UCLA thoughts

[tower912]

Symir is a better back up PG than Koby.  He wasn't available.

Oso has game.

Freshmen look like freshmen sometimes.  I seem to recall Butler couldn't finish through contact when he started.

Maybe having a top 25 all time NCAA scorer and world class elite shooter wasn't so bad.

Foul trouble on the road.   Somewhere just below death and taxes on the guarantee spectrum.

Marquette lost their first road game of the year.   Just below foul trouble on the same spectrum.


Stay healthy and hope to keep playing and improving.

[The Big East]

To win games against High Major opponents the team has play hard for the full 40 minutes. Any let down and the opponent starts to pull away. Our guys played well for about 34 minutes and then the team ran out of steam. 

 

[tower912]

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore?gameId=401255034

In their game recap they say that there is no timetable for Symir's return and that Theo did not practice the last couple of days due to a balky knee.   

[IrwinFletcher]

I don't know this for sure, but I suspect during the under 8 timeout, Wojo instructed his players to attack UCLA's defense and try to win the game at the foul line. Not a bad strategy considering the way the game had been called. First offensive play after the timeout got Dawson to the line and a 4th foul on Jaquez. The next one was the shot clock violation. After that, 4 of the next 6 offensive possessions culminated in an attempted layup. Those 4 attempted layups resulted in 2 points (Koby's pocket pass to Cain) and 3 blocked shots. Credit to UCLA, 2 of the blocks were clearly clean and 1 may have been a foul but if it was, not an obvious one. Great defensive effort by UCLA to challenge those shots without fouling.

Great breakdown that sheds a light on those last few minutes.

3 missed/blocked layups and 2 3-pointers that were halfway down.  That's 5 trips were we got excellent looks and the ball didn't go in.  So Wojo's offense and plan was excellent and the players executed well so maybe it is just a bit of bad luck and a tip of the hat to UCLA's defense.

[5DollarPitcher]

Great breakdown that sheds a light on those last few minutes.

3 missed/blocked layups and 2 3-pointers that were halfway down.  That's 5 trips were we got excellent looks and the ball didn't go in.  So Wojo's offense and plan was excellent and the players executed well so maybe it is just a bit of bad luck and a tip of the hat to UCLA's defense.

Let’s back up here a bit. Not sure how you can call it an excellent offensive gameplan with excellent looks if your shots are getting blocked to the shadow realm.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

Let’s back up here a bit. Not sure how you can call it an excellent offensive gameplan with excellent looks if your shots are getting blocked to the shadow realm.

The gameplan and execution weren't perfect by any stretch.  But this team has limitations.  I find it hard to find fault with a majority of went on last night.  It's all part of the process.  Learn and move on to Omaha.

[5DollarPitcher]

The gameplan and execution weren't perfect by any stretch.  But this team has limitations.  I find it hard to find fault with a majority of went on last night.  It's all part of the process.  Learn and move on to Omaha.

I agree that this loss wasn’t all on coaching and gameplan. Maybe even moreso the inherent limitations of the players on this team.

But I don’t think it makes any type of logical sense to herald an “excellent gameplan” producing “excellent looks” when we went without a FG for multiple 5+ minute stretches of this game.

[jesmu84]

I agree that this loss wasn’t all on coaching and gameplan. Maybe even moreso the inherent limitations of the players on this team.

But I don’t think it makes any type of logical sense to herald an “excellent gameplan” producing “excellent looks” when we went without a FG for multiple 5+ minute stretches of this game.

Except that they were good looks. So....

[tower912]

From a coaching standpoint, all you can do is run sets that get your players good looks.   The players have to make shots.

[OffTheGlass]

Lazy with the ball and getting into passing lanes. V-cut or do something but just putting your hand up wanting the ball doesn’t work.

Wojo needs to go zone once in awhile to keep guys out of foul trouble. If you want Lewis in the game with two fouls and it’s early, you can buy some minutes. 

[79Warrior]

From a coaching standpoint, all you can do is run sets that get your players good looks.   The players have to make shots.

Exactly.

[5DollarPitcher]

Except that they were good looks. So....

No they really really weren’t. Just because they were layups does not mean they are inherently good looks. When you have two guys on you and get your shot blocked (which happened several times in the last 5 minutes) that’s not a good look.

[5DollarPitcher]

Lazy with the ball and getting into passing lanes. V-cut or do something but just putting your hand up wanting the ball doesn’t work.

Wojo needs to go zone once in awhile to keep guys out of foul trouble. If you want Lewis in the game with two fouls and it’s early, you can buy some minutes.

Zone is a dangerous play on defense. All 5 guys need to know their responsibility (which isn’t straightforward like man on man) at all times or else it will get shredded by any halfway competent team.

With the amount of freshman this team has, combined with the fact that I have never seen a Wojo team play zone for any meaningful stretch of time, means “switching to zone” isn’t a realistic option in situations such as last night.

Despite all of this, I agree with the premise and theory of what you’re saying.

[tower912]

I don't think this team needs to zone, but to say you haven't seen a Wojo team play zone means you haven't been watching.

[jesmu84]

No they really really weren’t. Just because they were layups does not mean they are inherently good looks. When you have two guys on you and get your shot blocked (which happened several times in the last 5 minutes) that’s not a good look.

Still not correct

[MU24]

we beat Wisco so the rest of the season is playing with house money. Assuming the roster comes back next year we will stomp.
Cain not coming back would be fine.

[mileskishnish72]

Zone is a dangerous play on defense. All 5 guys need to know their responsibility (which isn’t straightforward like man on man) at all times or else it will get shredded by any halfway competent team.

Tell that to OSU.

[5DollarPitcher]

Still not correct

You just saying something contrarian with no facts or evidence to back it up doesn’t make you right. No matter how much you want it to.

We got blocked several times in the last 5 minutes, had multiple turnovers, and a shot clock violation. Not an excellent gameplan, not excellent looks. Not really debatable.

[5DollarPitcher]

Tell that to OSU.

OSU clearly practiced zone in anticipation of playing MU and each player was properly coached to his role.

I don’t really have faith in our current staff to do that.

[Silent Verbal]

You just saying something contrarian with no facts or evidence to back it up doesn’t make you right. No matter how much you want it to.

I agree with this, it’s an internet pet peeve of mine.  Easiest thing in the world to write a response like that.

[Autoengineer]

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore?gameId=401255034

In their game recap they say that there is no timetable for Symir's return and that Theo did not practice the last couple of days due to a balky knee.   

I was wondering what happened to the Theo John we saw in the first two games who was running the floor, dunking on a breakaway and dunking on a put back above the rim. 

[bilsu]

Why did Lewis sit so much? Let him foul out of the game if that’s what’s going to happen rather than wither away on the bench.

I think you want your most experience player around at the end. From this stand point I would of played Lewis more with four fouls. I would sit John with four fouls, but I would not sit Lewis.

[MU82]

Great posts by jesmu and TAMU. Really captured the essence of everything that took place.

I kept begging for Wojo to put Lewis back in when we were having so much trouble scoring. Not sure why he didn't. After coaching a great game vs Madison, this was meh. Not horrible, but certainly not good. We need better from him.

Garcia had two nice-looking baby hooks in the lane that rimmed out, and a 3-pointer I was certain was in ... until it wasn't. Dawson's in-and-out 3, along with Jamal's almost-down 3 from the baseline, were killers. Either of them goes in, and the ending could have been different.

In today's basketball, it's almost impossible to win when you shoot terribly from 3 and treat the basketball as if it's covered in Crisco.

Our guys don't do a good job of making themselves available for passes, especially when closely guarded on the perimeter. They don't step to the ball. The passing has to be better, but sometimes it's the fault of the passee.

I don't think the reffing cost us the game, but it was quite poor. The part that really ticked me off was when we had just worked real hard to get a 4-point lead midway through the 2H and had the ball, but DJ was called for a bogus offensive foul after a hand-off. He barely touched the UCLA player. We had all the momentum, the double-bonus, and a great chance to go up 6 or 7 there. It was especially galling in that just a couple possessions earlier, Theo was hammered while going up for a layup and there was no call. But just as none of the players nor either coach is perfect, neither are the refs. Gotta overcome adversity.

Finally ...

To win games against High Major opponents the team has play hard for the full 40 minutes. Any let down and the opponent starts to pull away. Our guys played well for about 34 minutes and then the team ran out of steam.

Just because we didn't play well at the end, it doesn't mean we didn't play hard at the end. Claims by some after the Oklahoma State game that the team had quit also were unfounded -- not to mention insulting to the athletes who work so hard. Jeesh.

[jesmu84]

You just saying something contrarian with no facts or evidence to back it up doesn’t make you right. No matter how much you want it to.

We got blocked several times in the last 5 minutes, had multiple turnovers, and a shot clock violation. Not an excellent gameplan, not excellent looks. Not really debatable.

The facts were all in Irwin's post.

Wide open 3s are absolutely excellent looks.

You saying "not really debatable" when we had wide open shots is an example of why you lose credibility here.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

I agree with 5dollar that just attempting a layup does not automatically mean it was a good attempt, especially if that attempt gets blocked. That's a bad argument.

The two threes were wide open and definitely the result of good offense, just didn't get the shots to fall. Koby's long two I honestly thought was bad offense but the shot went in. The layup we made was a designed play that worked very well. My recollection of the three blocked layups was that one was cleanly blocked and the result of a wild drive, one I thought a foul could have been called but wasn't upset with the no call, the last was a clean block but it was after Koby made a good move to the bucket for an open layup, Hill just made a very athletic play to recover, turn, and block it from behind.

That stretch where UCLA extended the lead, I'd say the offense generated more good looks than bad ones, but we didn't hit the shots, didn't draw the fouls, and UCLA's defense was just better almost every time down the court. Their defense won it for them. IMHO, Ok State was about us running a poor offense. UCLA was about them locking down on defense.