Joplin at Wintrust.

[Big Papi]

I think that ship has sailed. And not primarily because of anything Kam has done...or hasn't done (although he hasn't helped himself too much lately). Kam is still getting mentions for the NPOY race, and that's great, but it seems like the sports press has shifted hard in favor of Flagg over the past week or 10 days. I think Flagg has the momentum and I'd be surprised if anything slowed that down.

Agreed.  It's really a 2-horse race with Flagg and Broome and with Flagg putting up 42 points and Broome getting hurt, it is Flagg in the lead.

Still nice to have Kam brought up in the discussion but the leaders are far ahead and out of sight.

[StillAWarrior]

Not to mention, Flagg looks really good.

Oh, absolutely. He's outstanding. I wasn't trying to suggest that he doesn't deserve the hype. I just think that he's got the momentum now and the press is falling in behind him. At this point, it will take something pretty spectacular to overtake him.

Kam...let's see something spectacular.

[StillAWarrior]

Agreed.  It's really a 2-horse race with Flagg and Broome and with Flagg putting up 42 points and Broome getting hurt, it is Flagg in the lead.

I thought Broome had a shot at it because he's played so well, but now he's going to get hurt by the "out of sight, out of mind" mentality just when the Duke hype machine really gets chugging. A really unfortunate injury just when the race with Flagg was heating up.

[MU82]

Not to mention, Flagg looks really good.

This. I'm always skeptical about uber-hyped athletes. But when those athletes live up to the hype, they deserve all the plaudits. The pressure athletes such as Wembanyama, Caitlin Clark and now Flagg faced/face to live up to an insane amount of hype ... and then to come through and deliver on it ... pretty special.

It's hard to believe that Flagg isn't WAY ahead in this race, and deservedly so. Broome's injury pretty much clinched it for him.

[Class71]

Biggest issue I saw in the game was MU consistently hesitating to attack the zone. Everyone was waiting for someone else to move. Not a Smart approach. Too much thinking and not enough quick reaction. Zone defense apparently causes temporary paralysis. I think it is more in their heads than a real limitation.

[The Thing]

Biggest issue I saw in the game was MU consistently hesitating to attack the zone. Everyone was waiting for someone else to move. Not a Shaka Smart approach. Too much thinking and not enough quick reaction. Zone defense apparently causes temporary paralysis. I think it is more in their heads than a real limitation.

Fixed it for you...although I'm still not quite sure what the Shaka Smart approach to killing a zone defense is quite yet?

[Markusquette]

9.  Clean block by Ben at the end of regulation. And then another clean block at the end of OT.  Too close to overturn either.   

It really wasn't too close though. It only took 1 or 2 replays to clearly see he made contact with the ball before it touched glass. Egregiously bad officiating.

[tower912]

Day after pondering...
Getting a player to the foul line and passing them the ball is critical for beating the zone.  So is driving the gaps.  So is rapid ball movement.  Shaka said in his post game presser that zones are predictable in regards to where the spaces are going to be and the rotations.
  Last night, all 5 starters flashed to the foul line area and received passes at different times.  Ben passed a nanosecond second later, Kam missed floaters, Stevie got his weak stuff swatted, Chase drove, stopped, passed back out. 
  The weakness last night was threefold, two of which are fixable. 
1.  Getting to the next action after receiving a pass in space.  Make the defense move.
2. Move the ball quicker and attack gaps. Less passivity.
3.  Have Kam shoot better than 1-10 from 3.  If he shoots 4-10, we probably aren't having this discussion.

[Zog from Margo]

When Gold did get the ball at the FT line, he quickly threw it back out up top. IMO, he needs to pivot and look to his teammates in the corners and read the baseline defenders. That was not the only issue with the zone offense, but it is just an example of where MU can be more aggressive. I would not mind seeing Ben take one bounce from the FT line and go in for a dunk attempt.

[wadesworld]

I'm not worried about this team. I'd be worried if we didn't know what the issue was.

We are winning games despite our glaring issue, and that issue is fixable. If DePaul can get 27 points from their bench, I'm confident Marquette can figure it out. Someone or someone's will have to step up and I believe they will. Too much talent.

Especially since Royce stretches the floor so much.  You'd think other guys would have wide open lanes to the rim.

[MU90620]

The problem with getting the ball to the FT line against that zone nowadays is that the zone doesn't contract anymore. Guys are taught to fan out to the shooters. Let the guy at the FT line beat you with a 15 footer or drive it into the big man.  Most kids aren't comfortable in that space. You saw that last night when we did get it there. There wasn't a lot of great basketball being played from that open space.

[RJax55]

The problem with getting the ball to the FT line against that zone nowadays is that the zone doesn't contract anymore. Guys are taught to fan out to the shooters. Let the guy at the FT line beat you with a 15 footer or drive it into the big man.  Most kids aren't comfortable in that space. You saw that last night when we did get it there. There wasn't a lot of great basketball being played from that open space.

I agree 100% with this.

MU needs to get going on the offensive glass when teams go zone. That's why many teams don't like playing zone and its a way for MU to stop it. They did this to Butler.