Offense/Defense next year?

[yellow chickens]

Has anyone heard anything about what buzz might be running next year?

[bilsu]

Same offense, but less restrictive on the players. I take this to mean that he will not have as many plays. Crean, in my opinion, had the players learn to many plays. I rather be good in a few plays than average in many. I also heard someone mention 4-1 offense. The four players being interchangable.

[77ncaachamps]

Buzz already said what offense he's running: a winning one.

BTW, isn't it a shame that Crean left for a college which will be sitting out of the NCAAs and thus not have the opportunity for the selection committee to pit him versus MU?

Tsk, tsk.

All too calculated and orchestrated...

Unlike Buzz's "O"...

[Murffieus]

What the question should be is what kind of an offense are we going to use against a zone?-----because that's what we're going to see a lot of next year-----as we lose Fitz, Christoferson, and maybe Cubilan who were our trey shooters. Hayward can shoot treys, but he has a low and slow release and needs time to get it off so he has to pick his spots. In addition the arc gets moved back a foot this coming season making it even more difficult to hit treys.

Hopefully "winning BB" includes a better zone offense than Crean had!

[MarquetteDano]

What the question should be is what kind of an offense are we going to use against a zone?-----because that's what we're going to see a lot of next year-----as we lose Fitz, Christoferson, and maybe Cubilan who were our trey shooters. Hayward can shoot treys, but he has a low and slow release and needs time to get it off so he has to pick his spots. In addition the arc gets moved back a foot this coming season making it even more difficult to hit treys.

Hopefully "winning BB" includes a better zone offense than Crean had!

Gotta agree with Murf on this one.  Watching Crean bark out set plays while players pointed to each other to be in certain places was extremely irritating.  It had to stiffle the offense at times.  This team can score against nearly anyone if they play against a man-to-man.

What Buzz should concentrate on is how this team will play against zone, including taking advantage of the amount of offensive rebounds it affords you when a team does play it.  If we could even be slightly above average against zone defenses, we will be very good as most teams don't play zone very well.

[muarmy81]

It doesn't have to be all 3's...we were able to attack the middle of a lot of zones but couldn't hit a 12-15 footer to save our lives.  I don't know how many times lazar, Wes, or Jerel would catch it at the high post and either clank an open jumper or realize he couldn't hit that shot and force it into the collapsing zone for some off balance circus shot around the rim.  If we can utilize the high post more effectively (hit the open jumper or penetrate and drop down to a cutter filling the collapsing zone) we could do just as well as if we had Larry Bird outside hitting treys.

[Pakuni]

FWIW, when Jimmy Butler committed in April, he reportedly told a Texas web site he expected Buzz would run a 4-out, 1-in motion offense.

Read all about it:

http://www.coachesclipboard.net/4Out1InMotionOffense.html

[Wareagle]

Mo Acker also shot over 40% from 3 last year.

[muwarrior87]

Did I miss something murf...why would we be losing Cubillan??

[Sir Lawrence]

Did I miss something murf...why would we be losing Cubillan??

He's probably speculating on his medical situation.

[muwarrior87]

ok, well he'll be fine by the time the season starts. see him almost every day and he's recovering nicely.

[Big Papi]

Also need to take into account that we will have a very heathly Mbakwe.  Zone defenses tend to allow for some additional offensive boards and I think Mbakwe will come up huge on the offensive glass.  Plus I fully expect Burke to have some more highlight reel putback dunks like the one in the Georgetown game. 

[Daniel]

Still think we need a consistent 3-point threat, and I hope that we are working on improving our stats over last year on this front by practicing.  If we do, we could be pretty tough inside and out, and if Otule can get some good minutes and give us 6 pts a game, we could be strong.

[Pakuni]

Still think we need a consistent 3-point threat, and I hope that we are working on improving our stats over last year on this front by practicing.  If we do, we could be pretty tough inside and out, and if Otule can get some good minutes and give us 6 pts a game, we could be strong.

Six points per game is going to be a very tall order for Otule. Unless he really surprises, he'll be fortunte to get 6-8 minutes per game backing up Burke and Mbakwe, maybe even less once the conference season starts.
Put it to you this way: Burke averaged about 13 minutes per game, but averaged only 2.5 ppg. I see no reason to believe this team is going to be any, or significantly, less perimeter-oriented this year.

[Daniel]

Six points per game is going to be a very tall order for Otule. Unless he really surprises, he'll be fortunte to get 6-8 minutes per game backing up Burke and Mbakwe, maybe even less once the conference season starts.
Put it to you this way: Burke averaged about 13 minutes per game, but averaged only 2.5 ppg. I see no reason to believe this team is going to be any, or significantly, less perimeter-oriented this year.

I agree - but IF he surprises, 6 would put us over and really make us strong.

[RawdogDX]

i would rank:

the development of tm's scoring(around the basket) and rebounding,
haywards mid range and three point shot (think he'll spend more time outside),
mcneil continuing the kind of shooting he was doing at the end of the season,
dj continuing to pass first

as keys to us being 'strong' (whatever that means) way ahead of otool putting up 6

[77ncaachamps]

Despite the going out party by DJ, Jerel, and Wes, Lazar is going to have to still BLOW IT UP this coming year.

The team is still "3 amigo-centric", but Butler and Fulce bring extraordinary tangibles and intangibles from the bench.

I CANNOT wait for MIDNIGHT MADNESS!!! 

[Doctor V]

i actually think that DJ will have a much better shooting season this year. I know its not saying much, but i have a hunch he will shoot much better from 3