Basketball Is About More Than Scoring

[TheyWereCones]

That was a very fun game half to watch...easily the best and most inspiring of the season.  Super happy we pulled it out.  Kudos to a true team win.  Seems like everybody contributed in some way or another.  Anim was enormous.  How about Elliott hitting that late bucket in the lane?  Cain's tip-in?  Heldt's And-1?  Hauser's free throws?  All huge plays in crunch time.

I would never, ever wish for any player to get hurt, on our team or any team.  The closest I ever got to feeling that way was Brian Cardinal on Purdue, and even then I didn't want him to get hurt...just maybe disqualified academically or something.  I do find it very hard to deny that the best thing that happened today was having to play without Howard.  What more proof does anyone need that we are a better team when we don't have two sub-6' defensive liabilities and ball hogs on the floor at the same time?  If you do want more proof, PT did a whole article about it.

Let's start with the defense.  A lot of people will give Wojo all the credit for switching to zone for the whole 2nd half.  If Howard is available, does that still happen?  Or would it even work anyway?  I don't see it.  I give Wojo credit for sticking with it.  But can we honestly say that he would still have played zone the entire 2nd half if Howard is available?  I doubt we'll ever really know, but he hasn't in the previous 25 games, so I would take my bet on no.  If you listen to him talk about Howard & Rowsey, he is constantly talking about how good they are scoring the ball (though I am glad tonight he mentioned Rowsey's assists).  He'll rattle off all their top rankings and say how hard it is to take them off the floor.  Wojo - may I present the 2nd half of this game as Exhibit A.

Now on offense, we actually moved the ball around and got others involved...we even ran the winning play for Anim FFS, and I will give Wojo kudos for that.  With the way he was playing and getting to the basket, absolutely the right call.  Despite a few bad chucks, Rowsey limited them this game, made some really timely buckets early in the 2nd half, and most importantly dished out 8 assists and ran what appeared to be an actual offense (vs. a bunch of perimeter dribbling and a hoisted force).  When we move the ball, others can and will step up.  When Rowsey and Howard are on the floor together, everyone else looks like they are expecting them to shoot it, and if those others actually touch it, most times they aren't looking to score at all, and are practically forcing a pass back to one of them.  This is what happens when you have players who take/force so many shots.  We can still have a good (and balanced!) offense.  Heldt - 7, Elliott - 10, Cain - 5, Anim - 26, Hauser - 15, Rowsey - 21, Howard - 6.  That looks great to me.

There is so much more to basketball than scoring.  I really, really hope that this is Wojo's forced wake up call to realize that.  Also, I really hope Markus is not seriously injured and will be back soon.  We need him and Rowsey.  Just not very often at the same time.  If he is back soon, will Wojo have the stones/smarts to do what's best for the team and stop basing playing time on scoring ability?

For the record, here's how I would run the lineup:

PG - Howard OR Rowsey starts.  One comes off the bench.  Rarely played together.  Stick with the hot hand for the majority of minutes, since they rarely both shoot well.
SG/SF/PF - Elliott (SG), Anim (SF), & Hauser (PF) start.  Cain rotates in, and these four should fill these three spots the entire game (pending foul trouble, the flu, etc.).
C - Heldt OR John starts, depending on if they have a bullish 5 (then Heldt), or a more athletic 5 (then John).  Rotate these two and Froling based on matchups, foul trouble, & who came to play that day.

[WindyCityGoldenEagle]

Really well said and agree with everything you wrote.

Hope this is a wake up call to wojo for the markus/Rowsey time playing together and the zone defense.

Though my gut tells me we will still see a lot of man defense and if Howard is available, we will still see a lot of Markus/Rowsey lineups.

[dw3dw3dw3]

The Anim call at the end of the game was ballsy. How many times has he let his pivot foot drag for a travel there or lay it in way too hard off the backboard trying to go full speed.  Confidence is such a weird thing. Happy for him.

Wojo made another quick adjustment with about 8ish to go when it looked like Creighton finally remembered they should attack the zone from the middle and got a few Epperson baskets in a row.  Coming out of the timeout Matt did not come up to guard the guy who caught the ball at the free throw line, instead hedging on Epperson and giving up the 12ft jumper. Cain also crashed down hard and stayed with the weakside post and came up with a huge rebound in that crucial time.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

Markus is an outstanding offensive player when he isn't forcing it, and he is beyond a fantastic representative of the University.  But, it is really starting to look like his defensive struggles more  often that not negate (and then some) his scoring ability.

[kman66]

I thought playing Heldt and Froling at the same time in the zone was Huge!

[willie warrior]

Definitely right about it is more than scoring. many times we underestimate defense for many teams. MU in the second half played much better defense in the zone.

The more I see of Elliot and Cain, the more you can see tremendous potential in both. Once their bodies bulk up, they will be great additions. God, is cain skinny. Hopefully in the next couple years he can add about 25 pounds. Wojo needs to keep those guys busy. Whoever was responsible for getting those two guys to come, should be camping in Michigan, because there is always talent there. Of course, getting studs away from MSU and Harbaugh U is always difficult, but it looks like we did pry at least one of these guys off Izzo's wish list. Both have great length for their postions, so they will be huge assets over next few years.

And Hauser sometimes does not look real pretty out there, but if you look at season stats, he is near a leader in many categories. Shooting, FT shootings, rebounds, etc. Very undersung player.

Hopefully Wojo can develop the younger playes.

[skianth16]

Markus is an outstanding offensive player when he isn't forcing it, and he is beyond a fantastic representative of the University.  But, it is really starting to look like his defensive struggles more  often that not negate (and then some) his scoring ability.

You hit the nail on the head. Our game tends to be so offensively focused that it feels like we need to maximize minutes for Rowsey and Howard because we want to score in the 80s or 90s all the time. Last night might just be the proof we need to pivot away from having an offense-first type of mindset. More minutes for Greg and Jamal might mean we score fewer points on offense, but it's definitely going to result in more stops on the defensive side.

If I'm Wojo, and I see my team hold Creighton to just 33 points in a half, I think I'd be trying to repeat that as often as possible, even if it might have a negative effect on offense. For now, it looks like Sacar, Jamal, and Greg are going to be able to find ways to score, so the offense may not even be much of a concern.

[Loose Cannon]

Definitely right about it is more than scoring. many times we underestimate defense for many teams. MU in the second half played much better defense in the zone.

The more I see of Elliot and Cain, the more you can see tremendous potential in both. Once their bodies bulk up, they will be great additions. God, is cain skinny. Hopefully in the next couple years he can add about 25 pounds. Wojo needs to keep those guys busy. Whoever was responsible for getting those two guys to come, should be camping in Michigan, because there is always talent there. Of course, getting studs away from MSU and Harbaugh U is always difficult, but it looks like we did pry at least one of these guys off Izzo's wish list. Both have great length for their postions, so they will be huge assets over next few years.

And Hauser sometimes does not look real pretty out there, but if you look at season stats, he is near a leader in many categories. Shooting, FT shootings, rebounds, etc. Very undersung player.

Hopefully Wojo can develop the younger playes.

Refreshing. 

[TSmith34, Inc.]

Refreshing.

Yeah, left me wondering who hacked wee willy's account.

[forgetful]

The Anim call at the end of the game was ballsy. How many times has he let his pivot foot drag for a travel there or lay it in way too hard off the backboard trying to go full speed.  Confidence is such a weird thing. Happy for him.

This was the play that I believe Wojo called earlier in the season, where Sacar got confused and didn't do what he was supposed to, forcing Howard to force a long contested jump shot. 

I like the call.

[Mr. Sand-Knit]

You hit the nail on the head. Our game tends to be so offensively focused that it feels like we need to maximize minutes for Rowsey and Howard because we want to score in the 80s or 90s all the time. Last night might just be the proof we need to pivot away from having an offense-first type of mindset. More minutes for Greg and Jamal might mean we score fewer points on offense, but it's definitely going to result in more stops on the defensive side.

If I'm Wojo, and I see my team hold Creighton to just 33 points in a half, I think I'd be trying to repeat that as often as possible, even if it might have a negative effect on offense. For now, it looks like Sacar, Jamal, and Greg are going to be able to find ways to score, so the offense may not even be much of a concern.

Its been clear to me the whole season, in fact it was the premise behind my “ this is on the coaches” rant that i started last week.  My frustration this season is how our 7 figure coach cant figure it the F out!!

[Loose Cannon]

Yeah, left me wondering who hacked wee willy's account.

It was nice, but there was a hint of the Willie's  Edge.