MCW Grew Up Before Our Eyes in the 2nd Half......

[DomeStranger]

He did mature a bit in the course of the game and hopefully learns his lesson about ball security. One thing today that stuck out to me was on his steal and finish at the end.

He was going up for the dunk one handed, he was probably thinking a Dion type flush. Then in mid air he grabbed the ball with both hands just to make sure the ball went in above anything else. Not only did he improve his chances of the ball going in but he also sacrificed himself in the process knowing he was going to spill afterward, which he did.

 

[senorpalmer]

It's cliche, but great players can and do have bad games, only to turn around and make a huge play when it matters most. MCW was flat out brutal for much of the game and then rose the occasion late. In general I wish he'd stop shooting so much, his 3 point shot is ugly and outside of his highlight dunk he was otherwise 1-5 from within the arc. From the year he's .365 from the field, that is ugly.

 

[MyMeloMyMan]

Luckily for mcw, they dont use full court press in the nba... Man, he had no clue how to attack that

 

[CorduroyG]

Luckily for mcw, they dont use full court press in the nba... Man, he had no clue how to attack that

He showed no sense of urgency, can't take your time against lvilles press. Gotta be fast and make quick decisions/passes, took him awhile to figure that out.

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[Orangepace]

You're crazy. He did miss a FT and was awful in the 1st half, but he was absolutely rock solid in the last 12 minutes or so. The kid loves to win, no doubt about it.

He missed two FTs down the stretch. And waving off Triche when the shot clock was running down only to get a bad angle shot that misses the rim. Oh, and I forgot the bailout blocking foul called by the ref which was clearly a charge...

He looked panicked as a young kid normally does facing a tough defense like Louisville's. He played more within himself in the second half but finished with an exorbitant number of TOs. To be a leader, you have to lead. He's not that guy yet.

 

[moten21]

Yeah, I thought he was really rock solid when he got stripped by Smith, who extended the Louisville lead. Also rock solid when he drove to the basket and got nothing, leading to a shot clock violation.

He was on the way to the losing the game for us before he won it for us. Great finish, no question. But let's not get carried away.

And immediately after that play with Smith SU went on a 9-0 run. MCW scored seven of the nine and the other two were on a sweet dish to Jeremi.

SI.com has a good Luke Winn piece on the tale of two halves for MCW. There's no doubt he had a horrid first half and the moment looked too big for him. But man did he turn it around.

 

[Francis03]

He missed two FTs down the stretch. And waving off Triche when the shot clock was running down only to get a bad angle shot that misses the rim. Oh, and I forgot the bailout blocking foul called by the ref which was clearly a charge...

He looked panicked as a young kid normally does facing a tough defense like Louisville's. He played more within himself in the second half but finished with an exorbitant number of TOs. To be a leader, you have to lead. He's not that guy yet.

Not sure what game you was watching to come up with that after the plays he made in crunch time to beat the #1 team on the road. He's not perfect and can be frustrating at times to watch, but I'll take a gamer like him on my team any day of the week and deal with the good and the bad.

 

[OttoMets]

It's cliche, but great players can and do have bad games, only to turn around and make a huge play when it matters most. MCW was flat out brutal for much of the game and then rose the occasion late. In general I wish he'd stop shooting so much, his 3 point shot is ugly and outside of his highlight dunk he was otherwise 1-5 from within the arc. From the year he's .365 from the field, that is ugly.

Yeah.

Not sure why everyone on here insists these things are black and white. The kid made a ton of poor plays. He also made a play to win the game. It's got nothing to do with "growing up" or anything like that.

 

[Orangepace]

View attachment 2036 Not sure what game you was watching to come up with that after the plays he made in crunch time to beat the #1 team on the road. He's not perfect and can be frustrating at times to watch, but sh I'll take a gamer like him on my team any day of the week and deal with the good and the bad.

I watched the same game you did. I love his talent and will. But objectively, I don't think he's there yet. Cut down on the turnovers and we win that game by 10. And shooting 2-4 when the game is on the line from the ft line isn't clutch quite yet. His shooting %'s suggest he takes ill advised shots. He will get there and hopefully before the tourney. But I'm not going to anoint him anything quite yet.

 

[Melancer46]

I watched the same game you did. I love his talent and will. But objectively, I don't think he's there yet. Cut down on the turnovers and we win that game by 10. And shooting 2-4 when the game is on the line from the ft line isn't clutch quite yet. His shooting %'s suggest he takes ill advised shots. He will get there and hopefully before the tourney. But I'm not going to anoint him anything quite yet.

1. Triche went 0-1 from the FT line in the clutch as well, and we're now supposed to believe he's a great leader (which I agree with; just saying the point about free throws doesn't really hold weight). At the end of the day, MCW scored 11 of our last 13 points or something like that. Missing a couple free throws doesn't take that away.
2. I think his shot selection is generally pretty good. Just isn't knocking them down.

 

[Francis03]

I watched the same game you did. I love his talent and will. But objectively, I don't think he's there yet. Cut down on the turnovers and we win that game by 10. And shooting 2-4 when the game is on the line from the ft line isn't clutch quite yet. His shooting %'s suggest he takes ill advised shots. He will get there and hopefully before the tourney. But I'm not going to anoint him anything quite yet.

I understand where you're coming from and limiting the turnovers will definitely be key in MCW's development as the season goes along. Imho I just don't think that his leadership on the court should be questioned, because I don't see him as a selfish player and he always gives it 100% even when he's struggling on the offensive side of things. Both of our starting guards have their fair share of flaws, but both are highly spirited competitors, who so far have shown good chemistry and seem to like playing with one another.

 

[Sgt Cuse]

I give MCW credit for calming down a bit in the 2nd half but as to putting the team in his shoulders? He had a bad strip, a horrible running layup and he only turned it over once down the stretch because JB took the ball out of his against the press. Great move by JB.

As to the steal and dunk, great play but it wasn't as much a steal as it was a patented Siva bad pass.

But credit to MCW for staying positive and keeping with it.

Huge!

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C'mon Bees that steal was downright Rautinesque. Siva was baited into distributing a normal pass into extraordinary length.

My question is this though. Weren't BT and MCW's positions on the court switched? Usually MCW was on that side with Siva. When did the switch occur?

 

[IthacaMatt]

You're crazy. He did miss a FT and was awful in the 1st half, but he was absolutely rock solid in the last 12 minutes or so. The kid loves to win, no doubt about it.

Dude, he missed 2 free throws in the last couple minutes, either of which could have cost us the game. Far from rock solid, but he made up for it with those 2 steals at the end.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

Yeah.

Not sure why everyone on here insists these things are black and white. The kid made a ton of poor plays. He also made a play to win the game. It's got nothing to do with "growing up" or anything like that.

Thank you. Exactly how I saw it as well.

 

[rrlbees]

C'mon Bees that steal was downright Rautinesque. Siva was baited into distributing a normal pass into extraordinary length.

My question is this though. Weren't BT and MCW's positions on the court switched? Usually MCW was on that side with Siva. When did the switch occur?

When Siva made the bad pass, he was on Triche's side. And in fact Triche helped cause the bad pass if you can watch it again.

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[bevosu]

I'll bet money that there were 2 things that bothered JB the most about MCW's game yesterday.

One was the obvious turnovers...two was MCW's laziness on a few occasions on defense. Particularly getting up on his man to at least try and disrupt 3 point attempts.

He probably deserves a little slack for the defensive lapses because that game was a grind and he had to be tired.

Personally I wish he'd be a little more selective about his field goal attempts. If and when his ability to score clicks, he's better off distributing.

 

[Orangepace]

I watched the same game you did. I love his talent and will. But objectively, I don't think he's there yet. Cut down on the turnovers and we win that game by 10. And shooting 2-4 when the game is on the line from the ft line isn't clutch quite yet. His shooting %'s suggest he takes ill advised shots. He will get there and hopefully before the tourney. But I'm not going to anoint him anything quite yet.

Another game in which his clutch FT shooting didn't help. He's not solely responsible, but I'm not sure he had one possession in the last 6 mins and OT that I didn't question. Triche should be handling the ball with under 5 to go and should be shooting FTs to close out the game.