Davidson

[Bad_Reporter]

Reminded me a lot of some of Buzzs games where we play great D and do just enough offensively to win, only real difference is that Markus is far better offensively than any player Buzz had.  Buzz got a lot of praise when he won games like this, with people pointing out the toughness required to win this way.  Interesting that people aren't giving the same praises to this years team.

Get some of your point but Markus is FAR better offensively then any player buzz had??

Jerel, Wes, Dominic, Lazar, Jimmy, Vander can all be argued that they’re better overall players then Markus imo.

[Its DJOver]

Get some of your point but Markus is FAR better offensively then any player buzz had??

Jerel, Wes, Dominic, Lazar, Jimmy, Vander can all be argued that they’re better overall players then Markus imo.

Don't disagree with your statement.  That's why I said offensively not overall.  On the offensive end Markus is the most gifted player since Wade and IMO no one else even comes close.

[Bad_Reporter]

Don't disagree with your statement.  That's why I said offensively not overall.  On the offensive end Markus is the most gifted player since Wade and IMO no one else even comes close.

Sorry I need to read better “offensively” is the key.  I agree

Happy thanksgiving

[skianth16]

Good to see Markus play like an All American. We need him to score for this team to win. What's with the the regression of the other players? Our coaching seems very suspect.

My thoughts exactly. Markus is a stud. But when he has an off night or when teams throw 2-3 guys at him to stop him, we're going to have trouble scoring. We just need to pray that he stays healthy and averages about 32 per game this year.

[skianth16]

You're probably new to college basketball but the fundamentals have been a Davidson staple under Mckillop.

They usually take care of the ball, slow the game down, make shots and make free throws.

SO yeah, considering we limited pretty much all of that...we did something right.

Just can't score outside Markus

Davidson is a decent program. But they're a team we should beat every single time we face them. They're just not at our level, and if we're at a point as a program where we think a win over a .333 Davidson team is a something to hang our hats on, then we've really lowered our expectations.

[BallBoy]

Yeah. 40 years new to college basketball...

Turnovers have been a staple of Wojo-era MU teams.  One of the points of frustration.

So... When someone says 13 t/o are survivable, I tend to disagree.  That number against a higher quality opponent and no way we win.

You need take your hater shades off as you can’t see clearly. MU has averaged 12-13TOs a game since 2010 (year of the midgets) who had 10.8. Year before had 11.7. Last year, MU averaged 13.9. In other words, MU has been averaging the same as under Buzz and most likely Crean but I didn’t go look. 

13 TOs is not bad and when you look at the current top ten. Duke averages 15.7 TOs and the others are in the 11-13 range which means you are arguing at most 1-2 possessions. Most of the Top 10 have been feasting on cupcakes too.  Currently, MU is the 38th in tempo meaning they would also have more possessions per game to turn it over.

Early season TOs in basketball are like the holidays, you pack as much as you can in until your New Years resolution kicks in and you cut back.

People have been talking about this being unwatchable. It has nothing to do with the TOs or the offense. Today the refs called 49 fouls. That is almost 1.25/Min. Throw in TV timeouts, free throws and the game barely moved.

Right now, the team is 4-1 and haven’t played their best basketball. That is a good thing.

[PGsHeroes32]

Davidson is a decent program. But they're a team we should beat every single time we face them. They're just not at our level, and if we're at a point as a program where we think a win over a .333 Davidson team is a something to hang our hats on, then we've really lowered our expectations.

We should beat one of the A10's best programs every single time??????

[willie warrior]

Yes, a very ugly win, but a win. Without Markus, this team would end up the year well below .500. So Wojo will need to hang on to Markus' jockstrap as long as it will carry him. And it likely will be a win by the Markus, dies by the Markus season.

[jonny09]

Wow.  We had 4 assists in that game.  I literally had to stare at that number for a minute or two to make sure it was correct.  Not gonna win many games with 4 assists.

[Dr. Blackheart]

I hope yer right, Doc. But I just don't see where that's gonna come from outside of Koby. There are gonna have to be major leaps made by a handful of guys.

I think you are going to have to stop thinking of it as who will have to step up to replace the Hausers. It will have to be a bunch of players to replace them not just one or two, and it will be different every game.

Take Jamal.  Seven boards last night and some great defense. He made one bucket but it was a big one as MU was sputtering. I think I have seen one poster comment on his play.

Take Sacar.  He hit that corner two (downgraded from three on review) in transition. Then got a big charge going the other way. That was the turning point of the game. No comments here.

Take our bigs and depth.  Not a stellar game in the box score but they were drawing fouls and attriting Davidson's depth, altering shots, drawing shooting fouls.  Comments here?  "Our bigs took zero shots". Ummm...no they were drawing fouls and free throws. 

Take the defense which posters here are taking for granted and only focusing on O. Early Wojo teams didn't play much of it but only Wisconsin has gone over 0.90 on Orating (damn Pritzl).  Maybe three or four call outs and most of those were "we were lucky Davidson had an off shooting night". Wtf???

Each game, especially to start the season, will have different players step up in different ways including other than shooting. The Davidson game was always going to be a slogfest. MU's strength is balance and depth this year. Think the Moneyball era and situationals.  Against USC, this may include shooting breakouts. 

If posters here are honestly expecting a Hauser to step up to fill the shooting void, you will have a long wait. If you are more patient, you might see a team's identity slowing evolving and the wins (and loses) will come in different ways than the last few seasons.

[Dr. Blackheart]

Wow.  We had 4 assists in that game.  I literally had to stare at that number for a minute or two to make sure it was correct.  Not gonna win many games with 4 assists.

Jonny,

We drew 28 fouls and shot 38 free throws. You don't get assists for scoring from the line.

For the season, MU is above average on assist rate.  Get your nose out of the box score.

[jonny09]

Jonny,

We drew 28 fouls and shot 38 free throws. You don't get assists for scoring from the line.

For the season, MU is above average on assist rate.  Get your nose out of the box score.

Fair enough.  Thanks for pointing that out.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

I think you are going to have to stop thinking of it as who will have to step up to replace the Hausers. It will have to be a bunch of players to replace them not just one or two, and it will be different every game.

Take Jamal.  Seven boards last night and some great defense. He made one bucket but it was a big one as MU was sputtering. I think I have seen one poster comment on his play.

Take Sacar.  He hit that corner two (downgraded from three on review) in transition. Then got a big charge going the other way. That was the turning point of the game. No comments here.

Take our bigs and depth.  Not a stellar game in the box score but they were drawing fouls and attriting Davidson's depth, altering shots, drawing shooting fouls.  Comments here?  "Our bigs took zero shots". Ummm...no they were drawing fouls and free throws. 

Take the defense which posters here are taking for granted and only focusing on O. Early Wojo teams didn't play much of it but only Wisconsin has gone over 0.90 on Orating (damn Pritzl).  Maybe three or four call outs and most of those were "we were lucky Davidson had an off shooting night". Wtf???

Each game, especially to start the season, will have different players step up in different ways including other than shooting. The Davidson game was always going to be a slogfest. MU's strength is balance and depth this year. Think the Moneyball era and situationals.  Against USC, this may include shooting breakouts. 

If posters here are honestly expecting a Hauser to step up to fill the shooting void, you will have a long wait. If you are more patient, you might see a team's identity slowing evolving and the wins (and loses) will come in different ways than the last few seasons.

Extremely well stated. 

[IrwinFletcher]

On the first Davidson flop, the call prevented what would have been a 5-on-4 fastbreak for us. On the second, Davidson actually would have gotten the ball had the arrow pointed their way even though the shot was awful and we easily would have had the rebound. So both times, the flops "penalized" the non-flopping team (although it was nice to get the FT on the second).

[/quote]

Wrong.  On the second flop (where a T was called), Jayce Johnson secured the rebound.

[IrwinFletcher]

Wow.  We had 4 assists in that game.  I literally had to stare at that number for a minute or two to make sure it was correct.  Not gonna win many games with 4 assists.

Well, we won last night with 4 assists.

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

Wow.  We had 4 assists in that game.  I literally had to stare at that number for a minute or two to make sure it was correct.  Not gonna win many games with 4 assists.

Meh, assists are overrated.

I also think assists is a flawed stat. I’ve seen things counted as assists where the player who scored the basketball had the ball for more than 3 seconds before making their move/shot.

[MUfan12]

I think you are going to have to stop thinking of it as who will have to step up to replace the Hausers. It will have to be a bunch of players to replace them not just one or two, and it will be different every game.

Never mentioned the Hausers. They're totally inept on offense unless Markus is going off.

Do they miss Sam? Sure they do. But guys like Ed and Sacar are in their fifth year. Koby is in his fourth. Bailey's almost old enough to rent a car, FFS. The fact that none of these guys can be counted on for consistent production is far more worrying to me than Sam leaving.

[lurch91]

Against a powerhouse like Davidson...

Didn't Buzz the Savior need a last second shot to beat "a powerhouse like Davidson"?  How Scoop forgets, yet always has it both ways......

[Galway Eagle]

Didn't Buzz the Savior need a last second shot to beat "a powerhouse like Davidson"?  How Scoop forgets, yet always has it both ways......

Before they argue that was a good Davidson team I'd like to add that the 2013 Davidson team started off 4-4 with L's to UWM Charlotte and New Mexico.

[Dr. Blackheart]

Never mentioned the Hausers. They're totally inept on offense unless Markus is going off.

Do they miss Sam? Sure they do. But guys like Ed and Sacar are in their fifth year. Koby is in his fourth. Bailey's almost old enough to rent a car, FFS. The fact that none of these guys can be counted on for consistent production is far more worrying to me than Sam leaving.

Just reading in your sentiments on here over time on this, including Wojo and the Hausers. You are a very balanced and solid poster with excellent insight. You are a bear on this team and I am more bullish. Wojo’s teams have lacked athleticism and balance but had shooting. This team is the opposite.

But agreed, the concerns are there but posters need to also consider there are different ways of winning. Scoring from that 3/4 spot is critical—but MU has five players to do it this year, not only two.

[PGsHeroes32]

We should beat one of the A10's best programs every single time??????

For the record, Vegas thinks we should beat this USC team more frequently than Davidson.

[IrwinFletcher]

Just reading in your sentiments on here over time on this, including Wojo and the Hausers. You are a very balanced and solid poster with excellent insight. You are a bear on this team and I am more bullish. Wojo’s teams have lacked athleticism and balance but had shooting. This team is the opposite.

But agreed, the concerns are there but posters need to also consider there are different ways of winning. Scoring from that 3/4 spot is critical—but MU has five players to do it this year, not only two.

Not only is our offense opposite what we have been, the approach is opposite.  Like it or not, we are a defensive team first and offense second.  We are used to seeing Wojo’s team score 80+ with regularity, but back then, people rushed to the message boards to rip on our D and saying that we can’t win games by hitting a lot of 3’s.

Defense is solid to very good and will continue to get better.  If one more guy can step up on offense this could be a very very good team.

[MU82]

Before they argue that was a good Davidson team I'd like to add that the 2013 Davidson team started off 4-4 with L's to UWM Charlotte and New Mexico.

Excellent observation.

I would expect Davidson to end up having another solid season and for this to be a "good" win for us in the NET.

[forgetful]

Excellent observation.

I would expect Davidson to end up having another solid season and for this to be a "good" win for us in the NET.

I seem to recall many posters concerned we'd lose this game, because Davidson was very good, before the season started, and after they played Auburn tough.

Posts like Grady and Gudmundsson may be the best starting backcourt we play all year.

Now since we only won by 10, we are terrible, and the same Davison team is terrible.

[MU82]

I think you are going to have to stop thinking of it as who will have to step up to replace the Hausers. It will have to be a bunch of players to replace them not just one or two, and it will be different every game.

Take Jamal.  Seven boards last night and some great defense. He made one bucket but it was a big one as MU was sputtering. I think I have seen one poster comment on his play.

Take Sacar.  He hit that corner two (downgraded from three on review) in transition. Then got a big charge going the other way. That was the turning point of the game. No comments here.

Take our bigs and depth.  Not a stellar game in the box score but they were drawing fouls and attriting Davidson's depth, altering shots, drawing shooting fouls.  Comments here?  "Our bigs took zero shots". Ummm...no they were drawing fouls and free throws. 

Take the defense which posters here are taking for granted and only focusing on O. Early Wojo teams didn't play much of it but only Wisconsin has gone over 0.90 on Orating (damn Pritzl).  Maybe three or four call outs and most of those were "we were lucky Davidson had an off shooting night". Wtf???

Each game, especially to start the season, will have different players step up in different ways including other than shooting. The Davidson game was always going to be a slogfest. MU's strength is balance and depth this year. Think the Moneyball era and situationals.  Against USC, this may include shooting breakouts. 

If posters here are honestly expecting a Hauser to step up to fill the shooting void, you will have a long wait. If you are more patient, you might see a team's identity slowing evolving and the wins (and loses) will come in different ways than the last few seasons.

One of my favorite posts so far this season. Well done, Doc.

fWIW, I am one who has said Cain has been able. He has been my favorite role player so far in 2019-20: rebounded, defended, done the little things, mostly played to his strengths offensively.