Murray State.... and beyond.

[tower912]

1.   With my last name, I am in a 'Murray' state of mind all of the time.
2.  Ja is going to be a lottery pick.    Akinjo, McClung, Powell, Ponds, Booth.     Of course Morant is going to be exponentially better and do exponentially more damage.    Triple Double.   
3.   Murray State all channeled Jean Felix.     Remember how the talk was they weren't a great 3 pt shooting team?    MU's plan was to go Jordan Rules on Morant and force him to give up the ball.   Well, it worked.   Except Murray State made it rain.   
4.   Speed kills.   I said after the very first game of the year that Sam and Joey both looked slow.   It never really got better.   I hope both are able to work on their quickness in the offseason.     If I had to choose between two teams of equal skill, one of which is a couple of inches taller at every position but not particularly fast, or a team that is a couple of inches short at every position but is really quick, I will take the quick team every single time.      Murray State was faster at every position.    Somebody on one of the boards asked about a 6'5 guy guarding Sam.    The 6'5 guy was quicker.   End of discussion.   
5.   It was already over, but Morrow getting blocked by the rim on the dunk attempt was just the sprinkles on the cupcake.   
6.  I actually thought Bailey worked his ass off against Morant. 
7.  It would have been nice if Markus heated up, but that ship sailed 3 weeks ago.   He kept MU in the game until he picked up his second foul.   
8.    Everybody is beating up on Wojo, as is the norm after every loss.    But from a cursory reading, nobody has actually made a reasonable case for changes that could have been made.      Anim and Bailey worked hard.   They were hedging on the screens to take away the drive.   They turned him a few times.    But his passing was simply too good.   And then Murray State was making the second pass.     And again, it all goes back to speed.   
9.   I made predictions before exactly two games this season.    The Indiana game and the Murray State game.    Both times, I predicted a double digit loss.    IU, because they appeared quicker at every position and the game was at Assembly Hall.   Murray State, because MU had so many problems late defending alpha guards who weren't as good as Ja. 

10.   There is no way Wojo gets fired.    Everybody suggesting it is just venting.    Understandably.   

[jsglow]

11. Baseball season.

[#UnleashSean]

Bailey played great. Wojo needs to find some footing, fast.

[The Sultan]

One adjustment that I think could have been made is to pull the defense back.  Go underneath the picks.  Make Morant shoot. 

As for the rest, you are spot on.  Hoping that having two quicker guards is going to help.

[mu_hilltopper]

Wojo is not getting fired this week.

But he has 365 days to win an NCAA game, or he's 100% fired.

So there's that.

[Nukem2]

Joey to the 5 and Sam to the 4 and add Greg and Koby an d Samir.  World of difference.

[NickelDimer]

I have an idea of some things Wojo could've done. First stop collapsing on Ja when they were hitting open shots. Our gameplan wasn't working. You have to change it up. Second play Markus off the ball more and let Sacar run some point. Third do a better job taking advantage of our size. Play through the post every possession. Fourth play more zone. We did one possession and got a stop. Last I would've played Heldt. He couldn't have done worse. He's very disciplined on D and stays home. He also would've done a better job boxing out.

The only thing Wojo couldn't do was stick the an obvious bad game plan hoping it would magically start working

[The Sultan]

I just don't see how Joey is going to guard a center.  I don't mind a guy like Theo there, but I would consider bringing Joey off the bench. 

[The Lens]

He should have stopped doubling much, much earlier.  The roll guy killed us. 

And so many shots early in the shot clock. That's coaching.  Bailey's missed 3 at end of 1st half with no shot clock was a 6 point swing.

All we heard when Wojo was hired was about basketball players and brains.  Well we continue to make some very dumb decisions.     

[#UnleashSean]

If drunks in a bar could pick up after 5 minutes that double teaming Ja wasn't going to work, I hoped Wojo would.

[LAZER]

Wojo is not getting fired this week.

But he has 365 days to win an NCAA game, or he's 100% fired.

So there's that.

100% fired?  Not so sure about that.

[The Sultan]

He should have stopped doubling much, much earlier.  The roll guy killed us. 

And so many shots early in the shot clock. That's coaching.  Bailey's missed 3 at end of 1st half with no shot clock was a 6 point swing.

All we heard when Wojo was hired was about basketball players and brains.  Well we continue to make some very dumb decisions.     

That play at the end of the half was a killer.  They weathered the storm with Markus on the bench, down four and with the ball.  They could have used a TO there to get Howard back, but instead he rolled with it and Bailey took a terrible shot.  Morant hits a 3 and they're down 7.

[#UnleashSean]

100% fired?  Not so sure about that.

If Marquette regresses next year, either Wojo is fired or I'm sitting outside real chili with a bell boasting for Bill Murray to be our next head coach.

[Cheeks]

Ja would be player of the year in every conference in America not named the ACC

[mu_hilltopper]

100% fired?  Not so sure about that.

You're kidding, right?   On paper, next year's team has even more talent than this year's.  Markus might repeat as BE POY.  Hauser 1st team BE.  Heck, maybe Joey 2nd team. 

If MU is one and done again March 21, 2020?   He should be fired in the locker room.

[Johnny B]

Yeah lack of athleticism has killed us all year

[LAZER]

You're kidding, right?   On paper, next year's team has even more talent than this year's.  Markus might repeat as BE POY.  Hauser 1st team BE.  Heck, maybe Joey 2nd team. 

If MU is one and done again March 21, 2020?   He should be fired in the locker room.

Not debating whether or not he deserves to be fired, whether or not MU would actually fire him.

[Shark]

Final 4 next year

[mu_hilltopper]

Not debating whether or not he deserves to be fired, whether or not MU would actually fire him.

The print is very fine, but I'm pretty sure in our last contract, Scoop moderators were granted the power to hire and fire MU coaches. 

[#UnleashSean]

Final 4 next year

That team had toughness. This team does not. 

[StillWarriors]

Bailey played great. Wojo needs to find some footing, fast.

He played hard on D, but Bailey's decision making on offense was horrendous. Handed Murray St huge momentum with an poor decision to jack a 3 that wasn't close and then Morant hit a 3 on the other end on a possession that never should have happened. Given the way we got crushed in the 2nd half it didn't matter, but Bailey needs to either dramatically improve his shot or drop the gunner mentality. I love his aggressiveness, play and attitude overall, but you can't be a high volume (for his minutes and touches) shooter with minimal productivity.

[Class71]

10) Wojo is not getting fired. I think most agree but not for the same reasons.

The real question, is it the right decision and if it is how many more years do we ride this horse?  A number of Scoopers have said respect the process and the process takes five years to judge a coach. Now five years are up. So is the MU administration satisfied with the results or do we just keep on going? I see no accountability in the MU program and I expect that to continue.

[Lennys Tap]

1.   With my last name, I am in a 'Murray' state of mind all of the time.
2.  Ja is going to be a lottery pick.    Akinjo, McClung, Powell, Ponds, Booth.     Of course Morant is going to be exponentially better and do exponentially more damage.    Triple Double.   
3.   Murray State all channeled Jean Felix.     Remember how the talk was they weren't a great 3 pt shooting team?    MU's plan was to go Jordan Rules on Morant and force him to give up the ball.   Well, it worked.   Except Murray State made it rain.   
4.   Speed kills.   I said after the very first game of the year that Sam and Joey both looked slow.   It never really got better.   I hope both are able to work on their quickness in the offseason.     If I had to choose between two teams of equal skill, one of which is a couple of inches taller at every position but not particularly fast, or a team that is a couple of inches short at every position but is really quick, I will take the quick team every single time.      Murray State was faster at every position.    Somebody on one of the boards asked about a 6'5 guy guarding Sam.    The 6'5 guy was quicker.   End of discussion.   
5.   It was already over, but Morrow getting blocked by the rim on the dunk attempt was just the sprinkles on the cupcake.   
6.  I actually thought Bailey worked his ass off against Morant. 
7.  It would have been nice if Markus heated up, but that ship sailed 3 weeks ago.   He kept MU in the game until he picked up his second foul.   
8.    Everybody is beating up on Wojo, as is the norm after every loss.    But from a cursory reading, nobody has actually made a reasonable case for changes that could have been made.      Anim and Bailey worked hard.   They were hedging on the screens to take away the drive.   They turned him a few times.    But his passing was simply too good.   And then Murray State was making the second pass.     And again, it all goes back to speed.   
9.   I made predictions before exactly two games this season.    The Indiana game and the Murray State game.    Both times, I predicted a double digit loss.    IU, because they appeared quicker at every position and the game was at Assembly Hall.   Murray State, because MU had so many problems late defending alpha guards who weren't as good as Ja. 

10.   There is no way Wojo gets fired.    Everybody suggesting it is just venting.    Understandably.   

Re #3. Most college teams (even ones who don't shoot particularly well) can make shot that are totally uncontested. If our game plan was to give them their fill of wide open 3s with a sprinkling of uncontested lay ups it was a poor game plan.

Re #4 Their real fat guy in the middle didn't look all that fast - thought he overpowered Theo and Morrow.

Re #8. It was obvious to me what Wojo should have done. I mean, we know from experience that good pint guards DESTROY our man to man defense. And Morant is better than good. Five minutes into the game (I think we were up 10-8) I told the guys I was with we had zero chance if we stuck with his suicide plan of defense. Pack in a zone, mix with some box and 1 was our only chance.

Re #6 Bailey will become a good player

[The Sultan]

10) Wojo is not getting fired. I think most agree but not for the same reasons.

The real question, is it the right decision and if it is how many more years do we ride this horse?  A number of Scoopers have said respect the process and the process takes five years to judge a coach. Now five years are up. So is the MU administration satisfied with the results or do we just keep on going? I see no accountability in the MU program and I expect that to continue.

They have improved nearly every year under Wojo.  They may not be improving quickly enough, and I can understand that frustration, but they aren't firing him now.

[cheese ball chaser]

1.   With my last name, I am in a 'Murray' state of mind all of the time.
2.  Ja is going to be a lottery pick.    Akinjo, McClung, Powell, Ponds, Booth.     Of course Morant is going to be exponentially better and do exponentially more damage.    Triple Double.   
3.   Murray State all channeled Jean Felix.     Remember how the talk was they weren't a great 3 pt shooting team?    MU's plan was to go Jordan Rules on Morant and force him to give up the ball.   Well, it worked.   Except Murray State made it rain.   
4.   Speed kills.   I said after the very first game of the year that Sam and Joey both looked slow.   It never really got better.   I hope both are able to work on their quickness in the offseason.     If I had to choose between two teams of equal skill, one of which is a couple of inches taller at every position but not particularly fast, or a team that is a couple of inches short at every position but is really quick, I will take the quick team every single time.      Murray State was faster at every position.    Somebody on one of the boards asked about a 6'5 guy guarding Sam.    The 6'5 guy was quicker.   End of discussion.   
5.   It was already over, but Morrow getting blocked by the rim on the dunk attempt was just the sprinkles on the cupcake.   
6.  I actually thought Bailey worked his ass off against Morant. 
7.  It would have been nice if Markus heated up, but that ship sailed 3 weeks ago.   He kept MU in the game until he picked up his second foul.   
8.    Everybody is beating up on Wojo, as is the norm after every loss.    But from a cursory reading, nobody has actually made a reasonable case for changes that could have been made.      Anim and Bailey worked hard.   They were hedging on the screens to take away the drive.   They turned him a few times.    But his passing was simply too good.   And then Murray State was making the second pass.     And again, it all goes back to speed.   
9.   I made predictions before exactly two games this season.    The Indiana game and the Murray State game.    Both times, I predicted a double digit loss.    IU, because they appeared quicker at every position and the game was at Assembly Hall.   Murray State, because MU had so many problems late defending alpha guards who weren't as good as Ja. 

10.   There is no way Wojo gets fired.    Everybody suggesting it is just venting.    Understandably.   

We get it, your predictions are always right