Yellow Jacket Wramblings

[tower912]

1.   I love games with contributions from all over.
2.   Oso had a heck of a game.   His teammates cost him several assists.  They make some lay ups and he is sniffing a triple double.   Maybe a couple of assists short, but you get my point.   My vote for SOTG.
3.  A couple of soft foul calls on Omax.   Alas.   He never really got in the flow due to foul trouble.
4.   Sean and Chase both had some really nice moments.    I hope this is the new normal for both.   
5.   Great defense.    There will be games where a line up of Sean, Stevie, Chase, Omax, and Oso messes people up.
6.   MU looked comfortable attacking the zone.   
7.  Stevie, Kam, Oso, Chase all had really great moves that somehow did not go in.
8.   Am I the only one who hasn't seen an identifiable in bounds play yet this year?    Lob in to Oso, then a hand off.   Today, against the zone, a lob over the top to Kam, who shot.   
9.  I am looking forward to consistency from Joplin.   I think we all are.   
10.   Great bounce back.   We don't have to shut down the program.     Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.   
 

[Vander Blue Man Group]

For those that know better than me, how many defenses that we’ll see in the Big East will be the quality we saw last night?

[Markusquette]

Don't forget about Kolek's increasing confidence on offense translating. He played a great game.

[Uncle Rico]

For those that know better than me, how many defenses that we’ll see in the Big East will be the quality we saw last night?

UConnwill be the closest

[Goose]

Six games in and I think this team is better overall team than last year. Consistency is going to be very important, but the D is far advanced over last year.

[Vander Blue Man Group]

Six games in and I think this team is better overall team than last year. Consistency is going to be very important, but the D is far advanced over last year.

Agree completely regarding the defense. Oso can’t get into foul trouble. Someone get Ben some HGH.

[PointWarrior]

Jones and Ross need more PT

[Lennys Tap]

1.   I love games with contributions from all over.
2.   Oso had a heck of a game.   His teammates cost him several assists.  They make some lay ups and he is sniffing a triple double.   Maybe a couple of assists short, but you get my point.   My vote for SOTG.
3.  A couple of soft foul calls on Omax.   Alas.   He never really got in the flow due to foul trouble.
4.   Sean and Chase both had some really nice moments.    I hope this is the new normal for both.   
5.   Great defense.    There will be games where a line up of Sean, Stevie, Chase, Omax, and Oso messes people up.
6.   MU looked comfortable attacking the zone.   
7.  Stevie, Kam, Oso, Chase all had really great moves that somehow did not go in.
8.   Am I the only one who hasn't seen an identifiable in bounds play yet this year?    Lob in to Oso, then a hand off.   Today, against the zone, a lob over the top to Kam, who shot.   
9.  I am looking forward to consistency from Joplin.   I think we all are.   
10.   Great bounce back.   We don't have to shut down the program.     Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.   
 

Oso had a really nice bounce back after an awful/soft performance last night. Happy to see it.

Why no mention of Kolek? If there’s an all tourney team he’s for sure our representative.

[brewcity77]

For those that know better than me, how many defenses that we’ll see in the Big East will be the quality we saw last night?

Creighton's D looks legit. They needed a number of things to go right to be the team pundits predicted, and so far it looks like those things went right.

[tower912]

Jones and Ross need more PT

At the expense of.......?

[tower912]

Oso had a really nice bounce back after an awful/soft performance last night. Happy to see it.

Why no mention of Kolek? If there’s an all tourney team he’s for sure our representative.

Kolek is one of the two anchors of the team, just like Shaka said.   He looked good.   

[Jockey]

Jones and Ross need more PT

They are the two guys on the team with elite athleticism.

Sean will be a 4-year guy because of his size. Hopefully, Ross will be too. Gonna be fun watching these two guys develop.

[CountryRoads]

MU has a lot of healthy competition at guard.

[Lennys Tap]

At the expense of.......?

Exactly. I LOVE Sean Jones and really like Chase Ross but there’s a logjam at their positions and the players ahead of them have more experience. That said, Shaka’s hand may be forced by Sean - I think he’s that good.

[Elonsmusk]

Defense travels. Our on-ball guarding is elite, which will help mitigate our lack of size. Sean and Stevie are absolute bulldogs. Kam’s defense is improved. Kolek is also a good on ball defender.

Offensively, Kam is going to find his shot. Kolek’s improved offense will help the team as well. But this teams identity and calling card is it’s on ball defense.

[Ellenson Guerrero]

At the expense of.......?

Sean needs to play more and Stevie needs to play less. Stevie is a great defender, but Sean is no slouch either and we need Sean’s ability to break down the defense from the perimeter off the bounce.

[tower912]

I am going to let Sean be a freshman.  There are going to be more rough games.  But I am going to enjoy watching his progress.

I am going to enjoy the guard depth and trust Shaka to allocate the minutes.

[Uncle Rico]

Shaka is off the hot seat for tonight

[PointWarrior]

Sean - Kolek (to keep him fresh), Stevie, Kam (when he is jacking up 35 footers 5 seconds into the shot clock),

Ross -  Joplin until he gets his game going, Oso when in foul trouble or an off night

At the expense of.......?

[tower912]

Failing to take size into account.  Hard to go 4 guard if one is 5'10 ish

Particularly in the Big East.   You thought the rebounding was bad before.

[MU82]

Shaka is off the hot seat for tonight

Yeah, there sure was a lot of wasted mental energy the last 24-48 hours.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

At the expense of.......?

At this point I would say Kam Jones. Doesn't mean it should be forever but his offense hasn't been good enough to justify his defense so far.

[Dr. Blackheart]

#6 was key. Great dribble drive penetration against the zone.  MU all energy all the time. 83.8 defensive efficiency is elite.

[MuggsyB]

They are the two guys on the team with elite athleticism.

Sean will be a 4-year guy because of his size. Hopefully, Ross will be too. Gonna be fun watching these two guys develop.

Yep.  You can't teach speed, quicks, hops. 

[21Jumpstreet]

Defense travels. Our on-ball guarding is elite, which will help mitigate our lack of size. Sean and Stevie are absolute bulldogs. Kam’s defense is improved. Kolek is also a good on ball defender.

Offensively, Kam is going to find his shot. Kolek’s improved offense will help the team as well. But this teams identity and calling card is it’s on ball defense.

Bingo

[21Jumpstreet]

At this point I would say Kam Jones. Doesn't mean it should be forever but his offense hasn't been good enough to justify his defense so far.

I think Kam’s defense tonight was good and getting better. He has it all, now just has to constantly improve a little each day. Kid could be real good

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

I think Kam’s defense tonight was good and getting better. He has it all, now just has to constantly improve a little each day. Kid could be real good

Not sure I would say his defense improved today, just play a bad opponent. The inbound play where GT got the uncontested layup was because Jones fell asleep at the wheel. I also believe that Kam has potential but he hasn't been living up to it yet. He attacked the basket more after Shaka pulled him for another moonshot. Maybe the message gets through.

[pbiflyer]

Things I learned from the game, in person.

1. Players family travel well. Lots of them present.
2. Sean is a tenacious on ball defender and can make up for his size with speed and effort.
3. Arena staff was awesome. Arena announcer was awful.
4. Listen to your kids when they say wear the Tyler quote t shirt. Sweater vest crowd hated it, everyone else, including Tyler’s parents loved it.
5. Refs sucked.

[Boston Warrior]

Was at the tourney, right behind Rafferty, 4 guard is definitely possible with Sean jones, understand his lack of height. big vertical, quick on quick, physical.

He is the next Dominic James.

Wish they had one more big, jop has the ability to step up but has to continue to focus more on the defensive end.

This team has upside!

[1SE]

Good to see a resounding win, but we still need to go 2/3 in the remaining real N-C games. But let's not overlook CSU before taking down Baylor!

Incidentally - why are the cupcakes SSOOO bad this year? Did we expect them not to be this bad or is this a scheduling issue? Presumably replacing 250, 290, 350  and 356 (ooofff) games with four games between 150-250 would have given our computer numbers a big boost by the end of the year?

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Good to see a resounding win, but we still need to go 2/3 in the remaining real N-C games. But let's not overlook CSU before taking down Baylor!

Incidentally - why are the cupcakes SSOOO bad this year? Did we expect them not to be this bad or is this a scheduling issue? Presumably replacing 250, 290, 350  and 356 (ooofff) games with four games between 150-250 would have given our computer numbers a big boost by the end of the year?

The two worst cupcakes were out of this staff's control. LIU was assigned to us by the Fort Myers tournament. Chicago State is a reschedule from a game that got cancelled during the pandemic year IIRC. Radford and CMU are both traditionally better than they're projected to be this season.

And no, replacing them with games between 150-250 would not boost the computer numbers. That was true under RPI. With NET, as long as you beat your cupcakes by an appropriate margin they don't hurt you and can actually help you. Until the GA Tech game, or largest one game boost to our KenPom score was our drubbing of LIU.

[1SE]

The two worst cupcakes were out of this staff's control. LIU was assigned to us by the Fort Myers tournament. Chicago State is a reschedule from a game that got cancelled during the pandemic year IIRC. Radford and CMU are both traditionally better than they're projected to be this season.

And no, replacing them with games between 150-250 would not boost the computer numbers. That was true under RPI. With NET, as long as you beat your cupcakes by an appropriate margin they don't hurt you and can actually help you. Until the GA Tech game, or largest one game boost to our KenPom score was our drubbing of LIU.

So scheduling cupcakes fine as long as you beat the living snot out of them? Seems cruel to the cupcakes (and the walk-ons).

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

So scheduling cupcakes fine as long as you beat the living snot out of them? Seems cruel to the cupcakes (and the walk-ons).

I don't think it's cruel to cupcakes personally. I've never really understood why at this level people get upset about running up the score. It is cruel to the walk ons. You never see them get more than a minute in a night even in a 60 point blowout. They are unfortunate collateral damage in the pursuit of a more accurate ranking tool.

[Herman Cain]

Have really enjoyed seeing a well coached MU team this years.

The guys come out fighting hard every game so far.

[PointWarrior]

And how is GT that bad in Pastner’s 7th season?

[The Sultan of Semantics]

And how is GT that bad in Pastner’s 7th season?

He’s not a good coach. But GT doesn’t have a lot of money and just bought out their football coach. So he may be around awhile.