Missing Stevie

[tower912]

It wasn't a foul.  Nigel bounced the ball off the sideline.

[Elonsmusk]

It wasn't a foul.  Nigel bounced the ball off the sideline.

Didn't realize that..assumed they called a foul based on how tight they were with the whistle. 

Like you, I'm not in overreact mode due to one bad game where we were neutered defensively, while playing a team who was on fire from 3, one of which was a half court shot.  Perfect storm today. 

[MU82]

Didn't realize that..assumed they called a foul based on how tight they were with the whistle. 

Like you, I'm not in overreact mode due to one bad game where we were neutered defensively, while playing a team who was on fire from 3, one of which was a half court shot.  Perfect storm today. 

I actually appreciate that you aren't overreacting; neither am I.

But the officiating had absolutely nothing to do with us losing this game. And you know basketball well enough to realize that.

[StillWarriors]

I'm not worried at all about Shaka and his teams going forward. I am worried about this year's team.

The good news is the offense looks okay, even with a bunch of missed bunnies and open threes.

But this program needs to defend.

I thought the offense looked pretty bad. Very little team offense and way too much reliance on individual dribble drives. Drawing fouls is great, but almost all of it came on one person dribbling and trying to create for difficult drives. Fortunately, we did draw a lot of fouls but not sure we will always get the calls and there was very little offense that seemed to come from some kind of design. Most of our possessions I could not figure out what our offensive objective was. A far cry from the beautiful read and react offense we saw at times over the past few years.

Hopefully Sean will slow down and get under some sense of control. He was a high wire act every time he touched the ball. Parham and Caedin battled on O but the ball seemed to stop with them a lot and they are both under the rim players that had to fight hard for every bucket they got inside. Things came way too difficult on the offensive end.

And then there was the defense...

Tough day. Better days ahead.

[K1 Lover]

That should be one of the benefits of Shaka's retention model. All 5 starters are in their 3rd + year in the program.

Not sure if anyone else has mentioned it, but Indiana's five starters and sixth man are all seniors. So comparing the two starting lineups going into the game, I imagined the outcome would be rather telling in terms of which pays more dividends: experience or continuity.

Obviously it's not a perfect comparison and a loss here isn't the end-all, but if I were Shaka and co., this probably feels like a hard-hitting litmus test since a W against IU would've been a major cultural win.

So yeah, I feel the same way as you. Hoped we'd have more by this point but whatever. I'll just wait for the cultural validation to peak again in about two years, as I'm optimistic we'll be back to being BE title contenders at that point.

[DoctorV]

Not sure if anyone else has mentioned it, but Indiana's five starters and sixth man are all seniors. So comparing the two starting lineups going into the game, I imagined the outcome would be rather telling in terms of which pays more dividends: experience or continuity.

Obviously it's not a perfect comparison and a loss here isn't the end-all, but if I were Shaka and co., this probably feels like a hard-hitting litmus test since a W against IU would've been a major cultural win.

So yeah, I feel the same way as you. Hoped we'd have more by this point but whatever. I'll just wait for the cultural validation to peak again in about two years, as I'm optimistic we'll be back to being BE title contenders at that point.

I was actually most curious to see how compiling 5 "studs" from a lower level of competition onto one team at a high major level would work, and I honestly thought it wouldn't.

It worked seamlessly today.

I saw this tweet
Indiana is the first team to score 100 points in a regulation game against a Shaka Smart-coached Division I team.

Today was the first time the Hoosiers cracked 100 in regulation against a high major opponent in nearly 10 years—since January 19, 2016 vs Illinois.

Sheesh

[Zog from Margo]

I was actually most curious to see how compiling 5 "studs" from a lower level of competition onto one team at a high major level would work, and I honestly thought it wouldn't.

It worked seamlessly today.

I saw this tweet
Indiana is the first team to score 100 points in a regulation game against a Shaka Smart-coached Division I team.

Today was the first time the Hoosiers cracked 100 in regulation against a high major opponent in nearly 10 years—since January 19, 2016 vs Illinois.

Sheesh

Not sure why you have "studs" in quotes when DeVries was MVC POY twice. MU didn't play well but IU has some talent. The biggest concern for MU is poor defense. We saw it against Southern. They paid for it today.  Maybe it's time to press less and focus on the half court. Pressing exacerbates defensive weaknesses. If you can't cover in the half court, you will only be worse if you press.

[MessWithAll]

Not sure if anyone else has mentioned it, but Indiana's five starters and sixth man are all seniors. So comparing the two starting lineups going into the game, I imagined the outcome would be rather telling in terms of which pays more dividends: experience or continuity.

Obviously it's not a perfect comparison and a loss here isn't the end-all, but if I were Shaka and co., this probably feels like a hard-hitting litmus test since a W against IU would've been a major cultural win.

So yeah, I feel the same way as you. Hoped we'd have more by this point but whatever. I'll just wait for the cultural validation to peak again in about two years, as I'm optimistic we'll be back to being BE title contenders at that point.

Well said. It was surprising to see a ton of newcomers with a new coaching staff look like they've been together for 4 years instead of 4 months or whatever it was. 27 assists on 33 FGs is insane for any team, let alone a ton of newcomers.  Was that scheme/coaching?  Recruiting unselfish players?  Recruiting shooters?  Was the MU just THAT bad tonight?  Probably a combo of all. And the O wasnt much better than the D.

Much to work on, I trust the staff and players to improve. Need to shorten the rotation.  Start Nigel, Chase, Lowrey, Parham, Gold. Off the bench Stevens and Caedin.  A small bit of Sean.  A tiny bit of DO (man does he look lost. I would've lost a lot of $$ buying his stock last year...so far), and Tre in certain D for O situations. Go Marquette!!

[brewcity77]

IU did a great job of running DeVries and Wilkerson off screens. MU looked indecisive on how to defend that.  Too often, the screener's defender did not jump out at the shooter.  Too often the shooter's defender was trailing too far behind.  Then, on the rare occasion that both defenders went for the shooter, the screener rolled and there was no weak side help.

Better communication, better switching, more reps, please.

This pisses me off to no end. After watching Indiana against Alabama A&M, my comment was "Marquette HAS TO GO OVER SCREENS! I can't emphasize this enough. If DeVries and Wilkerson get space on the perimeter, they will launch and likely hit." I'm far from a professional coach, but this was something that was painfully obvious. Every week we see the "Jrue Holiday Award" for the guy who defeats the most screens in practice, yet here we are in our first true test and we get screened to death and pay for it.

[wadesworld]

Even more. Playing a bad offensive team down 3 players and on pace to give up over 100 a quarter through the game. The NCAA is letting anyone play, right? Just bring him back.

LONG year ahead. Need to find some defensive resistance and recruit some shooters if you're going to make your identity on the defensive end and run a 3s and layups offense.

[nyg]

Even more. Playing a bad offensive team down 3 players and on pace to give up over 100 a quarter through the game. The NCAA is letting anyone play, right? Just bring him back.

LONG year ahead. Need to find some defensive resistance and recruit some shooters if you're going to make your identity on the defensive end and run a 3s and layups offense.

For his full tenure at MU, Shaka's offense has been the three ball, it's a live or die.  Indiana game 4 for 16.  Today with seven minutes to go, 3 for 13.  On pace for over 40 three attempts.  No new identity there.

Recruit shooters, oh well bring them in, redshirt for culture initiation and hope to develop. 

Defense, no clue but see how this game ends up.

[forgetful]

Stevie was one of my all time favorite players. Really miss seeing him play. But I'm hopeful that Stevens can fill that hard-nosed players, do the right thing, role.

[wadesworld]

Much better second ten minutes of that half. Need to lock down defensively in the second half.