Put on your red shoes and dance the blues

[tower912]

...let's sway through the crowd to an empty space......
JJJ's corner 3's were the daggers.     As opposed to other games where teams have been successful running MU off the line, MU adjusted last night.    To my eyes, it looked like hero ball, but upon reflection and other's input, I realize it was actually an adjustment taking advantage of all of X's switching, much like teams have taken advantage of Luke on the perimeter.

Also, MU's first half defense deserves recognition.    This year's team simply can't play lockdown defense.    But in the first half, MU switched effectively and disrupted X enough for MU to stretch out the lead despite the traveling calls.    Luke and Matt were much better at recovering after hedging in the first half, too.   

[dgies9156]

OK, not to be a pessimist here. It was a great win, our guys played extremely well and frankly, I liked the defensive intensity. We played  like we meant it!!!!

But....

We had to shoot the lights out to win. Not sure what the final shooting percentage was, but late in the game, I saw over 60 percent. My first thought was, "wow!"

Second thought -- against a 1 to 6 seeded team in thee NCAA, that's going to be tough. As someone else said, this team is flawed. It's fun to watch and I'm emotionally drained after a game -- win or lose -- and I just wonder whether a good team with good defense will allow us to get anywhere close to 60 percent?

[brewcity77]

Everything changes in the tournament. Teams are just starting their scout 4 days before the tip. That's why you see dead in the water teams (Syracuse last year) suddenly look like world beaters. That's also why Izzo is such a genius.

Make it in and honestly, we could end up in the Elite 8 or losing in the first four.

[MUfan12]

But....

We had to shoot the lights out to win. Not sure what the final shooting percentage was, but late in the game, I saw over 60 percent. My first thought was, "wow!"

They shot 60% because they executed the gameplan brilliantly. They only had to hit a few really tough shots, and a couple of those were Katin step-backs. Even more impressive than the outside shooting was the way they attacked closeouts and got easy buckets at the rim. Showed a ton of poise.

[Carl Spackler]

man, i wish Katin had made those step-backs against Providence.

[jsglow]

3.   Hero ball was working tonight.   More one-on-one than I think is best, but sometimes.......  Looked great. 

Incorrect.  That was by design.  X was switching everything to take away the 3.  So mu was setting multiple ball screen to get gaston or omara on a wing.  Then jjj, katin, riwsey, or howard went to work on the bigger slower defender in iso.  Good move by wojo,  got a ton of layins n fouls in the second half off of it.  Looks like hero ball cause of the iso n dribbling but exactly what we wanted

Sand is spot on here.  We ran the weave to get the 4/5 matchup.  The difference is that when we got the big fella away from the hoop, he had no idea what we were going to do.  It'll be interesting to see how Creighton plays this.  If Patton comes out top he may end up with 3 fouls in 10 minutes.

[Marcus92]

Two things I'd add:

1. Last night was a great example of how a balanced offense forces the other team to make some hard (if not impossible) choices.

Want to stick close to the perimeter to deny the three? You'd better have enough guys on the court quick enough to guard Markus (55.6% from three, 1st in the Big East), Rowsey (45.0%, 5th), Sam (44.1%, 6th) and Katin (38.9%, 18th). If JJJ, Duane or Haney are hitting their shots as well, look out.

Even if you manage to guard the three-point line reasonably well, that opens things up for Howard, Rowsey or Katin to drive and dish. Or make a relatively easy entry pass into the post, where Luke is almost automatic one-on-one when he gets the ball where he likes it.

Want perimeter defenders to sag on Luke to hopefully deny the entry pass? Then you leave Markus, Andrew, Sam or Katin wide open. Bad move. The same goes for doubling Luke. A pass or two later, the ball's going to end up in the hands of a really good shooter — likely with a step on his defender.

Xavier tried everything last night. Nothing worked.

2. Beyond crisp offensive execution, good defensive rotations and smart play overall (just 10 turnovers), Marquette really looked like it wanted it more last night. Players were  diving on the floor and out of bounds all night for loose balls. I didn't keep count, but it sure seemed like we got a lot more of them than Xavier. We also held our own on the boards against a very physical team. Effort counts.

If we can keep that up, I like our chances against Creighton and whoever we face in the Big East tournament.

[dgies9156]

They shot 60% because they executed the gameplan brilliantly. They only had to hit a few really tough shots, and a couple of those were Katin step-backs. Even more impressive than the outside shooting was the way they attacked closeouts and got easy buckets at the rim. Showed a ton of poise.

Definitely no argument here.

They did execute well and I did like the driving the lane. Kinda reminded me of Lee, Rosenberger and BT at times.

I hope we keep this up but a well-coached, talented team is going to defend in a way that's going to be tough to get 60 percent shooting. That just doesn't happen often.

[jsglow]

OK, not to be a pessimist here. It was a great win, our guys played extremely well and frankly, I liked the defensive intensity. We played  like we meant it!!!!

But....

We had to shoot the lights out to win. Not sure what the final shooting percentage was, but late in the game, I saw over 60 percent. My first thought was, "wow!"

Second thought -- against a 1 to 6 seeded team in thee NCAA, that's going to be tough. As someone else said, this team is flawed. It's fun to watch and I'm emotionally drained after a game -- win or lose -- and I just wonder whether a good team with good defense will allow us to get anywhere close to 60 percent?

I don't think we HAD to shoot the lights out.  Average MU shooting would have made the game single digits.  We shot 12/21 from 3pt (57%).  Let's say we miss 2 of those bringing us down in the 40s%.  We still win by 5.  And let's not discount the HORRIBLE officiating we were subject to in the second half.  Maybe the worst I can recall.  That narrowed what would have been a 15-20 point victory.

We won because we played reasonable D, especially in the first half, and because we didn't let the ball stick.  When it moves, we get great shots and we have several guys who are dead eye when uncontested.  Really, I don't remember a group of 4 that are simply 'money' like our 4 are when they can step in.  And add to that the fake and go to the rack element.  Beautiful.

[MUMountin]

I don't think we HAD to shoot the lights out.  Average MU shooting would have made the game single digits.  We shot 12/21 from 3pt (57%).  Let's say we miss 2 of those bringing us down in the 40s%.  We still win by 5.  And let's not discount the HORRIBLE officiating we were subject to in the second half.  Maybe the worst I can recall.  That narrowed what would have been a 15-20 point victory.

I'd only slightly disagree--I don't think in general we had to shoot the lights out to win.  But, if we had not been dead-on during that stretch in the second half when the refs were calling everything on us, I think that X could have easily grabbed the momentum and gotten right back in the game.  I think that they got to 8 or 9 at one point, and everything seemed to be going there way, and it looked like the refs were doing everything they could to help them back in.  But, we made 11 straight shots, and kept the lead in the double digits. 

If we shot even our average during that stretch, they could have easily made it a one or two possession game with a lot of momentum on their side.  But, our shooting helped us weather that stretch, and their momentum stalled.  We then made a couple of good stops (Katin and JJJ's pick-6s), and the calls finally started evening out, and the threat largely subsided. 

[tower912]

That's a great point.    When the refs were trying to give the game to X, MU made 11 straight shots.     That is the point we have lost leads in other games this year. 

[Herman Cain]

Everything changes in the tournament. Teams are just starting their scout 4 days before the tip. That's why you see dead in the water teams (Syracuse last year) suddenly look like world beaters. That's also why Izzo is such a genius.

Make it in and honestly, we could end up in the Elite 8 or losing in the first four.

This is why I believe if God shines his light on us and lets us in the tournament we will do well. Sure teams will see that M2N is shooting an incredible percentage from 3 point land. But they will not have the time to scout JJJ , Luke or Haani and I think those guys are all capable of monster games under those conditions.

[BM1090]

3.   Hero ball was working tonight.   More one-on-one than I think is best, but sometimes.......  Looked great. 

Incorrect.  That was by design.  X was switching everything to take away the 3.  So mu was setting multiple ball screen to get gaston or omara on a wing.  Then jjj, katin, riwsey, or howard went to work on the bigger slower defender in iso.  Good move by wojo,  got a ton of layins n fouls in the second half off of it.  Looks like hero ball cause of the iso n dribbling but exactly what we wanted

More posts like this and less bashing Luke please

Seriously, good post. It was definitely by design.

[fjm]

feels good to be (probably hopefully most likely dancing *disclaimer for when wades comes in with his 1 win talk) dancing.

[Newsdreams]

This is why I believe if God shines his light on us and lets us in the tournament we will do well. Sure teams will see that M2N is shooting an incredible percentage from 3 point land. But they will not have the time to scout JJJ , Luke or Haani and I think those guys are all capable of monster games under those conditions.

LOL u should get a late night show

[Newsdreams]

I'd only slightly disagree--I don't think in general we had to shoot the lights out to win.  But, if we had not been dead-on during that stretch in the second half when the refs were calling everything on us, I think that X could have easily grabbed the momentum and gotten right back in the game.  I think that they got to 8 or 9 at one point, and everything seemed to be going there way, and it looked like the refs were doing everything they could to help them back in.  But, we made 11 straight shots, and kept the lead in the double digits. 

If we shot even our average during that stretch, they could have easily made it a one or two possession game with a lot of momentum on their side.  But, our shooting helped us weather that stretch, and their momentum stalled.  We then made a couple of good stops (Katin and JJJ's pick-6s), and the calls finally started evening out, and the threat largely subsided.

I don't know but I think if we shoot our average in that stretch and Xavier kept their rate on offense just looking think we still win by 3-5 pts. Jay Bee can you do the actual #'s?

[jsglow]

Admittedly, that 11 shot run was a thing of beauty.