Good fun

[MuMark]

Perfect headline, tower, because that was a really entertaining basketball game. So glad the correct team won!

Loved the contribution we got from all three first-year players. I thought we'd see Owens at least a little in the second half, but I guess Shaka didn't want to push it. Parham is gonna be a really good offensive player, and Hamilton is already better than I think most of us expected.

Stevie is what MU hoops is all about. Kam is a superstar (but gotta hit those FTs). Ross is a defensive stud. Gold made some huge defensive plays down the stretch and hit a big-time 3.

If we play like that in every game, we will win a LOT.

Shaka said post game......." It was good to get him out there...... ow we got to get him to guard the ball"

So my guess is he he made some miscues defensively so Shaka went with other guys.

[MuMark]

#FTsNoMatta aina

It does when the other team out shoots you and you make more than the other team attempts in a 4 point win.......# aina

[TallTitan34]

For everyone wondering if Jop or Ben got the block, the answer is neither per the box score.

https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/sidearm.nextgen.sites/gomarquette.com/documents/2024/11/16/MU_at_Maryland_Box_Score.pdf?timestamp=20241116034123

[MU24]

Hope Gold finds his confidence again, some nice plays defensively. Parham is gonna be nice.

[Jay Bee]

It does when the other team out shoots you and you make more than the other team attempts in a 4 point win.......# aina

Lol. So strange so many still don't get it

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Gold had some very good games as a freshman too.  The Gold hate on this board is ridiculous.  He's a good player, who is off to a slow start on his 3 point shot.  His defense is substantially improved and he's a floor spacer, even if his shooting isn't great at this point.

That aside, yes Parham looks great and Hamilton is a great presence to have too.  Bright future for both of those guys.

Yep. Gold's shot is off (until tonight, so was Parham's) and Hamilton is a better offensive rebounder, but Gold has done just about everything better than Parham and Hamilton so far. Parham has an instinct for deflections but is still learning how to play defense at the college level. Hamilton hasn't mastered defensive positioning yet and doesn't know where to move when his man doesn't have the ball. That's okay, most bigs struggle with that in their first year of playing. I see a very high ceiling for Parham. I'm not certain about Hamilton's ceiling but I believe he can have a very solid MU career. There's a reason Gold gets so many more minutes than the two of them and it's not stubbornness on Shaka's part.

[WarriorFan]

Excellent fun game to watch.  Pity MU had to win it twice.  There are a lot of teachable moments in that last 2:00 which I'm sure Shaka will take care of for the future.

For the Ben Gold haters:  Did he make even one mistake tonight?  This year?  Out of position?  Incorrect rotation?  Inadequate screen?  Travel?  He has only 3 TO's so far this year.  He plays because he plays the right way, within the system, executes exactly how the coaches want, and doesn't make mistakes.  The shots will fall.  Watch him on defense.  He does soooooo much.

Very excited to see Owens, Hamilton and Parham develop.  Their mistakes are tolerable for now.
Jop's mistakes, however, are not.  I'm not sure one of them can replace him yet, but I stick to what I said last year... he's the weakest link.  If the team can "upgrade from within" by getting more from the 4 spot, the sky's the limit.

[Goose]

I thought Gold's intensity over the last ten minutes, especially about a three minute stretch, played a big role in the win. He was very active on the offensive side during that stretch and the same on D.

He showed glimpses of what he is capable of and hopefully that gets him going consistently. A good Ben Gold and this team can be good and I'm still confident we will see that.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

Gold had some very good games as a freshman too.  The Gold hate on this board is ridiculous.  He's a good player, who is off to a slow start on his 3 point shot.  His defense is substantially improved and he's a floor spacer, even if his shooting isn't great at this point.

That aside, yes Parham looks great and Hamilton is a great presence to have too.  Bright future for both of those guys.

Yeah I agree about Gold. I thought defensively he did fine. Shaka ain't yanking a guy for a slow start on offense when he's playing well on the other side of the floor.

[NCMUFan]

Great game.  Seniors leading by example.
Beat Purdue!

[tower912]

There are no bad road wins against a high major team.

Hit 3s at a decent clip and stay healthy and this team will be dangerous in March.

[tower912]

Right now, there is a noticeable difference between Ben's defensive footwork and Caedin and Royce.  Ben's is better and more consistent.  The young guys are doing OK, then have a second where their feet stop moving and they get beat.   Not really a problem.  A matter of doing the work and getting better.   They will be fine.
   Ben isn't Oso.  But so far he has been just fine on defense. 

Shaka likes his veterans at winning time.  Always has.   So, to me, a good question is which young guy will be the first to break through and be on the floor at crunch time?  Barring fouls or injuries.

[willie warrior]

Kam is special.  He should be playing in the nba next year. He has to figure out how to stay out of foul trouble.

Stevie is mister clutch. Only player I feel comfortable shooting free throws at the end of games.

I've seen more out of Parham and Hamilton in 4 games then Gold in 3 years. I think those two are going to be good.

It was such a short stint but Owens will be a star.

Great win that we tried to give away the last minute.

We have to clean up the awful fouls away from the basket. Too many.

How dare you criticize Ben.Everybody here knows that without Ben we are a sub .500 team.
How

[tower912]

Ben is shooting poorly from 3 right now.  So is Joplin.  And?

[Uncle Rico]

How dare you criticize Ben.Everybody here knows that without Ben we are a sub .500 team.
How

Correct.  Everybody knows that

[Shooter McGavin]

Parnham reminds me of Justin Lewis.  I love what he brings to the table.  He is a bucket.

Ben was great on defense last night.  That shows how into the game he is despite not contributing much on offense yet.  It will happen.  Hopefully Purdue will be his offensive breakout game.

Really glad Owens got on the floor last night.  Get comfortable young man and then let it rip.  Can't wait to see what others saw at the scrimmage and in practice.

Caedin is doing really well for the most part.  He is in his infancy but you can see the promise.  And I agree with others that he should continue taking the wide open three if it's there.  His shot looks decent. 

Really hope Zaide gets some traction on offense soon but in the mean time keep playing good D and earn more minutes.

Kam, Chase and Stevie are constants.  Any injuries to these three would be a nightmare.

Great win last night! 

[Shooter McGavin]

Oh, Joplin makes me cringe when he handles the ball in any decision making capacity.  He's like a baby deer on his drives to the basket.  Hope he sticks to catch and shoot and if he does drive he should not be afraid to be the one player to shoot a ten footer. 

Fortunately he is fairly disruptive on defense and his length bothers three point shooters.  He also bodies people fairly well on opponents drives and rebounds well.

We have to take the good with the bad.  Just get the ball to a guard Jop!

[Vander Blue Man Group]

Jop is 1-17 from 3 the past 2 games. He's too good a shooter for that to continue. Positive regression is coming, hopefully starting Tuesday night.

[Goose]

Shooter

The first time I saw Owens run down the court he looked different to me than the rest of the team. He looks extremely quick and athletic. I will be very surprised if he is not pushing Joplin hard for playing time.

My hope, it makes Joplin into a smarter and more productive 20-24 minute guy. Jop has a role on this team and hope it used productively over just him on the court.

[Milkshakes]

Excellent fun game to watch.  Pity MU had to win it twice.  There are a lot of teachable moments in that last 2:00 which I'm sure Shaka will take care of for the future.

For the Ben Gold haters:  Did he make even one mistake tonight?  This year?  Out of position?  Incorrect rotation?  Inadequate screen?  Travel?  He has only 3 TO's so far this year.  He plays because he plays the right way, within the system, executes exactly how the coaches want, and doesn't make mistakes.  The shots will fall.  Watch him on defense.  He does soooooo much.

Very excited to see Owens, Hamilton and Parham develop.  Their mistakes are tolerable for now.
Jop's mistakes, however, are not.  I'm not sure one of them can replace him yet, but I stick to what I said last year... he's the weakest link.  If the team can "upgrade from within" by getting more from the 4 spot, the sky's the limit.

Great post.  I think this is spot on.  I am delighted with how Hamilton is showing up.  He is a great backup to Ben at the 5 and I am hopeful that he will develop into a really good upperclassman.

What surprises me is that the talk isn't about Royce and Owens eating up Jop's minutes. If either of them can develop quickly on the defensive end they will get lots of floor time and I'd expect that to be at Jopin's expense. 

Also, where is our Sophomore class?  I expected to see some sparks by now and instead it has been crickets. 

[tower912]

Did you see the size of the brace on Tre's right arm when he shot the free throws?

Weird to say, but right now Joplin is playing far better defense than the frosh.

Zaide is in the same boat as Ben and Joplin, can't make a three.  And Chase is playing too well to take off the floor.  36 minutes last night, most on the team.

Going forward, it would be awesome if Sean came back, DO learns how to guard the ball and Royce seriously pushes Joplin.   That would mean that the bench is productive and that MU is a good and dangerous team.

But at crunch time, look for the upperclassmen to be on the floor.   That is who Shaka is.  No subs the last 5 minutes last night.

[willie warrior]

A very good game for mid November. The guys played hard and Mitchell definitely showed great poise on those FTs.
Some observations
Jolps minutes need to start going toward Parham. Parham does need to pick up his D.
Gooolllldbrick should be playing down low more.
Mitchell, Kam and Ross all are solid although Chase did not have a very good game. These three need to perform every game for us to be a BEast contender.
Next game will be a real tester. Then we should really know where the team is at.

[Skatastrophy]

Oh, Joplin makes me cringe when he handles the ball in any decision making capacity.  He's like a baby deer on his drives to the basket.  Hope he sticks to catch and shoot and if he does drive he should not be afraid to be the one player to shoot a ten footer. 

Fortunately he is fairly disruptive on defense and his length bothers three point shooters.  He also bodies people fairly well on opponents drives and rebounds well.

We have to take the good with the bad.  Just get the ball to a guard Jop!

Both Jop and Chase seem frantic on offense from time to time. Jop also seems to calm himself down purposefully when initiating the offense, but that stalls the ball. It's like the game hasn't slowed down for them yet, even though they're experienced players. Stresses me out.

[Goose]

Tower

If Sean comes back and Owens plays at level it appears he can play at, this will be a dangerous team to play. Have always been a fan of defense and things are trending well on that side of the ball. This year it looks like much more poise on defense and being comfortable in the system. IMO, I still believe defense will be the calling card of the MU program under Shaka.

I have to get my Ben Gold plug in, if he ends up being a consistent threat from three-point line, he is going to be a very big part of the success of the team this year. His intensity last night was at a high level, and he made 3-4 very big plays in last ten minutes. Anyone questioning his improved D is simply looking to bash him and many on here simply think he is in the game to shoot three pointers.

[MuggsyB]

I thought Gold's intensity over the last ten minutes, especially about a three minute stretch, played a big role in the win. He was very active on the offensive side during that stretch and the same on D.

He showed glimpses of what he is capable of and hopefully that gets him going consistently. A good Ben Gold and this team can be good and I'm still confident we will see that.

Yes.  We need Ben desperately.  He needs to play with some fury Goose.  How can we motivate the young man?