MU back to earth

[SGWarrior]

-Huggins outcoached Crean.  By the time we adjusted to any defensive look we had to crawl out of a hole.

While I agree MU was out-coached I don't think it was that big of a differential.  Crean made some nice adjustments coming out of timeouts.  Not only today, but as whole TC has come a long way since the old MU v. Cincy matchups.

[ChicosBailBonds]

I can't believe some of the responses here.  We lost ON THE ROAD to a team that was ranked just last week.  BIG F'ING DEAL.  I know I picked WVU to win, I know Vegas did, I know Pomeroy did.  Seemed pretty obvious to me.

We were behind the 8 ball on some fouls, but that's the way it goes.  Hats off to West Virginia and their Hall of Fame coach.

When it was 56-50 I kept thinking of the missed layups by McNeal, Hayward, etc...might have been different.  It wasn't.

I'd expect us to kick Seton Hall's ass next week and I love our chances against Notre Dame, though I'm sure the Packer heads will be ditching the MU game left and right which is terribly disappointing as we will need the 6th man support.

We lost...to a good team...on the road...a team that has won 13 straight at home.  We were in the game, made some poor decisions, missed some easy shots, got in foul trouble.  Folks, it won't be our last loss either.

[ChicosBailBonds]

I had a feeling that the Providence game was too easy for us.  Give us a well coached team and we look horrible.

Like Wisconsin, Duke, etc?   


I think I'll mow the lawn...same old same old here when we lose.  It was a semi-clunker against a good team on the road.  We'll be fine.

[77ncaachamps]

I can't believe some of the responses here.  We lost ON THE ROAD to a team that was ranked just last week.  BIG F'ING DEAL.  I know I picked WVU to win, I know Vegas did, I know Pomeroy did.  Seemed pretty obvious to me.

We lost...to a good team...on the road...a team that has won 13 straight at home.  We were in the game, made some poor decisions, missed some easy shots, got in foul trouble.  Folks, it won't be our last loss either.

But that's the point, Chico.

This kind of game where the odds are stacked against you will reveal a lot about your team and where they're at (this point of the season).

If we win, we know how good we can be.

With the loss, you don't learn much about the capacity of this team.

Sure MU hung in there, but there's still so much growth with the players and ESPECIALLY with the playcalling. Hate to lose a game - especially one that was so close for so long.

We WILL bounce back. I'm just left wondering how BIG are we going to comeback.

[Marquette_g]

While I agree that this game isn't the end of the world.  Maybe it wouldn't hurt to play more than one road game before we start Big East play.  

Crean also got outcoached today.

[MUWarrior11]

Yes, Lazar is MUCH improved and yes, I believe he might be our best player, but I don't think he showed it today.  Though he shot well from the outside, he hurt us at times offensively.  Particular with charges, a key missed layup and dumb fouls.  He had 5 fouls, but I feel like he could have been called for 8.
Heck of a player, but today wasn't his best.  I anticipate a strong game against SH

[farmdaddy]

We were in it til the last five or so minutes of the game.  We will bounce back, but I agree one more road game before BE play would not have hurt.

[79Warrior]

refs were pretty poor, but have got to expect that on the road.  James needs to stop bombing so regularly, and frankly fitzgeralds minutes should be cut back significantly- if he ain't gonna shoot he is worthless.  Haywood should be in the games as much as mcneal/James.  He might be the best player on this team.

I was blasted on the other board for saying I felt we were a better team when Fitz was hurt. Gave the othersore minutes. I believe Fitz is a one trick pony at best.

[mu_hilltopper]

Not sure if it's the chicken or the egg.  Does Fitz have the ability?  Yes.  Is there a coaching plan to get Fitz the ball with an opportunity to shoot?  Not sure. 

[79Warrior]

I can't believe some of the responses here.  We lost ON THE ROAD to a team that was ranked just last week.  BIG F'ING DEAL.  I know I picked WVU to win, I know Vegas did, I know Pomeroy did.  Seemed pretty obvious to me.

We were behind the 8 ball on some fouls, but that's the way it goes.  Hats off to West Virginia and their Hall of Fame coach.

We lost...to a good team...on the road...a team that has won 13 straight at home.  We were in the game, made some poor decisions, missed some easy shots, got in foul trouble.  Folks, it won't be our last loss either.

I agree Chicos. WVU is a very good team with an outstanding coach who knows MU well. The key is how we regroup on the short turnaround. We are not going to win every game, and this loss is not a suprise. We can still go 11-5 in the BE.

ND game will be the real test. We lose that one and The Hoyas and The Irish will be duking it out for the top spot.

[ppp098]

I wish we would drive to the hole, drive and dish more and not fall back into the 3 when easy 2's would do the trick. They were workin the baseline for a while but coudn't finish the easy 2. Our guards can do this, wish they would do it more. Forget the 3's.

[bma725]

Not sure if it's the chicken or the egg.  Does Fitz have the ability?  Yes.  Is there a coaching plan to get Fitz the ball with an opportunity to shoot?  Not sure. 

Having the physical ability and having the attitude necessary to use that ability are two different things.  Fitz has never had the true shooters mindset that's needed for someone with his ability to be successful.  Diener had it from day one, so did Wardle and even to an extent John Cliff.  Novak had to develop the mindset, and it took until the end of his junior year for him to get it.  Fitz has yet to develop the mindset that he is a shooter first and everything else is secondary and he needs to put up a shot if there is even an inch of space.  He's just too timid and too willing to defer to far worse shooters.  Until that changes, running plays for him doesn't matter.

[augoman]

great job by Huggins, loved seeing the 'junk D's', haven't seen them used so well since Al did.  Glad he's back in the BEast, but might have to call Mike Dean for tips, as he sure had Huggy's number.

Agree about misuse of Fitz' talent.  Why no double screens or inside/outside for your best 3shooter?

Agree further refs sucked, but as deep as we are, we could have overcome this.

[NavinRJohnson]

Dudes...

We played a poor defensive game on the road in conference and lost. I am unhappy about the defensive effort, but it doesn't mean we're bad, or that we were overrated, or that we are destined to lose more games than we win. Its one game in an 18 game schedule, 9 of which will be played on the road. Guess what...we're gonna win more of those than we lose. We'll win almost all of them at home and when all is said and done we'll be atop the Big East. MU did something almost every team that goes into that building does. I would have preferred a win, but big effing deal.

[NavinRJohnson]

BTW, as it relates to the subject of this thread, when was MU ever not on earth? Did anyone really see 11-1 as somehow playing way over their heads?

[ChicosBailBonds]

While I agree that this game isn't the end of the world.  Maybe it wouldn't hurt to play more than one road game before we start Big East play. 

Crean also got outcoached today.

I love...absolutely love the first time posters that come out EVERY SINGLE YEAR when we lose a game.  It's just beautiful.  Like the swallows at Capistrano.  You can set your watch to it.

Uhm, last I checked we played 4 games away from home before this game...including two road games and two neutral games. 

It's also funny that we go into Wisconsin, the team with the LONGEST winning streak in the country and win that game...yet Marquette_g didn't think it was necessary to play another "road game" prior to that.   

It's so predictable and funny.

Yes, Crean got outcoached today...that triangle and two that Huggins got from Tim Floyd two days ago really threw the team for a loop.  Coaches with 600 wins will do that from time to time.  And then again, I guess Crean "outcoached" Bo Ryan, etc a few weeks ago.  I'm sure over the course of the year there will be other times when our coach is "outcoached" and times when our guy "outcoaches" them...if you even buy into any of that kind of stuff.

[CTWarrior]

Reggie Greenwood was injured in a game yesterday and was still reffing today with a noticeable limp.  Anybody else have a problem with this?  Two fouls really took MU out of the game.  McNeal got one on a steal at mid-court for his 4th.  Hayward got his 5th on a charge where it looked like he had stopped his momentum on the baseline.  

I'll echo above though.  The defense was terrible, penetrators getting by perimeter defenders.  Offense looked like last year against a zone.  And 3 or 4 defensive rebounds that just bounced long and off an MU player or right to a WVU player.

I thought both of those calls were right.  The big foul call that hurt was the fourth on Hayward, when he grabbed a board but was called for a non-existent foul.  I was all over the we-got-jobbed express after the Duke game, but this game we fouled a lot.  We reach for steals way too much.  They are always fouls and we are at the mercy of how much the refs will let us get away with.  I thought we even caught a few breaks in this area.

[Marquette84]

I agree. I'm a pretty big pessimist when it comes to losses like these, but can anyone give me a positive to take away from this game??

Here's four:

It was a one possession game on the road against arguably one of the four best teams in the conference with 6:30 to go.

We held WVU without a field goal for nearly a 10 minute stretch in the first half.

We battled back on the road from 10-point 1st half and 8-point 2nd half deficits.

We shot 80% from the FT line for the game.

[77ncaachamps]

Not sure if it's the chicken or the egg.  Does Fitz have the ability?  Yes.  Is there a coaching plan to get Fitz the ball with an opportunity to shoot?  Not sure. 

Fitz has yet to develop the mindset that he is a shooter first and everything else is secondary and he needs to put up a shot if there is even an inch of space.  He's just too timid and too willing to defer to far worse shooters.  Until that changes, running plays for him doesn't matter.

DING DING DING

And you can add to that list that it doesn't help being one of the tallest players on the team and you don't hit the boards hard consistently. That was also a pet peeve about Novak. And he's obviously learning to do that more in the NBA.

[Marquette_g]

Chico,

I'm not saying the season is over.  I'm saying this didn't look like a team ready to play today.  I'm also at loss for the 2 road games you said we played prior to this.  To the best of my memory we have played away from the BC vs. Chaminade, OSU, Duke [neutral site] and UW [road game] prior to today. 

[bilsu]

Hayward definately charged at the end. When you have four fouls you should play smarter. However, I thought the foul they gave him on the rebound was a bad call. He basically went straight up for the rebound and got sandwiched by two WV players. However, you have to expect the calls to go in favor of the home team. That is why it is so hard to win on the road.

[mviale]

can we honestly say, MU put their best effort in the final 8 min down 5 or 6? Not the effort of a top 10 team.  I think this team is loaded with talent  and a sweet 16 was potentially a solid bet.  After today, looks like Alabama or MSU 1st round and we are done.  This 15 point loss could be an exception, but MU really came back to earth today. 

[Doctor V]

Wes Matthews???

seems like a lot of players are being mentioned for having a bad performance, but watching that game for me proves that it is clear that Wes is the biggest disappointment for this team right now.

dont let the 2 threes at the end of the game fool you, he missed open shot after open shot at many critical points during the game, to the point that wvu started leaving him wide open.

I just cant get over how much we expect from him and how little he is giving. Fitz didnt play well defensively, but he didnt take many shots cause they knew his strenght. We also dont expect a ton from him. ooze was ooze, burke was burke, etc, etc.

Ive said before that if DJ isnt a star this team doesnt have a successful year. So far he has, today he wasnt but he wasnt terrible. Its clear that if hes not on the floor and running the team we struggle.

What else seems clear is that if Wes doesnt turn it around here quickly and become more efficient, he needs to lose some of his minutes. However, I dont know if this team with this system, the guards and lack of height, can afford that because he defends and he rebounds. He cannot keep this up offensively though...

Hes basically like that piece of property you keep on waiting to apprciate in value, or that girl you keep on waiting on to take it to the next step...c'mon wes

[ChicosBailBonds]

Chico,

I'm not saying the season is over.  I'm saying this didn't look like a team ready to play today.  I'm also at loss for the 2 road games you said we played prior to this.  To the best of my memory we have played away from the BC vs. Chaminade, OSU, Duke [neutral site] and UW [road game] prior to today. 

Chaminade counted as a road game

[muarmy81]

I can't believe some of the responses here.  We lost ON THE ROAD to a team that was ranked just last week.  BIG F'ING DEAL.  I know I picked WVU to win, I know Vegas did, I know Pomeroy did.  Seemed pretty obvious to me.

We were behind the 8 ball on some fouls, but that's the way it goes.  Hats off to West Virginia and their Hall of Fame coach.

When it was 56-50 I kept thinking of the missed layups by McNeal, Hayward, etc...might have been different.  It wasn't.

I'd expect us to kick Seton Hall's ass next week and I love our chances against Notre Dame, though I'm sure the Packer heads will be ditching the MU game left and right which is terribly disappointing as we will need the 6th man support.

We lost...to a good team...on the road...a team that has won 13 straight at home.  We were in the game, made some poor decisions, missed some easy shots, got in foul trouble.  Folks, it won't be our last loss either.

Thank you,
I didn't have a great feeling about this game because WVU is a good team and I was worried that we'd get Pittsnogled again (They'd be on fire from beyond the arc) and looking at the first half stats and even mid way through the 2nd half WVU was shooting nealry 50% from 3.  Games like this happen, I didn't expect us to go 29-1 and I'm pretty positive we won't go 27-2.  As other teams will find out Morgantown isn't an easy place to play and I don't consider this a "bad" loss.  But you're right Chicos, it's inevitable that after a loss all the chicken littles come out.  I think we'll bounce back strong against SH and I think we'll even beat ND but rest assured, our road games at Uconn, at Syracuse, at Notre Dame, and at Villanova will be just as difficult because every game in the BE is difficult...
Anyways, it'll be nice to watch them knock around SH and then ND