Confirmation bias night

[tower912]

Everybody had a little something to prove they are right.   Like Wojo decided to have a game where he let Scoop coach.
1. ...being competitive with a team this young is a credit to the coaching staff.
2.  Wojo started man, went zone a lot.     The man wasn't bad.   The zone was pretty good. 
3.  The ball moved very well tonight.    Balanced scoring.
4.  Is Greg a PG?   How much of his struggle with his handle and holding onto the ball is due to his thumb?    Get surgery day 1 after the season over, get healthy, get to work.
5.   No Froling.  More Theo.   Like everything else, it worked tonight.   
To pick some nits....
6.  Transition defense was inconsistent.
7.  Greg looked scared at the point.   
8.  Maybe the stats won't show it, but it felt like SJU was beating MU up on the offensive glass.   
9.  MU had to have it and they got it.    On to Depaul.     Look for me there.   I'll be the middle aged guy in the Marquette swag. 

[Dr. Blackheart]

Had myself a final, long-lasting, 29 year satisfying Bradley Center piss!

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Garbage defense. We let another player score a career high 

Played near our ceiling tonight....and it was without Markus. Bodes well for the rest of the season. Everyone played like upperclassmen today....except Harry.

Without Trimble going out of his mind from deep, this a coast to coast 20+ beatdown.

[drewm88]

Everybody had a little something to prove they are right.   Like Wojo decided to have a game where he let Scoop coach.
1. ...being competitive with a team this young is a credit to the coaching staff.
2.  Wojo started man, went zone a lot.     The man wasn't bad.   The zone was pretty good. 
3.  The ball moved very well tonight.    Balanced scoring.
4.  Is Greg a PG?   How much of his struggle with his handle and holding onto the ball is due to his thumb?    Get surgery day 1 after the season over, get healthy, get to work.
5.   No Froling.  More Theo.   Like everything else, it worked tonight.   
To pick some nits....
6.  Transition defense was inconsistent.
7.  Greg looked scared at the point.   
8.  Maybe the stats won't show it, but it felt like SJU was beating MU up on the offensive glass.   
9.  MU had to have it and they got it.    On to Depaul.     Look for me there.   I'll be the middle aged guy in the Marquette swag.

Rowsey the scorer is great. Tonight we needed Rowsey the playmaker and got it.

Sam asserted himself better than he has in a while.

The whole team stepped up, really.

It's impressive to see how much Theo and Sacar have progressed this year.

It's even more impressive to see how much Matt has progressed in three years.

Transition D was horrible.

I'm sure somebody will provide stats to show I'm wrong, but St. John's has struck me as a team that struggles against the zone, so not sure if it was our zone D or their zone offense that worked for us.

Exactly what we needed tonight. Now don't let down Saturday.

[mileskishnish72]

Interesting stats:
     - 5 guys in double figures again (but not the starters)
     - no one with more than 2 fouls (and Matt with none)

[Vander Blue Man Group]

I will be there on Saturday and am most excited about not having to listen to Dickey announce the game.

[PGsHeroes32]

I keep saying it.

We will be really good next year. So much talent will have more experience.

And we will play with size and defense.

This year...still alive. DePaul isn’t a gimme and Gtown really scares me. But let’s see what happens

[Bo Ryan's Massage Therapist]

Had myself a final, long-lasting, 29 year satisfying Bradley Center piss!

A one hand on the wall due to 6 beers deep kind of piss?

[DegenerateDish]

I think MU got a way with Greg at the point tonight, if that makes sense. Some nights, I don't think that bet will pay off (if he handles the ball like he did tonight).

Sacar can do things on offense that no one else on the roster can do, that showed again at times tonight.

I said this in another thread, but Harry's minutes trend is "interesting".

[Floorslapper]

Rowsey the scorer is great. Tonight we needed Rowsey the playmaker and got it.

Sam asserted himself better than he has in a while.

The whole team stepped up, really.

It's impressive to see how much Theo and Sacar have progressed this year.

It's even more impressive to see how much Matt has progressed in three years.

Transition D was horrible.

I'm sure somebody will provide stats to show I'm wrong, but St. John's has struck me as a team that struggles against the zone, so not sure if it was our zone D or their zone offense that worked for us.

Exactly what we needed tonight. Now don't let down Saturday.

Well, St. John's pretty much was in full control of the game in Queens against our M2M.  Tonight?  We dominated.

Nice not seeing our defense be a sieve and layup line and fouling machine.  St. John's took just 14 FT's tonight.  They took 28 against us at home.  Creigton only took 15 FTs.  The previous game against Seton Hall?  33 FTs Yielded.  Against Providence the game before that? 38 FTs yielded.

Many benefits to the zone and playing defense without Markus and Rowsey together.  Offense flows much better too without our 34% of all shots in conference play, player sidelined.

[PGsHeroes32]

I will be there on Saturday and am most excited about not having to listen to Dickey announce the game.

Almost positive he implied St Johns still had tourney hopes at one point

[Vander Blue Man Group]

Almost positive he implied St Johns still had tourney hopes at one point

Accurate.

[warriorchick]

Had myself a final, long-lasting, 29 year satisfying Bradley Center piss!

Your post belongs in the Emergency Stream thread.

[barfolomew]

Your post belongs in the Emergency Stream thread.

[warriorchick]

Listening to Wojo on Homer and Macs post-game show. I believe it is the first time I have heard him speak after a game where he wasn't hoarse.

[chapman]

I'd say the freshmen were outstanding, but don't want to minimize Rowsey, Hauser, and Anim all having nice games. 

But the freshmen were outstanding.  High IQ players. 

For player development - Anim got garbage minutes as a freshman and took a rare redshirt year as a sophomore.  John couldn't keep himself in the game because of his fouling.  Cain was the last guy off the bench.  Elliott was decent from the beginning, for a freshman.  How's all that coming together these days?

Optimistic that Howard can be successfully re-integrated and further raise the ceiling of this team.  It should only help having someone capable of putting up 52 in a game and the second best ball handler (where the weakness showed at times tonight).  Critical the team doesn't lose the defensive focus or balanced attack we've gotten the past game and a half - that's what has turned the season around.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Almost positive he implied St Johns still had tourney hopes at one point

There are a really interesting case. If they had won out they would have had a top 50 RPI with a top 10 SOS, an 8 game winning streak, and two signature wins better than any that any other bubble team has. That seems like a tournament team. But fair or not, teams with losing conference records usually don't get considered for at large berths. Would have been interesting to see how the committee handled them.

Oh well, much happier with an MU win 

[JamilJaeJamailJrJuan]

Big W. Never really doubt.

This team is better with only one of Markus and Rowsey playing. But having both available is necessary if this team had any prayer of more than a Dayton appearance. Markus looked to be moving pretty well on the bench...hoping for a return in DC on Monday.

2-1 in the next three should do it, but 3-0 would sure be nice. Let’s get it!

[skianth16]

With so much of this team's game being played from behind the 3 point line, seeing guys finishing in the paint and even throwing alley oops is a pretty fun change of pace. Knowing that we're capable of that kind of play has to make gameplanning harder for opposing coaches and should give some added confidence to the freshmen and Sacar heading into a crucial stretch of games.

The Rowsey to Greg alley oop was huge! One of Greg's more memorable highlights this year for sure. Let's see if he can continue to build off tonight's game this weekend.

[GoldenZebra]

I think when Howard comes back it should be a team oriented offense. Its fun to watch one guy go off, but so many guys on our team can score. Rowsey will still chuck shots, and so will Howard, but I think Wojo is figuring out a way to let the guys play that allows multiple players to score, not just riding the hot hand of Rowsey or Howard. If anything, these last two games show the team's ability to adjust and WIN without their top scorer and offensive option.

[Lighthouse 84]

The Rowsey to Greg alley oop was huge! One of Greg's more memorable highlights this year for sure. Let's see if he can continue to build off tonight's game this weekend.

I think that was Sacar to Greg.

[TVDirector]

I think MU got a way with Greg at the point tonight, if that makes sense. Some nights, I don't think that bet will pay off (if he handles the ball like he did tonight).

Sacar can do things on offense that no one else on the roster can do, that showed again at times tonight.

I said this in another thread, but Harry's minutes trend is "interesting".

All season I’ve wondered why so many on this board think Greg has PG talent-
Haven’t seen it all year, and certainly not tonight.
3 possessions with him at point and 2 TOs. 

He’ll be awesome at MU, but not at the 1

[LloydsLegs]

Was not able to watch the game, but box score indicates that we only went 7 deep and they went 6 or 7 deep (7th Guy did not dent the box score).  Good team for us to play when we only 7 players (plus Harry in a pinch I guess). 

[skianth16]

All season I’ve wondered why so many on this board think Greg has PG talent-
Haven’t seen it all year, and certainly not tonight.
3 possessions with him at point and 2 TOs. 

He’ll be awesome at MU, but not at the 1

Unfortunately, I think you're probably right. He just didn't look comfortable in the PG role tonight at all. Some of it might be due to his thumb issues, but I think I'll be more confident next year if we can land an experienced guy to play the 1.

[Herman Cain]

Everybody had a little something to prove they are right.   Like Wojo decided to have a game where he let Scoop coach.
1. ...being competitive with a team this young is a credit to the coaching staff.
2.  Wojo started man, went zone a lot.     The man wasn't bad.   The zone was pretty good. 
3.  The ball moved very well tonight.    Balanced scoring.
4.  Is Greg a PG?   How much of his struggle with his handle and holding onto the ball is due to his thumb?    Get surgery day 1 after the season over, get healthy, get to work.
5.   No Froling.  More Theo.   Like everything else, it worked tonight.   
To pick some nits....
6.  Transition defense was inconsistent.
7.  Greg looked scared at the point.   
8.  Maybe the stats won't show it, but it felt like SJU was beating MU up on the offensive glass.   
9.  MU had to have it and they got it.    On to Depaul.     Look for me there.   I'll be the middle aged guy in the Marquette swag.

I am a big proponent of Greg at the point for next year.  I went to the game and watched him very carefully tonight.  Presently, his hand is clearly an issue, it seems like he is almost playing one handed at times. So in effect, he does not have a true handle right now and his limitations on the change of direction type of plays he can make. Everything is north and south.  In a way he reminds me a bit of how Luke played one handed through the bad shoulder his first season.I think when Greg's hand  is fully healthy he will be very effective running the offense. For now, he is playing an important role on the team ,s a very key player in our stretch run and someone we need on the floor as much as possible.