Here's a quick parlor game while the kids take exams and we pass the time until Marquette takes the floor against the Gentlemen of Centenary this Saturday.
Below are three statements. Tell me which one Coach Buzz didn't make during the Marquette Radio Hour with Steve "The Homer" True on Monday night. (Obviously, if you listened to the show, you're disqualified. Sorry. Go play the Badger Big Men Thinker again.)
Option 1:
"It was what I thought: twelve offensive rebounds, nine of 'em are scored for putbacks. They scored thirteen baskets in the second half, and nine of 'em were on putbacks, and we still held them to 39% from the field in the second half, which tells you that our first-shot percentage field goal defense was maybe as good as it's been in a long, long time. But we never finished the possession. Too many possessions we didn't finish with the rebound. It was a multitude of things: we didn't block out, we didn't take up space, guys were playing harder than us, guys were jumping over us because we didn't know where they were. Too many times we're just watching -- ball-watching instead of blocking out."
Option 2:
"I don't know if we've done a very good job dictating what we want to do, the pace we want to play at, with the games we've played in the last few weeks. Maybe it's my fault, but I feel like there's been a little too much: 'OK, you'll get into the halfcourt, or you'll set up your defense, and we'll adapt our game to that.' It's a hard thing to do with a young team that's still learning how to play at this level -- against the Dukes and the Wisconsins -- but we need to do a better job of forcing our will on our opponent, make them adjust to us."
Option 3:
"I watched the tape after the game and then obviously watched it again yesterday. I feel a lot better, and maybe that sounds like a guy that just got his tail whipped, but I feel a lot better about where we're at, and where we've gotta go, and how we've gotta go there. And I think a lot of things were fleshed out yesterday with our team while watching tape."
So: whaddya think?