The root of our problems

[TheSultan]

Guard commitments since Vander's class....not including Vander.

Reggie Smith
Jamail Jones
Derrick Wilson
Todd Mayo
TJ Taylor
Jamal Ferguson

Resulted in four transfers and two marginal players.

I think if Buzz is to be faulted for anything, it's that he made mistakes in judging the quality of these guys. It happens.

[IrwinFletcher]

I think that Buzz had lost sight of the fact that you absolutely have to have shooters on the team. Switchables, toughness, and all that stuff is important, but if guys can't shoot, you have to let them go elsewhere. The college game is a guard game. It is a 3-point shooter game right now and we don't have one.

I think with the addition of JJJ, Hill coming next year and Nick the following year, things might be changing. Until we do, we will struggle.

[TheSultan]

Yeah but didn't Jamail have the reputation as a shooter? TJT could knock down shots as well. But it isn't really working out for either of them so far this year.

[Nukem2]

Guard commitments since Vander's class....not including Vander.

Reggie Smith
Jamail Jones
Derrick Wilson
Todd Mayo
TJ Taylor
Jamal Ferguson

Resulted in four transfers and two marginal players.

I think if Buzz is to be faulted for anything, it's that he made mistakes in judging the quality of these guys. It happens.
I would not call Mayo marginal. Slightly above average, but streaky as is the case with scorers. Obviously, JJJ will be good. Also, Duane Wilson is yet to play. Agree with the rest.

[TheSultan]

Yeah, I didn't include this year's class because they aren't really ready to be steady contributors. And I'm not going to argue marginal v. slightly above average. In either case he hasn't really seemed to grow as a player.

[BLT]

The root of Buzz's problems aren't these misses, as he has made these up with JJJ, Duane and perhaps Dawson. The root of our problems this year are circumstances. Buzz has stated in the past he wants to recruit a PG every year. That didn't happen in 12-13 as he had two early commits for two spots in Ferguson and Taylor and he thought he was covered with Smith, DeWilson and Blue as a combo. He then made up for it by taking two in 13-14 class, with a combo in Cohen for next year.

When I say circumstances, I mean off the court stuff. Smith, enough said. Vander would be playing PG right now, which was his goal. Duane, who would be starting at some point, was injured preseason. As a result, MU has one PG option: DeWilson, with Jamil as a backup. Not ideal.

In terms of SG...Taylor, enough said. Mayo, a volume scorer, but off court issues hold him back from his potential (attitude, knee injury, broken nose). Vander as combo took a flyer. So left with Jake and JJJ. Not ideal.

In terms of shooting forward...should be Jamil's spot, with Taylor, McKay and Gardner playing the PF spot. Steve Taylor started at the four, but injury holding him back. McKay would be starting now, but his service here broke down after four days of practice. Gardner doesn't play defense well and is a matchup disadvantage, especially when no one can get him the ball on offense in a position to score. And then, Jamil is stretched having to play backup point guard. So Juan starts at the shooting forward role because of his energy and rebounding efficiency. He isn't a scorer. Burton is looking good when Jamil switches over to PG, but mainly as a four, taking touches away from Gardner who's playing the five.

So, Buzz is left with three great kids to start, who give it their all, and are experienced. The problem is, they are in roles critical to scoring on offense, either through creation or shooting. The PG is good at controlling the ball but not creating for others. That would be fine if the starting 2G or SF could create on their own, but they are situational role players being asked to be volume scorers. They aren't. Big hole, so Buzz moves Jamil to PG to create any offense. Mayo is in/out of his zone. Buzz holds back minutes on JJJ and Dawson for freshman reasons.

So, what is left? MU is very good on defense (even yesterday), and substandard on offense. Blue, TJ Taylor, Smith, McKay, etc are long gone. DuWilson, Mayo and Steve Taylor are hampered or idle. What does Buzz do? He has been trying to win with defense, but the offensive hole is too big. If you look at usage statistics and compare them to minutes, DeWilson, Jake and Juan are considered role or limited players by Pomeroy, yet they start. MU's three of four most offensively efficientl players come in off the bench, as does Burton who can create points. Simply, if MU is to reverse this slide (and it is now officially a slide), Buzz needs to get more offense into his line ups.

I am not there at practice or in study hall or in the same state, but as an armchair fan, here is who I would start: Derrick, JJJ, Burton, Jamil and Chris. Derrick gives a steady hand with two freshmen in there, and JJJ is very effective for threes or dribble penetration. Chris and Jamil can cover up defensive lapses.

Off the bench, I would play Todd at PG, with Jake, Juan, Gardner and Jamil. Both Todd and Jamil can create offense for Jake or Gardner, or themselves. Juan gives energy and rebounding. Steve can spell Jamil until healthy, and JJJ and Burton can be worked in here as could Dawson in spot minutes as he can feed the post.

Buzz has consistently said this team is over rated. He was right. Time is now, though, to play for the future and not the present as the circumstances have dictated it. There are talented pieces.

[Nukem2]

In terms of SG...Taylor, enough said. Mayo, a volume scorer, but off court issues hold him back from his potential (attitude, knee injury, broken nose). Vander as combo took a flyer. So left with Jake and JJJ. Not ideal.

Agree with your overall post, but I do take issue with the Mayo off court "issues". First off, the knee & ankle & nose are all on-court items. As for attitude, I don't think that has been an issue this season. His body language has been very good and he seems to be interacting very well with his teammates. The only thing this year has been that (apparent) late for practice dustup and Buzz moved right past that as he did when Junior and DJO broke team rules. He has also obviously kept up with his academics. On court, he has been somewhat inconsistent; though, generally productive. Part of that probably relates to his coming off the bench. I have always felt he would be more consistent as a starter.

[BLT]

Yes, Nuke, when I used the term "off the court", I should have used the term "in game issues" as I was including injuries as "off the court" as well as they inhibit their play when "on the court"...as circumstances out of Buzz's control. For instance, it was mentioned that Todd took off his mask yesterday at halftime as his vision was impaired (thus, blind turnovers and bad shooting). Not really Todd's or Buzz's fault but a circumstance to deal with in the course of the game and season not related to recruiting.

[bleedbluegold03]

Career to date, would you have had Jamil Wilson or DJ Newbill? Think it's an easy answer

[BLT]

Career to date, would you have had Jamil Wilson or DJ Newbill? Think it's an easy answer

Jamil. Would DJ have helped play center when Otule and Gardner were out two years ago on the way to a Sweet 16? No. Would Newbill brought MU back against Davidson? Maybe. This year, would Newbill have been able to guard McDermott with STJ hampered and McKay gone? No.

Now, who would you have preferred college career wise, Blue or Newbill, knowing what you know today?

[warriorfan4life]

Newbill transferred from Southern Miss to Penn State to be closer to home. The same thing likely happens if he started here, especially with DJO and Blue playing ahead of him.

[TheSultan]

Jamil. Would DJ have helped play center when Otule and Gardner were out two years ago on the way to a Sweet 16? No. Would Newbill brought MU back against Davidson? Maybe. This year, would Newbill have been able to guard McDermott with STJ hampered and McKay gone? No.

Now, who would you have preferred college career wise, Blue or Newbill, knowing what you know today?


Vander. Easy. Not even close.

[Alan Bykowski, "brewcity77"]

The root of Buzz's problems aren't these misses, as he has made these up with JJJ, Duane and perhaps Dawson. The root of our problems this year are circumstances. Buzz has stated in the past he wants to recruit a PG every year. That didn't happen in 12-13 as he had two early commits for two spots in Ferguson and Taylor and he thought he was covered with Smith, DeWilson and Blue as a combo. He then made up for it by taking two in 13-14 class, with a combo in Cohen for next year.

When I say circumstances, I mean off the court stuff. Smith, enough said. Vander would be playing PG right now, which was his goal. Duane, who would be starting at some point, was injured preseason. As a result, MU has one PG option: DeWilson, with Jamil as a backup. Not ideal.

In terms of SG...Taylor, enough said. Mayo, a volume scorer, but off court issues hold him back from his potential (attitude, knee injury, broken nose). Vander as combo took a flyer. So left with Jake and JJJ. Not ideal.

In terms of shooting forward...should be Jamil's spot, with Taylor, McKay and Gardner playing the PF spot. Steve Taylor started at the four, but injury holding him back. McKay would be starting now, but his service here broke down after four days of practice. Gardner doesn't play defense well and is a matchup disadvantage, especially when no one can get him the ball on offense in a position to score. And then, Jamil is stretched having to play backup point guard. So Juan starts at the shooting forward role because of his energy and rebounding efficiency. He isn't a scorer. Burton is looking good when Jamil switches over to PG, but mainly as a four, taking touches away from Gardner who's playing the five.

So, Buzz is left with three great kids to start, who give it their all, and are experienced. The problem is, they are in roles critical to scoring on offense, either through creation or shooting. The PG is good at controlling the ball but not creating for others. That would be fine if the starting 2G or SF could create on their own, but they are situational role players being asked to be volume scorers. They aren't. Big hole, so Buzz moves Jamil to PG to create any offense. Mayo is in/out of his zone. Buzz holds back minutes on JJJ and Dawson for freshman reasons.

So, what is left? MU is very good on defense (even yesterday), and substandard on offense. Blue, TJ Taylor, Smith, McKay, etc are long gone. DuWilson, Mayo and Steve Taylor are hampered or idle. What does Buzz do? He has been trying to win with defense, but the offensive hole is too big. If you look at usage statistics and compare them to minutes, DeWilson, Jake and Juan are considered role or limited players by Pomeroy, yet they start. MU's three of four most offensively efficientl players come in off the bench, as does Burton who can create points. Simply, if MU is to reverse this slide (and it is now officially a slide), Buzz needs to get more offense into his line ups.

I am not there at practice or in study hall or in the same state, but as an armchair fan, here is who I would start: Derrick, JJJ, Burton, Jamil and Chris. Derrick gives a steady hand with two freshmen in there, and JJJ is very effective for threes or dribble penetration. Chris and Jamil can cover up defensive lapses.

Off the bench, I would play Todd at PG, with Jake, Juan, Gardner and Jamil. Both Todd and Jamil can create offense for Jake or Gardner, or themselves. Juan gives energy and rebounding. Steve can spell Jamil until healthy, and JJJ and Burton can be worked in here as could Dawson in spot minutes as he can feed the post.

Buzz has consistently said this team is over rated. He was right. Time is now, though, to play for the future and not the present as the circumstances have dictated it. There are talented pieces.

You don't make up for misses and transfers just because you have freshmen with high ceilings. There's no one to replace what Vander, Smith, TJT, and Mello were expected to give this year. TJ was probably supposed to help provide what Smith was, but when you lose the replacement's replacement, you have nothing but trouble.

I don't think Van would be at the point, but I think that his presence at the SG would give us three legit ball-handlers on offense (DeWil and Jamil the others) and would make everyone look better, most notably Derrick and Davante.

One thing I definitely don't get is people's obsession with moving SGs to the point. Vander was not a point. Mayo is not a point. Jamil is only getting time there because there is no one else on the team outside Derrick ready to run it. I'm confident Derrick would still be getting 25-30 mpg if Vander was here. But he'd look better because teams can cover both of our guards in a one-dimensional regard, preventing Derrick from driving and preventing Jake from shooting. If Derrick had an outlet next to him that offered both threats, he'd likely be a far more efficient looking player. And lord what his ability would add to Davante's game...

But what happened happened. This team needs to focus on how to get better. My guess is people will disagree on how to get there. I'd say more Otule and less Gardner. Get the hard-working positive attitude on the court rather than the guy who seems to be getting everyone down. Get Derrick to the point where he's playing 25 mpg and Jamil is taking the other 15 at the point. More Mayo and less of the Derrick/Jake combo. Hopefully Burton and Johnson can continue to improve on the back end so they can increase their minutes and production on the front end.

[BLT]

Vander was recruited as a PG/combo. He played PG on USA teams. Buycks was a combo guard and played PG his senior year at MU (and now the NBA). Mayo was a combo guard in prep as well. Vander played PG at times last year against the zone. It wasn't far fetched at all...but it also may be one of the reasons why he left, if rumors are true.

In any regard, back to the OP, hard to blame Vander's hole on recruiting if he decided to leave post-recruiting windows. Buzz had a plan to fill that hole after Vander's senior year, and he did with the freshmen.

[dubs98]

Career to date, would you have had Jamil Wilson or DJ Newbill? Think it's an easy answer

hmm.....with j. wilson we have had a sweet sixteen and elite eight appearance. Can't say it is all j. wilson, but he was a significant contributor. To me it is not even close. I don't care what newbill is averaging (?18ish a game). A lot of players can put up big numbers on bad or mediocre teams especially when they are given a green light. PSU was 10-21 last year. They are 9-5 this year (no idea about the difficulty of their schedule), but I am willing to bet we end up with a better record. Maybe you watch PSU and have better insight, but I will take J. wilson any day of the week, no doubt!

[MU88]

This isn't the team Buzz expected. Vander left early, Wilson got hurt. It's as simple as that. The talent on this team is young and young guards can be challenging, especially without a functional point. This team will get better as the year goes on, but its tough to score points when you are playing 4 on 5 on offense.

Any improvement on this team will come from the freshmen. Burton is starting to come on. His defense is getting better and his offense is developing nicely. JJJ is showing signs. I think Duane Wilson will come back stronger next year. Add Hill to the mix and I think this team has a bright future. I don't know if Fischer is truly an option, but adding a capable big to next year's team would be huge lift.