All in their heads

[BM1090]

Yeah you can tell this stretch is getting to him a bit. The terse answer he gave what I assume was a student who asked about timeouts was out of character for him.

https://youtu.be/EFF16Fx5KmI?si=KEEwolCX_JnvD0a9

I thought that was a good answer. The first 3 seconds were a bit terse, but then he expanded and gave what I thought was a genuinely good answer.

[BM1090]

Best I can tell 2015.  Nearly a decade.

2015
Wed, Feb 25 | Butler | L | 73-52
Sun, Mar 1 | @Providence | L | 77-66
Wed, Mar 4 | St. John's | L | 67-51
Sat, Mar 7 | DePaul | W | 58-48

Well at least the stretch ended with a ten point win over DePaul, so we'll score a bunch next Tuesday.

[RJax55]

At this point, I think everyone has to accept that this team is what it is - a group that plays very aggressive defense but still gives up too many easy baskets and a group that simply cannot shoot straight. Back in December I thought they were good enough to beat any team in the country if they just made their shots. Right now, I think any opponent is a challenge for them. Good tournament teams are starting to play their best at this time of year. Our team is regressing. They may fix the problem enough to hang on to third or fourth place in the BE and get a tournament bid. But, they could also continue to screw around, lose two or three more games, and end up on the wrong side of the bubble.

What??

[Uncle Rico]

At this point, I think everyone has to accept that this team is what it is - a group that plays very aggressive defense but still gives up too many easy baskets and a group that simply cannot shoot straight. Back in December I thought they were good enough to beat any team in the country if they just made their shots. Right now, I think any opponent is a challenge for them. Good tournament teams are starting to play their best at this time of year. Our team is regressing. They may fix the problem enough to hang on to third or fourth place in the BE and get a tournament bid. But, they could also continue to screw around, lose two or three more games, and end up on the wrong side of the bubble.

No

[BM1090]

What??

If they beat Seton Hall Tuesday, they are a lock. a 20 win team with three Q1A wins and no bad losses is a lock.

They might be a lock even if they lose out.

[RJax55]

If they beat Seton Hall Tuesday, they are a lock. a 20 win team with three Q1A wins and no bad losses is a lock.

They might be a lock even if they lose out.

The lack of perspective here is astounding. Not surprising, but its really something.

[BM1090]

The lack of perspective here is astounding. Not surprising, but its really something.

Right, like we are 19-6. During the Wojo era we only hit 20 wins twice, and one of those was the Ellenson cupcake schedule year. Regardless of this "down" year depending how the rest of the season plays out, Shaka has this program cemented as a top 25 program in the country. That's something we should be grateful for, despite how frustrating the past 14 days have been.

[MuMark]

At this point, I think everyone has to accept that this team is what it is - a group that plays very aggressive defense but still gives up too many easy baskets and a group that simply cannot shoot straight. Back in December I thought they were good enough to beat any team in the country if they just made their shots. Right now, I think any opponent is a challenge for them. Good tournament teams are starting to play their best at this time of year. Our team is regressing. They may fix the problem enough to hang on to third or fourth place in the BE and get a tournament bid. But, they could also continue to screw around, lose two or three more games, and end up on the wrong side of the bubble.

They aren't going to end up on the wrong side of the bubble..........trust me on that.

If they shoot it well they can still beat anyone.......they are getting great shots per shot quality metrics.......they just aren't making them......unfortunately

Hopefully the reversion to the mean starts at the end of the regular season and carries into the tournament.

[MUDPT]

I dropped all of the losses into TeamCast and they drop to a 10 seed.

[tower912]

I liked Shaka's response as to why he subbed in 5 players with 4 minutes left. 

[StillWarriors]

I'd say no. It's just a lack of confidence. The ball isn't going in on shots where it normally would. Now they're pressing. need a few confidence builders.

Even the angst of the crowd is tangible. Shaka mentioned that was palpable with the early missed free throws against UConn. I'm not blaming the crowd, it just seems the team and crowd need a massive "chill pill" to use an old phrase because the tension is compounding on itself.

I really believe almost all the issues stem from the severe downturn in shooting from the early season when we looked good. Two high volume shooters being well below historical norms was not foreseeable and filters out into so many other areas. I genuinely hope they find the confidence and this senior class can go out the way they deserve to. I truly believe that if shots start falling some of the other issues we are seeing will be minimized as a result.

[BM1090]

I thought it's interesting that we're ranked 7th in the country in shot quality. So the process seems fine. I don't have an account so I can't dive in more.

https://shotquality.com/team-standings

[ATL MU Warrior]

Right, like we are 19-6. During the Wojo era we only hit 20 wins twice, and one of those was the Ellenson cupcake schedule year. Regardless of this "down" year depending how the rest of the season plays out, Shaka has this program cemented as a top 25 program in the country. That's something we should be grateful for, despite how frustrating the past 14 days have been.

While I agree with your larger point, this team has been playing poorly and has been frustrating to watch for a lot longer than 14 days.

[tower912]

This isn't news.  The MU offense is very good at creating open 3s and shots at the rim.  The shot quality isn't the issue.  The quality of the shooting is the challenge.

[Jay Bee]

During the Wojo era we only hit 20 wins twice, and one of those was the Ellenson cupcake schedule year.

#FakeNews #ViciousLies

[BM1090]

#FakeNews #ViciousLies

I guess you're right. I wasn't counting the NIT wins. How cruel of me.

[Jay Bee]

I guess you're right. I wasn't counting the NIT wins. How cruel of me.

Probably worthwhile to note we also went Dancing in a year with only 19 wins, thanks in point to our stud 17 yo PG Markus who shot 54.7% from 3.

3 20 win seasons, plus a 19 w tourney bid, Baldy.

[BM1090]

While I agree with your larger point, this team has been playing poorly and has been frustrating to watch for a lot longer than 14 days.

I thought we played well during the recent @SH, Nova, @Butler stretch. Three wins, three covers. The @X, @pc, Creighton stretch was solid to good basketball too.

The two tough stretches were @Depaul, X at home, and then the last four games. In the first ten conference games we went from 9 to 12 in Kenpom, and went 4-6 against the spread. That included 2 Q1 wins and 4 Q2 wins. Not amazing, but totally fine.

[BM1090]

Probably worthwhile to note we also went Dancing in a year with only 19 wins, thanks in point to our stud 17 yo PG Markus who shot 54.7% from 3.

3 20 win seasons, plus a 19 w tourney bid, Baldy.

You calling me bald?

My point was moreso that we're a very good program who has no chance of missing the dance this year.

[GoFastAndWin]

This isn't news.  The MU offense is very good at creating open 3s and shots at the rim.  The shot quality isn't the issue.  The quality of the shooting is the challenge.

I may not fully understand the shot quality metric, but are we creating wide open 3's through the offense or the poor shooting? Oops, Tower... I think that was your point 😆.

[GurneeHitchkr]

Peacock sucks.  Commercials were loud as hell compared to game volume.
3 point shooting % decline is frustrating to watch.  Don't know why its happening.
It seems every year, we start out great and then have a regression.  I feel part of the problem is Shaka doesn't do many mid or late season changes.  Same game all year long.  Other teams figure us out after awhile.  Need to put in some different defenses, and some intentionally designed offensive plays. Can't stay status quo. 

[Jay Bee]

Peacock sucks.  Commercials were loud as hell compared to game volume.

So frustrating! It's like when the ads before the naughty video clips are super loud and my neighbors hear :/

[MuggsyB]

Lack of shooting confidence is a tough thing to overcome because it feeds on itself. The guys just have to keep at it. Not that Shaka ever would do it, but yelling, "Be confident!" at someone is likely to hurt more than help. Just have to keep encouraging guys to play their game, take their shots and put the team first - which I'm guessing is exactly what Shaka is doing.

Hopefully it just starts clicking again, because if it doesn't we'll have a very short NCAAT stay - and I say that as one of the more optimistic Scoopers. You simply have to make 3s to win with any consistency, both because you need the points and because you need to keep the other team from playing pack defense. And that goes double for Marquette, whose half-court offense is based totally on 3-point shooting and rim runs.

I don't think it's unfair criticism of Shaka to say that if we're gonna be a 3-point shooting team we need more 3-point shooters. Hopefully the incoming class will start to provide some of that, but we really need the improvement to come from within - as it did with Kolek and Ross.

Either the shots go in or they don't. What frustrated me most last night was that we were lackadaisical on defense and, at key junctures, with the ball. For a long stretch of the first half, just about every time we missed a 3, our transition defense was really bad and DePaul got either a layup or a wide-open look. I was begging for Shaka to call his use-it-or-lose-it TO during that stretch; not sure why he didn't, because he was obviously frustrated by the team's lack of hustle (which, thank goodness, is rare for MU).

There also was a second-half stretch after we had built our lead but were slowly starting to fritter it away. There were no foul calls and no TV timeouts, and our guys were obviously gassed. Shaka needed to call a TO but didn't, and Stevie - who had played brilliantly during the 18-2 stretch that effectively won the game - gave up two layups because he was exhausted.

Ross had maybe his worst game of the season. He had two lazy inbound passes, one gifting DePaul 2 points at the halftime buzzer, the other handing DePaul the ball when we were trying to protect our late lead. He also loped back on defense early in the second half - no doubt after Shaka had just emphasized hustling - and Shaka quickly benched him. For this team to get where it wants to go, it needs Chase to play at a high level and to be a leader.

Norman badly missed a 3 but later made several excellent decisions with the ball - passing up the 3s DePaul wanted him to take to drive it inside. He drove under control and with a purpose, and it led to two layups, a foul that gave him FTs, and an assist to a teammate. He had 5 rebounds, too. One of his stronger games. I'm on the fence as to whether he can be a real contributor next season because he hasn't shown the ability to be a Big East PG yet, but games like this give me hope.

Except for a few missed shots and a couple of brain farts, I thought Kam had a good game. He was able to set himself up for a very make-able shot pretty much any time he wanted, and made some nice passes, too. When he went to the floor holding his ankle, I held my breath for a second; obviously glad he was able to return almost immediately.

Jop left with a hand injury but also returned ... and the injury didn't stop him from jacking some 3s. I guess that's a sign he hasn't lost his confidence? I actually called the missed dunk as he was driving down the court - glad he could laugh about it.

Gold played his best game in awhile despite looking like he was nursing his injury some. Had at least two occasions where he went straight up on defense, absorbed contact and forced misses. Also hit a 3 and grabbed a few boards.

Parham and Zaide mostly played well off the bench. Didn't score much, but also combined for no turnovers in 34 minutes.

Had no problem with the Peacock feed. Crean was good, although sometimes he either didn't speak into the microphone or the volume on his mic was too low.

I still think my expectations of getting to the second weekend are realistic ... but I'll sure feel a lot better if we can get back to even hitting 30% of our 3s.

Lack of shooting confidence is a tough thing to overcome because it feeds on itself. The guys just have to keep at it. Not that Shaka ever would do it, but yelling, "Be confident!" at someone is likely to hurt more than help. Just have to keep encouraging guys to play their game, take their shots and put the team first - which I'm guessing is exactly what Shaka is doing.

Hopefully it just starts clicking again, because if it doesn't we'll have a very short NCAAT stay - and I say that as one of the more optimistic Scoopers. You simply have to make 3s to win with any consistency, both because you need the points and because you need to keep the other team from playing pack defense. And that goes double for Marquette, whose half-court offense is based totally on 3-point shooting and rim runs.

I don't think it's unfair criticism of Shaka to say that if we're gonna be a 3-point shooting team we need more 3-point shooters. Hopefully the incoming class will start to provide some of that, but we really need the improvement to come from within - as it did with Kolek and Ross.

Either the shots go in or they don't. What frustrated me most last night was that we were lackadaisical on defense and, at key junctures, with the ball. For a long stretch of the first half, just about every time we missed a 3, our transition defense was really bad and DePaul got either a layup or a wide-open look. I was begging for Shaka to call his use-it-or-lose-it TO during that stretch; not sure why he didn't, because he was obviously frustrated by the team's lack of hustle (which, thank goodness, is rare for MU).

There also was a second-half stretch after we had built our lead but were slowly starting to fritter it away. There were no foul calls and no TV timeouts, and our guys were obviously gassed. Shaka needed to call a TO but didn't, and Stevie - who had played brilliantly during the 18-2 stretch that effectively won the game - gave up two layups because he was exhausted.

Ross had maybe his worst game of the season. He had two lazy inbound passes, one gifting DePaul 2 points at the halftime buzzer, the other handing DePaul the ball when we were trying to protect our late lead. He also loped back on defense early in the second half - no doubt after Shaka had just emphasized hustling - and Shaka quickly benched him. For this team to get where it wants to go, it needs Chase to play at a high level and to be a leader.

Norman badly missed a 3 but later made several excellent decisions with the ball - passing up the 3s DePaul wanted him to take to drive it inside. He drove under control and with a purpose, and it led to two layups, a foul that gave him FTs, and an assist to a teammate. He had 5 rebounds, too. One of his stronger games. I'm on the fence as to whether he can be a real contributor next season because he hasn't shown the ability to be a Big East PG yet, but games like this give me hope.

Except for a few missed shots and a couple of brain farts, I thought Kam had a good game. He was able to set himself up for a very make-able shot pretty much any time he wanted, and made some nice passes, too. When he went to the floor holding his ankle, I held my breath for a second; obviously glad he was able to return almost immediately.

Jop left with a hand injury but also returned ... and the injury didn't stop him from jacking some 3s. I guess that's a sign he hasn't lost his confidence? I actually called the missed dunk as he was driving down the court - glad he could laugh about it.

Gold played his best game in awhile despite looking like he was nursing his injury some. Had at least two occasions where he went straight up on defense, absorbed contact and forced misses. Also hit a 3 and grabbed a few boards.

Parham and Zaide mostly played well off the bench. Didn't score much, but also combined for no turnovers in 34 minutes.

Had no problem with the Peacock feed. Crean was good, although sometimes he either didn't speak into the microphone or the volume on his mic was too low.

I still think my expectations of getting to the second weekend are realistic ... but I'll sure feel a lot better if we can get back to even hitting 30% of our 3s.

This is a very good post and quite accurate.  You could visibly see Shaka's frustrations yesterday numerous times.  We all know that our best hoops can compete against any team in the country.  But for whatever reason we have not been ourselves for a long stretch.  Shooting % is the primary problem and it can snowball. 

I don't even count Seton Hall on Tues, but one game, one sustained barrage, where we're seeing the ball go through the hoop, can change everything.  We saw UCONN slump a few years ago at about this time.  Sure, we have had some nagging injuries, but I see this primarily as a confidence issue.  Now, perhaps there are a few tweaks we can make that could get us better quality shots?  I dunno.  What I do know is that team we saw at Providence is capable of inflcting damage, perhaps darkness level damage, against anyone.  And last I checked we have the same roster. 

[muwarrior69]

This isn't news.  The MU offense is very good at creating open 3s and shots at the rim.  The shot quality isn't the issue.  The quality of the shooting is the challenge.

Perhaps a bigger basket or a smaller ball.

[rgoode57]

When I said MU could end up on the wrong side of the bubble come Selection Sunday, I simply meant that they have to finish at least 4th in the BE. Every "expert" seems to agree the conference will only get four bids. The team that finishes fifth is out, no matter how many wins they have. Teams with 20 wins get left out every year. I don't think it will happen, but, if the team does not turn around, it is not inconceivable they could drop to fifth in the conference. At the rate they are going, additional losses to UConn and StJ look likely, and a loss to 'Nova is possible. 13 conference wins should be enough, but who Knows?