Seton Hall thoughts.

[connie]

We have gone from a team of linebackers to a team of punters.  We are consistently outmuscled on the boards.  It was bad enough early in the year when the whistles were going crazy.  As the season goes on and the contact seems to increase our immaturity (physical) becomes more prominent.  Luke's silly slap after being beat out of yet another rebound at least showed he was tired of being abused.  Time for everyone on this team to get to work.

[GGGG]

Everyone who is happy about JJJ and then critical of guys like Sandy and Duane should remember one thing.  JJJ has played more games in a Marquette uniform than anyone currently on the team. In other words, it takes time for even skilled players to figure out college basketball.

I need to see more evidence before I make judgements about how Wojo can develop players. Experience matters.

[tower912]

Everyone who is happy about JJJ and then critical of guys like Sandy and Duane should remember one thing.  JJJ has played more games in a Marquette uniform than anyone currently on the team. In other words, it takes time for even skilled players to figure out college basketball.

I need to see more evidence before I make judgements about how Wojo can develop players. Experience matters.

Yes, it does.   That and the lack of size beyond Luke and Henry were my primary reasons for not being optimistic about this team.       To completely bastardize a quote from Animal House, ...small, skinny, and young is no way to go through a basketball season, son.

[Dr. Blackheart]

There is a reason besides more golf, less time needed for recruiting that Bo redshirted the multi-star farm boys, ai'na?

[WarriorInNYC]

I've skipped through this thread, so apologize if this has been already mentioned, but I thought the Seton Hall fans chanting "overrated" at Henry any second they could was cute.

This is why New Jersey can't have nice things.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

* I thought the Freshman simply looked like Freshman at times.  They are freshman.
* As part of above, am I remembering correctly that HE got called for stupid travelling violations at least four times?
* Sandy in the Sophomore slump.
* As stated already in several posts, we played very hard and were in the game until the (4) Seton Hall 3-pointers in a row and it was game over.  On the first trey we made the block & then the stop but just couldn't grab the ball.  Unfortunately it's frustrating, but it happens.

[HoopsterBC]

* I thought the Freshman simply looked like Freshman at times.  They are freshman.
* As part of above, am I remembering correctly that HE got called for stupid travelling violations at least four times?
* Sandy in the Sophomore slump.
* As stated already in several posts, we played very hard and were in the game until the (4) Seton Hall 3-pointers in a row and it was game over.  On the first trey we made the block & then the stop but just couldn't grab the ball.  Unfortunately it's frustrating, but it happens.

I am not sure Sandy is in a slump, it would be 2 years in a row now once the Big East started that his game does not fit the style of the league.  Can not shot, not even
close on open shoots, and his basketball IQ is not very good.  Second game in a row he charged in to players.  He does not have a jump shot and his release is to slow.
Sometimes you are what you are, an below average player playing in a league that is above his pay grade.

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

I have accepted at this point that our best play during a game is parity with every BEast team due to our lack of rebounding and persistent turnovers.  I would like to see progress on the rebounding & turnovers but expect little here forward from a win/loss column perspective.  I hope we steal a few and get into the NIT.  It would be disappointing to miss the NIT three years in a row. 

Making progress on the above will at least give me comfort that it has the potential to not be 4 years in a row.

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

I am not sure Sandy is in a slump, it would be 2 years in a row now once the Big East started that his game does not fit the style of the league. 

Sandy is definitely not playing at the same speed as the rest of the folks.  Usually you see players playing too fast because they can't handle the speed.  Sandy does not have that problem.  Maybe things will click, but I could see a redshirt being beneficial if he wants starter minutes Jr/Sr year.

[warriorfan 14]

Not a surprising result as the team isn't very good and neither is the coaching staff at this point.

While Henry will likely be drafted in the lottery, he is in no way ready for the NBA. If he gets physically abused by seton hall, the NBA will be orders of magnitude worse. He will likely toil on the bench for 2-3 seasons, get the "bust" label put on him, and not know when/if he gets a decent chance.

the sandy cohen that played solid d on nigel hayes vs. the sandy cohen now are very different players. second year in a row sandy has really fizzled part way through the conference season. surprised wally didn't get more of his minutes.

glad to see jjj playing consistently well the last few games. hopefully he is finally turning the corner

[warriorfan 14]

a lot of folks talking about this team being so skinny, but it is a lot more than that. remember when louisville won the national championship? that team was not physically intimidating at all with the likes of siva, dieng, smith, hancock, etc. however they could shoot the ball, were well coached, and had very good basketball skills

[MUfan12]

He needs a trip to the Brett Nelson School of Shooting this summer. He did a heck of a job with JJJ.

Sandy's shot needs to be overhauled. He pushes the ball up instead of releasing it at the top. Takes waaaay too long to get his shot off, and when he rushes, it's almost a guaranteed miss.

[tower912]

a lot of folks talking about this team being so skinny, but it is a lot more than that. remember when louisville won the national championship? that team was not physically intimidating at all with the likes of siva, dieng, smith, hancock, etc. however they could shoot the ball, were well coached, and had very good basketball skills

They were also long at their positions, ridiculously quick, and strong enough.   

[rocket surgeon]

Our whole team is skinny.  Luke and Henry are 7 foot, but they are not muscular.   After those two, every other player is short for their position and skinny.  When it comes to rebounding, bet on the bigger, stronger, faster team.   This needs to be addressed in recruiting philosophy and the weight room.  Wojo needs to break out of the Duke paradigm for recruits and adopt a big east philosophy.

actually, i did a double take when i saw luke-he definitely has beefed up, but not yet where he needs to be.  his upper body looked much improved.  henry is naturally strong, but also needs to firm up, i.e. blake g.

[79Warrior]

Super young = super inconsistent.   That's usually the recipe.  No surprises from me tonight.

Actually, the surprise for me has been the poor play of Sandy.

[slack00]

Henry looked a half-step to a step slow on both offense and defense.  He made a crowhop anytime he went to make a cut on offense so the defender knew he was moving.  He seemed to be one of the last down the court to set up the offense.  On defense he was just a little out of position to get rebounds or to rotate.  It was completely unlike most other games this year.  I wonder if he's a little under the weather.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

*  Luke manned up and played tough.  Hope we continue to see that the rest of his career
* Cudos to JJJ.  Looks like he has completely bought in to playing within himself.  No longer jacks up 3's at every opportunity or makes reckless lunges going for steals and leaving his man wide open
* Duane got absolutely destroyed defensively
* Sandy  - wow.  His decline had been unreal
* SH must have had an eFG% over 70% in the last 10 minutes.  Both credit to them and shame on us.

[mug644]

Sandy is definitely not playing at the same speed as the rest of the folks.  Usually you see players playing too fast because they can't handle the speed.  Sandy does not have that problem.  Maybe things will click, but I could see a redshirt being beneficial if he wants starter minutes Jr/Sr year.

What's the history of (non-injured or non-transfer) players taking a redshirt year other than their freshman year? I can't think of any at MU or elsewhere, though presume it must've happened (and likely at UW). Anyone else recall any?

[NavinRJohnson]

Sandy is definitely not playing at the same speed as the rest of the folks.  Usually you see players playing too fast because they can't handle the speed.  Sandy does not have that problem.  Maybe things will click, but I could see a redshirt being beneficial if he wants starter minutes Jr/Sr year.

If he takes a redshirt year, it will be the result of his transferring to another school.

[MerrittsMustache]

What's the history of (non-injured or non-transfer) players taking a redshirt year other than their freshman year? I can't think of any at MU or elsewhere, though presume it must've happened (and likely at UW). Anyone else recall any?

It's incredibly rare. However, there's this ridiculous notion that taking a healthy redshirt season will miraculously make a player better. Sandy will have from April to October to regain his confidence and work on speeding up his shot. If he can't do it by then, another 15 months isn't going to change anything.

The fact of the matter is that Sandy is a very good shooter who has lost his shot and lost his confidence. He's a mess out there right now, in large part because his shot is so slow. He has a place on a BE roster but this team doesn't fit his strengths right now. He has the potential to be a deadly spot-up shooter but that skill is best put to use on a team with players who can drive and kick and/or with a dominant post presence who commands a double-team. This team simply isn't built like that right now and for the second straight season, his offensive limitations have been exposed.

[JamilJaeJamailJrJuan]

Might be time to consider for Wojo to consider whether Sandy plays another minute this season. He appears to be a great teammate but he is getting abused on a nightly basis at this level of competition. He might have been better off at a Horizon school.

Ugh. The kid is a sophomore.  Don't get me wrong, he looked like crap last night, and has for the entire conference season, but lets not write him off for the future yet. 

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

we've got 2 seven footers and seton hall kills us on the boards-especially the O-boards.

This didn't happen. Seton Hall had one more offensive rebound than us but we had more second chance points. They got more rebounds on the defensive end because they were shooting it better than we were.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Once again it's rebounding that kills us. Despite having one of the best rebounders in the game, we don't get near enough from the rest of the team. 40.6% of SHU's misses were pulled down by the Pirates. That's just plain bad.

It wasn't rebounding. They got a lot of o boards but we had just as many and scored more second chance points. Those stats offset. They just shot it better than we did and got to the foul line. As JB often says eFG% reigns supreme.

[tower912]

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore?gameId=400840290

Box score.

[jsheim]

1.  Bigger, stronger, faster.
2.  Nothing new, we all know the song by now.
3.  Luke and jj showed up.
4.  Sandy, oy.
5.  Let Heldt wrestle with them for a while.  How bad can it be?
6.  Why foul down 16?
7.  The better team won.  Try to steal one from X.

Agreed ... especially #1 & #7 .... as with most of our BE opponents this year, to win we will need to "steal" it. But that's what I hope for.

my new formulation for the big dance (aside from winning the BET )
@X - L
P - W
C - W
@DP - W
@C - W
V - L
GT - W
@B - W

realistically, we have a chance in every home game but Nova and away at DP & Butler...