jjfanec

In a perfect world, a team would play fast, take care of the ball, and make shots. But it's extremely rare to find a team that can do all three of those things.Yep it is so hard to find teams that can do that. Most teams seem to play fast to make up for a lack of size or defensive skill. Or they play slow to make up for a lack of athleticism or ability to win in a fast-paced game. You see it in sports like football as well. The Saints play a high tempo game to make up for a lack of a defense. The 49ers play a slow game because they dont have an offense to keep up.

Yes, I mentioned that in the post directly above yours. You should have watched the second half. MU had 5 turnovers, and only 2 in the last 16 minutes when they played fantastic. Sure, its dangerous that they get on those kind of second half runs after they get down, but they've been so good when they do get hot that its gotten them this far. And that is really why its like watching a different sport, not just the first half of sloppiness. BTW, I wasn't the only one who felt that way, so I don't think it was me being an MU alumni.And in the second half against Penn State the Badgers scored 35 points (Marquette had 40). So if you are going to give Marquette a pass for their sloppy first half it seems like you should give the Badgers a pass as well. The turnover thing is consistent all year. The Badgers are first in the nation and Marquette is 153rd. I understand why people feel that way. It is a different preference in basketball. I watched the Marquette vs Villanova game and found it almost unbearable. I felt the same way about the Indiana vs Iowa game. I think Marquette is a really good team. The first half funk is strange, but they come out of the locker room ready to play.

Which is no different than a handful of Big East teams too. People say it like is only the Big Ten that does this. I have watched Georgetown, ND, UConn, and Syracuse all have some low-scoring games. Not in the 40's but 50's and low 60's for sure. I have watched two teams in the NC game last year play to a very low scoring game. There is a huge difference from teams slowing it down because they are unathletic and teams slowing it down to value the basketball and get good shots. Someone mentioned the Marquette Seton Hall game being a different sport than the Wisconsin PSU game. I only watched the first half of the Marquette game and found it almost unwatchable sure they ran up and down really fast but they were so careless with the ball. Marquette scored 14 more points than the Badgers but turned it over 12 more times! To each their own I guess, but watching teams push just to turn it over all the time is hard to watch for me. In the Villanova game before that the teams combined for like 36 turnovers.

Brandon Jennings is starting to look like a guy you could build a team around. His shot is much better. I would love to see what he could do with some young talent around him.

He will have a very big role next year so we will get a much better look at his game, but there is no need to try to act like his offensive game hasnt been a disappointment so far. To say his offensive game has been a disappointment it depends on what you expected from him. You compared his offense to Todd Mayo, I actually find that shortsighted considering Mayo is a year older. I am personally happy with what Blue has done so far. Perhaps some had expectations of him to be looking to go pro at this point, or to be leading this deep team in scoring. He is a nice complementary player with a lot of upside, and we have seen players explode offensively with this team in the past after looking somewhat irrelevant in previous seasons because of other options (Wes Matthews). Again, with a player like Blue I find it short sighted to make definitive statements at this point so please don't tell me how to act.Is Mayo really old for his grade?? He is a freshman this year. That is crazy he is a year older than Blue. Blue was a top 40 recruit by pretty every recruiting agency. I dont think it is crazy to expect him to a have more than one or two quality offensive Big East games. I dont see why someone can say AT THIS POINT Blue has been a disappointment. In two years Blue has averaged like 6 points a game in conference play. For a top 40 recruit I think it is okay to be disappointed. The Wes Matthews comparison does add up at all. Wes scored 12 points a game as a sophomore (he actually averaged less the year after that). He had 20 games of 10 points or more in conference play his first two years. Blue has 1. Matthews showed a TON more offensive game than Blue. Unlike Blue Matthews actually excelled in Big East play Again I dont mean to sound like Blue is a terrible player. He is solid on defense and very good rebounding guard, but he is not an impact player like you would expect of a guy with his hype. He could blow up next year if he works really hard on his shot, but right now he has been underwhelming.

Yea, I remember him, he had 16 points and 8 rebounds last night, but thats besides the point. He isn't asked to score on that team. He provides great defense and rebounding. If he was on the Badgers he would most likely have a different role, but so long as he is on the same team as DJO and Crowder he will be asked to continue doing what he has been doing. I find it pretty difficult to make a definitive statement like that at this point unless its based on sour grapes.The over-stating of Vander's defense continues. He is a good defender but Todd Mayo takes the other teams scoring threat down the stretch over Vander. He is a very good rebounder as a guard but is usually brutal offensively in the half court. Last night had a lot of transition opportunities and he comfortable there. To say he isnt asked to score because two guys can score is a little shortsighted. They dont have many scoring threats outside of Crowder and DJO so I am guessing there are opportunities to score. Todd Mayo (a freshman) has 5 10 point plus games in conference and Vander has 1. Dont act like he isnt asked to score. Everyone is asked to score but Blue just has not answered the call up until last night. He will have a very big role next year so we will get a much better look at his game, but there is no need to try to act like his offensive game hasnt been a disappointment so far.

The "if he sticks to his game" part of Evans offensively is key. I am shocked at his development. They had a good article on one of the sports sites about who had the best defense in college basketball. They talked about exactly what you said. Yes their pace of play is slow but their defense is terrific. Nothing in transition. Make you work for every shot and most of the time you are left with jump shots. They need to continue to try to probe the paint and not settle for 3-pointers. When they do that they are actually a very solid team

I agree but here are some of the reasons I can think of for why people are down on him1. Don Money's and Ken Macha's comments. Both were pretty hard on Mat2. Mat seeming to come in out of shape the year he had a chance to make the team out of Spring Training3. Over-reaction to small-sample size the last two year when he was a pinch hitter4. The Prince Factor - It is hard to follow Prince

I would be surprised if he makes an All-Star just because 1B is a tough place to make an All-Star game. I do think he will be a solid player

I think people are letting an extremely small sample size the last two years cloud their judgment of Mat a little. The only time he was more than a pinch hitter he had an OPS of .760 and that was as a 23 year old in his first real taste of MLB pitching. That was a pretty solid first effort. I expect him to hover around .275 BA with an OPS around .800. Solid not spectacular. I am a little worried about his work ethic but hopefully he takes full advantage of the opportunity given to him

Well Greinke is a team member so I think that actually leads to the idea Melvin would go with him does it not? I dont really think 1-year deals give us any insight into this scenario with Greinke or Marcum since very few if any hard-throwers could be found on one year deals. I remember this board clamoring for Melvin to take a risk on hard throwers like Sheets (later in his career) and Rich Harden and neither did anything. Melvin has made bad signing but you act like he doesnt try for hard throwers. Who are the hard throwers that have hit FA recently that Melvin could have went after? A few years back in was CC and Melvin went hard after him. I highly doubt Cliff Lee was coming here. I dont want to sound like a Melvin-apologist because there are signings of his I definitely didnt like

I agree. If we lock up Greinke I would hope some of Peralta, Fiers, Narveson, Thornburg could be part of the rest of the rotation. We may still need one more guy. I guess it could be Estrada. I know you can't expect every prospect to be have success but if Narveson can continue to improve then you only need 2 of Peralta, Fiers, Thornburg, Rogers, Scarpetta (and maybe Jungmann and Bradley but they are pretty far away) to step up.

Melvin signed Sheets, and Gallardo to an extensions and went hard after the CC. Those really aren't soft-tossers The soft-tossers I can think he signed to more than one year deals were Wolf (working out very well) and Suppan (terrible).

Here is the one that talks about the two other players whose numbers were also "higher than normal" and "a little out of whack" Summarizing the different clips from Dan Patrick we get this- 2 other guys had odd results- not medical- not a masking agent- not a PED- The appeal seems focused on the testing process- Source is part of the case - who knows if that means he is part of Braun's team or no Schlitz here is the link. It says two others had odd results

I never read that but maybe. What I have heard is that he tested positive during the Arizona series and when he was told about it a week later he took another test. I had thought that second test (that he passed but seems to have no real influence since drugs could have easily left his system) was taken about a week after he failed the test. I did also read he was notified about the failed test in late October but I am not sure if that meant he was notified that passing the second one did not clear him.

It is pretty impressive. Very few guys have not developed a good amount under Bo. The Vander Blue vs Gasser/Brust will be fully evaluated in 2 years. Right now Gasser has lead because like Blue he is a very good defender and rebounder but his offensive game is well ahead of Vander. Blue seems to only be able to score against the cupcakes. In BE play I dont think he scored 10 points in a game yet this year. I am not sure I would say Brust is better yet. Definitely better offensively but overall Blue is a better defender and rebounder

I think this will happen a good amount next year. Kaminsky is way ahead where most bigs are at this point in his development. He doesnt have the post moves of Wilkinson but he seems to have the same kind of confidence.

ABSOLUTELY. haven't seen the timing of this mentioned much. seeing as how we are almost in february, the timing is [expletive deleted]. they couldn't wait a week or two? talk about effecting performance. jeez. I brought this up as a very probable reason for Braun's struggles in the St. Louis series. He started hot but was lost by the end. His head looked elsewhere and this would explain. Now it could be that he was devastated he got caught or it could be he was worried because he knew he was innocent but was smart enough to know how hard the test is to beat. I am not blaming MLB for telling him or anything like that just saying it stinks

I agree with the first sentence completely. However, the Brewers have went after raw guys and had little or no success. Jeffress, Rogers, Fredrickson (very raw for a college arm), Lintz and even Covey who they couldnt sign all have had little success. Jeffress and Rogers could still produce but odds are not great. Odorizzi has a chance and Yo has been special. I have seen Jungmann projected as a number 2 or 3 kind of guy. Likely a 3. Jungmann isnt just big. Numerous reports say he has a plus breaking ball. Now those reports were Kieth Law and some on MLB.com but if you read this board you would think Jungmann throws 88 with a hanging curve. Other things I read said he could have even more velocity as they were with his delivery.

If the debate lumps evaluation in with development than I completely agree we have not done well. I was thinking development in terms of what happens once the guy gets into your camp. I figured that was the direction of the previous poster as well because he said Lopez would be better off with the Rays and/or Braves. The Rays drafted very high which helps some - I mean Price and Nienmann were 1st and 4th picks. The year they got Hellickson they drafted 11 pitchers with their first 15 picks and none of the others are in the league. So I think they hit on some high picks and drafted a lot of pitchers. Maybe they have a lot of good arms in AAA that they drafted as well. I think they just draft pitchers better than we do. I think the Brewers neglected arms for a long time and it is coming back to haunt them. I am not saying I think we are great at developing pitchers but I feel like the problem lies much more with scouting then instruction

After restocking the pitching ranks the past couple years I would really like to see some high-ceiling bats. Unlike some I think what they did with the first three picks last year. Jungmann may not have elite upside but he was solid. Bradley is a little less polished but some like his upside more and Lopez has a lot of upside. I am hoping for 2 bats and a high school arm like paul said. I dont really care about position since we have no clue who will be on the big league team in a few years. We dont have many solid bats in the minors and hopefully this draft can a ways into changing that

I love the fact that it isnt just a given Ben Sheets (because he was our only good pitcher) or that a guy like Jeff Suppan, Jamey Wright or Doug Davis are getting the start. We have 2 solid options and a 3rd and 4th that probably could have started most of the openers in the mid to late 90's!

These comments really bug me. Who did the org screw up? It seems like Jeffress was a mental issue, Rogers was an injury and other things issue - maybe partly on the Brewers, Odorizzi turned out pretty solid, Gallardo has been great. Thornburg has been really good. Inman was good with us - maybe SD worse at developing than we are. Arnett was just a bad pick so far and the same can be said for Adams, Lintz and Fredrickson. The jury is still out on Heckathorn, Nelson Those are our draft choices used on pitchers in the first 3 rounds. 12 picks in all. 5 were first round our supplemental. 5 were second round. 2 were thirdYou have one all-star - GallardoYou have 2 guys who are currently solid prospects - Thornburg and OdorizziYou have 2 (maybe 3) the jury is still out on - Heckathorn and Nelson (maybe Arnett could still land here)You have 2 who are in AAA but have not met expectations due to injury or personal conduct - Jeffress and RogersYou have 1 who was good as a Brewer in the minors but never became an MLB pitcher - InmanYou have 3 (maybe 4 who are busts - Adams Lintz, and Fredrickson I would honestly say it is Jeffress and Rogers who have broke this system. In 7 years we used 13 picks in the first 3 rounds on pitchers (Covey didn't sign). I just look at most of the guys and I dont think it was development issue. The Lintz, Fredrickson, and Adams picks were all questioned when they happened. That is just poor talent evaluation. Rogers and Jeffress were high upside guys who either personally self-destructed (Jeffress) or had huge injury issues (rogers) that I guess could be blamed on us trying to fix his throwing motion. It is a sad list to be sure since all we have to show for it in the bigs is Gallardo. But our young guys of Peralta, Thornburg, and even Fiers have shown we have developed guys a little better recently.

I am probably one of the few that really enjoyed Super 8, but not as an alien film. I just liked the movie overall. I thought it moved well. I thought the kids were really good. The alien was blah and the end was cheesy but for some reason I found myself really enjoying the film

I agree completely. It is a team that could make a nice run in the tourney with a favorable seed and a break here or there, but they still lack a real scorer. Maybe Taylor will turn it around but I think he is what he is right now. He is solid but not last years Jordan Taylor. Berggren was great last night. Gasser was good most of the game but bad down the stretch. Brust has the ability to win games from outside. Evans is the ugliest somewhat productive player ever. Bruiser is getting much better. The fact that they are half a game out after a 1-3 start is impressive to say the least. They are still struggling to hit threes but at least they are not shooting 30 of them a game