Bluejays Review

[OmahaGuy]

Ho boy. This season will go down as the "what could've been" season for the Jays. I'm confident I wouldn't be writing and posting this if Mo hadn't gotten hurt. Ugh. What a frustrating season for my Jays. Sure getting to the Big East title game was nice but man this team was torturous to watch without Mo. On the bright side, the future does look good.

Losing:
*Cole Huff
*Zach Hanson
*Isaiah Zierden

Questionable:
*Justin Patton-2 months ago I would've said there's no way he's coming back. He was in beast mode. Then he hit a wall and it really showed. Now, he still may leave but I'm not as sure now.

Keeping:
*Marcus Foster (He had an awful game today)
*Toby Hegner
*Khyri Thomas (I hope to see more #Khyrifense next season)
*Ronnie Harrell
*Davion Mintz
*Martin Krampelj

Getting:
*Kaleb Joseph (Transfer from Syracuse. 6'3 185. That's great size for a PG. I really like him)
*TyShon Alexander (6'4 190 from Charlotte, NC. A couple of notable schools that chased him were Clemson and Virginia Tech. He's also an Oak Hill guy and Oak Hill is one of the best if not the best basketball academy in the country)
*Mitch Ballock (6'4 185 from Eudora, KS. MAJOR get. We even beat freaking KANSAS for this kid in their own backyard. Also had offers from Indiana, Northwestern, Nebraska, Kansas State, Iowa State, and Missouri.)
*Jacob Epperson (The guy we got last night! 6'11 215 from Australia. Plays for La Lumiere which is another great basketball academy. Had offers from West Virginia, Purdue, Utah, Minnesota, Oklahoma, TCU, Marquette, and Cincinnati)

Maybe get?:
*Brian 'Tugs' Bowen (The McDonalds All-American the Jays are chasing. 6'7 190 from Saginaw, MI. I believe we're in his Final 4 between us, Arizona, Michigan State, and Texas. Tugs has been to multiple Jays games in Omaha and was also at the Jays-DePaul game in Chicago. Getting his La Lumiere teammate last night definitely helps)

Anyways, I still the Jays should be a competitive team again next season, with or without Patton or with or without Tugs. And Tugs or no Tugs, I am a mad fan of this recruiting class. One of the most talented recruiting classes in years.)

[Wizard of Westroads]

That's the bright side to the crappy end of the season: Patton and Foster didn't improve their draft stock and are probably more likely to return. Good options at point guard with Mintz, Harrell and Cuse transfer Joseph. Recruiting class currently 23rd on 247 (behind X and Butler) with a shot to add Tugs Bowen

Gtmo, pencil us in for another BE title!

[Jet915]

Ugh, so many question marks this offseason, there could be alot of movement on this roster before next year....

[billyjack]

Such a great, dominating season for CU up to the injury. With Watson, Creighton was 17-1, with all but maybe 2 by double-digits. The Jays were a legitimate national championship contender. Really fun team to watch. Such a "what if" season. Would be great if Patton and Foster return.

[ProvidenceNJ]

Wow not worried about the Bluejays for the foreseeable future!

[sciencejay]

Such a great, dominating season for CU up to the injury. With Watson, Creighton was 17-1, with all but maybe 2 by double-digits. The Jays were a legitimate national championship contender. Really fun team to watch. Such a "what if" season. Would be great if Patton and Foster return.

I'm going to play devil's advocate and take issue with the 'great if Foster returns' sentiment. I completely soured on him after Watson's injury. Someone had to step up for the team after Mo went down. Foster was the obvious one--starter, star(?), playing a ton of minutes, etc. All sorts of stories in the press when he had a few rebounds or assists in a game, but I think he regressed to "K-State Marcus Foster". Yes, he had some big scoring nights that carried us, and he hit the shot that beat X in the BET (I thought he should've drive to the hole), but unless he's scoring/shooting well, he's a non-factor. I don't think there's another player on this year's roster that you could say that about. This isn't all on him because McD didn't seem to lean on him--ever (still can't figure that one out). Foster's guy often had a career night against us, and while he can get up and dunk with his A$$, you never see his hands above the rim on a rebound. And if I see him flex after an uncontested dunk one more time, I'll scream. The contrast can't be greater: JP gets a sweet alley-oop dunk over some defender, and he runs down the court like he's the happiest kid in the world with a new lollipop--just loving playing the game. MF dunks on no one, and he goes down the court flexing his biceps looking like he just dunked on Jordan and Bill Russell at the same time.

I actually am hoping that he decides to take his talents to the professional ranks (he's publicly considering that as an option). For the Jays, I think it would be addition by subtraction--that would be 30+ minutes/game to develop someone else. Apparently Mo's leadership/charisma kept him in line. And then that was lost...

His absence would be a loss in offensive productivity, but I think that could be picked up by others, and there would then be the potential for someone else to step up into that leadership role (still waiting on Khyri...).

My two cents.

[cu blujs]

Well, Sciencejay, it appears that you will have to live with Marcus for another season. If his reported post on instagram today is any indication: "What a year! Can't wait to do it again....There's more work to be done." I'd say he is planning on coming back.

While I think several may share your frustration with Marcus, I think you are just a bit overboard. He was asked to change his role and approach to the game mid-season, probably more than anyone on the team. He is a shooter who was perfectly suited to play along side Mo. He relied on the movement created by Mo to be set up for open shots or slashes to the hoop. He could also find creases in the lane, because Mo could break down defenses, leaving seams for guys like Mo and Khyri to get to the lane. His job was not to get defensive rebounds. His job was to get out in transition. He got a couple of buckets a game in transition and fast break. So, when Mo went down, we put much more on Foster's shoulders to be the guy who created things, the guy who could break down the defense and find the open guy, to become more of a distributor and more of a guy who could beat his man off the dribble - and to do it against defenses that were better positioned for help side defense then ever, because we no longer had anyone as adept as Mo at getting into the lane and break down defensive spacing. Marcus is strong and fast, but he does not have the stop and go shiftiness of Mo or other PGs who can get to the rim on change of direction. That just isn't how he is built.

Next season, assuming he doesn't change his mind, when we have a true point guard again in Kaleb Joseph, and hopefully a much improved Mintz to again create off the dribble, break down the defense and distribute, you will see the Marcus Foster pre Mo-injury. It will be a very good thing. Yes, hopefully he carries over with some of the rebounding he showed down the stretch, and some added improvement on defense would be great. But, I don't know how you can say you don't want the top scorer in the league back. By all reports he is a great team guy, and well liked by his teammates. If he were a cancer in the locker room, that would be one thing. But, he isn't as far as I know. His return is as big as winning any recruiting battle.

And why care if poses after a dunk. It fires up the crowd. Marcus plays with an intensity that would serve JP well to develop. Perhaps a little bit of that attitude (and another 25 pounds) would allow JP to maintain his position on the block on offense or actually back a guy down, or not get pushed under the bucket by some 240 pound center backing him down.

Looking forward to another run at the BE title and hoping next year is the year we are playing hoops the third week of March.

[sciencejay]

Well, Sciencejay, it appears that you will have to live with Marcus for another season. If his reported post on instagram today is any indication: "What a year! Can't wait to do it again....There's more work to be done." I'd say he is planning on coming back.

While I think several may share your frustration with Marcus, I think you are just a bit overboard. He was asked to change his role and approach to the game mid-season, probably more than anyone on the team. He is a shooter who was perfectly suited to play along side Mo. He relied on the movement created by Mo to be set up for open shots or slashes to the hoop. He could also find creases in the lane, because Mo could break down defenses, leaving seams for guys like Mo and Khyri to get to the lane. His job was not to get defensive rebounds. His job was to get out in transition. He got a couple of buckets a game in transition and fast break. So, when Mo went down, we put much more on Foster's shoulders to be the guy who created things, the guy who could break down the defense and find the open guy, to become more of a distributor and more of a guy who could beat his man off the dribble - and to do it against defenses that were better positioned for help side defense then ever, because we no longer had anyone as adept as Mo at getting into the lane and break down defensive spacing. Marcus is strong and fast, but he does not have the stop and go shiftiness of Mo or other PGs who can get to the rim on change of direction. That just isn't how he is built.

Next season, assuming he doesn't change his mind, when we have a true point guard again in Kaleb Joseph, and hopefully a much improved Mintz to again create off the dribble, break down the defense and distribute, you will see the Marcus Foster pre Mo-injury. It will be a very good thing. Yes, hopefully he carries over with some of the rebounding he showed down the stretch, and some added improvement on defense would be great. But, I don't know how you can say you don't want the top scorer in the league back. By all reports he is a great team guy, and well liked by his teammates. If he were a cancer in the locker room, that would be one thing. But, he isn't as far as I know. His return is as big as winning any recruiting battle.

And why care if poses after a dunk. It fires up the crowd. Marcus plays with an intensity that would serve JP well to develop. Perhaps a little bit of that attitude (and another 25 pounds) would allow JP to maintain his position on the block on offense or actually back a guy down, or not get pushed under the bucket by some 240 pound center backing him down.

Looking forward to another run at the BE title and hoping next year is the year we are playing hoops the third week of March.

Hadn't seen that. I guess we're all in for another year. I truly hope it's better/different.

You're free to drink the blue Kool Aid (are you gtmo behind another moniker?), but posing and letting his guy score at will and not caring about rebounding are things that say to me that he's not a team guy. He's a me guy. Of course things changed dramatically for him when Mo went down--they changed dramatically for everyone when Mo went down. But guys need to step up. And playing D and rebounding are unrelated to whether Mo is on the floor or not. If he were a true freshman, I'd give him a pass due to his youth and be hopeful that he'd be much improved/different next year. He wasn't a true freshman for whom we could use youth as an excuse. Foster is a 4th year college player, a guy with pro aspirations, the leading scorer/shot taker, and one of the highest min/game players on the team. But again, he was a ghost if he wasn't scoring and he was rarely interested in playing defense or rebounding.

Now don't get me wrong. I'm not laying the way this season transpired post-Mo-injury solely at his feet. Much of this is certainly on McD and staff. When a kid like Mo goes down, it's up to the staff to lead the team through the abyss of a leadership vacuum and help a newly-annointed 'leader' claim that status. And independent of that, McD has adopted an 'offense only' strategy that works when you can outscore people, but it makes you look bad when opponents cause you problems on offense. That is completely in contrast to McD's Northern Iowa teams. Those teams would beat you 46-40 because you simply couldn't score on them, and they swallowed up every missed shot (kind of like Delgado). So we know that McD understands how to teach players to commit on both ends of the court, but since he arrived at CU, we haven't seen any evidence of that. The old saying isn't, "Offense wins championships." I think he needs to take a long look in the mirror this offseason and decide if he wants more players like Foster or more players like Khyri. Khyri would fit well at Nova in that system of every guy busting his a$$ on both ends of the court. Foster? Not so much.

[milksteak]

@JonRothstein: Creighton's Marcus Foster will return to school next season, per a source.

[milksteak]

@JonRothstein: Creighton's Marcus Foster will return to school next season, per a source.

Apparently, Foster announced this yesterday. Never mind.