Post by glidehoyas (Inactive) on Jan 2, 2018 8:27:02 GMT -5
Just got back from the Bradley Center. Thankfully, only a handful of Hoya fans had to shield their eyes in the stadium every time Mulmore and Dickerson touched the ball.
I sifted through about half of the pages, but most of the comments were dead on. We are beyond getting subpar play from the PG position, we are literally getting nothing. Mulmore/Dickerson combined for 31 minutes, 0 FGs, 0 ASTS, 8 TOs, 4 fouls and nothing that could be considered acceptable defense in this one. Some credit to Ewing for actually going with the no PG-lineup for the first time I can remember this year, but it was far too late and for not long enough. Put me squarely in the camp that believes all the minutes should be going to Mosely and Blair (and Walker when we need to go big); at least those are guys that you can at least see potentially developing in the years to come. It sucks that one of them will have to play out of position this year, but whoever does has to do so for the good of the team. Our PGs actually had me wishing for Drew Hall and Matt Causey; that should tell you all you need to know.
It's time to shorten the rotation by 1-2; if guys complain about getting worn down from too many minutes, so be it.
It also seemed like Pat tried a little zone today unlike in the Butler game, but unfortunately Marquette had some credible outside shooting and may have scared him from using it more than he would've liked. So I do give him more of a pass for at least trying to adjust in this one. Even with Rousey catching fire, the game was still there for the taking if we didn't shoot ourselves repeatedly in the foot with careless unforced turnovers. It'd be one thing if Marquette was playing exceptional defense... but they weren't. FWIW, I still think we need to be playing more zone than we should. There isn't a guy on the team that I would consider an above average 1-on-1 on the ball defender either on the perimeter or in the post, so we have to limit exposing any of them as much as possible. In other words, it's time for Louis Orr to start earning those paychecks.
Jessie did seem to have an off day today, but honestly if his off day is 11 and 12, then he's come a long way. And he has. A lot of credit goes to Marquette for doubling both Jessie and Marcus the second they put the ball on the floor. Taking away one thing the opponent likes to do is something competent teams can accomplish, and we aren't there yet from both a personnel or coaching standpoint.
I don't think anyone came into today thinking a 9 point loss on the road at a place where we never seem to win would be surprising. But what irks all of us is how we lost it. 46 turnovers in 2 conference games... we keep that up and going 5-13 will seem like a pipe dream pretty soon.
Guard play has been an issue for a few years now. But of course we couldn't wait for Waters to get here. See what being impatient can do?