Vermont musings

[naginiF]

The only thing worse at this time of year is the ballet.
If they were doing word association with me and their word was interminable, my response would be "nutcracker."

my wife is the oldest of 5 daughters and 4 of them have danced the nutcracker.  Times i have seen the nutcracker:  before i met my wife (32yrs) = 3, after i met my wife (19yrs) = 25ish.  She's going back to Ohio to watch our nieces in a production this weekend. 

A professional ballet with an orchestra is well worth the money.  Anything else is truly staring into the abyss.

[fjm]

-Theo played really well tonight.
-great job by Wojo with rotations and coaching tonight. Sometimes it's OK to give the coach some credit.
-Hauser played really well, his 10-15 footer looks great!
-rowsey played exceptional I thought. He made good choices, great assists and great play (aside from the weird 3pt foul she committed)
-Jamal and Greg are looking pretty good. overall their Defense looks really good.
-PleasantlybSurprised by Heldt tonight!
And lastly Sacar is still slashing which is leading to a solid 2-to-4 fouls per game. I like it!

[tower912]

1.  AR with a double double.    Nice bounceback
2.   The effort is there on defense.    One little breakdown......
3.  Theo did not look lost tonight.   
4.   Need Markus to quit picking up two fouls with 9 minutes to go in the first half. 
5.  Cain and Elliot are getting better game by game.  It looks like their defense is making a difference..... and then you look up and MU has given up 81.
6.   Everybody contributed and MU got the win they had to have, if nothing else to delay the meltdown.   
7.   The middle school band holiday concert was everything you imagine. 

[warriorchick]

-Theo played really well tonight.
-great job by Wojo with rotations and coaching tonight. Sometimes it's OK to give the coach some credit.
-Hauser played really well, his 10-15 footer looks great!
-rowsey played exceptional I thought. He made good choices, great assists and great play (aside from the weird 3pt foul she committed)
-Jamal and Greg are looking pretty good. overall their Defense looks really good.
-PleasantlybSurprised by Heldt tonight!
And lastly Sacar is still slashing which is leading to a solid 2-to-4 fouls per game. I like it!

Really?

[fjm]

Really?

Oh holy crap! Haha I don't know what to say... um iPhone autocorrect? Or something! Sorry!

[naginiF]

One thing not mentioned is that Rowsey clearly got the message.  Obviously Wojo put the collar on him and instructed him to make assists/plays and not to shoot first. 

Good for Wojo, good for Rowsey. 

#sulking?

Edit:  Tower, the thread title should have been "Vermont Moosings"

[warriorchick]

Oh holy crap! Haha I don't know what to say... um iPhone autocorrect? Or something! Sorry!

LOL just giving you crap.

[Dr. Blackheart]

Wojo got the team back.

[21rooster]

MU took the lead by going small for part of the second half, then the bigs made some nice plays near the end.  Nice to see Wojo recognize the matchup favored a smaller lineup for a stretch.  I'd say we need more of that, but I suppose it's irrelevant after Saturday. 

It's nice to have two guards and a forward that shoot free throws so well that the other team throws in the towel down 10 with a minute left. 

Was there something going on campus tonight?  I've seen more students at games over break.  Just a matter of not realizing this was a quality opponent? 

[MU82]

Catamount To Nothing ... dedicated to tower:

1. Superb coaching job by Wojo. Team was organized, shared the ball, Rowsey bought in, defensive intensity was good, good substitution pattern, coupla nice plays out of time outs. Not gonna praise him too much though - I mean, it's his job!

2. I really like it when Sam looks to post up. He is good at it and should do it more often! Solid game.

3. Nice job by Heldt on their top scorer. Lamb had a quickness advantage but Heldt used his height well. Also, Bardo made a good point on one of Heldt's moving screens - said that Markus needed to give Heldt time to set the screen.

4. Markus ... whew! Run him off the arc, and he's very tough in the lane. That's an NBA quality floater. While I agree it's unlikely that he would get drafted as a small, skinny kid who doesn't handle it like Curry does, it's still possible that peeps he trusts will tell him otherwise. Remember: A guy doesn't have to be ready to go pro, he just has to think he's ready (and get some bad advice). Having said that, I still think he stays all 4 years. Oh, and he STILL hasn't missed a FT! I'm sticking with NEVER in my poll!!

5. Rowsey was in control most of the night and was looking for teammates. He will have plenty of opportunities to score. I'm a Rowsey fan, but I gotta admit I never thought I'd see him get double-digit assists.

6. Cain and Elliott are going to be good Big East basketball players. Maybe even very good.

7. Anim impressed me tonight, especially on D.

8. Vermont is a good, well-coached team. Lost at Kentucky by 4, won a lower-level holiday tournament in the Bahamas, won at Yale and at Richmond. This was a quality victory over a legit NCAA tourney team in what was pretty much a must-win game. We would have beaten them by more but they had a reserve who had made only 5 threes all season go 6-for-6 tonight.

9. Time to get ready to beat the f%ck outta F%ucky!

10. Fire Brey!!!!!!!!!

[chapman]

Got a glimpse of Theo and it wasn't half bad.  He needs to keep himself on the floor long enough for more.

Elliott had a freshman game.  That's ok.

Cain struggled somewhat, more so defensively.  But he keeps his head in the game and hustles.  Got to like that.

I don't mind this Rowsey.  10 assists and 1 turnover.  Looks like Wojo told him he needed to play defense as well...still wasn't too good but he picked up the fouls trying.  At least the intent was good.  Hope he's learned enough to be back starting Saturday.

When the defense was there, we extended the lead.  Hopefully it can be there more often.

Markus Howard is an above average basketball player.

[wadesworld]

Thought this was the best game we've played all year.  Vermont is good.  Thought the defense was solid for the most part, not a lot of teams are disciplined enough to keep working the ball around offensively late in the shot clock for the open look, but Vermont did and even when we rotated well they made the extra pass and hit some shots.

Rowsey with a great bounce back game.  Hauser stuffing the stat sheet.  Howard scoring at will.  And everybody else made positive contributions.  The big 3 played very well, but it was a total team effort.  There is hope.  Let's see what Harry can give us in a few weeks.

[MU82]

Thought this was the best game we've played all year.

Totally agree. Vermont is not a cupcake, and they shot lights out tonight. We were focused almost all night long. A portent of great things to come, I hope! Down goes F%ucky!!!!

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Couldn't ask for better offense. Love that the freshmen already look to make the extra pass.

First half I think they were 4/11 from inside the arc. Great to see. They went 11/19 inside the arc in the second, less good.

Worst job we've done covering the three all season, but that Smith kid was en fuego.

I keep seeing flashes from Cain. When/if he puts all together he's going to be very special.

This game reminded me that that there is a big difference in the physicality of high major and low major players. Vermont is more disciplined, more experienced, and plays way smarter than Georgia ever will. Imagine what they could do if their players had the athleticism of Georgia's players.

All in all, solid win, but nothing really to brag about. So far this season we have lost the games we should and won 6/7 of the games we should. Win at Wisconsin and the ledger is back to even.

F#ck the Badgers

[geagles10]

I think Howard will be here all 4.

I flew to Maui sitting behind Howard's parents, and while we are talking they made it very clear he would be staying all 4 years.  They made it seem like I was crazy for asking haha.  Super nice parents. 

[Newsdreams]

Wojo got the team back.

Yep silly of me 

[SaveOD238]

I flew to Maui sitting behind Howard's parents, and while we are talking they made it very clear he would be staying all 4 years.  They made it seem like I was crazy for asking haha.  Super nice parents.

I thought I had heard that the Howard family is very academics focused, which makes sense given what you heard from them.  I would be shocked to see Howard go anywhere.  I think the Markus-Sam combo are both on a 4-year plan.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

I flew to Maui sitting behind Howard's parents, and while we are talking they made it very clear he would be staying all 4 years.  They made it seem like I was crazy for asking haha.  Super nice parents.

I was sitting the row in front of Howard's parents, I was the younger guy in the polo who probably stood up too often.

The Howards are grade A people and Markus seems like a perfect mix of both of them. Dad was calmly stating everything Markus needed to do to succeed while he played and his mom was cheering her heart out. Both are just the nicest people, talked with them a little bit each game.

[Bo Ryan's Massage Therapist]

MU took the lead by going small for part of the second half, then the bigs made some nice plays near the end.  Nice to see Wojo recognize the matchup favored a smaller lineup for a stretch.  I'd say we need more of that, but I suppose it's irrelevant after Saturday. 

I think there were more students at Western Civ class today than the game tonight.... terrible showing
It's nice to have two guards and a forward that shoot free throws so well that the other team throws in the towel down 10 with a minute left. 

Was there something going on campus tonight?  I've seen more students at games over break.  Just a matter of not realizing this was a quality opponent?

[MUDPT]

When we went small, we switched on about every high PNR.  It's good to see something different defensively. What to do about Happ on Saturday though?

[Dr. Blackheart]

When we went small, we switched on about every high PNR.  It's good to see something different defensively. What to do about Happ on Saturday though?

Brutalize their guards

[StillWarriors]

Marquette wins over a solid Vermont squad.

Rowsey bounced back well.

Markus with (another) career night.

Sam needs to pick it up. Not that he's playing poorly. I just want him to make more of an impact

Sam played great. Hit huge shots.

[94Warrior]

Grade school orchestra is worse.

Duuuude...

[geagles10]

I was sitting the row in front of Howard's parents, I was the younger guy in the polo who probably stood up too often.

The Howards are grade A people and Markus seems like a perfect mix of both of them. Dad was calmly stating everything Markus needed to do to succeed while he played and his mom was cheering her heart out. Both are just the nicest people, talked with them a little bit each game.

They were watching the replay of the xavier home game from last year on the flight

[alexius23]

Theo has skills and in a year or so will really come into his own. Marcus continues to impress.If he was 6'5" maybe might leave at the end of this year but....Rebounding left a lot to be desired. All the time on the defensive end Vermont boxed them out