Guys on the radio in Dallas this morning talked about how maddening it was to watch Notae try to shoot us out of the game. That’s a fair view of things, I suppose. They haven’t seen much Hog basketball. But I think I’d rather have him firing away in light of our other options. Plus, we tend to get better play from Notae in other phases of the game when we let him shoot at will, especially on defense. We can’t change him. And, of course, in the right game (maybe against a devilish blue team) he might hang 40. Can’t try to break his spirit now.
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Bingo.
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They are right. I said as much in the game thread. It worked out, but I would have much preferred he try an easier shot.
That ain’t JD and that ain’t Arkansas.
And it doesn’t matter. We won.
Did we win? O the spoils we have crushed. Just chewed up and spit out. On to Duke.
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One of my KY friends kept texting me “why in the world is Notae trying to shoot Arkansas out of the game”? He was rooting for the Hogs and was quite puzzled. I told him it was what JD does. Sometimes it works wonderfully and sometimes not. Last night it worked out fine.
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JD is due for a big offensive game. I say it happens against Dook and takes us to the final 4.
At some point, JD is going to have one of those games where most of those shots fall. It may not happen tomorrow, and it may not happen while he’s wearing a Hog uniform, but this year and at time last year there were games where he just went destroyed even good defenses.
That we have been winning in the tournament while JD has been inefficient on offense is a story that really has not been picked up to any degree by the national basketball experts. It also suggests that maybe the ceiling for this team is higher than what is currently thought by those same experts.
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JD shooting threes means a defender has to be up on him at all times. That opens up lanes once he decides to dribble around them.
Rope-a-dope.
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I think JD is doing exactly what the coach wants. He is high voulme scorer/shooter so are a lot of professionals–golden state’s Curry comes to mind. He can always create a shot and that is something the other players can’t do. The most amazing thing to me is that all of his other team mates are good with it. Be agressive JD and we will pick up the slack. This is probably due to the fact they see how hard he works on defense.
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I found myself wishing he would use the rope a dope more and take it inside. It was tough to watch at times but as others said, it worked out. Hopefully he’s due to have one of those nights where a lot more fall.
bingo , we have a winner. Muss does not get the credit beyond his own team as to how focused he is on using NBA experiences and knowledge in his decisions and game preps. He is used to letting the best players take the shots. Early in year he was like many of these comments but he adjusted because that is who he is . Review JD’s stats last night, the totality of the game is NBA and not college like in points only scored. Muss did not spend as much time on offense against NMS as he wanted to shut down their scorer and he did with plan he used on Kolby Bryant. Not many college coaches can talk that languages with Muss. That is big advantage for Arkansas. Like it was with Nolan Richardson–no one could accept his style but he worked it as long as he had his players.
On every single replay of Notae’s drives to the basket if he hit the bucket or got a foul on Holmgren, Neidhard (sp) should have been called for hacking the ever living sh!t out of Notae as Notae went right past him. If the announcers and the Zag’s fans want to complain about the fouls called on Holmgren, then they have to talk about the “Hack-a-Notae” defense the Zags played trying to keep Notae out of the lane. We should have been in the bonus by halfway through the 2nd half and their point guard should have fouled out. The hacking on Notae is one reason his shooting percentage was low on his drives to the bucket.
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Several of JD’s shots hit the front of the rim….he may have tired legs… We’ll see against Duke
I’ve been thinking this the last few weeks. Still, he scored 21, was second on the team in ± scoring, and successfully did not get into any kind of foul trouble. The fact that the Zags guards struggled suggests he contributed there too.
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You may be onto something.
I agree with the “you can’t break JD’s spirit now” line of thought.
But as someone that played shooting guard myself, and never saw a shot I didn’t like, JD himself has to assess his own shooting. When you clank 4 or 5 threes in a row stop firing them. Unless you are really open with your feet set.
I feel certain Muss will urge JD to keep being aggressive, but more judicious with his 3 pointer launches.
He is in a shooting slump from 3. That is for sure.
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Keep doing everything you’re doing JD, firing away at 3’s. Right on cue when the D thinks that’s all you will do, drive it inside for a floater, layup, draw foul, or get the assist. It’s been working great.
Soon more of those 3’s will drop.
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Funny how you don’t hear those remarks about JD when we played Ky. or Auburn. Number one, everyone in this tournament knows JD is the catalyst for our offense and puts their best defensive player(s) on him. I don’t hear the same thing about J-Will’s three point shooting and he is hitting 23%. This team wins shooting less than 30% from the three point line and probably not going to change much against Duke (surprisingly, Duke doesn’t have good defensive numbers for the year). But, we are damn good on so many other fronts we overcome. If Duke plays that sissy zone on us, we will kill them driving the ball because we have the best game planner in college basketball.
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JD hit the shots that counted most. Every time Arkansas needed a bucket, he got it, along with Trey and Jaylin.
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I seriously doubt Duke zones us…
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