A ton of credit should go toward Oregon’s defense. That was some of the wackiest toughest defense I’ve seen all year. It’s almost like WVU but without quite as much pressure. They make you second guess and you’re never completely sure where the defense is coming from or going to be.
Tough defense, plus only 5 TO’s, plus 47% from 3 makes a team REALLY hard to beat. And we almost did.
They definitely deserve credit, no question. However, no different than Louisville really. Louisville had the better athletes too. This just really felt like a game we lost more than they won. Obviously they could say the same if Walton’s shot goes in.
Moe and MAAR had an off game compared to Sunday. And by off game, I don’t mean Oregon got the best of them. I saw more they were just off no matter the opponent. Sure, Bell was a major factor but Moe had some wide open three looks. Plus, we didn’t look to attack the mismatches like we had been. There was just never any flow established last night and Derrick and Zak did all they could to carry the team individually.
As stated, he was 3-10. 3-6 was just from 2. 0-4 from deep and each attempt looked worse than the previous. JB tried to let him shoot out of the funk, but it didn’t work. He also wasn’t valuing the ball last night. Which gets you a seat on the bench under JB.
He has come up big in big games. He’s also made his fair share of poor decisions. He has had plenty of silly off the ball fouls this season. He has made plenty of poor defensive rotations this season, including a decent amount last night. He was not helping on either end of the floor. We played better with DJ at the 5 last night. It’s one thing to bench Moe for Donnal. If that were the case, I"m sure everyone would be right there with you. But DRob, while also poor on defense, hit some shots for us in big moments and came millimeters from draining two others. Just some bad rim luck.
Given that same shot I’d bet DeWalt hits 8/10. Looked like he may have rushed it a bit thinking they might foul but after he missed I really wasn’t upset because I’d ride or die with him on that shot 100%.
Just watched the whole game. Wish I hadn’t. Very frustrating we were clearly the better team talent wise. Moe shot badly but I think he needed more touches. Almost all his looks were good looks even when he missed badly. The offense just looked way smoother with him out there and involved. Idk this team really was final four good. I’m pretty down after watching that. Really talented team.
I agree. After a slow start it seemed like he was overwhelmed. It happens. These are kids on an unbelievably big stage. The lights may have gotten too bright. I’m excited to watch him as a team leader next year take control while he’s comfortable. He has unlimited potential.
Oregon is very good but I’m surprised you feel that way. We played terrible and still should have won. It’s clear to me we were superior. If we play a normal gsje we win quite easily.
Oregon has better athletes and it showed. They were the reason we were fouling more than we usually do. It’s rare for another team to beat us to the bonus. Jordan Bell is the DPOY in the Pac-10 for a reason.
See I’m not seeing that. He was over whelmed and missing badly but while out there he was getting great looks and our spacing was great and are puck and roll game looked great. I think you leave him in and keep working it and let him get to the line and hit one. Just needed to slow down.
Three out of his 4 threes were wide open. He got to the rim on a roll and was open down there a lot. Our offense looked good with him running the p n r we just were missing.
I loved Oregon all year and thought they could win it with Boucher. That said I think we are stacked. We should have won and we played poorly. If we had a normal game we win big imo
I think I’ve mentioned that the Michigan radio guys commented twice on the bench being all over Wagner. The first half was telling him to get into the game and the second half was Donlon on a defensive lapse. Didn’t Michigan start the second half calling his number? In my opinion Michigan knew they needed him in a big way and he was just off and costing them. In a win or go home game I don’t think you can just keep hoping that an inconsistent sophomore, who has a habit of going the direction of his first few minutes, is going to start clicking.
Moe is young and immature, which can be expected. It is an area he can improve upon going forward. He needs to get tougher physically and mentally. He and Wilson need to be like Irvin and find other ways to help the team when their shots aren’t falling.
I agree, we were getting him open looks, but his misses were downright terrible misses. I mean, his threes were not remotely close, he had one driving layup where it looked like he had a wide open path and somehow shot the ball off the opposite side of the backboard - I think he was intimidated and nervous, and it wasn’t getting better.
I don’t necessarily disagree with you, either. But I don’t think what JB did was some huge strategical mistake. When a guy is playing horribly, you have to trust your gut, which is either: (1) he doesn’t have it today; or (2) let him work his way out of it. JB chose (1), and it worked against OK State just fine. We went smaller, and Duncan had some huge threes. Against Oregon, if Duncan’s two near misses were makes, the strategy would again look right.
At best, I think you could say the teams were evenly matched and each team would win 5 if they played 10. I just don’t see how you could watch that game and come away thinking we were a clearly superior team.
That’s very well put. Mo and DJ will get their deserved NBA hype because of their offense (and DJs shot blocking), but they will help us win more games if they do the little things better: better rotations, keeping men in front of them, hedging, REBOUNDING, etc. Develop those things, and their game will develop better consistency. Mo’s off shooting games wont look so bad, when he’s denying post position and hunting rebounds; same with DJ, and if he learns to not just tune-out for some plays. They still have so much room to grow as all-around players, and it’s exciting.