Momma said there'd be days like this

[nyg]

Harry could start in Sam's place if his leg is bad.  Don't really want to start two bigs against Villanova, but there aren't a ton of options.  Hey, heisie, this is when Haanif's absence starts to hurt.

Leg?  I must have missed something.

[WarriorFan]

Just a horrible performance.  On to the next.

[goldeneagle91114]

Really disapointed that after 9 full days off, that was the best the team and coaching staff could put together.

[forgetful]

Leg?  I must have missed something.

Hurt his upper leg or groin at some point, that is why he didn't play a ton in the 2nd half.  No idea if it is serious or not. 

[GoldenDieners32]

Praying sam isn't hurt

[MU82]

As a couple other Scoopers said, this was simply a stinker.

Defense, offense - we sucked. (Especially defense.) That it happened on the road against a top-10 team made being competitive impossible. As John Fox said during his Panthers days: "We picked a bad game to have a bad game." (And he would know, as they had dozens of 'em.)

I hope even the Scowlin' Scoopers (our version of Debbie Downers) are willing to admit/remember that even some of our very good to great teams of Buzz and Crean vintage had games like this. For example, Buzz's E8 team lost at Florida by 33 freakin' points! I won't list them all, but there were plenty of others.

Now ... even I will be down-down-down if Sam is hurt bad enough to miss games.

I didn't start watching this one until the second half because I had a game of my own (our ladies won by 40 to improve to 18-1, thanks for asking), and I couldn't figure out why Sam wasn't playing. I mean, he was on the bench, in uniform, standing during timeouts - usually injured players aren't doing that. I guess we'll find out more soon.

[NorthernDancerColt]

this would be good

This is delicate territory.....I know... here come the wuss comments.

After 6 years of taking care of my folks and watching their health decline, and then losing both of them this year, it has been a trying time for me. After Xmas, I took the past month and went down to Florida to decompress. It was a great time, and something I needed.

Well, upon returning home I got the bug that's been going around, and have been also fighting the blues. Sometimes, things don't go as planned, and it's easy for a person, coach, or team to get really down after a rough patch and maybe even overdue it physically and mentally to get that winning mojo back. This time of year, with health being so fragile, I hope we take the right tack.

Throw this one out. As a horse trainer would say, "draw a line through that race." The last thing a winning conditioner does is overwork and punish a class horse. And yes, as a unit, we are still a class steed. Get that animal's mind right...healthy and fresh again. Our guys know they kind of embarrassed the Marquette brand a bit. The staff has 3 days to prepare for V. The players will be ready.  Can't wait to watch the race Sunday.

[Spaniel with a Short Tail]

Doesn't bother me too much. I mean, these games happen. Heck, what do you think the Seton Hall fan base was thinking after we spanked them in a similar manner. This was undoubtedly the second toughest game left on our schedule. Let's see how Wojo uses this to prepare them for Villanova. Good for Harry to get some extended run today. Showed some improvement. And Rowsey usually has a pretty good bounceback game.

Go Warriors!

[MU82]

Heck, what do you think the Seton Hall fan base was thinking after we spanked them in a similar manner.

I was thinking the exact same thing as I read a few of the more negative comments.

[GoldenDieners32]

Lets just be ready for a bounce back game sunday #BeatNova..Again

[wadesworld]

I'm feeling a 4 game losing streak here.  No bueno.

Xavier is very, very good.

Theo should start and he should play until he fouls out.  At least he's willing to hit somebody and fight for the rebound.  Have him in there for as long as he can be in before he fouls out and at least set the tone for guys driving freely down the lane.  Then maybe they'll at least fool themselves into thinking someone is going to put them on their a$$ if they sprint down the lane even when Theo isn't on the court.

Rowsey...ugh.  While Howard scored a lot and made some very tough shots, in my opinion he was pretty ugh too.

We're going to need an immediate impact point guard that can control the offense and get everyone involved next year.  If we get that I'm very excited.  If we don't I'm very worried (in the sense of I think we can be a top 15 team, but a lack of that will make us more of a 6-9 seed than a 3-6 seed).

We know what the defense is.  That's not changing.  So I'm more concerned about the offense.  Just too much hero ball from Rowsey and Howard.  I've said it before, I'll say it again.  If one of the two of them want to completely dominate the ball all game, I'm more than happy to watch him go for 30 while the rest of the team goes for 40 total if I'm gameplanning against MU.  The ball needs to move.  MU can spread the heck out of defenses.  But it doesn't matter if one guy is dribbling with his head down the entire possession.  The ball moves faster through the air than off the bounce.

[Dr. Blackheart]

We know what the defense is.  That's not changing.  So I'm more concerned about the offense.

This is unfair as I agree with almost everything you said. As I sit here rewatching the game, though, the halftime analysis on FS1 is about the MU's complete lack of defense in the paint. X with 60 PIP + FTM, shooting 60% from two for the game. Rerun

Every team I watch has and sends three defenders to or near the paint on dribble drive or the base defense, except Marquette. Every Pomeroy best defensive team builds their defense from the baseline out. Again, I continually hear on Scoop about the "New Age Defense", where offenses are built from the outside in nowadays as should defenses.

MU's four best big game defensive games-Seton Hall, DePaul, Georgetown and Wisconsin, collosped on the paint. All victories.  But, MU actually "changed" things: They went and protected the paint. It's insanity then to go back to the base scheme Wojo employs for the rest of the BE games where he pressures the perimeter first.

With that, I am out and at my local Arby's. I know the Scoop Intelligencia will call me out again, so I will be huffing the Horsey Sauce at Booth 1 just to get by. Onward ho with this crap defense. So glad Wojo spent a month just perfecting this base scheme preseason and guaranteeing a team that will play "defense first" at last year's banquet.

#accountability

[MUfan12]

I know the concern about packing it in is that the other team will shoot over the guards. I'll take that as opposed to continually getting a dunk/layup/kick out three off an unimpeded drive.

[Mutaman]

This is delicate territory.....I know... here come the wuss comments.

After 6 years of taking care of my folks and watching their health decline, and then losing both of them this year, it has been a trying time for me. After Xmas, I took the past month and went down to Florida to decompress. It was a great time, and something I needed.

Well, upon returning home I got the bug that's been going around, and have been also fighting the blues. Sometimes, things don't go as planned, and it's easy for a person, coach, or team to get really down after a rough patch and maybe even overdue it physically and mentally to get that winning mojo back. This time of year, with health being so fragile, I hope we take the right tack.

Throw this one out. As a horse trainer would say, "draw a line through that race." The last thing a winning conditioner does is overwork and punish a class horse. And yes, as a unit, we are still a class steed. Get that animal's mind right...healthy and fresh again. Our guys know they kind of embarrassed the Marquette brand a bit. The staff has 3 days to prepare for V. The players will be ready.  Can't wait to watch the race Sunday.

We have some cheap speed and can run a ways if not pressured, but if a class horse looks us in the eye, we spit the bit.

[WarriorFan]

3 good things about this game:
a) Froling made a 3
b) Young guys got some serious run in the 2nd half and we only lost the 2nd half by 1
c) we didn't give Nova anything to scout

[NorthernDancerColt]

We have some cheap speed and can run a ways if not pressured, but if a class horse looks us in the eye, we spit the bit.

Maybe so.
But we have shown an ability to make up multiple lengths late on quality competition. Tonight, we were slow from the gate, but spinning our wheels against a monster on a sealed track after a significant layoff.

Don't overlook our hidden running lines. Nova is a helluva hoss, but may have some inflated Beyers in its PP's. Jay is the best in the business, and I'm not saying the front wraps are going on 'Nova, but MU had better not show one ounce of pity for the Booth injury. We are NOT the team that wandered Cintas tonight. Where is the $50 window?

[1SE]

Laying an egg like this with 9 days to prepare no es bueno. That said, a L is a L by 1 or by 20 so let's see how they put this behind them and respond with Nova.

[willie warrior]

Start beating the drum like you did for Buzz, willie.    Maybe the next coach will be as big of an improvement over Wojo as Wojo was over Buzz. 

Assuming there isn't a mass exodus, next year MU will be bigger, stronger, and deeper.

Yeah, you are right, there is always next year, which people say a lot here. Yes, we can look forward to more beating of the drum for middle of the pack BEAST mediocrity. I prefer to see good results, not the debacle we just witnessed, which occuR's a lot under Wojo. He can recruit, that's it. Oh
And win every day, aina?

[NCMUFan]

To much season yet to pull out the towels and start crying.  There is a Dance to make.  While not a go to lineup, I do like 2 of the 3 bigs in at a time when the situation calls for it.  One thing of concern, without Howard yesterday, the difference in the score would been 40 points or more.

[MUDPT]

There was a good article a couple of weeks ago on teams defending Steph Curry's PnR. Basically teams used to double and trap out of the screen. The Warriors adjusted by having Draymond set the screen, have curry get him the ball and he became a 4 on 3 point forward. Now NBA teams have adjusted: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_2CtHOF3SAw

The reason is that the curry off the high screen 3 is a lower % shot than the layups and corner 3s they were getting from the doubling of him.

I thought Donny Marshall was wrong at halftime. Videos of guys running at shooters doesn't show lack of effort. Those guys were helping someone coming down the lane and then trying to run out at the guy shooting the 3.

[brewcity77]

So glad Wojo spent a month just perfecting this base scheme preseason and guaranteeing a team that will play "defense first" at last year's banquet.

#accountability

This is unfair as we do play defense first since we never win the tip.

[muwarrior69]

As a couple other Scoopers said, this was simply a stinker.

Defense, offense - we sucked. (Especially defense.) That it happened on the road against a top-10 team made being competitive impossible. As John Fox said during his Panthers days: "We picked a bad game to have a bad game." (And he would know, as they had dozens of 'em.)

I hope even the Scowlin' Scoopers (our version of Debbie Downers) are willing to admit/remember that even some of our very good to great teams of Buzz and Crean vintage had games like this. For example, Buzz's E8 team lost at Florida by 33 freakin' points! I won't list them all, but there were plenty of others.

Now ... even I will be down-down-down if Sam is hurt bad enough to miss games.

I didn't start watching this one until the second half because I had a game of my own (our ladies won by 40 to improve to 18-1, thanks for asking), and I couldn't figure out why Sam wasn't playing. I mean, he was on the bench, in uniform, standing during timeouts - usually injured players aren't doing that. I guess we'll find out more soon.

I think your ladies could win by 40 against our defense. All complaining aside, even if we could hold a team to around 50% fg we could win a few games.

[We R Final Four]

That was a terrible game from Rowsey. I saw his first two passes were weak and almost picked. At that point, I immediately knew it wasn't in him tonight. We need his fire.

[Stretchdeltsig]

1.   Top 10 team in their gym.   Bigger, stronger, faster, deeper, more experienced.    Sometimes, that is all there is to it.
2.   Their defense on our shooters was good, MU's defense is bad.   
3.   Things went so bad that Markus even missed free throws. 
4.   Vent away.   
5.   It isn't going to get easier.

No.2 should be in bold.

[goldeneagle91114]

Our game against DePaul was awful. We had 9 days to prep and then get destroyed at X. Wojo needs to get the guys to focus again. Not sure if the grind of the BEast is wearing on on they guys are what.