Starting the New Year with more McDer-ama

[21Jumpstreet]

The process needs wins.

Especially gritty home wins.

Or else it’s very hard to enjoy.

I am a trust the process guy and am also an emotional human. I’m pretty disappointed with this one even though we clawed back from down 17 and playing poorly, we absolutely handed them the game. Terrible decision making all around at the end, I can’t say it was terrible all game as they fought back, but damn I’m a little frustrated. Okay, back to my beer, barefoot, in sunny New Smyrna Beach. Happy New Year Scoop!

[21Jumpstreet]

O Max rolling with his guy to the lane and not helping on the 3 was such a bonehead play. Give them anything inside the arc. JUST DONT GIVE UP A 3

Clueless basketball play

My 15 year old said, put four guys on the perimeter facing the basket and Kur in the lane. Might be unconventional, but he understand you cannot give up a three under any circumstance

[Billy Hoyle]

My only silver lining, I care enough again that I am really pissed off we lost. Another silver lining, Oso and Omax need to play a lot of minutes going forward. Both of them are going to be very good players down the road.

Ellis provided a really good spark to start the comeback but was glued to the bench the rest of the way. I like his energy.

Oso can be a stud. Going to have to keep a few coaches away from him. He and Lewis can be a good team in the post moving forward.

[tower912]

MU should have fouled up 3.

[21Jumpstreet]

MU should have fouled up 3.

We were a split household/bar rail. I said foul, but it never seems to be that easy.

[cheebs09]

We were a split household/bar rail. I said foul, but it never seems to be that easy.

I didn’t think there was enough time, but once he dribbled that’s when we should have done it. I thought it would be a catch and shoot scenario.

[MU82]

OK ... I'll take the contrarian view, at least for argument's sake ...

O'Connell made a darn tough 3 with a 6-9 guy in his face, and it would have been even tougher had O-Max stayed home like he should have.

Also, one thing I've noticed this season so far is that not as many coaches are automatically fouling in that situation. And FWIW (not much), NBA coaches rarely foul up 3.

But ...

If there ever was a foul-up-3 situation, this was pretty much textbook. So either Shaka simply doesn't believe in fouling up 3, or Oso/O-Max didn't get the memo.

Otherwise ...

++ Our offense in the second OT sucked, and personally, I'm much more disappointed about that from Shaka. Our guys looked exhausted, and they got no help from their coach.

++ Shaka needed to find more PT for Elliott. He also probably needed to get Ellis another short run in the 2H, if only to give Kolek a 1-2 minute rest before a TV timeout.

++ Shaka did spark the comeback by going hockey substitution again. The subs didn't pare much of the lead, but it obviously sent a message, and the starters came back strong. BTW, the announcers never even realized Shaka subbed 5-for-5; never once mentioned it.

++ Kuath missed another effen dunk; except for 2 early blocks, he had an invisible game in which he was badly outplayed by the Creighton big. The combination of Oso playing well and us not being able to afford missed dunks from our center might mean a lot more minutes for Oso the rest of the way.

++ Lost the 3-point contest by 18 points. Very difficult to win when that happens. Creighton also attempted almost 3x as many FTs, though their 2H misses at the line helped us a lot.

++ Very active on D after the starters got back in, and that's why we were in position to win. They had a "what the hell do we have to lose" attitude and really played aggressively. Lots of deflections and just plain in-your-face D.

++ Lewis seemed out of it much of the game but I thought he played really well on D and on the boards from midway through the second half through the first OT. We aren't good enough to have our supposed "star" be out of it for as long as he was, though.

++ Kolek had an interesting game. Again bricky from 3, but obviously has a total green light. 6 assists and would have easily had 10+ if we had made some bunnies. 4 TOs, including a couple brain-dead ones. 3 steals and mostly OK man D until he got tired. I know Shaka values him as the "organize the offense" guy, but the coach has to find ways to get the kid a little rest because this is at least the third straight game Kolek didn't have legs at the end.

++ When it looked like we were gonna win, I was like, "We're gonna steal this one, and there's no way we shoulda won this game." But then, at the end, it felt like we had given it away and that there was no way we should have lost.

++ Though I'm a "process" guy when a program has a new coach, not enough talent, not enough experience and zero go-to guys ... losing a game like this doesn't make this team "better." Truly a "bad" loss, arguably the first of the Shaka era.

[MU82]

One more: Not an excuse, but we missed Kam Jones today.

He can get hot from 3, he puts good pressure on the ball, would have helped keep other MU players fresher.

[Miss Katie’s]

O Max rolling with his guy to the lane and not helping on the 3 was such a bonehead play. Give them anything inside the arc. JUST DONT GIVE UP A 3

Clueless basketball play

Agreed.  Give up anything inside the arc and don’t even get close enough to foul.  Only thing that matters is the 3. 

[1SE]

Also have to say, at least from the broadcast the crowd seemed super flat - even when it got interesting

[panda]

Idk why some are saying fouling with a side court in bound less than three seconds left is an automatic foul up 3 situation. That is where bad things can happen.

Back court 70 feet from the basket is automatic territory. This was hardly automatic.

[NickelDimer]

Idk why some are saying fouling with a side court in bound less than three seconds left is an automatic foul up 3 situation. That is where bad things can happen.

Back court 70 feet from the basket is automatic territory. This was hardly automatic.

He caught and dribbled the ball. It’s a no brainer

[panda]

He caught and dribbled the ball. It’s a no brainer

Crafty player with Oso on him could easily turn into a shooting foul.

See Justin Lewis at the end of the shot clock earlier in the game. Our bigs aren’t great at face guarding on the perimeter.

[Jockey]

My worry from the start was that this was going to be a "Depaul season" for MU. I haven't seen anything to change my mind. The next 3 games are critical - lose all 3 and this team will finish dead last in the BE. Win just one and it is still probably a last place team.


Can someone talk me off the ledge? I'm not talking moral victories or development.

[We R Final Four]

My 15 year old said, put four guys on the perimeter facing the basket and Kur in the lane. Might be unconventional, but he understand you cannot give up a three under any circumstance

Smart kid. Maybe have all 5 on the perimeter….not enough time for CU to secure a rebound and get off a 2nd 3 point attempt in that situation.

[willie warrior]

1.  MU was in this game because their defense finally woke up.    Not many saw that coming after the first three 3's of the second half. 
2.  Osa has come so far.    38 minutes all of last year.    Spark plug of the team this year.    Still only 6'9.    He will get beat up from time to time.   
3.  Creighton has played two straight really solid defensive games.   
4.  Creighton should have just kept feeding Kalkbrenner in the post.   Every single time until MU doubled him. 
5.   Gotta love the lack of quit in this team.   I wish they would stop digging themselves such a deep hole.   
6.  MU got to 32 deflections.
7.   Remind me again about why some don't like OMP?   Hustle like that with 4 fouls.   He has revealed his character.   
8.  Creighton going zone iced MU in the second OT.   Genius move by Dougie.    I would never play man against MU.   3 pt shooting and all.   
9.  Probably going to be a lot of talk about fouling up 3.    Damned if you do, damned if you don't.    Bit MU in the butt. 
10.   It is going to be OK.    Yes, we don't have studs.    But we have high character fighters.   Some days that will be enough.   Some days it won't.   Sit back.   Relax.   Enjoy the process.

When do we start winning? Are we now seeing why Shaka was run out of Texas?

[PointWarrior]

Are we happy Kolek has 3 more years?   Or can he be a good backup PG is Shaka can bring in a PG who can actually make a shot? 

[Vander Blue Man Group]

When do we start winning? Are we now seeing why Shaka was run out of Texas?

 

Today’s loss really sucked but come on….

[79Warrior]

When do we start winning? Are we now seeing why Shaka was run out of Texas?

Sure. 14 games into his career at MU? What a stupid comment.

[MU82]

I put it in the "Shaka fails" thread, but probably belongs here, too ...

Here is word-for-word exactly what Shaka Smart said at his postgame presser about the no-foul-up-3 situation:

We normally, when there's 6 seconds or less, do. It was a unique situation with the ball being on the side there. What we didn't want to happen was for them to throw it in and us to go foul and then (O'Connell) to get into the shooting motion.

Obviously, when you watch the play back, you certainly would wanna do something different -- either really, really play a lot more aggressively, or foul. I've unfortunately seen it work out the wrong way both ways, and I think for us, regardless of what we're doing, it's about executing it and finding a way.

And I think it's really important not to ever encapsulate a game in one play. Certainly that one sticks out because we had a 3-point lead with 3 seconds left.

[tower912]

Willie gotta Willie.

[Jockey]

Smart kid. Maybe have all 5 on the perimeter….not enough time for CU to secure a rebound and get off a 2nd 3 point attempt in that situation.

That’s what I was yelling for. Who cares if they get a gimme ‘2’?

McDermott did exactly the right thing at the end of regulation. Shaka did the exact wrong thing at the end of overtime. There are never guarantees, but you always play the best odds.

[tower912]

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore/_/gameId/401373530

Box score

[Dr. Blackheart]

Crafty player with Oso on him could easily turn into a shooting foul.

See Justin Lewis at the end of the shot clock earlier in the game. Our bigs aren’t great at face guarding on the perimeter.

A crafty coach works for that match-up.  An uncrafty coach allows it.

[#UnleashSean]

I didn’t think there was enough time, but once he dribbled that’s when we should have done it. I thought it would be a catch and shoot scenario.

People keep saying this. You foul off ball on the inbounds.

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