SJ S thoughts

[tower912]

1.   Sure was nice to see one of our guys silly hot from 3.
2.   MU looked awfully young for the middle 20 minutes.   
3.   The zone made MU passive for far too long.   Eventually, they started attacking it. 
4.  Basically played 6 tonight.   Wally?   JJ?    You guys need to step up.
5.  MU is so much better when they work inside out.   'Paint touches'.   There, I said it. 
6.   Henry is struggling to guard on the perimeter.   Luke, however, played really good help defense tonight.
7.  Must start making free throws.
8.  SJS has a culture of losing.   They had MU on the ropes and then folded.   MU was fortunate. 
9.  Conversely, MU weathered the storm when they could have folded.   A positive sign. 
10.  This is what cupcakes are for.   To learn how to play different styles and learn how to win. 
11.  On to Bucky.  Time to fire up the hate machine.   

[wadesworld]

Glad to get some adversity tonight.  Good to get that against teams you have more talent than so you can learn how to play under pressure for when you are playing someone with equal talent.

SJSU isn't very good, but they are certainly much better than the 2 win team they were a year ago.

[Herman Cain]

I like that we rallied at the end and pulled away.  SJSU has some talent so they were better than the recent  cupcakes.

[nyg]

Cheatham, JJJ and to an extent Carter did not have good games and still won big.
Wally played few minutes, but you can see the rotation now.
MU missed four frontend one/ones.  Need them all against Wisky......

[Lighthouse 84]

Du with 14, 7 boards and 3 dimes. Good to see him have a good game.  Hope he can continue against Bucky.

[PGsHeroes32]

Du with 14, 7 boards and 3 dimes. Good to see him have a good game.  Hope he can continue against Bucky.

I've only seen the final 7ish minutes so far but Duane made a lot of nice little plays in that span. Good to see some playmaker come out of him.

[tower912]

JJ continues to perplex me.   So inconsistent.   So prone to bad turnovers.   I realize that his game is not a good match against a zone.  Every time I think he has turned the corner, he plays a game like this.   Perhaps this is what he is and will be going forward. 

[warriorstrack]

We are definitely more multi-dimensional this year, makes it harder to plan for us when we have multiple scoring threats.  I see a team that can play at a high level, just so young...

[tower912]

 Am I the only one who starts yelling 'No' at the TV when they start taking 3's out of rhythm?   It seems clearer with this team than most that they shoot 3's better off of a ball reversal or pass out from the paint.   

[GooooMarquette]

Am I the only one who starts yelling 'No' at the TV when they start taking 3's out of rhythm?   It seems clearer with this team than most that they shoot 3's better off of a ball reversal or pass out from the paint.

You aren't the only one. 

The positive:  I just love the multi-pass 3s we've seen from this team.  There have been a couple lately where all 5 guys touched the ball as it went around the circle to the open man.  Things of beauty.

[BM1090]

San Jose State played 9 players tonight. Only 1, Jayce Hillsman, was under 6'6. He's 6'3 and played the least minutes (10) on the team. Not going to play many teams with that size. Makes it tough on a team that relies on our inside guys to score the majority of our points.

Glad we were able to face some adversity and then pull away in the last ten minutes. It was frustrating to watch, but probably good for the team in the long run.

[NotAnAlum]

Am I the only one who starts yelling 'No' at the TV when they start taking 3's out of rhythm?   

Am I the only one who starts yelling no when Henry takes 3s from anywhere.  You don't have a good stroke from 3, you're several inches taller than anyone on the court.  Go down inside.  Take advantage of your height and moves.  Get your 3s from "and ones".  We don't need you shooting what is currently a low percentage shot and at the same time removing a potential offensive rebounder down low.

[Logi4three]

We are definitely more multi-dimensional this year, makes it harder to plan for us when we have multiple scoring threats.  I see a team that can play at a high level, just so young...

Amen.  How awesome is it to be able to see us bring in another wing that can hit some shots when the starter is in foul trouble. 

[MU82]

Am I the only one who starts yelling no when Henry takes 3s from anywhere.  You don't have a good stroke from 3, you're several inches taller than anyone on the court.  Go down inside.  Take advantage of your height and moves.  Get your 3s from "and ones".  We don't need you shooting what is currently a low percentage shot and at the same time removing a potential offensive rebounder down low.

I'm a big Ellenson fan -- aren't we all -- but I do agree with Bardo, who said sometimes Ellenson gets antsy and decides he has to shoot if he's gone a few minutes without scoring.

[PGsHeroes32]

SJS definitely is not a good team but their size made them formidable to score on for us at least.

Also while it doesnt mean much they did beat Montana(lost by 3 at zags) and San Diego(beat SDSU). So this def wasnt supposed to be a Grambling game.

[forgetful]

JJ continues to perplex me.   So inconsistent.   So prone to bad turnovers.   I realize that his game is not a good match against a zone.  Every time I think he has turned the corner, he plays a game like this.   Perhaps this is what he is and will be going forward.

I've thought a lot about this lately and this is where my mind is at.

JJ plays best with a very good ball control PG (actually does his best when paired with Carter).  He seems to really respond to the pace/feeling of the game.  When the PG controls the pace/tempo, he plays under control and is patient.  He mostly accepts his role of spotting up in the corner or attacking the paint of side to side ball movement.

When he is paired up with a fast PG (think Duane) he feeds off the more frantic pace and seems to think he needs to press/the pressure is on him to do something.  In these situations he shoots out of rhythm or tries to control the offense through himself.  He is not good in this role at all at this moment.

Its tough, because he would actually probably play best if paired with Carter and Cheatham (in the role of Sandy), but we can't take Sandy out of that starting lineup.  So instead he gets paired with Duane/Cheatham where he often presses. 

Curious as to others take on this.

[Shark]

I've thought a lot about this lately and this is where my mind is at.

JJ plays best with a very good ball control PG (actually does his best when paired with Carter).  He seems to really respond to the pace/feeling of the game.  When the PG controls the pace/tempo, he plays under control and is patient.  He mostly accepts his role of spotting up in the corner or attacking the paint of side to side ball movement.

When he is paired up with a fast PG (think Duane) he feeds off the more frantic pace and seems to think he needs to press/the pressure is on him to do something.  In these situations he shoots out of rhythm or tries to control the offense through himself.  He is not good in this role at all at this moment.

Its tough, because he would actually probably play best if paired with Carter and Cheatham (in the role of Sandy), but we can't take Sandy out of that starting lineup.  So instead he gets paired with Duane/Cheatham where he often presses. 

Curious as to others take on this.

You nailed it. It's just hard to justify Wojo changing the rotation after the last 6 games though. So far this current rotation looks ideal.

[WarriorFan]

I was very pleased to see Cohen get hot.  Noone deserves it more!
Was very disappointed how long it took to adjust the offense against the zone.  The free throw line area was open but when Sandy was there it was tough to get the ball to him and only when Wojo moved Henry there did they get some decent movement and passes against the zone.  It took about 8 minutes of game time for this adjustment.  Haniif would have been another one to try on the line in the zone, but didn't see that at all.

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

SJS had a kid from Wisconsin who was a 4 star recruit according to ESPN.

[tower912]

I was very pleased to see Cohen get hot.  Noone deserves it more!
Was very disappointed how long it took to adjust the offense against the zone.  The free throw line area was open but when Sandy was there it was tough to get the ball to him and only when Wojo moved Henry there did they get some decent movement and passes against the zone.  It took about 8 minutes of game time for this adjustment.  Haniif would have been another one to try on the line in the zone, but didn't see that at all.

There were times that Luke was going to the foul line and Henry was going to the block.   I was annoyed, as I have yet to see Luke turn and shoot that 12-15 ft jumper.   Against a 2-3, IMO, it should be Henry at the foul line and Luke on the block.   Haanif had a bad night, so I am not worried about how he did at the block.   Again, IMO, that is where JJ would be most effective against the zone.   If Henry insists on staying outside, have JJ flash to the foul line area and attack when he receives the pass. 

[CTWarrior]

1.   Sure was nice to see one of our guys silly hot from 3.
2.   MU looked awfully young for the middle 20 minutes.   
3.   The zone made MU passive for far too long.   Eventually, they started attacking it. 
4.  Basically played 6 tonight.   Wally?   JJ?    You guys need to step up.
5.  MU is so much better when they work inside out.   'Paint touches'.   There, I said it. 
6.   Henry is struggling to guard on the perimeter.   Luke, however, played really good help defense tonight.
7.  Must start making free throws.
8.  SJS has a culture of losing.   They had MU on the ropes and then folded.   MU was fortunate. 
9.  Conversely, MU weathered the storm when they could have folded.   A positive sign. 
10.  This is what cupcakes are for.   To learn how to play different styles and learn how to win. 
11.  On to Bucky.  Time to fire up the hate machine.

12.  We settle for 3s too often and too early.

[tower912]

Agreed.   The 3 is always going to be there.   MU has a gift this year, two bigs who can work inside, score in a myriad of ways down low, and who can pass out when the defense collapses.    I am enjoying watching Traci/Duane/Haanif/JJ/Sandy work the perimeter.   But this team needs to start every half court set by getting the ball in the paint to a big.    When MU passes the ball around the perimeter and jacks a 3 without letting Henry or Luke touch the ball, it is almost as bad as a turnover. 

[We R Final Four]

SJS had a kid from Wisconsin who was a 4 star recruit according to ESPN.

Cody Schwartz from Weat DePere. He played against Sandy throughout HS and actually knocked Seymour out of the tourney. I don't think there is much love between the two. I was hoping they would called the charge on CS drive that Sandy stepped in but it was on sandy.

[ATWizJr]

Du with 14, 7 boards and 3 dimes. Good to see him have a good game.  Hope he can continue against Bucky.

really?   shot 5-13, constantly looking for his shot first.

[BM1090]

  really?   shot 5-13, constantly looking for his shot first.

Disagree. Yeah he was 5 of 13, but he also had 7 rebounds and 3 assists. Thought he did a good job of making the extra pass for a lot of the game. He did take one or two shots that I thought weren't the best look we could have gotten on the possession but overall I thought he played well. He's played unselfishly the last two games.