The Best Word I Can Think Of

[Phantom Warrior]

The best word I can think of to describe the Xavier debacle is "INEPT!"

Xavier outscored us by 17 points in the second half.

What truly surprised me was how INEPT the team was in terms of attacking Xavier's 1-3-1. The players looked absolutely befuddled.

You would think a coach that has used the 1-3-1 often this year, which Wojo has, would know how to attack it. But it looked like MU didn't have a clue.

In my mind that is just plain shocking. Making matters worse is that Xavier has used the 1-3-1 during the season, so it should not have been a surprise.

I think that is what disappointed me more than anything else about tonight's game.

Whenever Xavier went to the 1-3-1, we looked like a D-3 team playing a high-major powerhouse.

I repeat: "INEPT!"

[unclejohn]

The best word I can think of is "tired." The team is shot to hell. After the home loss to Seton Hall, somebody asked Wojo if he took any positives from the game. He said no, none at all. That was a surprise to many people who watched the team put on a good run toward the end, and never quit trying to make a game of it. Tonight, Wojo had nothing bad to say about the team's effort. he did mention that they all played lots of minutes, and that the young players are getting the playing time they asked for. It is not always pretty to watch. We are OK.

[Alan Bykowski, "brewcity77"]

Luke looked tired at the first media timeout and Xavier just kept rolling out bodies at him. Uphill battle from the start.

[TedBaxter]

Marquette had open shot after open shot on the wing and didn't take them in the second half and when they did, they didn't make them. Simple as that.

[kneelb4zerg]

Lots of hyperbole for a team that just isn't good enough to compete in the Big East this year.

[dubs98]

Marquette had open shot after open shot on the wing and didn't take them in the second half and when they did, they didn't make them. Simple as that.

This. Really hard to attack a 1-3-1 when they sag off five feet on nearly every shooter and are able to space out to prevent any passes inside. It is not that we are just bad outside shooters but that we are also scared to shoot. A defense can feed into that by daring the offense to shoot which just kills the confidence that much more. We literally had two players only who had some confidence shooting from outside. How are you going to attack a sagging 1-3-1 without even the thought of making the defense close out. Crisco? I have no idea how to attack when you have no driving or passing lanes because the other team is playing so far off. Gonna need more options from the perimeter going forward.

[Nukem2]

I called it a passive zone vs. a sagging zone. Prefer the former as X, as Crisco notes in the game thread, was essentially cutting the floor in half. In the meantime, our PG was pounding the ball on the floor out high. In the end,the ball did not get to the corners. Inept, no. Learning experience, definitely (for both the staff and the players ). This seems to be the year of the zone across the conference. Wonder how that will play out in the post-season....?

[Gato78]

That zone was definitely packed in. We saw the value of Carlino; how badly we need a point who is some threat to score; and, a really tired team. At one point Juan was completely gassed during a time out in the first half. He went back in after the TO, to my surprise. We are light on talent and low in manpower. The results are to be expected. One thing about this team, as opposed to last years group, this one gives every ounce of effort. No one I have talked to has given up on this group because of their effort. Surprising since there were a lot of people giving up last year on a better team.

[MUMac]

The best word I can think of to describe the Xavier debacle is "INEPT!"

Xavier outscored us by 17 points in the second half.

What truly surprised me was how INEPT the team was in terms of attacking Xavier's 1-3-1. The players looked absolutely befuddled.

You would think a coach that has used the 1-3-1 often this year, which Wojo has, would know how to attack it. But it looked like MU didn't have a clue.

In my mind that is just plain shocking. Making matters worse is that Xavier has used the 1-3-1 during the season, so it should not have been a surprise.

I think that is what disappointed me more than anything else about tonight's game.

Whenever Xavier went to the 1-3-1, we looked like a D-3 team playing a high-major powerhouse.

I repeat: "INEPT!"

Disagree with your hyperbole.

The team, without Carlino, will struggle against a 1-3-1. X knew this and packed the middle making Luke a non-factor. Derrick cannot shoot from the outside, but needed to play minutes. Duane and JJ have not been making the shots from the outside and Sandy had an off shooting day.

I am not sure what your expectations are, but MU is short on talent and depth. Without Carlino, zones will hurt them. X played tough and physical inside and rotated bodies all game knowing that MU would tire.

[Mucrisco]

This. Really hard to attack a 1-3-1 when they sag off five feet on nearly every shooter and are able to space out to prevent any passes inside. It is not that we are just bad outside shooters but that we are also scared to shoot. A defense can feed into that by daring the offense to shoot which just kills the confidence that much more. We literally had two players only who had some confidence shooting from outside. How are you going to attack a sagging 1-3-1 without even the thought of making the defense close out. Crisco? I have no idea how to attack when you have no driving or passing lanes because the other team is playing so far off. Gonna need more options from the perimeter going forward.

Yeah, I see a lot of criticism, not just here but other places too, but not a lot of answers. People just seem to be letting off steam which is fine. Like what Nukem said, I posted this in the game thread:

"That was difficult for us to do though with all the length that Xavier had down the middle. Without a shooter out there for Marquette, and with all the length, it was smart for them to be passive. We couldn't reverse the ball easily, because of that length. We couldn't drive and dish because of the length. They effectively cut the court in half on us. We got it to the corners and we couldn't hit a shot out there. Derrick is not a scoring option, so they could just lay of of him. A great way to beat the 1-3-1 is diagonal passes, but we couldn't do that with the length. Without the shooters, we couldn't get that 1-3-1 moving. Another way to beat the 1-3-1 is to overload a side. But again, it doesn't matter if you overload a side. The idea is that you will have an advantage with more numbers against defenders. Again, that's negated when the defense doesn't have to play defense against certain players."

The most common way to attack a 1-3-1 is with a 2-1-2 set. The way I do it is a little unorthodox. I have a high post and a low post, which occupies the middle defender and the baseline defender. Then, I use two guards on top of the zone who reverse the ball and have a baseline runner. With the baseline runner, a high post, a low post, and a guard, you have 4 guys attacking 3 defenders. The high post and the low post occupy two of those defenders. So, the advantage becomes the baseline runner and the guard versus the wing defender. If the baseline defender comes out to guard the baseline runner, then that leaves the low post open, etc. Also, the low post guy or the baseline runner doesn't have to cut to the ball side all the time. Then you are able to make those diagonal passes which hurts the 1-3-1.

However, like you said, no one was taking the corner shots or hitting them. No one could hit from the wings. If you can't hit shots where the defense isn't playing you, what are you suppose to do? Xavier was sagging off. It was not like our 1-3-1 because ours is more aggressive. They were fine with protecting the paint. When you don't have to guard Derrick since he can't or won't shoot, you lose any advantage you have from overloading a side. That defense doesn't have to close out, so you are not making the defense shift. Not just that, but Derrick is so slow to move the ball. He always has to take that extra dribble and stare at the guy he is passing to. Juan is also not an outside threat. With the defense sagging, especially since they had three long guys playing in the middle, I'm not sure what we were suppose to do. Maybe we should have made Cohen a baseline runner, Juan in the high post, Luke in the low post, and Duane and JJJ at the guards. But JJJ can't hit an outside shot either. So, they would shade towards Duane and Cohen and pack it in on Luke. There are not a lot of answers for the coaching staff to choose from. Forget about point guard. Duane could thrive in that role if he has a sniper playing with him. We need an outside shooter.