[Nukem2]

Actually he didn't....Mike Deane did in 1997.  I worked in the athletic department.  It was not a fun evening to be sure.

Yeah, that was a real party that night.  Right up there with that NIT game with Western Michigan.

[keefe]

Actually he didn't....Mike Deane did in 1997.  I worked in the athletic department.  It was not a fun evening to be sure.

For an alumni base enamored with quirky personalities in its coaches I really do think Mike Deane is underrated. He was a lazy sonuvabitch when it came to coaching but the man was passionate about his drinking, womanizing, and overall bonhomie.

It is time for Mike Deane to claim his rightful place in the pantheon of Marquette Legends. 

[ChicosBailBonds]

Yeah, that was a real party that night.  Right up there with that NIT game with Western Michigan.

The NIT game the boys mailed it in, had about 15 hours to prepare, no Travis Diener, and just played awful. Made one three pointer for the game. Season was over.

The Maine game, 4 days to prepare...got beat by around 10.  Not fun to be at the office and trying to get the public excited about MU hoops to buy tickets as we were only in the first week of February.  Not good.  That was the year we went crazy in St. Louis and won 4 straight to make the NCAAs. 

[Herman Cain]

For an alumni base enamored with quirky personalities in its coaches I really do think Mike Deane is underrated. He was a lazy sonuvabitch when it came to coaching but the man was passionate about his drinking, womanizing, and overall bonhomie.

It is time for Mike Deane to claim his rightful place in the pantheon of Marquette Legends.

He deserves his rightful spot based on the off court attributes. He also delivered a 100-55 record over the 5 years which was not shabby.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dc-sports-bog/wp/2013/03/15/why-matt-brady-brought-mike-deane-to-jmu/

[brewcity77]

So Wojo bashing by mattyv1908, either.

It's pretty sad when all certain "fans" can do is whine when the team struggles. They rip when we lose, rarely praise when we win. They almost seem to root for failure so they can be "right."

I can definitely admit to questioning Wojo's coaching after our disappointing early start. Seemed like the guys weren't responding to him, especially after the Iowa game. Have to give him credit for how well they responded, not just in NYC, but in the return. I know it's hard to judge how well you are playing against teams like this, but I like how they are absolutely throttling these teams above and beyond expectation.

Against LSU, I thought the late game coaching was excellent, both JJJ attacking and the defense on Simmons to force him to let someone else take the last shot. Against ASU, overtime was well managed and I loved how well fouls were managed. Luke was always going to foul out of that game, but ASU had 4 players foul out and we only had Luke.

Since returning, it's been cupcakes, but we've dominated them. Loved the turnover improvement in the last game and even in the second half against Maine. The effort did fall off, but Wojo got them back to playing hard late and it was great to see how well they responded to the coaching in that game, especially with the echoes of Iowa still relatively fresh.

Still want to see more from this staff, but I do feel like there's already tangible improvement this year and I feel much better about them than I did 2-3 weeks ago.

[ChicosBailBonds]

For an alumni base enamored with quirky personalities in its coaches I really do think Mike Deane is underrated. He was a lazy sonuvabitch when it came to coaching but the man was passionate about his drinking, womanizing, and overall bonhomie.

It is time for Mike Deane to claim his rightful place in the pantheon of Marquette Legends.

I don't think he was lazy coaching, not the X's and O's anyway.  Recruiting, well that is another matter altogether.  He didn't like recruit like one needed to at this level, and that hurt the program.

[MU82]

I can definitely admit to questioning Wojo's coaching after our disappointing early start. Seemed like the guys weren't responding to him, especially after the Iowa game. Have to give him credit for how well they responded, not just in NYC, but in the return. I know it's hard to judge how well you are playing against teams like this, but I like how they are absolutely throttling these teams above and beyond expectation.

Against LSU, I thought the late game coaching was excellent, both JJJ attacking and the defense on Simmons to force him to let someone else take the last shot. Against ASU, overtime was well managed and I loved how well fouls were managed. Luke was always going to foul out of that game, but ASU had 4 players foul out and we only had Luke.

Since returning, it's been cupcakes, but we've dominated them. Loved the turnover improvement in the last game and even in the second half against Maine. The effort did fall off, but Wojo got them back to playing hard late and it was great to see how well they responded to the coaching in that game, especially with the echoes of Iowa still relatively fresh.

Still want to see more from this staff, but I do feel like there's already tangible improvement this year and I feel much better about them than I did 2-3 weeks ago.

I just don't see how so many people could have been so uber-panicked after Iowa. It was too early. And it's too early now to say Wojo has "figured out" anything, either.

Even keel, folks. We'll see how good MU is and Wojo in the coming months and years.

[brewcity77]

I just don't see how so many people could have been so uber-panicked after Iowa. It was too early. And it's too early now to say Wojo has "figured out" anything, either.

Even keel, folks. We'll see how good MU is and Wojo in the coming months and years.

Agreed. I wouldn't say I was panicked at all, but I did think there were some questions worth asking. Thus far, the staff is doing a nice job of answering them based on how the team has responded. And yes, it will take more time to evaluate him as a coach. I agree with the 4-5 years to fully evaluate a coach. But I do like how the team has responded since their shaky start.

I really like this year's team and am trying to figure out what I think would be a successful year. The thing is, the Big East is very good. We all want to see this team dance, but we could win 7 or 8 conference games and it'd still be a big improvement, especially with a young team. I think my real hope right now is a winning overall record (17-15 at worst), 7 conference wins, and clear, consistent improvement, win or lose.

That said, I do feel that 23+ wins and a NCAA berth are not completely unrealistic. In an ideal world, I'm thinking 37-2 would make for a great season.