Deja Vu..... with a revenge chaser.

[Vander Blue Man Group]

There's also a strong correlation between scoring more points than the other team and winning.  But hey, I"m no stats guy

More seriously, of course eFG% reigns supreme.  It gets the heaviest weighting (40%) of the 4 factors.  And is it any surprise that the the team who has more points often has the highest eFG%?  I'm so tired of this "point" being made.

Please don't forget the importance of the will to win and bellyfire.

[Jay Bee]

And I didn't disagree with you. I just said it's not the one and only stat to consider

Agreed - I'll be waiting for your apology for being a condescending douche. 

Look back at the thread. nooope

[TSmith34, Inc.]

Hey Jay Bee,

Pre-season I recall you saying reducing our TO% would be one of the keys to improving this season, with a particular call out on the importance of this for Haanif.  How rare is it to see the kind of huge improvement he has made over the prior year?

[Marcus92]

Seton Hall had 8 more field goal attempts (71) than Marquette (63), yet we still made 2 more field goals for the game. Offensive rebounds aren't nearly as valuable if you can't put them in the basket. Seton Hall further reduced the value of those 27 offensive boards by turning the ball over 19 times (to just 12 for MU).

[Vander Blue Man Group]

Look back at the thread. nooope

I did. Your initial response was condescending and douchey. Nothing more to talk about.

[Jay Bee]

Hey Jay Bee,

Pre-season I recall you saying reducing our TO% would be one of the keys to improving this season, with a particular call out on the importance of this for Haanif.  How rare is it to see the kind of huge improvement he has made over the prior year?

It's a great question and his improvement that you recognize is so important.  His eFG% is down to 48.6% after an impressive 54.3% last year. His usage is similar year over year, but the offensive efficiency is up to 113 vs. 101 last year because of the turnover rate...24.4% last year, an impressive 13.4% this year. He takes the same % of shots while on the floor.. puts the ball on the floor a lot... but that turnover rate has dropped.

To me, Haanif presents an opportunity to this team.. where he's performed vs. where he CAN perform. His focus has probably (and as should be) more on defense and defensive rebounding.. and he's been good on the D-boards.

Definitely in conference play there are concerns. Something seems off.

But, to your question, the decline in his TO% is very important. MU's TO rate is 17.0% of about #60 in the nation this year (18.5% in conf) vs 20.0% and #292 last year (20.7% in conf). Our offense is wonderful. His has improved. Defense is a challenge. His has improved.

[Jay Bee]

I did. Your initial response was condescending and douchey. Nothing more to talk about.

You interjected yourself into a conversation that you had nothing to do with to opine. FOH.

[brandx]

That's not why they lost.

Of course it is not the only reason they lost - but when you miss 40% of your FTs (and there were lots of fouls called on MU) in what turns out to be a one possession game, it is flat out ignorant to say it has no effect.

[Jay Bee]

Of course it is not the only reason they lost - but when you miss 40% of your FTs (and there were lots of fouls called on MU) in what turns out to be a one possession game, it is flat out ignorant to say it has no effect.

When it's less than a point, it means you also must point out every single empty possession, and then some

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

I see the stats. So tell me if I'm crazy. But our rebounding woes tonight seemed more like them being extremely good at rebounds than us being bad at them. Maybe I'm crazy but I thought Luke was being a lot more aggressive on the glass tonight.

Also, at lease in the first half, Marquette played the best help defense I have seen all season.

[UticaBusBarn]

I really like Heldt. He understands that basketball is a contact sport.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

Howard seems comfortable scoring or facilitating. It's nice.

I know it probably wasn't in the gameplan/playcall... but why did we have Haani shooting so many FTs at the end of regulation? You have Howard, Rowsey, Katin...90%+ guys

I believe Hanni's FT% is like 84%, so he's not to shabby either, although last night.....

[tower912]

I see the stats. So tell me if I'm crazy. But our rebounding woes tonight seemed more like them being extremely good at rebounds than us being bad at them. Maybe I'm crazy but I thought Luke was being a lot more aggressive on the glass tonight.

Also, at lease in the first half, Marquette played the best help defense I have seen all season.

That is a really good point.  Very few complaints about the defense.... until the shot went up.  No one has even mentioned the defense.   And Matt's was really good in OT.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

Can anyone tell me why we didn't try to attack once breaking the press? More than a few times we had 4 on 3 after Howard passed through the press, only to have the other guard hold-up.

Excellent question.  Wojo commented earlier in the season that we should welcome the press because it is a chance to attack the defense, but that sure ain't the way they are going about it.

[muwarrior69]

BTW, Seton Hall shot a higher FT% tonight than their season average.

Yeah! They did that when we played them there too. Why is that?

[forgetful]

Yeah! They did that when we played them there too. Why is that?

We need to get an assistant to specialize in FT defense.

[brewcity77]

Yeah! They did that when we played them there too. Why is that?

It was a marginal difference. Maybe we should look into what DePaul is doing, they held them to 50% from the line.

If anything was shown tonight, it's the importance of eFG%. We lost free throw rate (much of the game they had made more than we had shot despite a pedestrian percentage) and got slaughtered on the boards. We did win the turnover margin, though that's no surprise considering they extended 17 more possessions via the offensive glass than we did, giving them more chances to turn it over.

But that eFG% made the difference. It kept us in when we were getting soundly beat in other categories. And anyone mentioning FT%, all I can say is LOL. Seton Hall shot 61.8% at the line. Above their average, but terrible, and those free throws kept them in it. It wasn't the percentage, it was getting to the line. We shot 71.4%, nearly 10 percentage points higher, and almost 10% below our season average, and still won the game. Free throw percentage is pretty much meaningless. This game proves it.

[tower912]

During one of the timeouts they showed on TV, Wojo was exhorting his players to look for the opportunistic offensive rebound, as SHU wasn't blocking out.    What does KR do a few minutes later?     Amazing what happens when you do what the coach tells you. 

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

During one of the timeouts they showed on TV, Wojo was exhorting his players to look for the opportunistic offensive rebound, as SHU wasn't blocking out.    What does KR do a few minutes later?     Amazing what happens when you do what the coach tells you.

I thought we weren't allowed to make judgments based on TV huddle segments.

In all seriousness good game - they really needed this one....let's go get Depaul

[BallBoy]

Thought Matthew on defense held his own in OT - great job. Offense.. guys need to understand they can't flip 'hot' passes to him.

I have seen this posted a few times related to this game. I watched the game on TV and this was less Matt and more Duane and from Duane's reaction I think he agreed. The pass came as Duane was moving to the middle of the paint after Heldt was posting towards the wing. Duane throws a no look hot pass from 7-8 ft away that runs parallel to matt's shoulders as he is starting to move in for a rebound.

Personally, I think Matt is showing vast improvement game over game year over year. He still has a few struggles but he is starting to play within his body. Hopefully, we see him break out (for him) next year.

[muwarrior69]

I thought we weren't allowed to make judgments based on TV huddle segments.

In all seriousness good game - they really needed this one....let's go get Depaul

I hope we take them seriously; if we drop this one we could be 2-6 after our first 8 games.

[tower912]

I hope we take them seriously; if we drop this one we could be 2-6 after our first 8 games.

Thanks, eeyore.

[Loose Cannon]

I hope we take them seriously; if we drop this one we could be 2-6 after our first 8 games.

There are no trap games, if the next game is the most important of the season.

[4everwarriors]

Also: F the announcers for straight up dissing MU when they said this game was a must win for SHU because MU is at the bottom of the table.  At the end of the year MU will be above SHU on the table.

Fantastic ta have smart broads on dis board who can aren't too priss ta cuss, hey?

[brewcity77]

Hey Jay Bee,

Pre-season I recall you saying reducing our TO% would be one of the keys to improving this season, with a particular call out on the importance of this for Haanif.  How rare is it to see the kind of huge improvement he has made over the prior year?

Not Jay Bee, but what's impressed me isn't just the degree of improvement by Haanif (24.4% last year, 13.4% this year), but when he did it. Improving by 11% is massive, especially with no real change in usage. However most of the players I've looked back at don't see their improvements until their junior year.

Considering various 2/3 players for Marquette over the years:

• Vander Blue: Fr 22.3 / So 23.0 / Jr 18.6
  
• Darius Johnson-Odom: So 18.1 / Jr 15.3 / Sr 15.8
  
• Jerel McNeal: Fr 29.1 / So  25.5 / Jr 19.5 / Sr 17.1
  
• Wes Matthews: Fr 23.3 / So 20.9 / Jr 16.3 / Sr 16.0

Not a big list, I know. Some guys just stay kind of static (Jimmy and Jae were always exceptional at TORate, some like Mayo and Jamil were always just kind of average) while others wait until their senior year to see the most improvement (Novak and Gardner), but when it came to wings, it usually seemed like if a big jump was in the making, it was usually from sophomore to junior years.

Of everyone I looked at, Cheatham's 11 percentage point jump is the biggest single-year improvement. The closest to that was Gardner's 8.7% improvement from his junior to senior years. Now granted, I only looked at a handful of Marquette players over the past 10-15 years, so my sample size is pretty small, but I am willing to wager that while Cheatham's improvement may not be historic level type stuff, it's still way above the norm.