Good fun

[tower912]

Muggsy, I have been saying for a year that the only thing Ben lacks is confidence, a belief that he is and can be the man.  Defensively, right now, he is one step below the unicorn that was Oso and that is pretty darn good.  The confidence on offense has to come from inside.

[muwarrior69]

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.

I am really impressed with Parham so far. 10 pts last night and 9 pts against George Mason. Defense will come.

[MarquetteDano]

I am really impressed with Parham so far. 10 pts last night and 9 pts against George Mason. Defense will come.

Agreed.  Parham is going to such a key player already this season.  He doesn't seemed rushed like most frosh.

[wadesworld]

Just getting to watch the game as I wasn't able to last night.  Fun road game and always huge to get a win in your first true road game.  That and the first conference road games are always the toughest to get, in my opinion.

I'm not ready to say I'd be "shocked" if this wasn't a Q1 win come March.  I think it probably will, but just thinking about last year, UCLA seemed like it'd be a nice win for Mu and it really wasn't.  Kansas seemed like it was going to be about as big of a win as you can get, and while it was still good, it wasn't that.

[MU82]

There's a reason Gold gets so many more minutes than the two of them and it's not stubbornness on Shaka's part.

You'd think that by now, after 3 pretty damn good years (and a great start to Season 4), 100% of Scoopers would trust Shaka's decisions regarding playing time. We'd realize that he sees these kids on and off the court for several hours every single day and that he knows who deserves to play in which situations, who is mentally and physically ready to compete game after game.

Shaka wants to win even more than every one of us does. For him, Job 1 isn't to coach or to mentor college students ... Job 1 is to win - period. Like every coach in the country, he can't keep his job unless he wins enough. Plus, he's a coach - his brain is wired to hate hate hate losing. 

If Shaka really felt that using Hamilton more than Gold or using Parham more than Joplin or using Ross more than Stevie (in previous seasons) would lead to more victories, he would absolutely make those and other decisions.

If Parham does pass Joplin in Shaka's rotation, I would feel confident that Parham has earned it. If Joplin stays ahead of Parham in the rotation, I would feel confident that Shaka has a damn good reason for keeping Joplin ahead of Parham, and it isn't out of some kind of blind loyalty.

[Uncle Rico]

Just getting to watch the game as I wasn't able to last night.  Fun road game and always huge to get a win in your first true road game.  That and the first conference road games are always the toughest to get, in my opinion.

I'm not ready to say I'd be "shocked" if this wasn't a Q1 win come March.  I think it probably will, but just thinking about last year, UCLA seemed like it'd be a nice win for Mu and it really wasn't.  Kansas seemed like it was going to be about as big of a win as you can get, and while it was still good, it wasn't that.

Road wins in non-con, especially the first without your floor general of the previous 3 seasons, is a good win.  Regardless of what becomes of Maryland

[PJDunn]

In spite of their turd of a coach, I think that Maryland will be in the top 3rd of the B10. This will be a good win for us. Queen is a monster.

[PGsHeroes32]

Just getting to watch the game as I wasn't able to last night.  Fun road game and always huge to get a win in your first true road game.  That and the first conference road games are always the toughest to get, in my opinion.

I'm not ready to say I'd be "shocked" if this wasn't a Q1 win come March.  I think it probably will, but just thinking about last year, UCLA seemed like it'd be a nice win for Mu and it really wasn't.  Kansas seemed like it was going to be about as big of a win as you can get, and while it was still good, it wasn't that.

In order for this to not be a Q1 win Maryland would have to fall to below 75 in Kenpom

You really think that is possible?

I'm not sure how this win winds up looking by years end, but I'm pretty certain it wont drop to Q2 on the sheet

[forgetful]

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

The irony of this is that we did win this came because of FTs. We lost the battle on eFG%. We lost the rebounding battle.

I guess one could argue we won the game because of winning the TO battle. But if we shoot 64% from FT (their %) and they shoot 75% (our %) we lose the game.

[wadesworld]

In order for this to not be a Q1 win Maryland would have to fall to below 75 in Kenpom

You really think that is possible?

I'm not sure how this win winds up looking by years end, but I'm pretty certain it wont drop to Q2 on the sheet

I don't think it's likely, but I do think it's possible.  The B1G is weak at the top, but is very deep.

[Milkshakes]

In spite of their turd of a coach, I think that Maryland will be in the top 3rd of the B10. This will be a good win for us. Queen is a monster.

At one point I think Raftery said something about Willard being friendly or laughing or something. Then he said "it must have been gas". 

[Jay Bee]

In order for this to not be a Q1 win Maryland would have to fall to below 75 in Kenpom

#FakeNews #Lies

[Jay Bee]

The irony of this is that we did win this came because of FTs. We lost the battle on eFG%. We lost the rebounding battle.

I guess one could argue we won the game because of winning the TO battle. But if we shoot 64% from FT (their %) and they shoot 75% (our %) we lose the game.

Dumb. We won three of the four factors, none of which is FT%

Difficult to overcome such a loss in the eFG% dept, but we won on turnovers, rebounded better, and got to the line more often.

[forgetful]

Dumb. We won three of the four factors, none of which is FT%

Difficult to overcome such a loss in the eFG% dept, but we won on turnovers, rebounded better, and got to the line more often.

So you agree FTs matter. Glad to have you on board.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

So you agree FTs matter. Glad to have you on board.

FTR matta. FT% technically mattas but is miniscule compared to the four factors.

JayBee is also right that we rebounded better.

[TVDirector]

Enjoyable, indeed.

A confirming effort after a few uneven games against inferior talent.
Hung with comparable athletes in an hostile environment and took punches and returned them in kind.

No doubt that Kam is the solid core for this team, but if the layer that surrounds him stays steady and flashes brilliance steadily and the outer layer of talented newbies hold their own, develop as the year progresses and breaks into the inner tier, MU will be more than fine. 

Fairly or not, it hinges on Kam getting his- have not yet seen that anyone has the wherewithal yet or in a consistent fashion to carry the offensive weight he bears. 
Excellent early season win and road statement.

[Newsdreams]

So you agree FTs matter. Glad to have you on board.

You don't understand do you?

[BM1090]

There's no way to know.

To stay Q1 Maryland would have to drop below 75. They are 37 right now, assuming the NET ends up close to KenPom. And they looked the part of a top 40 team.

It's a Q1 win.

[Newsdreams]

I wonder how long will the love affair the board has with the frosh will last before they start getting nicknames.

[Newsdreams]

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

I'm sure if he is fed manatee it will totally motivate him.

[BM1090]

Agree that Ben was good last night. 1-3 on threes. Nice drive to the hoop. Couple of nice assists. Has to do a better job of not fouling, but I did think that a couple of the calls were weak.

[Uncle Rico]

I wonder how long will the love affair the board has with the frosh will last before they start getting nicknames.

First time they're on the court and Marquette is losing

[forgetful]

FTR matta. FT% technically mattas but is miniscule compared to the four factors.

JayBee is also right that we rebounded better.

It's also a fact that in this game, if everything was the same, and we swapped FT% we would have lost. We would have ended up with 15.4 points from FTs, for a net loss of 3.6 pts. They would have ended up with 10.5 point from FTs, for a net gain of 1.5 pts.

I recognize that statistics across all games says that FT-rate and FT% are less important factors, but the problem with statistics (and big data analytics) is that it is an all-game average, meaning it should guide your focus on how to best approach winning across all games. All game averages/statistics do not inform on the reason for a specific game outcome.

This is a crude way to conduct the analysis of this individual game, but TOs represent about 25% of win probability. We won that battle by 5 net TOs, for a contribution of 5*0.25=1.25. We won the FT line battle (~15%) by 9 made FTs, a net affect of 9*0.15=1.35. Our most successful factor in overcoming a lower eFG% was FTs.

Or in another way, we netted 9 more points from the FT line. We got a net of 5 more possessions from TO battle. At 1.2 pts per possession (rounding up for this game), that is a net of 6.0 points (our other best performing metric). We netted 3.6 pts from better offensive rebounding.

All other things being equal, we would have lost by ~10 points based on eFG%.

So for this specific game, our ability to outperform from the FT line was the most important factor.

My guess is that Jaybee, besides just being disagreeable, is a "data-driven" type person, as opposed to a "data-guided" approach, that takes individual story lines into consideration.

[The Sultan]

It's also a fact that in this game, if everything was the same, and we swapped FT% we would have lost. We would have ended up with 15.4 points from FTs, for a net loss of 3.6 pts. They would have ended up with 10.5 point from FTs, for a net gain of 1.5 pts.

I recognize that statistics across all games says that FT-rate and FT% are less important factors, but the problem with statistics (and big data analytics) is that it is an all-game average, meaning it should guide your focus on how to best approach winning across all games. All game averages/statistics do not inform on the reason for a specific game outcome.

This is a crude way to conduct the analysis of this individual game, but TOs represent about 25% of win probability. We won that battle by 5 net TOs, for a contribution of 5*0.25=1.25. We won the FT line battle (~15%) by 9 made FTs, a net affect of 9*0.15=1.35. Our most successful factor in overcoming a lower eFG% was FTs.

Or in another way, we netted 9 more points from the FT line. We got a net of 5 more possessions from TO battle. At 1.2 pts per possession (rounding up for this game), that is a net of 6.0 points (our other best performing metric). We netted 3.6 pts from better offensive rebounding.

All other things being equal, we would have lost by ~10 points based on eFG%.

So for this specific game, our ability to outperform from the FT line was the most important factor.

My guess is that Jaybee, besides just being disagreeable, is a "data-driven" type person, as opposed to a "data-guided" approach, that takes individual story lines into consideration.

🙄🙄🙄

[Milkshakes]

Just watched the game again. The Maryland fans were letting the fbomb and other classy chants loose with regularity.