Bucket Dumping at Season's End: Washington 80 - Marquette 78
by Rubie Q on Mar 18, 2010 10:49 PM CDT
in Game Recaps
8 comments
Be honest: Marquette went up 15 with 13 and change to go in the second half, and you said to yourself: "I'm not sure this is a good thing." And, as it turned out, you were right, as Washington roared back to defeat YOUR Golden Eagles in the first round of the NCAA tournament, 80-78.
Tomorrow can be a day for reflection and appreciation and all manner of "boy, what a swell season that was." That's fine, and that's how it should be.
Tonight (and maybe early tomorrow morning, if you drown your sorrows into the wee hours of March 19), on the other hand, is a night for Bucket Dumping. Get it off your chest. Go ahead. I'll start:
My main gripe with Buzz Williams, in addition to his complete and total lack of ability to coach defense, is that after every game this season, win or lose, I had to hear Coach Buzz prattle on about how this team had no margin for error, how it didn't have the talent to compete with the best teams in the nation, how it was fortunate just to be able to keep games close in the final minutes.
When you're constantly telling your players, telling the public, telling your fans that -- in a nutshell -- your team has to be damn near perfect to have any chance to win, what do you expect to happen when your team runs out to a sizable lead? Will they stay aggressive and continue to do the things that built the lead, or will they start playing tentative, doing whatever they can not to lose instead of whatever they can to win? Instead of breaking the other team's neck, our guys took a few steps back and said: "Well, maybe they'll suffocate on their own." Instead of making adjustments -- like, say, switching back to the zone when it became clear in the second half that Washington could take any one of our guys off the dribble whenever they wanted -- we do the same things and hope that the clock runs out with a sliver of the lead intact.
Tonight, that "we've gotta be perfect" mentality came back to bite us in a big way.
Until tomorrow.
0 recs |
8 comments
|
Email
Print
Comments
And Buzz doesn't disappoint:
“It was fool’s gold for us,” Williams said. “We weren’t doing what we needed to do defensively, and that was because the game was going too fast. [We] had to play our five best players too many minutes in the second half. With the game going that fast, it wears us down. That’s why it’s fool’s gold.”
That’s enough bullshit for one night.
Things I will try to put a bright spin on later this offseason when I am less bitter:
How many times can Akert try to drive the middle and get stuffed by everyone else on the floor? I had slim hopes that maybe after the G-town game he might have realized this was not the best plan, but after watching him tonight on three consecutive possessions, and thus turn the ball over, I can’t say I’m sad to see him go.
Can we finally admit that the multi-guard starting lineup doesn’t do anyone any good? How long will it take for Marquette and Villanova to finally recruit ONE big man that is an actual center. I am getting really sick of watching defensive stops that go to waste due to offensive rebounds and put backs. Seriously, if the other team has a player who can go to the rim on us, they always will.
Jimmy Butler, AKA Conehead, stop. Stop missing low post shots, stop pretending to play defense, and stop fouling every other possession. I know most of this is due to people playing you like you’re a center, when you’re clearly a power forward at best, but your performance is not okay.
Hey DJO, remember when you were touted as a three point specialist? Remember how you’ve been on fire the last few weeks? How many times are you going to get a wide open look from beyond the arc that you’re going to wimp out of taking and try to drive it to the rim. I saw this at least five times today, and it really pissed me off. Who the hell is scared to take a three pointer? Are you really lacking that much confidence? Our entire game plan is to throw up three pointers as much as we can, and you’re somehow the only person on our team who chickens out of taking them when you get a wide open look.
And finally Buzz. The game is tied, there are seconds left, and at the very least you need to get to overtime. How about doing something a little more than man to man coverage on Washington’s only major scoring threat and aggressive player. When I hear someone like my brother, who doesn’t even watch college basketball, comment about how Marquette needed to guard Pondexter on that last play, it borders a little less on common sense and a little more on WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING COACHING IF YOU CAN’T SPOT SOMETHING A NON-SPORTS-FAN HIGH SCHOOLER CAN SEE.
Sigh
I love Marquette basketball, and the players had a great year, and I think Buzz is a great coach. This loss is pretty tough to take, I need some cool off time.
Nope, no apologies.
That’s the beauty of Bucket Dumping. Let it out.
by Rubie Q on Mar 19, 2010 6:34 AM CDT via mobile up reply actions
All good points...including those from Coach Williams
Last night was a fitting end to a mentally exhausting season and likely solidified MU’s top spot in the NCAA for most games decided by 4 pts or less. I agree with much of the frustration that has been stated above, but I also agree with the notion that this team has zero margin for error. How can you not agree with is after last night? We shoot over 50% for the game, over 60% on 3’s, and matched our opponents turnover total of 12. By those numbers alone one would think that it should be an easy W. Not with this team. As stated by Andy Katz this morning, while Washington was the underdog 11 seed (yet only 1 point dog in Vegas), they had far more talent, athleticism, and depth than MU. And this is what eventually was MU’s demise. Washingtons edge in talent gave, for example, Pondexter’s 2 offensive rebounds in the final minute (both lead to baskets, 1 being the game winner), Acker’s and Cubillan’s narrowly missed layups with under 2 to play (likely due to their lack of size and athleticism, we all know the likes of Dominic James, McNeal, Matthews, and Isaiah Thomas would have finished). This becomes a double edged sword when these guys are playing 35+ minutes due to our lack of depth. After fighting uphill for the entire game (due to our deficiencies), we then have to try and get a stop at the end of a game. Almost impossible when we are undersized, slower, less athletic, and exhausted. I understand everyone is pissed after the loss, but I am going to defend Coach Williams regarding his statements…..as I have all season.
No Argument
For any of those things. It’s one thing to try and be patient, and control tempo when you’re up. It’s entirely another to take the air out of the ball prematurely, and play tenative and stop doing the things that got you that lead in the first place. And on the last play, how was there no help? I may have to watch it again (if I can stomach it) and see exactly where everyone else was. But shouldn’t there have been some help behind Butler, instead of just letting him guard Pondexter all by himself? I don’t know what would’ve happened if we’d stopped his drive, maybe he would’ve scored anyways, maybe he would’ve kicked it out, maybe we would’ve just clobbered him and made him shoot free throws. Any of those options would have been better than just letting him walk to the rack and score once he was by Jimmy. I am STILL really pissed off.
I think Cracked Sidewalks nailed it, and I texted it to Rubie after the game, but he’d rather blame Buzz. MU had a 15 point lead when Lazar picked up with 3rd foul. (a horseshit call) Buzz had to take him out and Fulce isn’t 1/10th the player Lazar was last night. The touch fouls the refs called last night really forced MU to play soft defense allowing UW to shoot lights out. Plus, it helps when UW is virtually playing a home game.
UW played with a chip on their shoulder. They had to hear all year what a garbage conference they played. They played with something to prove.
Acker, Cubillan, Butler all missed layups when UW was making their run. Any one of those hit and the results are probably different.
I’ll blame our coach for one thing: Our defense on the perimeter wasn’t very good. UW shot lights out from 3 point land, when in reality they aren’t very good. Needed to try something to disrupt their shots from beyond the arc.
I now have another UW I hate.
by Admiral Ackbar, S.J. on Mar 19, 2010 9:18 AM CDT up reply actions
Help
Zar just stood there and watched. He could have stepped up but was fronting his man and was probably concerned about a dump off to his guy and easy layup. The other Washington players were completely cleared out for Pondexter making it a long distance for a defender to cover. If one of those guards did drop to help, an easy kick out would have ensued, and the way they were shooting, probably would have fell too. I say you’re damned if you do, you’re damned if you don’t. We couldn’t stop anything they did last night. Jimmy is our best perimeter defender (Zar is good, but way too slow to guard Q), so it was essentially going all in on Jimmy making Quincy take a tough shot. Unfortunately, I think Jimmy was completely gassed due to Zar’s foul trouble and was a 1/2 step slow which was enough for Quincy to get around him and get a fairly easy look. (It would have been really nice to have a Hasheem Thabeet type guy waiting in the paint). IMO, what it boils down to is our roster make up. The lack of size and depth of our team leads to a deficiency domino effect on the defensive side of the ball. Hopefully we’re trending toward roster stability starting next season.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Certain photos copyright © 2010 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
