Lineup changes

[NickelDimer]

If I’m Wojo I’m seriously contemplating some changes to give this team a jolt. First change is I’m starting Ed and bringing Theo off the bench. Ed is better offensively and I think we can punish teams who double the ball up high with their big by getting the ball down to him. I’m also playing Markus off the ball regularly and we saw some effectiveness with that yesterday. Curious what other changes you would like to see.

[4th and State]

If I’m Wojo I’m seriously contemplating some changes to give this team a jolt. First change is I’m starting Ed and bringing Theo off the bench. Ed is better offensively and I think we can punish teams who double the ball up high with their big by getting the ball down to him. I’m also playing Markus off the ball regularly and we saw some effectiveness with that yesterday. Curious what other changes you would like to see.

I think we need to get the ball inside more to Theo and Ed.  Sam and Markus and being pressured and hedged and have been severely limited in getting the open looks they did for a majority of the season.

Over the last few games, we seldom give the ball to John or Morrow in the post.  Need to get them more touches and hopefully a few baskets from that area and use that to open up our perimeter shooting.  We are way to predictable right now.

One of the few times we did this yesterday, John made a nice skip pass back to a wide open Markus for 3.  Need more of that.

[GooooMarquette]

Totally agree with feeding Ed and Theo inside more. Teams crowd our outside shooters - as they should - but we don't exploit that as well as we could. Ed in particular has some nice offensive moves, and both can kick it out for open 3s.

Also agree with taking the ball out of Markus' hands more. Sacar and Sam are decent ballhandlers, and both can make teams pay if they put too much effort into keeping Markus from getting it back. At the very least, I think Sacar and/or Sam should bring it upcourt.

As for the bench, I'd make Jamal the first small sub and maybe also give him a couple of Joey's minutes. Maybe Joey makes a comeback and earns back those minutes, but lately he has "freshman wall" written all over him.

[muguru]

If I’m Wojo I’m seriously contemplating some changes to give this team a jolt. First change is I’m starting Ed and bringing Theo off the bench. Ed is better offensively and I think we can punish teams who double the ball up high with their big by getting the ball down to him. I’m also playing Markus off the ball regularly and we saw some effectiveness with that yesterday. Curious what other changes you would like to see.

I said this a few weeks ago here, and got scoffed at. Ed is the MUCH better offensive player, he needs to see the ball more. I wonder too what would happen if Wojo ever played Theo and Ed together for brief stretches. At this point, you need to TRY some things to shake things up. I agree also that Markus needs to play off the ball more. Play Chartouny more, see if that helps him "find" it. I really don't think you lose a lot, if anything playing Chartouny, some of Sacar's minutes.

[Newsdreams]

Totally agree with feeding Ed and Theo inside more. Teams crowd our outside shooters - as they should - but we don't exploit that as well as we could. Ed in particular has some nice offensive moves, and both can kick it out for open 3s.

Also agree with taking the ball out of Markus' hands more. Sacar and Sam are decent ballhandlers, and both can make teams pay if they put too much effort into keeping Markus from getting it back. At the very least, I think Sacar and/or Sam should bring it upcourt.

As for the bench, I'd make Jamal the first small sub and maybe also give him a couple of Joey's minutes. Maybe Joey makes a comeback and earns back those minutes, but lately he has "freshman wall" written all over him.

Gooo I think BB really made a statement except for the fouls

[NickelDimer]

Gooo I think BB really made a statement except for the fouls

BB has looked good and CONFIDENT. Sucked that he got tagged with some bs calls yesterday but he also picks up some dumb fouls on rebounds, etc

[CountryRoads]

I wouldn’t mind seeing Ed and BB start over John and J Hauser in the BET. After all, that was our opening day lineup.

[tower912]

I said this a few weeks ago here, and got scoffed at. Ed is the MUCH better offensive player, he needs to see the ball more. I wonder too what would happen if Wojo ever played Theo and Ed together for brief stretches. At this point, you need to TRY some things to shake things up. I agree also that Markus needs to play off the ball more. Play Chartouny more, see if that helps him "find" it. I really don't think you lose a lot, if anything playing Chartouny, some of Sacar's minutes.

The problem with playing Ed and Theo together is three-fold.   Offensively, Wojo runs a 4-out offense.   So one of them will be in the corner.   Pretty sure his defender will be helping in the paint, as our opponents would love to see Ed/Theo shooting corner jumpers.     Defensively, since no one else plays with two post players at the same time either, one will have to be guarding a wing of some sort.    Since our overall defensive lateral quickness is one of the liabilities of this team, having two defensive posts on the floor only adds to that liability.   Third, having them play defense on the perimeter will only lead to more foul issues.   

[We R Final Four]

I said this a few weeks ago here, and got scoffed at. Ed is the MUCH better offensive player, he needs to see the ball more. I wonder too what would happen if Wojo ever played Theo and Ed together for brief stretches. At this point, you need to TRY some things to shake things up. I agree also that Markus needs to play off the ball more. Play Chartouny more, see if that helps him "find" it. I really don't think you lose a lot, if anything playing Chartouny, some of Sacar's minutes.

To play Ed and Theo together just for the sake of ‘shaking things up’ would be dumb.
If this team were getting run off the court, then maybe try something cuz you have nothing else to lose and nothing is working anyway. That is not the case.
I disagree that Ed is a MUCH better offensive player. Ed is terrible with his back to the basket in the post. Terrible. Ed travels most every time he touches the ball, just a matter of the refs call it. Where he is very good is behind the basket where he can receive dump offs and get offensive boards. He is very good as using the basket as a shield in not getting his shot blocked. Other than that, I have no idea why you think he is MUCH better offensively than Theo. They both have severe limitations.

[f/k/a humanlung]

Totally correct on Ed and Theo - more touches and, possibly, on the court at the same time.  But this should have been done months ago, not now.  Way too late to try to make it work at this point. 

I was a guy screaming for Howland five years ago and got shouted down.  I was also the guy who said I would happily acknowledge if I was wrong on the selection of Wojo.  While Wojo has done a great job drawing talent to the program, he has demonstrated no consistent ability to game-coach effectively, in my opinion. This has really cost us this season, especially the last four games. 

[Herman Cain]

I would not advocate for any major changes. However,  I would like to see are Brendan and Jamal Cain picking up some of Joey minutes.  Also would like to see the ball in Sams hands in a guard type role from time to time.

[Its DJOver]

Totally correct on Ed and Theo - more touches and, possibly, on the court at the same time.  But this should have been done months ago, not now.  Way too late to try to make it work at this point. 

I was a guy screaming for Howland five years ago and got shouted down.  I was also the guy who said I would happily acknowledge if I was wrong on the selection of Wojo.  While Wojo has done a great job drawing talent to the program, he has demonstrated no consistent ability to game-coach effectively, in my opinion. This has really cost us this season, especially the last four games.

Prior to the last 4, the only games where lack of in-game adjusting cost us were Kansas and possibly StJ the second time.  Whereas his in-game adjustment led to us beating Louisville, Wisconsin, Creighton, Gtown, Providence, Xavier, and Nova.  The last 4 games have certainly hurt the idea that Wojo has made a massive improvement in his in-game prep, but lets not pretend like he's been firing blanks all season.  If anything the last 4 has reinforced the idea that his pre-game prep is lacking, as just about everyone knew that SH was going to pressure us, and we had 14 first half TOs, and that we were 8-1 the first time through and 4-5 the second.  Wojo has had his faults this season, but in-game adjustment hasn't been one of the bigger ones IMO.

[CTWarrior]

One of the few times we did this yesterday, John made a nice skip pass back to a wide open Markus for 3.  Need more of that.

I'd like to see more of that, too.  Up until now, however, John has had a tendency when he gets the ball on the blocks to force a shot whether he has one or not.  He's got 16 assists all season, and frankly, I was surprised it was that many.  But you need an inside presence, particularly to open things up for your shooters.

[BM1090]

In today's game, I seriously cannot believe that anyone is suggesting we play Ed and Theo together. That would be a complete disaster.

I'm okay with starting Ed/giving him more minutes.

Definitely okay with more JC/BB over JH as well

[westcoastwarrior]

What happened to the slashing Sacar?  It is nice to see the 3-pointer going in for him, but we have other teams in foul trouble (in the past four games) and no one was attacking the rim.  Would like to see Sacar attack the rim instead of the out-side three...or the mid-range elbow jumper he has been taking lately.   Also the floater that Howard has been taking does not qualify.  We need someone looking for contact on the way to the basket.

[NickelDimer]

In today's game, I seriously cannot believe that anyone is suggesting we play Ed and Theo together. That would be a complete disaster.

I'm okay with starting Ed/giving him more minutes.

Definitely okay with more JC/BB over JH as well

Agree Ed and Theo together would be a disaster.

[damuts222]

Agree Ed and Theo together would be a disaster.

The bash brothers would both be sitting by the 10 min mark in the 1st half due to fouls then.

[4th and State]

I'd like to see more of that, too.  Up until now, however, John has had a tendency when he gets the ball on the blocks to force a shot whether he has one or not.  He's got 16 assists all season, and frankly, I was surprised it was that many.  But you need an inside presence, particularly to open things up for your shooters.

I've noticed that too.  When John or Morrow get the ball in the post, they usually go up with it.  I think part of that it is because they almost never get it passed to them in the post, so maybe they feel like its now or never for them to put a shot up. 

I do think John has some decent ability to score down low.  We've seen some flashes, but it just hasn't been a large part of the offense.

[NickelDimer]

Another thing that should be a staple of our offense is playing the ball through the post. With Sam, Joey our bigs and even Sacar there’s no reason we shouldn’t get deep post position and work inside out. It’s like we only do it when we reeeaaally need a basket. We should do it all the time

[Cheeks]

I said this a few weeks ago here, and got scoffed at. Ed is the MUCH better offensive player, he needs to see the ball more. I wonder too what would happen if Wojo ever played Theo and Ed together for brief stretches. At this point, you need to TRY some things to shake things up. I agree also that Markus needs to play off the ball more. Play Chartouny more, see if that helps him "find" it. I really don't think you lose a lot, if anything playing Chartouny, some of Sacar's minutes.

Don’t like Ed and Theo together because of breathers and offense.  March 10th is not the time to start a new offense. 

[f/k/a humanlung]

Prior to the last 4, the only games where lack of in-game adjusting cost us were Kansas and possibly StJ the second time.  Whereas his in-game adjustment led to us beating Louisville, Wisconsin, Creighton, Gtown, Providence, Xavier, and Nova.  The last 4 games have certainly hurt the idea that Wojo has made a massive improvement in his in-game prep, but lets not pretend like he's been firing blanks all season.  If anything the last 4 has reinforced the idea that his pre-game prep is lacking, as just about everyone knew that SH was going to pressure us, and we had 14 first half TOs, and that we were 8-1 the first time through and 4-5 the second.  Wojo has had his faults this season, but in-game adjustment hasn't been one of the bigger ones IMO.

Fair point, but as quoted elsewhere on this board, early in the season we were winning more than our fair share of close games.  I think some basketball "authority" claimed we were overly lucky.  A couple of those early games break the other way and all of a sudden, it looks a lot worse.

I simply believe that Wojo desperately needs a Hank/Wainwright on the bench next to him helping (doing???) the Xs and Os.

[GooooMarquette]

Totally correct on Ed and Theo - more touches and, possibly, on the court at the same time.  But this should have been done months ago, not now.  Way too late to try to make it work at this point. 

I was a guy screaming for Howland five years ago and got shouted down.  I was also the guy who said I would happily acknowledge if I was wrong on the selection of Wojo.  While Wojo has done a great job drawing talent to the program, he has demonstrated no consistent ability to game-coach effectively, in my opinion. This has really cost us this season, especially the last four games.

I too argued for Howland, and I have concluded we're better off with Wojo. Will you also acknowledge that, in hindsight, Howland would not have been better for MU than Wojo?

Howland: 77-54 (.588) in 4 seasons; 0 NCAA; 1 NIT; projected as a 6 seed on Bracketology.
Wojo:      96-67 (.589) in 5 seasons; 1 NCAA; 1 NIT; projected as a 5 seed on Bracketology.

Virtually identical resumes, even though Howland brought 19 years of previous head coaching experience, while this is Wojo's first HC gig. Given the near-identical results, I'll take the young guy who is still learning every day.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

I would not advocate for any major changes. However,  I would like to see are Brendan and Jamal Cain picking up some of Joey minutes.  Also would like to see the ball in Sams hands in a guard type role from time to time.

Yeah making major changes at this point screams a panic move. These changes above are the things I'm more interested in.

And anyone who in retrospect thinks Ben Howland would have been a better choice than Wojo, you probably should have your head examined.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

I simply believe that Wojo desperately needs a Hank/Wainwright on the bench next to him helping (doing???) the Xs and Os.

Honestly what is wrong with his Xs and Os? This team has generally done well out of timeouts and out of bounds plays.  It's a team that needs a better ball handling guard.  Wojo knew this.  He didn't get Grimes and Chartouny has been a big disappointment. 

[PorkysButthole]

Prior to the last 4, the only games where lack of in-game adjusting cost us were Kansas and possibly StJ the second time.  Whereas his in-game adjustment led to us beating Louisville, Wisconsin, Creighton, Gtown, Providence, Xavier, and Nova.  The last 4 games have certainly hurt the idea that Wojo has made a massive improvement in his in-game prep, but lets not pretend like he's been firing blanks all season.  If anything the last 4 has reinforced the idea that his pre-game prep is lacking, as just about everyone knew that SH was going to pressure us, and we had 14 first half TOs, and that we were 8-1 the first time through and 4-5 the second.  Wojo has had his faults this season, but in-game adjustment hasn't been one of the bigger ones IMO.

Porky concurs, and if memory serves Porky correctly, our shooting percentage in the last 4 games was off and a lot of the open looks they got just didn't fall.  Unfortunately that happens sometimes so all the more reason to utilize our bigs as scoring options on plays and not just off of Oboards.