Dolan, mwamba and now, unfortunately, Norris are not good enough to have any significant roles on a decent A10 team. I don't know if the rest of the roster is, but they should be given a chance.

And I hate to think that now, after 2 years, Drew does not seem to have a clue in setting an offense and settling on a rotation.

The program may be, if not already, back in mediocrity and irrelevance.

I will push back on the Norris sentiment we are seeing. This is the same guard that played over 30 minutes a game for the sweet 16 team and the MVC champs the next year.

The difference is post graduation of Williamson and Co, Drew changed the offense. And Norris does not fit the scheme that Drew runs. To that end, he always was a system style player, kind of a throwback type that would work well in a defined role. Once we moved to a scheme that was ISO heavy, he was toast.

I agree that in the current scheme, he is a bit lost and the stats show that his shooting is way down % wise versus previous years, so yeah, maybe a change is needed due to the system style, but I don't think the player has changed.

Frustrated as everyone else. Seeing another pattern from last year - we are losing in the 2nd half. Thus being out coached. Drew can recruit, but someone else needs to be the Xs and Os guy and make adjustments for the 2nd half!!!

Where to begin.

1. Lousy performance. Some stats. We had 15 Turnovers. Shot 43.1% from the floor, 30% from 3, 70% from the FT line. NO shot even worse! They were 34% from floor, respectable 36% from 3 and 68% from the line. The big difference in the game…they shot 8 more times than we did and made 3 more 3’s which kept them in the game. Turnovers. No excuse to not have cleaned this up. It’s been TWO years watching this nonsense.

2. For the life of me, I do not understand our inability to cover three point shooters. We were blocking shots and they were undersized, yet we continued to collapse into the lane when they were not hurting us in the paint and left shooters open. The last play of the game the NO coach went nuts and chased Refs. Rewatched the game and we caught a big break because we fouled then three point shooter who had 31 in the game. We inexplicably LEFT him during the sequence. We make no in game adjustments.

3. Norris is not a primary piece. For those that want to go back to the Sweet 16 team, he was a complimentary player. The defensive attention was on Cam, Lucas, Aher. As the main focal point, he’s not good enough as a centerpiece of a good D1 team. Right now, our three ball handlers (Norris, Dolan, Quinn) are playing lousy basketball.

4. I don’t like the constant rotations. Drew is not letting any lineup gain traction. He also seems to take guys out after they make a bucket or two. That maybe a coincident due to his white sheet which he seems to have minutes and substitutions mapped out. The problem is Drew does not delegate authority so he is constantly worried about subs. Porter had Mullins doing that while he coached the game. Why drew can’t turn over the subbing of guys to an assistant if its mapped out is beyond me. My only hope, because we saw it with Porter and last year with Drew is that once we get to the A10 the rotations will shrink.

5. On the broadcast when I rewatched game, Jordan had a comment that I have been harping on. He even sees it. He commented that when we merely pass around perimeter and start to pound the dribble our offense is bad. When we pass, cut, screen its good. I think we all see this. So, why are we not doing it constantly? Too much hero ball going on. Drew needs to dust off the Clemson game from last year and show them that you when move, move, move you get those great shots and offense becomes easy.

6. We did see something new. Maybe it was due to injuries to Alston and Dawson, but we actually played two bigs at a time. We saw some combo of Miles, Dame and Tom playing together with Dez. It was interesting. Our offense did struggle a bit because of the poor shooting of Dolan (3-10), Norris (1-3), and Quinn (0-1, not a typo…1 shot). 4-14 won’t cut it. This may have been to get ready for Creighton who has legit height and talent.

7. My hope is that the team gets away and splits in KC and plays well doing it. Sometimes being on the road allows guys get away from distractions. It’s gonna be tough with the injuries, but if limit turnovers and shoot the ball better we can get one in KC.

We need some threes right? So why does Sheldon not get time…
Even more mysterious to me is the severe limited playing time for Ben? Doesn’t anyone else wonder what’s up with that? He’s been committed to the program, Sat a year played almost 30 min / game last year….
Last of all there should be a no dribble or limited dribble rule for big guys. A10 girds will pick it off every time..
Loyal but frustrated…

Creighton may be the best offensive team in the country and they have one of the three best defensive players in America in their C Kalkbrenner. That game could get very, very ugly.

Agree on Sheldon & Ben. But whose minutes do they take? We already have too many subs and constant rotations.

Personally, I'm not overly impressed with JQ. I think he has potential, but he is a bit of a turnover machine. And he is constantly dribbling into traffic without a plan and then having to make a crazy pass or attempt a difficult shot. But our other two guards, Dolan & Norris, haven't been super impressive either. I don't think any of those three are A10 quality guards / primary ball handlers. I forsee many of the same issues in A10 play as we had last year.

The minutes should be up for grabs in my opinion.If Norris plays 25 minutes a game instead of 35, there's ten for Sheldon right there. Quinn at ten gets you ten more.

Mwamba is getting 15 a game, and he doesn't seem better than Ben to me.

I agree with the comment about Norris and the system. It seems like all of his made threes come when we run an action to spring him open. That works. Iso-ball doesn't. See: last five minutes of game.

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MBB Scholarship Chart

Well if they somehow beat Creighton all is forgiven, but woof what a mess. Front court actually seems solid, good depth and Watson has all-conference potential. Guard play is atrocious, as others have mentioned. Maybe Dawson comes back and turns into a superstar this week? Braden and Nolan need to focus on hitting open looks.

Quinn and Mwamba, combined 28 mins, 0 points. Offensively challenged players, seems like we go into long droughts with them on the floor.

RELAX.

I am not thrilled with our performance. However, it is a little premature to judge. We only lost one game that I thought we should win.

We look like a team that has not played together. If you look at our bench, you can understand why.

We have 5 new faces. We only have two returning coaches plus Hipsher. Since the end of last season, we have added two new assistants, a new director of basketball operations, a new video coordinator, and a new director of player development. We need to give the staff a chance to develop.

We have six new players.

We had 4 new starters yesterday. Alston has been injured. I wonder what we would think if he played against UIC and UNO?

Last year, our top players by minutes were Norris, Schwieger, Alston, Kennedy, Welch, Quinn.

This year - it is Norris, Watson, Dolan, Quinn and Rubin.

Last year, I was hopeful that our trip to Europe would pay dividends from a chemistry perspective. It didn't. The KC trip is our first road game. I am hopeful it gives us an opportunity to bond.