Quick Thoughts

[Mucrisco]

First, I will say that I thought Wojo should stick with his man to man, only because he should be working towards the future. I was wrong. Thank goodness he went to zone. However, I will also say that a Marquette team went to a zone a year too late. This is what Buzz should have done last year. When your offense and your defense is too complicated, you have to simplify your offense or defense. With that veteran team that we had, we really should have been a better team.

There are a couple of things that is really beneficial that we went to a zone. First of all, and most importantly, it's the time we spend on practice. Even a team like Syracuse only spends 15 minutes at the end of practice practicing their zone. If you play man to man, you have to do a lot more breakdowns drills on it. You spend half your practice working on your man to man. Now, more time is freed up to work on skills, and to work on our offense. Our offense is difficult to run, because it is based on reads. We do run a lot of sets also. The more time we spend running our offense, runnings breakdown drills for our offense, and working on skills, the higher our basketball IQ goes up. That in turn will help the man to man defense.

Second, why didn't we run zone against Wisconsin in the past? It's obvious that the Rodents have a tough time against a zone. They are a far more effective team against a man because they dictate what they want to do. Playing a 2-3 zone is so simple. People on the past have said that you can't just switch to a 2-3 and be effective. Well, what did we do this year? We switched to a 2-3 zone and we were effective immediately. It is not a tough defense to learn. Not a lot of practice time has to be spent on it.

We need Derrick Wilson this year. I know people are down on him because he is limited. I was hard on him too. Last year, I didn't think Derrick and Jake was a good combination. However, we have two guys on the wing that can score this year in Wilson and Carlino. Both of those guys are able to create their own offense. When guys like Burton or JJJ are in the game, they take shots that are not patient. Those shots lead to easy, transition opportunities on the other end. One of the most important jobs of the point guard, especially in a motion offense, is to control the tempo. They know when to play fast or play slow. There are multiple times when I wish Derrick would push the pace more, but he does calm down the team. Things aren't as frantic when he is in the game. Some want Duane Wilson to be the point guard, but we don't need him to worry about controlling the game. We don't need him to worry about running the offense. We don't need him to worry about setting up other people. We need him to score. In the meantime, he is learning the pace of the game, and is gaining experience. Let him learn right now, then start him at point guard next year. Duke does that all the time with point guards. Even a guy like Deiner played more shooting guard as a freshman, then he did as a point guard. In my opinion, that is an ideal situation.

I have seen a lot of people ripping on Juan Anderson. Not so much here, but on my social media feeds, hearing people talk, etc. Thank goodness we have Juan Anderson right now. That guy is giving 100% effort all the time. He's doing the stuff that no one wants to do. Imagine if we can get Burton or JJJ play as hard as Juan does. He's pulling down boards and he's guarding the post. Playing in the post is the most tiring thing to do because there is so much body contact. Derrick Wilson and Juan Anderson are giving us everything they have right now. They are setting the tone for the young guys to follow. Other coaches are admiring how hard we play. Derrick and Juan have bought into what Wojo is preaching. Do you think if Wojo would not have shown loyalty to those two guys that we would be getting the same type of effort that we are? Who of the young guys would be leading the way in showing the type of effort that we need to win and to keep improving? That's not a knock on the young guys. They just don't understand what it takes yet. Juan and Derrick do.

I can't want until Luke hits the floor with our guys. Now, more people can play their natural positions. Steve Taylor will not be the only true post. Now Juan can slide up a spot. Burton can slide up a spot. Luke won't be the savior, but he's going to help us a lot in the defense and the rebounding department.

[MUMac]

Excellent post, again, Crisco!

As to Juan, man is he a vocal leader this year. Not just cheering, but getting into the grill and demanding. At one TO against UW, he went right up to Duane Wilson and was getting him to get charged up.

He also does the dirty work. I am going to like watching him play at the 3 now, as I think he could be really valuable during the remainder of the season.

[MUBasketball]

I love Juan. Unfortunately, so many people simply look at a box score (points, specifically) to determine a players worth. Far more to it than that.

My only frustration with him is his hesitation to shoot. Everybody should play with confidence, especially a senior. He got the ball in a position to shoot it on Saturday and didn't, and instead the team had to settle for driving the ball which never worked well. Be confident, play confident!

[WindyCityGoldenEagle]

First, I will say that I thought Wojo should stick with his man to man, only because he should be working towards the future. I was wrong.

Do you think Wojo eventually wants his teams to be a man to man base defense? I would think so just based on where he comes from. It will be interesting to see if/how he transitions to a man to man base defense next offseason.

[Nukem2]

Excellent post, again, Crisco!

As to Juan, man is he a vocal leader this year. Not just cheering, but getting into the grill and demanding. At one TO against UW, he went right up to Duane Wilson and was getting him to get charged up.

He also does the dirty work. I am going to like watching him play at the 3 now, as I think he could be really valuable during the remainder of the season.

Yes, Juan has really elevated his game this season doing the dirty work and grabbing rebounds. Only big negative has been his FT shooting when the game is tight. Gotta get the front end of those one-and-ones.

[RJax55]

I have seen a lot of people ripping on Juan Anderson. Not so much here, but on my social media feeds, hearing people talk, etc. Thank goodness we have Juan Anderson right now. That guy is giving 100% effort all the time. He's doing the stuff that no one wants to do. Imagine if we can get Burton or JJJ play as hard as Juan does. .

Spot on. Also, Juan is the only guy that really gets after it on the glass. I hope Luke can add some intensity there as well. Because not only are we small, MU is passive as well. MU's offensive rebounding rate is horrible. Its difficult to win games (especially close games) when you're always one and done.

[Nukem2]

Spot on. Also, Juan is the only guy that really gets after it on the glass. I hope Luke can add some intensity there as well. Because not only are we small, MU is passive as well. MU's offensive rebounding rate is horrible. Its difficult to win games (especially close games) when you're always one and done.

Sandy Cohen was really tough on the boards in his minutes against UW. Even wrestled one away from Kaminsky and getting fouled in the process.

[pbiflyer]

That was quick?

[Mucrisco]

First, I will say that I thought Wojo should stick with his man to man, only because he should be working towards the future. I was wrong.

Do you think Wojo eventually wants his teams to be a man to man base defense? I would think so just based on where he comes from. It will be interesting to see if/how he transitions to a man to man base defense next offseason.

I do. It's what he knows best. Not only that, but Wojo is a fiery personality. He wants to attack teams. You can do that with a pressure man to man defense.

[warriorfan4life]

Love that Wojo has gone outside of his comfort zone with the zone defense. I feel like young coaches are more willing to take risks and adjust, and many of them become more risk averse and too stubborn in their ways as they spend more time in the head chair (definitely feel like this was the case with Buzz). That often takes from the natural improvements made from coaching maturity.

I wish that Juan had two more years under Wojo. He has developed into the player I expected to see out of high school, and has tons of value as a versatile defender, rebounder, and secondary scorer that can hit open perimeter shots.

I think that Cohen can step into Juan's role, and has a much better perimeter shot at similar points of their careers. Glad that Wojo kept him on board, and believe he has a very bright future in the program. I hope that he remains in the playing rotation with Fischer back, even if that is at the expense of a couple of our sophomores.

Not surprised that Duane Wilson struggled Saturday given the circumstances, but damn has he looked like a future star on the whole. Not necessarily a pure point guard, but I believe that he will be capable of being the lead guard in this system (and could team with Noskowiak to form a dynamic scoring/shooting backcourt).

As long as Fischer is solid inside, I believe that we will be a better team then last year in conference. However, with the conference much improved, that may not translate into a better win-loss record. My realistic hope is going into New York with a top 6 seed in the Big East tournament and only having to win 3 games in 3 days for the auto bid. Even that may be an optimistic scenario, as there are no real dogs in the league (even DePaul seems competent this year so far).

I think that we should be a tourney team next year, and hopefully grow from there. Selfishly hoping for two years out of Henry Ellenson, as that team could be monstrous two years from now if everyone grows.