MU/UCLA

[MuggsyB]

I'm usually super optimistic we can compete with anyone but Dec 11th we're really going to need an electric crowd and some luck on our side.  They're a brutal match-up for us.  Very physical and Riley didn't play tonight. As I said over the summer they will be a legit top 5 team when they come to Fiserv.  Their 2020 NCAA run wasn't a fluke. 

[Dickthedribbler]

Stayed up late and watched the Villanova/UCLA game last night. Both teams are worthy of their current rankings, IMO. Really great game for this early in the season. We've got 3 games against these guys!!

[79Warrior]

I'm usually super optimistic we can compete with anyone but Dec 11th we're really going to need an electric crowd and some luck on our side.  They're a brutal match-up for us.  Very physical and Riley didn't play tonight. As I said over the summer they will be a legit top 5 team when they come to Fiserv.  Their 2020 NCAA run wasn't a fluke.

Villanova is not chopped liver either. I was at that game last night. Great atmosphere. Both teams are very good and I see us really struggling against them. Huge talent difference between MU and those teams. You are right, anyone who thought last year was a fluke for UCLA are kidding themselves. I can see both Nova and UCLA in Elite 8.

[MuggsyB]

Villanova is not chopped liver either. I was at that game last night. Great atmosphere. Both teams are very good and I see us really struggling against them. Huge talent difference between MU and those teams. You are right, anyone who thought last year was a fluke for UCLA are kidding themselves. I can see both Nova and UCLA in Elite 8.

Cool!!  That must have been fun.  Nova blew an opportunity to close the game but UCLA is really impressive.  I will say though that you can't let Juzang go off.  The first 12 mins of the 2nd half Nova played at an incredibly high level.  If they contained Juzang during that stretch they may have have put the game out of reach.  I think they let him go one on one too much, he made like 7 straight hoops.  Sometimes you have to force someone else to beat you.  Make no mistake though, that team has all the pieces. 

[PGsHeroes32]

ESPN gives us a better chance to beat UCLA than Illinois or at Bucky

And an equal chance as the Kstate road game

So that sounds accurate.

[Herman Cain]

I'm usually super optimistic we can compete with anyone but Dec 11th we're really going to need an electric crowd and some luck on our side.  They're a brutal match-up for us.  Very physical and Riley didn't play tonight. As I said over the summer they will be a legit top 5 team when they come to Fiserv.  Their 2020 NCAA run wasn't a fluke.

I am delighted UCLA is on our schedule at home this year . However , I am enjoying one game at a time . So my focus is on the Illinois game. That  game , win or lose , will pay dividends for the UCLA game

[5DollarPitcher]

If UCLA is healthy we will, unfortunately, get completely creamed in this one. They are a legit Top 10 team with serious experience. Hope I'm wrong, but I'll have a 12 pack ready in case.

[bilsu]

As good as UCLA is, what really makes them a title contender is that the two most likely players to get fouled in crunch time are great free throw shooters. you are not going to get back in the game by fouling them.

[MuggsyB]

As good as UCLA is, what really makes them a title contender is that the two most likely players to get fouled in crunch time are great free throw shooters. you are not going to get back in the game by fouling them.

They were also missing their best interior player vs Nova.  That team will have a very comfortable 7/8 man rotation. Their 3rd and 4th best players are also underrated.  Bernard is versatile, Campbell is solid.  They're just good, we may have to go bananas from three.

[MU82]

I'd feel a lot better about our chances against UCLA if Shaka had been left a stocked cupboard.

Wait ... sorry ... wrong thread.

Seriously, I'm a big-time optimist but I'm having trouble projecting us to have any chance against UCLA. That's a top-5 team at the worst ... and we're somewhere lower than top-5.

[MuggsyB]

I'd feel a lot better about our chances against UCLA if Shaka had been left a stocked cupboard.

Wait ... sorry ... wrong thread.

Seriously, I'm a big-time optimist but I'm having trouble projecting us to have any chance against UCLA. That's a top-5 team at the worst ... and we're somewhere lower than top-5.

Can we zone them?  Whatever happened to the triangle and two?

[MU82]

Can we zone them?  Whatever happened to the triangle and two?

It was left mostly to middle-school and rec-league coaches to use, because it's a lot less useful against great college teams.

[MuggsyB]

It was left mostly to middle-school and rec-league coaches to use, because it's a lot less useful against great college teams.

How do we muck it up?  Blitzkrieg type defense with crazy substitutions?  Maybe destroy them psychologically?

[tower912]

Can we zone them?  Whatever happened to the triangle and two?

We can.  It won't work.  A triangle and two requires the other 3 players to be lousy.  UCLA does not fit that bill.
MU went zone for two possessions against SIUE.  A compressed 1-3-1.  I doubt it works for more than a possession.
UCLA is too experienced and Cronin is a good coach .

[tower912]

How do we muck it up?  Blitzkrieg type defense with crazy substitutions?  Maybe destroy them psychologically?

Pressing all game falling back into an aggressive man to man is about as good as it gets.  Perhaps they can throw in some traps out of the man.  They haven't shown it yet.  Maybe they were holding them back until Monday.

[MU82]

How do we muck it up?  Blitzkrieg type defense with crazy substitutions?  Maybe destroy them psychologically?

Shaka should hire Jeff Gillooly as a special assistant, as long as Gillooly agrees to bring Shane Stant with him.

I can just hear Juzang now: "Why?!?! Why me?!?!"

[MuggsyB]

Shaka should hire Jeff Gillooly as a special assistant, as long as Gillooly agrees to bring Shane Stant with him.

I can just hear Juzang now: "Why?!?! Why me?!?!"

Ha!!!  Well played!!  I knew the name was familiar but had to look it up.  I wasn't thinking of anything barbaric.  Any bats available for hire?

[Newsdreams]

Can we zone them?  Whatever happened to the triangle and two?

Tex Winter is gowne!