The Bench.

[Scoop Snoop]

I think the bench will be just fine. The talent is there.

Once Sean is fully cleared he will help the rest of the bench just with his presence in the 2nd unit in practice. Royce is awesome. Damarius is awesome, just needs more time...and I fully trust Tre and Zaide defensively.

Yep.

[GoldenEagles03]

Marquette is easy to scout because the offense is basically the same.  5 man out motion.  More pick and pop than pick and roll.  If the threes are landing, MU is very tough to beat. 
  MU'S defense is fundamentally unchanged.  Aggressive on the ball, aggressive traps, try to turn the offense over.  A full court press to take time off the clock.  A 3-2 zone that either stays static or switches to man halfway through the shot clock as the other team starts their cuts, having stood still for 5 second and then gone into their zone action.

How well is MU shooting 3s and how effective is their pressure?

I would argue that also makes them tougher to guard. They don't have a ton of sets. A true motion is just flow of the game type stuff. There is no scout for it. There's no script to it and Marquette has 5 versatile players on the court at all times.

[cheebs09]

Actually looking forward to a more relaxed week for MU hoops hopefully. This was a tough stretch of games. Will be easier to enjoy some of the other great games this week. Will be nice to see extended run from MU's second unit as well.

Is there such a thing as a relaxed week of MUBB?

[tower912]

I would argue that also makes them tougher to guard. They don't have a ton of sets. A true motion is just flow of the game type stuff. There is no scout for it. There's no script to it and Marquette has 5 versatile players on the court at all times.

Yes, like Nova used to be. 

[Goose]

Tower

While MU's defense may be similar to years past, it definitely has a different vibe and is causing more problems. IMO, that is due to not having TK playing 30+ minutes, a more in shape Joplin and healthy Ross. In addition, it looks far more refined to me this year and more focused. The previous years the defense was more of an annoyance to the opposing team vs. now being 40 minutes of smart pressure.

[PointWarrior]

Listen, the amount of bad real takes on this board makes that really hard.

Tre and Zaide are going to take a lot of heat this year and next.  New Jop and Ben.

The kids have the athleticism and talent to be real good players.  The growth might be rough at times and that'll be frustrating but, man, what does this staff have to do to earn trust?

They'll have misses and maybe these two end up as misses but discarding them a year and 8 games into their second season is simply stupid 

Same basketball Einstein's that thought Oso was a bust and we wasted a scholarship on Jimmy Butler.

[tower912]

Tower

While MU's defense may be similar to years past, it definitely has a different vibe and is causing more problems. IMO, that is due to not having TK playing 30+ minutes, a more in shape Joplin and healthy Ross. In addition, it looks far more refined to me this year and more focused. The previous years the defense was more of an annoyance to the opposing team vs. now being 40 minutes of smart pressure.

We agree.  Ross for TKo is a huge upgrade on defense.  I am going to watch some more, but so far it is my impression that MU is switching more 1-4 than 1-5, trying to keep Ben on a big.   He is still hedging, doubling, turning, but it seems that he returns to the opposing big sooner than Oso did.

[Markusquette]

It's reassuring to see the other starters (Joplin and Gold) have great performances which ultimately was the difference maker yesterday. Parham has been a bright spot off the bench. The rest is tbd regarding Zaide, Tre, Caedin, Owens. Is Sean Jones actually coming back in time this year to make it worthwhile?

[Scoop Snoop]

It's reassuring to see the other starters (Joplin and Gold) have great performances which ultimately was the difference maker yesterday. Parham has been a bright spot off the bench. The rest is tbd regarding Zaide, Tre, Caedin, Owens. Is Sean Jones actually coming back in time this year to make it worthwhile?

At least this thread gave scoopers something else to talk about. I noticed that no one was complaining about Jop after the game....so there's that.

[CountryRoads]

The bench is great. If they were any better, they wouldn't be "the bench." We have a legit full second unit. It seems that they struggle at times because a lot of the time they are all in together. The individual players will look better when they are in there with 4 other starters. They will each have their moment to shine this year in that situation.

[Herman Cain]

Bench players in basketball have two basic missions: play hard D and don't make turnovers .  Any scoring is icing on the cake.

When the current bench starts to get more reps their offense will start to blossom.

[Goose]

Country Roads

I agree on playing with 3-4 starters at the same time. I love Shaka will have 3 bench players on the court at the same time because that is how they learn.

[Shooter McGavin]

Ben started the season shooting poorly.  He did not let it effect his defense.  Shaka has been saying that as soon as Ben believes he is as good as the coaching staff knows he is, he is going to be a different player.   

Savor watching him become that.

His confidence in his new role is growing.  His shot had little fade away and more arc the last two games.  There were a couple times where I almost wanted him at 6'11" to go straight up and hit a three pointer in a defenders face while he was handling the ball.  Not quite that confident yet and probably not the shot Shaka wants because he prefers catch and shoot threes.  But it will come.  Needs to get a little more nasty on his drives to the hoop but that will come as well.  And his defense has been excellent.  I am enjoying watching him develop like you are.

[mug644]

His confidence in his new role is growing.  His shot had little fade away and more arc the last two games.  There were a couple times where I almost wanted him at 6'11" to go straight up and hit a three pointer in a defenders face while he was handling the ball.  Not quite that confident yet and probably not the shot Shaka wants because he prefers catch and shoot threes.  But it will come.  Needs to get a little more nasty violent on his drives to the hoop but that will come as well.  And his defense has been excellent.  I am enjoying watching him develop like you are.

Fixed it for you, using Shaka's word.

[Goose]

Shooter

Gold might be just scratching the surface of becoming an impact player. He has shown glimpses and think he will continue to show more as confidence grows.

I said last year or the year before that Gold looks to have that TK chip or arrogance and as he continues to grow as a player he will get more nasty. He has played tentatively for two years and lacking confidence has been his biggest problem, imo.

[brewcity77]

Moved to another thread.

[1SE]

Hhhmmmmm

[tower912]

Need more.

[1SE]

Didn't get to see the game (thank God) but box score doesn't suggest bueno.

[The Sultan]

Brutal.

[MU24]

Bench problems highlighted in the DePaul game, but then again the bench is majority freshman

[The Sultan]

Bench problems highlighted in the DePaul game, but then again the bench is majority freshman

But they still gotta give you something. The starters all played 30+ mpg. Four of them 37+.

That's just not sustainable.

[ATL MU Warrior]

I know this staff hangs their hats on development, but I just don't see how we are going to be any good next year. We are losing too much and there just doesn't seem to be anything behind them.  I hope I'm wrong. 

[tower912]

Next year problem.  Half a season to go.

[MU82]

Owens, in particular, looks lost right now. If I had to wager, I'd bet that a year from now he's a darn player for us, but it sure would be nice for the starters if we could get some of the juju he had in some of his early games now.