Going Positive

[DoctorV]

Quite encouraged by the recent play of Owens. Folks were giving up on him (and Parham too) way too early. Young players develop at different paces, and it's been fun watching DO play more freely, with more confidence and spirit, lately. He had several huge plays last night.

If he can continue to improve - and there's really no reason he can't - we'll have him, Parham, James and Stevens as a solid core. Plus Egbuonu, Sheek and an improved Phillips. Hopefully add a couple of good players through the portal, and that's a team that can win next season and beyond.

Missed the last 2 games because of work dinner meetings and being at the office.

Saw highlights and he looked much better offensively, but curious if the defense looked improved and if he looked more engaged on that end of the floor?

I did see a video on twitter that was one of the best Marquette basketball related things I've seen this season-
It was a video at the end of last nights game from the baseline that showed Royce and DO celebrating together and Royce really getting in Damarius' chest talking him up.
It was great to see, given the history/connectivity of those two prior to Marquette and the adversity DO has seen prior to some recent improvement.

Those two are in year 3 together after a great final season in prep school.
Love to see Royce encouraging his guy and trying to give him extra confidence going forward, that's what relationships and leadership are about.

[tower912]

DO made the defensive play of the night. 

[Viper]

Attacking the rim, DO is a beast. Somewhat unorthodox outside shot, but works for him. I think his potential is awesome. I'm psyched for Friday's game at Butler. 

[MU82]

Missed the last 2 games because of work dinner meetings and being at the office.

Saw highlights and he looked much better offensively, but curious if the defense looked improved and if he looked more engaged on that end of the floor?

I did see a video on twitter that was one of the best Marquette basketball related things I've seen this season-
It was a video at the end of last nights game from the baseline that showed Royce and DO celebrating together and Royce really getting in Damarius' chest talking him up.
It was great to see, given the history/connectivity of those two prior to Marquette and the adversity DO has seen prior to some recent improvement.

Those two are in year 3 together after a great final season in prep school.
Love to see Royce encouraging his guy and trying to give him extra confidence going forward, that's what relationships and leadership are about.

Still a work in progress defensively - and offensively, for that matter - but as tier said, DO made a huge steal that enabled us to tie it at the end of regulation.

[Shooter McGavin]

Attacking the rim, DO is a beast. Somewhat unorthodox outside shot, but works for him. I think his potential is awesome. I'm psyched for Friday's game at Butler. 

With regard to your first sentence, that is what we had hoped for when he signed on the dotted line and got none of it for a year and a half. Let's hope this is the new DO consistently.  If it is , he will be a real weapon and the future definitely looks brighter.

[tower912]

Yes, he finally looks healthy.

[Scoop Snoop]

Still a work in progress defensively - and offensively, for that matter - but as tier said, DO made a huge steal that enabled us to tie it at the end of regulation.

tier? tier?

Yeah, DO was the hero who got us into OT. Like Tower said, he made the defensive play of the night. Damn it felt sooo good to win that game.

[StillWarriors]

Maybe it was health related, but DO seemed to have lost all his confidence early in the season. He seemed down and disengaged. Perhaps his role wasn't what he thought it would be, which could also have been injury related.

I can't remember which game it was, but 3 or 4 games ago it seemed light a switch had been flipped in terms of his activity level, enthusiasm, and confidence. It was great to see. Physically he has a lot to offer and his energy seems contagious. I do think there is a long way to go defensively for him and much of this group.

The positive glimmers we have seen overall in more recent games can't cloud the fact that we still give up a lot of points. Hopefully, the guys we have will continue to improve and we can add some experienced and strong defenders to shore things up next year.

[Viper]

tier? tier?

Yeah, DO was the hero who got us into OT. Like Tower said, he made the defensive play of the night. Damn it felt sooo good to win that game.

momentum...maybe we have some. Get a road win on Friday. Who knows, 6 or 7 conf wins still doable. Not the goal, but a lot better than it looked a week ago.

[Shooter McGavin]

Yes, he finally looks healthy.

Not sure it's that simple. 

[tower912]

Perhaps not.  But reported injuries and surgical timelines make it logical.

[StillWarriors]

Attacking the rim, DO is a beast. Somewhat unorthodox outside shot, but works for him. I think his potential is awesome. I'm psyched for Friday's game at Butler. 

We seem to specialize in unorthodox shots.

[brewcity77]

These might be damning with faint praise, but from the start of the season through Dec 20, we ranked #148 at Torvik. Since then, we're #97. Against high majors, we've had 6 game scores of 60+. 5 of those came in the last six games. We are playing better. It's still not good enough, but it's better.

[Vander Blue Man Group]

DO's ceiling is sky high.  While there will be some ups & downs the rest of the season I hope he continues to get a lot of minutes and that we continue to see progress. 

That could set him up to take a pretty big leap next season. 

I had high hopes for Zaide this season but it turns out that his departure may have created this opportunity for DO.

As for Royce, in conference play:

12.2 PPG
3.8 RPG (Need to see some improvement here from our stretch 4)
50% FG%
33% 3P% (He's at 28.4% overall for the season so has shown some improvement here so far)

Definitely needs to rebound better and improve defensively.  Another big offseason ahead for him but I really like what you could be his junior and senior seasons.

[Tha Hound]

These might be damning with faint praise, but from the start of the season through Dec 20, we ranked #148 at Torvik. Since then, we're #97. Against high majors, we've had 6 game scores of 60+. 5 of those came in the last six games. We are playing better. It's still not good enough, but it's better.

Would enjoy seeing the minutes distribution over the course of these games. I love confirming my priors.

[Jay Bee]

Would enjoy seeing the minutes distribution over the course of these games. I love confirming my priors.

Some of what you're thinking: confirmed.

We're not good, but the crazy choices by the staff have made this year worse. Shame!

[brewcity77]

If they hadn't been so busy trying to make Fetch happen, we probably beat Dayton & Oklahoma, possibly Maryland, and don't need OT to beat Valpo.

Hamilton averaged 8.7 mpg since 12/21, averaged 18.8 mpg up until 12/20.

[CountryRoads]

If they hadn't been so busy trying to make Fetch happen, we probably beat Dayton & Oklahoma, possibly Maryland, and don't need OT to beat Valpo.

Hamilton averaged 8.7 mpg since 12/21, averaged 18.8 mpg up until 12/20.

Just unreal. Huge credit to Parham for sticking with it and overcoming that nonsense early on. One of the early press conferences had Hamilton and Parham on and they asked Hamilton about winning the starting job and Parham's head just kind of dropped. Felt bad for him.

Royce was on the all freshman team last year and was battling for a spot on the USA roster against top competition last summer whereas Hamilton was hooting and hollering while chest bumping managers and doing his meaningless hook shots. Says a lot about Royce's character that he was able to keep a good attitude about that.

Maximizing the on court time of James, Stevens, Parham and Owens should be the priority the rest of the way. That group already looks to have some good chemistry playing together.