BEAT Butler game thread

[Anti-Homer]

I won't get into it, but i thought it was a pretty clueless coaching effort defensively. He's good, but they were not ready or reactive to what they were doing. He(Travis and his staff) was severely out strategized in the match up.

Times 100. Everyone in the building. including Tibetan monks in the Himalayas knew Baldwin was going to take the shot. Steele did the double two step after the game and said the plan was to double him,' and for Marshall to not go under the screen. Why then, did he not pick him up near half court, or even when they in-bounded the ball to him, and run a 2nd defender at him to make him give it up. Not optimal to try and defend a quick, hot shooter back peddling as Marshall was. He made 16 of the final 18 points, and the one bucket he didn't make, he assisted to Nze. Steele's decision making at end of games continues to leave a lot to be desired. Strategic errors in the last four (other than the DePaul games) show a disturbing trend. More to come tomorrow. AH needs to lay down now.

[skyhops]

Guard him from anywhere in the front court and let him drive or whatever but not an unguarded 3. At least Naji thought game was over the FT as did Jones. NIT

[Anti-Homer]

May not have been the last home game for seniors after all. A loss Wednesday to DePaul and they’ll get a home game in the NIT. Unfortunately, this team can’t shoot and as UC showed for years, defense is not enough. This team is horrible offensively. And no excuse for missing 10 FTs or shooting 20+ threes. As many have said here, no BB IQ and maybe none on the staff either.

A loss Wednesday to DePaul and they’ll get a home game in the NIT.

After brushing and flossing my teeth, and changing into my comfortable Nathan Lane pajamas and matching robe, I decided to take one more gander at the thread. I wish i hadn't. I haven't been more depressed after doing so since my son told me he wanted to skip college to go to ventriloquism school. Fortunately, one of the instructor's puppets murdered him before the semester started. I was more than happy to lose the $500 deposit.

[whopper]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhYuZUSMymQ

Nze is almost like a pulling guard..never mentioned by anyone. Marshall could not go under pick as he was moving. Sour grapes for sure but just mentioning

[Michigan Musketeer]

Many factors why they lost this game not just a great performance and buzzer beater by Baldwin. At the start playing at Cintas where they were at one time a lock to win and on Senior night they looked like they had the Coronavirus missing 9 of their first (10) shots. 15-25 from the line has been a problem all season and not the first one it cost them. Jacking (23) 3's, costly turnovers, consistently letting Baldwin get in the paint etc etc. Let the committe decide but I don't think we will hear our name called for the 2nd year in a row. Possibly the Play In Game where they will have to deal with the obnoxious Dayton fans (I attended the last one they played in several years ago when they lost to NC state) 19 and 12- 7th in the conference is may be what we deserve when you only show up for half of the games.

[bluegrass]

No one stepped up to fill in for Scruggs again. We just didnt get much this year from Goodin or Moore.

[thecoach]

Guard him from anywhere in the front court and let him drive or whatever but not an unguarded 3. At least Naji thought game was over the FT as did Jones. NIT

To both of your points above(Hops and AH), it really should never have come down to what they did in the last possession on him. They fumbled defending him all game long. They really played right into the last possession with their inability to force someone else to score. He's not MJ or Kobe. Reminds me of lot of the Bengals making an opposing offensive player into an All Pro. Just awful to watch. You knew it was coming.

Fwiw, this is from a team who the coach stressed was a great defensive team?

[A Fan]

Marshall got caught by the screen but he should never have been there. I assume Steele told him not to pick Baldwin up at half court but pack it in to prepare for a penetrating 2 which Baldwin admitted was his instruction. However....for Steele to not have told them to go after Baldwin on the inbound or at least half court was ridiculous. Steele knew Baldwin would be the chosen shooter ...thought it would be a 2 ...but so what......Baldwin should not have had the ball ...

[X-lucidity]

a resounding THUD.. So crashed the season for our mighty X-men. Fitting, that so many of the issues plaguing us all season all conspired to steal defeat from the jaws of victory yet again. Start with lousy team F/T %, add in some end of game poor coaching instructions, sprinkle in a few late questionable 3pt shots selections when we had them in foul trouble and drives to the basket were proving most successful, then place the cherry on top by allowing the hottest player in the universe to come up court uncontested with the ball for a last second shot, and you have what you deserve...
So now we need to beat Depaul, then Seton Hall, to avoid being ushered into the Not Invited Tournament. Only silver lining there is we avoided a potential Qtr Final potential bloodbath with Nova or Creighton. Neither of which we would have a prayer of winning. At least I give us a 27% chance of beating The Hall. (and a 58% chance of surviving Depaul) So, per my Prf Webb statistics training, that only gives us a 15.6% chance of dancing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ms7KbMfXHp8

[Anti-Homer]

[quote="A Fan" pos

t_id

=188773 time=1583683864 user_id=6803]
Marshall got caught by the screen but he should never have been there. I assume Steele told him not to pick Baldwin up at half court but pack it in to prepare for a penetrating 2 which Baldwin admitted was his instruction. However....for Steele to not have told them to go after Baldwin on the inbound or at least half court was ridiculous. Steele knew Baldwin would be the chosen shooter ...thought it would be a 2 ...but so what......Baldwin should not have had the ball ...
[/quote]

I assume Steele told him not to pick Baldwin up at half court but pack it in to prepare for a penetrating 2

I agree, but think it's a flawed strategy to try and defend one of the most dynamic downhill players with a head of steam while back peddling.

Steele knew Baldwin would be the chosen shooter

Absolutely. It's the reason why in football, many teams chuck a wide receiver to impede his path. I would have brought Goodin in to pressure him 90 feet, making Baldwin change directions to burn off time, then isolate him to one side of the court,where Marshall could have doubled him, forcing a pass.

Baldwin was a one man show, and was able to get wherever he wanted to all game, because he's great off the dribble, and also had picks set for him when needed. Butler also had shooters like McDermott and Tucker on the wing, so the lane wasn't congested, and X couldn't help. Interesting concept by Jordan. it's how he has built a preseason top 50 team into a NET 15 team.

On a completely random note, Juwan Howard of Michigan, whose team has exceeded expectations after losing two or three underclassmen last year to the NBA, brought in a veteran coach with winning experience (Phil Martelli), as Chris Mack did last year with Dino Gaudio. Interesting that some HC's see the value in having an experienced, successful adviser on the bench, while others seemingly choose their assistants based primarily on recruiting ability. I don't know if Hardaway has a veteran bench coach with successful experience, but I don't think he does. Even with a plethora of top 100, and a couple of top 25 players, Memphis won't get an at large bid in an average mid-major conference, who will only get one or two bids (comparable to a down year when X was in the A-10).