It was an interesting gamble by Gard. At some point, it was obvious to him that his guys could not prevent X from getting to the basket against that scheme. He must have been thinking that his guys better keep making shots, and I’m sure that 3>2 was front of mind. I was a little surprised that he didn’t start to be willing to help off our inconsistent 3-point shooters, but the rhythm of the game favoured Wisky pretty well all night, so staying consistent was likely the correct decision.
It is clear at this point that we cannot be missing ANY of the starting 5. I think we can get by without Johns, DDJ or Davis—particularly for a game or two—but not any of the starting 5. Our margin for error is just that thin. Plus guard is probably where we can least afford to be missing someone as we only go 3 deep for 2 spots.
Another weakness that was highlighted was that we have only 2 players who can get to the rim on their own—X and Wagner. Maybe Johns down the road. Livers, despite his skills, is simply lost trying to break down his man and almost always ends up taking an awkward shot–ala Teske. And Brooks and DDJ function off of runners and have almost no numbers at the rim.
2 Likes
Hopefully Zeb is at least capable of playing 5 minutes if he is called upon next year. That would give us one more playable guard than we have right now (assuming Christopher comes and Brooks and DDJ are both around). If we have any kind of unexpected departure or if Christopher doesn’t come I’d hit the transfer market hard for a guard.
1 Like
I agree for the most part but it also didn’t seem to me that Livers was at 100%. He seems to almost be afraid to explode right now off his foot and seemed slower on defense. I think Livers CAN drive successfully but it requires a better matchup from a slower footed wing/big man. I thought his best chance of being successful was the post and just shooting over them. He did it with varying levels of success. One possession early he back Davison deep and then just gave up the ball. Not sure why. The next one he perfectly timed a double team pass to Simpson for a 3. Then late in the second he had an 8 ft shot rim in and out. I still think that was the better strategy. It just didn’t pay off enough last night.
I am most definately not basing it on the one Wisconsin game. And I love Livers.
Livers can do it when he’s guarded by a bigger/slower guy. Struggles to create against guards.
This is my takeaway as well. The offense was terrific despite us only making three 3s, against a defense we usually struggle with. I’m not too worried about how the defense performs when we have guys playing down a position in against a team that spreads the floor with 5 shooters. What Wisconsin did is not something many other teams will be able to recreate, and it’s probably not something Wisconsin will be able to do again in a rematch if we’re healthy.
5 Likes
Well yes, I agree he struggles less against bigger defenders as would be expected. Livers ball-handling out on the perimeter is actually pretty solid, but tends to be side-to-side, which doesn’t translate often enough into getting all the way to the basket.
That game was a painful slog, but not totally unexpected. Wiscy is a pesky annoying group and I kinda figured we would get their best effort. And not having Eli threw the lineups all out of whack.
The good news is, we have a chance to beat OSU on the road on Sunday and bring all the good feelings back. Before the week started I was fine with a split and would be thrilled to get one now,
2 Likes
I’m confused by Howard’s comments about not wanting to play DDJ and X together. This concern did not prevent DDJ and 3li from playing together vs. Nebraska. What gives?
1 Like
I think you’re a lot more confident in X playing by himself than you are in either Eli or DDJ. X can create a lot more than either of the other two.
Easy. Juwan was worried about that tough Crisler whistle. 
2 Likes
I hate that we lost. But the biggest disappointment was seeing a totally dialed in X with a career performance go to waste. Some people have commented that he was getting easy shots, and I agree there were some easy shots. But a lot of those shots were very tough, creative, left hand and right hand hooks. He hit a large variety of shots that we have never seen in one game. If X has that ability to finish for the rest of the season, we will be talking about him like we did Derek Walton in February and March his Senior season.
Edit: For the record, Rumeal Robinson was not a great FT shooter either at 65% his Sr. season. But, he hit the two that mattered most in his college career. 
7 Likes
Hey @Richard_arch74, I’m going to delete this part of the thread. You posted it in two places and it was actually answered in the Big Ten thread.