Quick thoughts ...

[Mark Miller]

1) More Duane Wilson less Derrick Wilson.

2) MU needs a better effort out of Juan Anderson, especially on defense.

3) MU seemed to get tired around the 14 minute mark and gave up waaayyyy too many layups/dunks.

4) Short bench needs help. Luke Fischer can't get eligible quick enough.

5) Deonte Burton looks a bit lost, on both ends. Needs to figure it out.

6) Matt Carlino is a steadying presence.

7) Steve Taylor played about as well as he's capable of playing.

8) Sandy Cohen is a solid player in all aspects. Love his future.

9) JJ needs to get a better perimeter shot.

10) Defense will get better with a deeper bench and more time together. Tonight's second-half defense was really, really bad. Led to a layup/dunk drill.

[Nukem2]

As I posted in the other thread, Derrick just does not fit what Wojo is doing. As I type this, Homer and Mac just named Derrick 6th man of the game...ouch. Fine fine young guy...but this is Div I BB. Deonte was a total non-factor tonite. That cannot be.

[dubs98]

First half defense was really good for the most part. osu got a few open threes, but overall thought the rotation was great, denied the post great, and created a lot of turnovers. In regards to the second half d and juan's effort, I disagree on juans effort. thought it was fine. I thought it was a product of all of the players getting gassed. they were a step slow on the break, a step slow on the screens, and just didn't have the hop in their step that they had in the first half. that is what happens with a limited bench and limited bigs. agree that luke can't get here soon enough.
Overall, I was happy. A few more threes (which were open good looks) in the first half and we are tied at half. jjj losing the ball after his steal followed by steves dribble off of his leg in the open court turned the game from a 2-4 pt game to a 10 pt game. after that they got gassed....pure and simple. Thought the zone offense was really good. a lot of open looks. defensive rebounding was better then I thought it would be. I only remember one offensive rebound but I think that is going to be the story for a while. I absolutely love having carlino out there. just runs the offense great and is a threat. he will hit a lot of big shots for us this year. Also agree on cohen.
Only real disappoint for me (outside of missing too many open threes) was deonte. Not sure he looks lost, but we absolutely need more from him out there. he needs to be a force on offense and rebounding.

[Gato78]

We need to be patient with Deonte. He lost his mom just a few weeks ago. Tough deal for a kid his age. He gets a multiple game pass in my book.

[dubs98]

We need to be patient with Deonte. He lost his mom just a few weeks ago. Tough deal for a kid his age. He gets a multiple game pass in my book.

agree. don't want to be too critical after one game. With that said, with our short bench and small team he will be absolutely pivotal if this team is going to beat good teams. just no way around it. I don't doubt for one minute that he will be as well.

[Mark Miller]

I agree with Gato on Deonte. He'll come around.

[MulliganMusings]

My quick thoughts

1. It was the best of times; it was the worst of times Steve Taylor edition. Missed a couple of chippies and should have given up the ball after his steal when he kicked it out of bounds. Overall good aggressiveness, pros outweigh cons I'm looking for Steve to have a great season.

2. Kick it out Juan. Juan doesn't need to take on bigger interior players. A perimeter shot is preferable to watching Juan eat leather multiple times. Thar said I liked the way Juan handled and helped break OSU press. He may have had 5 TO's but I think most of them were interior rejections and not open court turnovers.

3. Zone offense is significantly better, from a schematic perspective, than it has been in past. Frankly, from execution basis too just failed to finish too many times.

Frankly, I was encouraged. This team has some talent and Fischer will make a big difference. I think we can be competitive in this year's Big; however, very narrow margin of error

[IrwinFletcher]

I think some opponents saw the formula against MU this year. Pressure full court to wear the team out for the last 10 minutes. Just don't have the depth to play this way for 40 minutes. I would expect teams like Villanova, Xavier and STJ to use this strategy.

STJ missed 3 bunnies and the TO on a breakaway and JJJ missed the dunk. MU could have been up 39-37 and made a game of it. That doesn't count all the other errors that happened. Fix some minor things and maybe this team can get to 10 or 11 wins in the BE.

[farmerdoc]

Other than Bucky, who else on our schedule has this combination of size? Nova has the athletes, but not really the size, X has some size, but lost their best guards if I recall correctly. SJU? Lavin would figure out a way to screw it up.

Point being, I don't think there are alot of teams on our remaining schedule that can do this to us nearly as effectively as OSU did. They are really good.

[MU/Panther]

I think some opponents saw the formula against MU this year. Pressure full court to wear the team out for the last 10 minutes. Just don't have the depth to play this way for 40 minutes. I would expect teams like Villanova, Xavier and STJ to use this strategy.

STJ missed 3 bunnies and the TO on a breakaway and JJJ missed the dunk. MU could have been up 39-37 and made a game of it. That doesn't count all the other errors that happened. Fix some minor things and maybe this team can get to 10 or 11 wins in the BE.

I hope John Dawson can learn fast because that is another body.