Trent

[MKE_GoldenEagleFan]

Was anyone else incredibly frustrated by Trent tonight?! He had 5 TO's by himself and it just seemed everytime he was on the court something had happened.

[Phantom Warrior]

I really hate to say this, but Trent is nowhere near the player I'd expected. I figured we'd see at least the same kind of offenisve production from him that he had displayed at ASU.

As a sophomore he shot 52% from the field; as a junior he shot 50%. This year he's shooting 42%.

As a soph he averaged 13.4 ppg and 13.0 ppg as a junior when he had to take over at the point for a good portion of the season. This year's he's at 7.1 ppg.

He had problems with turnovers at ASU, so I did expect that. But what I didn't anticipate was how foolish many of those turnovers have been - those that resulted from just plain poor judgment.

Based on comments by ASU fans, I also expected to see a lockdown - or near lockdown - defender. He has had some solid games defensively, but at times he's really had difficulty staying in front of his man or being out of position.

I don't doubt that Trent has been a solid addition to the team in many respects both on and off the court. But his overall game and offensive production have been a level or two lower than I had figured. Heck, I even recall opining that he might be our leading scorer this year. Instead, he ranks fifth, barely ahead of Mayo, who has played just a tad over half as many mpg as Trent has.

Trent has shown himself to be a decent complementary player. But after gaining some all-conference recognition at ASU as either a soph or a junior (I don't recall which) that's not what I'd expected. I was actually thinking he might be in the mix for some all-Big East recognition as well.

[TedBaxter]

Was anyone else incredibly frustrated by Trent tonight?! He had 5 TO's by himself and it just seemed everytime he was on the court something had happened.

Yes, I was extremely frustrated. Steve Taylor should have been in with Jamil moving over to the 3. Did Buzz forget about Steve? Steve will at least board.

[DCwarrior]

I was screaming for Taylor to be in the game the 2nd half. Trent needs to find a comfortable seat on the bench and stay there the rest of the season...he has really been terrible the past few games. You can tell he has lost all of his confidence out there and the NCAA tournament should not be the place for Buzz to let him try to get it back.

BTW, Mayo was equally bad last night so there really was no reason and no good alternative other than for Taylor to be in and move Jamil over to small forward.

[MUMac]

I said the same in another thread. Tonight was a brutal game for Trent. He had 5 turnovers, but some of the shots he took were just like turnovers. Such as the 3 on 2 break with MU down 2. MU never recovered. Also, some of his passes put teammates in bad position.

Why Steve did not play is mind boggling to me. I seldom question coaches and strategy, but last night, sticking with Trent and keeping Steve on the bench, was a head scratcher to me.

[bleedbluegold03]

the bigger travesty is that Juan Anderson gets minutes at all. Steve Taylor Jr is Juan in every way, only significantly better and a year younger.

I call for any person to tell me one thing Juan brings to the team that justifies him getting minutes over Steve.

[CaribouJim]

Trent is either feast or famine. Does a lot of the little things very well, but has a brutal handle and is afraid to take an open shot, but all too often forces drive - you're right that 3 on 2 break was ugly. Junior should have just pulled it back and set the offense up.

[dw3dw3dw3]

Did anyone else get worried about Buzz when Trent had that turnover at the beginning of the second half near half court? They showed it a few times, but Buzz basically crouched down and cover his head in disgust. When he came up it looked like he was having some sort of stress/anxiety/heart issue.

[Orlando]

Does anyone else just think this game is a case of we are who we are? We are a flawed team. I wanted to win the St. John's game more than I have wanted to win a game in a long time, because I really thought that the regular season title would be the signature of this season. We just have too many flaws to make any serious post season runs. I am not going to get into them, because we all go over them ad nauseum everytime we lose.

I feel that when we win big games, it is more of a case of us overcoming our flaws with hard work and determination rather than correcting them. We are team that thrives on adversity rather than prosperity. When I see our kids on the court smiling, I get nervous. Our margin for error is so thin, if we lose concentration for even a moment, we get burned.

The reality is that we should all be very happy that we have had the season we have. Any post season success to me is gravy. This season had the potential to be far worse. In my opinion, it really was a remarkable feat to share the title this year.

[dw3dw3dw3]

Trent is either feast or famine. Does a lot of the little things very well, but has a brutal handle and is afraid to take an open shot, but all too often forces drive - you're right that 3 on 2 break was ugly. Junior should have just pulled it back and set the offense up.

I remember thinking I've never seen a 3-2 look exactly like how it's practiced a million times from when you are a kid. The defenders were running back and the wings on offense were split out perfectly symmetrical with the ball in the middle.... and then it all just got real ugly real fast.