Commonalities in the 3 losses

[tower912]

MU has lost 3 times.    What happened in the 3 losses that was common?
1.   Not at Fiserv.    Hey, MU has bounced back and has played well on the road since the SJU game.
2.  The other teams were faster than MU.   
3.  IU and SJU both spread MU out with some 5-out looks that made it next to impossible to help.   
4.  Markus did not have good games.   Long defenders and lots of them. 
5.  Turnovers.    The other team forced turnovers.   MU wasn't able to recover from the rut and go on a run of hitting shots. 

Kansas, to me, feels like an outlier.    MU won the first half, played as bad as they could have possible played for 10 minutes, and then played them even for the last 10 minutes, but couldn't get the big stop or big hoop to make it interesting.   IU and SJU were just beat downs. 

MU has an opportunity to avenge the SJU loss.   I will be curious to see what adjustments Wojo makes and if SJU can get out of their tailspin.   

Going forward, fear the speedy 5 out teams with an abundance of big guards who pressure the ballhandlers.    Which teams fit that criteria?

[Boston Warrior]

Virginia tech would be a very interesting matchup.

Held nc state today...

Guards were 0 for 17

[PGsHeroes32]

Virginia tech would be a very interesting matchup.

Held nc state today...

Guards were 0 for 17

Nc State sucks. They have 1 win over a tourney team...Auburn who also has minimal wins

They have nice computer numbers because they smoked a bunch of 300+ teams.

VT is banged up big time and still won that game

[Boston Warrior]

Virginia tech Marquette would still be a great match up

[IrwinFletcher]

Maybe Cain gets some run on Tuesday to mitigate some of the 5 out stuff SJU runs.  Game might be too fast for him, but Theo may be limited in minutes due to his perimeter defensive limitations.

[Nukem2]

Maybe Cain gets some run on Tuesday to mitigate some of the 5 out stuff SJU runs.  Game might be too fast for him, but Theo may be limited in minutes due to his perimeter defensive limitations.

Cain and Elliot had very good games against SJU at the BC last year.

[brewcity77]

I think a lineup of Markus, Bailey, Cain, Joey, Theo could be good in stretches against St. John's. Enough offense to score coupled with a lot of length and strength. Though it would probably require some point Joey at times, but we've already seen that can work.

[D'Lo Brown]

Maybe Cain gets some run on Tuesday to mitigate some of the 5 out stuff SJU runs.  Game might be too fast for him, but Theo may be limited in minutes due to his perimeter defensive limitations.

Have we not reached the point yet where we obligately need to play Theo as much as possible regardless? The primary reason we are rotating Theo out (IMO) is to spread the fouls around.

Others probably spent more time thinking about this, but what situations would we actually prefer to have Morrow or even Heldt on the floor?

[Its DJOver]

Have we not reached the point yet where we obligately need to play Theo as much as possible regardless? The primary reason we are rotating Theo out (IMO) is to spread the fouls around.

Others probably spent more time thinking about this, but what situations would we actually prefer to have Morrow or even Heldt on the floor?

Matt for FTs. And I known I'm one of the only ones that thinks this, but Ed is only 6-7, I don't see why he can't play along side Theo as a true PF.  I trust Wojo to make the right moves and with StJs roster the way it is, I don't think it'll happen against them, but I certainly think there are situations where it would work.

[Juan Anderson's Mixtape]

Matt for FTs. And I known I'm one of the only ones that thinks this, but Ed is only 6-7, I don't see why he can't play along side Theo as a true PF.  I trust Wojo to make the right moves and with StJs roster the way it is, I don't think it'll happen against them, but I certainly think there are situations where it would work.

That really limits the sets Wojo can run.  A lot sets with 2 guys in the corner,  Markus getting a high ball screen from the big, and Sam popping out from the FT line to the three point line.

Spacing is the name of the game.  An Ed and Theo lineup takes away driving lanes and doesn't have enough shooting to make the defense pay for helping.

[Its DJOver]

That really limits the sets Wojo can run.  A lot sets with 2 guys in the corner,  Markus getting a high ball screen from the big, and Sam popping out from the FT line to the three point line.

Spacing is the name of the game.  An Ed and Theo lineup takes away driving lanes and doesn't have enough shooting to make the defense pay for helping.

I don't disagree, but wouldn't it be nice to really let Theo loose going for blocks, and knowing that we have Ed there boxing out too?

At the end of the day it comes down to matchups. StJ would be a terrible match up to try it on, but that doesn't mean that there wont be a worthwhile matchup in the next 2 years to attempt it.

[Carl]

 
3.  IU and SJU both spread MU out with some 5-out looks that made it next to impossible to help.   

Could someone more X and O savvy than myself please elaborate on this?  Is it as simple as an offense that keeps all 5 out around the perimeter in order to open up the middle and spread it all out, or is that too simplistic?

[Newsdreams]

Matt for FTs. And I known I'm one of the only ones that thinks this, but Ed is only 6-7, I don't see why he can't play along side Theo as a true PF.  I trust Wojo to make the right moves and with StJs roster the way it is, I don't think it'll happen against them, but I certainly think there are situations where it would work.

Ed can't shoot outside would be a big liability on offense

[Juan Anderson's Mixtape]

I don't disagree, but wouldn't it be nice to really let Theo loose going for blocks, and knowing that we have Ed there boxing out too?

At the end of the day it comes down to matchups. StJ would be a terrible match up to try it on, but that doesn't mean that there wont be a worthwhile matchup in the next 2 years to attempt it.

We will see.  I think Matt and Ed played together for short time against somebody  (Georgetown?).  I personally prefer a shooter at the 4 as much as possible.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

Maybe Cain gets some run on Tuesday to mitigate some of the 5 out stuff SJU runs.  Game might be too fast for him, but Theo may be limited in minutes due to his perimeter defensive limitations.

I re-watched the Buffalo game.  MU was switching on every screen, and Ed was getting absolutely killed.  Theo, OTOH, did a very respectable job on the perimeter, really quick feet.  It was night and day to Morrow.

[T-Bone]

Could someone more X and O savvy than myself please elaborate on this?  Is it as simple as an offense that keeps all 5 out around the perimeter in order to open up the middle and spread it all out, or is that too simplistic?

I'm not savvy, but:
https://www.basketballforcoaches.com/5-out-motion-offense/

[Jay Bee]

5.  Turnovers.    The other team forced turnovers.   MU wasn't able to recover from the rut and go on a run of hitting shots. 

Meh. We've had eight games this season in which our turnover rate was greater than 20%. None of those were losses.

In all three of our losses, our turnover rate has been lower than our season average.

[Its DJOver]

Ed can't shoot outside would be a big liability on offense

Other than HHH, minutes have largely been distributed by defensive ability.  I would trade the offensive production for the uptick in defense, should it come to that.

We will see.  I think Matt and Ed played together for short time against somebody  (Georgetown?).  I personally prefer a shooter at the 4 as much as possible.

Ed was hurt for Gtown.  He played with Matt for the last 90 seconds of one of our cupcakes.

I'm not trying to go full Ners obsessions with the idea of Ed playing along side one of our other bigs, I'm just more than a little surprised that a 6-7 player, that cited playing too much center as one of the reasons for transferring, has only spent about 90 seconds playing forward.  Again it's situational, PC for example, out-rebounded us by 12.  Part of that was our dreadful shooting in the first half, but defensive rebounds ended up square, with the entire differential coming in the 15-3 offensive rebounding discrepancy.  I think that would have been a good game to try throwing 2 bigs in there.  Not complaining with the overall results, because unlike Ners I can fully admit that Wojo knows more than me, I've just been surprised that we've barely seen it, especially early in the season after games were in hand.

[mu03eng]

Other than HHH, minutes have largely been distributed by defensive ability.  I would trade the offensive production for the uptick in defense, should it come to that.

Ed was hurt for Gtown.  He played with Matt for the last 90 seconds of one of our cupcakes.

I'm not trying to go full Ners obsessions with the idea of Ed playing along side one of our other bigs, I'm just more than a little surprised that a 6-7 player, that cited playing too much center as one of the reasons for transferring, has only spent about 90 seconds playing forward.  Again it's situational, PC for example, out-rebounded us by 12.  Part of that was our dreadful shooting in the first half, but defensive rebounds ended up square, with the entire differential coming in the 15-3 offensive rebounding discrepancy.  I think that would have been a good game to try throwing 2 bigs in there.  Not complaining with the overall results, because unlike Ners I can fully admit that Wojo knows more than me, I've just been surprised that we've barely seen it, especially early in the season after games were in hand.

Theoretically I'm fine with playing Ed and Theo or Matt together except for the somewhat difficult fact that Joey and/or Sam go to the bench to make it happen

[MU82]

The reason Morrow played "too much center" at Nebraska is that, as Wojo has discovered (or maybe knew all along), Morrow is a center. An undersized center, height-wise, but a center nonetheless.

Not only is the combined shooting range of Morrow and Theo about 3 feet, but there would be defensive limitations to playing them together too.

I also am one who thinks Theo can hold his own against the 5-out teams. It's nice to have a rim protector when we get spread out and the opponent has driving lanes.

As for the 2 lopsided losses, I don't see why anybody should be especially concerned. Every once in a while, a game just gets away from a team. Happened this season to the likes of UNC, Kentucky, Michigan, Va Tech, Nova, etc. Happened once or twice a year (at least) to some of Buzz's good MU teams. The snowball just gets rolling downhill, and there's no way to get out of its way. It happens. We're a lot better team now, too.

[GooooMarquette]

As for the 2 lopsided losses, I don't see why anybody should be especially concerned. Every once in a while, a game just gets away from a team. Happened this season to the likes of UNC, Kentucky, Michigan, Va Tech, Nova, etc. Happened once or twice a year (at least) to some of Buzz's good MU teams. The snowball just gets rolling downhill, and there's no way to get out of its way. It happens. We're a lot better team now, too.

Agree.

And if anyone wants another common factor in the two bad losses: IU was our first true road game all season, and SJU was our first true road game in 6 weeks. The good news is that this team has adapted and had some nice road wins of late. We have proven we can start slow and come back (@Creighton and @X), win a tight back and forth (@GTown) and win going away (@ Butler).

We got this.

[The Sultan]

Could someone more X and O savvy than myself please elaborate on this?  Is it as simple as an offense that keeps all 5 out around the perimeter in order to open up the middle and spread it all out, or is that too simplistic?

It means that an offensive team plays with no post, but with five players on the outside who are at least a threat to hit an outside shot.  If Marquette guards them close, they are not quick enough so SJU attacks the basket.  With five shooters, a post like Theo is either wondering too far from the basket and can't protect the rim, or they are taking the chance that his guy isn't hitting shots.

[tower912]

Meh. We've had eight games this season in which our turnover rate was greater than 20%. None of those were losses.

In all three of our losses, our turnover rate has been lower than our season average.

That is why it is last on my list.    I almost didn't add it.     I think is AN issue from time to time, but I don't believe it is crippling. 

[MU82]

In general, we need to take care of the ball better. We want more productive possessions, and we want our opponent to have fewer of 'em. Signed, Capt. Obvious!

[muwarrior69]

6. Thy scored more points than we did.