Another example of Buzz's stubbornness

[WindyCityGoldenEagle]

I know people are going to say how dare we criticize Buzz after what he's done the last few years. No doubt he's done an amazing job, but the reality is even the top coaches (Izzo, K, Boeheim, etc) make mistakes and Buzz has certainly made his share this year. Last night was another example of Buzz's stubbornness and inability to trust underclassmen.

I woke up this morning and have steam coming from my ears reading on twitter and now this board that Buzz said "he sat Burton because of his defense." How can anyone(even the biggest Buzz apologists), including Buzz defend this decision? He was the only aspect of our struggling offfense that Xavier couldn't figure out (other than Mayo down the stretch).

How much value is too much value when looking at the defensive side of the ball? Yes you needed stops during that final 7 minute stretch, but you also needed BUCKETS! Hell, Xavier scored on 11 of it's final 14 possessions according to Paint Touches so I'm not really sure how much worse our defense couldve been with Burton in the game.

This is yet another prime example of Buzz being reluctant to trust a young player in a critical game. Again, I understand that Buzz doesn't want to just hand out playing time to freshmen - he wants them to earn it via hard work and I agree with this as it builds a better program culture. However, we are at the end of the season where Burton has clearly earned more of his trust. He had the trust to start him in the game but not finish a game that he was absolutely dominating?

Buzz's inability to trust an underclassman absolutely boggles my mind and continues to be one of Buzz's biggest weaknesses.

[warriorfan4life]

I do think that Burton was wearing down (and he needs to improve his conditioning in the offseason), but he should have been coming in for Jamil or Jake on offense.

[Smee]

Deonte got caught ball watching. Dunk, layup, dunk, sit. He was watching Christon and lost his guy on the baseline more than once. That was a crucial stretch. At the same time we were getting okay shots and even good shots and missing them. He will learn. The bench is a good coach.

[Gato78]

Deonte was getting killed on weak side help vs the pick and roll. Numerous times. Buzz had a dilemma. I was pointing out to Mrs. Gato and X kept running it.

[Alan Bykowski, "brewcity77"]

For what it's worth, after he sat, we scored on 5 of 6 possessions and put up 12 points in the process. Our offense wasn't the problem at the end, it was allowing 10 points on the other end in that timespan.

[MUMac]

Deonte got caught ball watching. Dunk, layup, dunk, sit. He was watching Christon and lost his guy on the baseline more than once. That was a crucial stretch. At the same time we were getting okay shots and even good shots and missing them. He will learn. The bench is a good coach.

Yep, he made one bad defensive play. Yikes, I guess Jamil, Gardner, Todd ... should all have been sitting for their bad defensive plays.

Deonte was also on the floor when MU was making consecutive stops against X earlier in the game.

I won't go as far as the OP. I do not feel this team was a good defensive team and they were limited on O. Sitting Burton hurt the team. Make them play D. Get more fouls on them. I do not agree with the decision to sit him virtually the entire last 8:00 minutes. Baffling.

[Nukem2]

Yep, he made one bad defensive play. Yikes, I guess Jamil, Gardner, Todd ... should all have been sitting for their bad defensive plays.

Deonte was also on the floor when MU was making consecutive stops against X earlier in the game.

I won't go as far as the OP. I do not feel this team was a good defensive team and they were limited on O. Sitting Burton hurt the team. Make them play D. Get more fouls on them. I do not agree with the decision to sit him virtually the entire last 8:00 minutes. Baffling.

Yep. Ultimately, the goal is to outscore the opponent. I could see if Buzz was doing the offense/defense rotation thing like he does with Otule and Gardner; but, to sit Deonte for that extended period seemed wrong to me.

[Nukem2]

A question that needs to be asked is: should Buzz continue to play the current defensive philosophy with all the help defense required and the need to identify what needs to be done? Underclassmen seem to have a very difficult time absorbing the defense. Adding 5 frosh next year won't help that situation either. Is Buzz trying to be too complex with his defense? Too many open threes or guys flashing out too late to cover the open shooter or getting caught up in ball screens. Good to protect the lane, but teams really do shoot the 3 more and more ( and, do it well ). This year's guard tandem of Derrick and Jake did not help either as quicker guards went right around them ( see Christon last night ).

[CaribouJim]

Yep, he made one bad defensive play. Yikes, I guess Jamil, Gardner, Todd ... should all have been sitting for their bad defensive plays.

Deonte was also on the floor when MU was making consecutive stops against X earlier in the game.

I won't go as far as the OP. I do not feel this team was a good defensive team and they were limited on O. Sitting Burton hurt the team. Make them play D. Get more fouls on them. I do not agree with the decision to sit him virtually the entire last 8:00 minutes. Baffling.

Agree 1000%. Was Deonte guarding everyone then? He was scoring a point a minute for gosh sakes - he was NOT personally giving up a point a minute. Prove it to me that personally gave up 23 or more points. If that was the case, which it wasn't then go with some sort of offense/defense like we did with DG this year.

We shouldn't recruit freshmen then - just go the JUCO and/or transfer route so they have freshmenitis purged from their bodies. If a player like Deonte can't get minutes on a .500 team then I'm at a loss for words.

Net, net Deonte was NOT part of the problem last night - I shudder at the thought of him not playing last night.

[Alan Bykowski, "brewcity77"]

Deonte had a hell of a game. That said, honestly, what did you expect him to do that the team as a whole didn't do in that stretch? We scored 12 points over 6 possessions spanning about 5 minutes.

What more would Burton have done? What we needed was defense. Sadly, his replacement didn't do the job.