Using Oooze, part deaux

A few weeks ago I offered a mildly hysterical perspective on Ousmane Barro's slow start to the season. That entry was prompted by a number of factors, namely: Barro's failure to start a game this season (he started 32 last year), the intimation that Oooze was foul prone, the precipitous decline in his production across the board, and the notion that the inimitable Dwight Burke emerged as the starter.

OK, so maybe I was hasty in rushing to judgment in asserting that Oooze should start and play more, and that Burke should sit and play less:

• Dwight Burke, you've surprised the heck out of everybody this year. Where the heck have you been for the past two seasons? Your marvelous development as an upperclassman has to surprise even the most optimistic Golden Eagles fan. Bravo, man. Keep it up. But again, where did this come from?
• Barro's supposed "proclivity for early foul trouble." I went to great lengths to demonstrate that last season, Barro didn't have this affliction -- in fact, he fouled about as often as Wes Matthews and less than Dan Fitzgerald. But, as one of my more sane co-conspirators pointed out, "look you simpleton, last year Barro was our only decent option at the '5'. A foul on him was a way bigger deal than a foul on one of our 600 guards." Bingo.
  

So, when Tom Crean discussed the new big man rotation in the latest bit from Todd Rosiak - - I guess I have no choice but to be converted:

We started the season bringing Ousmane (Barro) off the bench for no other reason than I didn't want him in early foul trouble because last year I felt we had too many games - go back to the Wisconsin game; the whole dynamic of the game changed when we had to sit Ousmane down - and we wanted to guard against that a little bit, he said. Still get him quality minutes but let the game get going before we get him in. Well, Dwight Burke's making it tough for me to change my mind. I look at those two as being contributors.

Bottom line: the rotation seems to be working.

I still can't get over the decline in Oooze's overall production this year after seeing such consistent improvement in him in each of the previous three seasons. However, the formula might just be better for the make-up of this team. After all, depth on the frontline was (is?) one of the primary weaknesses for this bunch......perhaps the two-headed monster can hold that line just enough to get this team over the top.

MU makes roadkill of Badgers, 81-76

MU snapped UW-Madison’s 28-game home winning streak in an 81-76 victory in front of a national ESPN-2 audience Saturday night. Behind Dominic James’ 20 points/6 assist performance and Dwight Burke’s 12 points/9 rebounds, MU pulled away for impressive road win, and now owns basketball bragging rights for the state of Wisconsin

MU looked to take control of the game early, running off to a 16-9 lead after scoring on three straight possessions. That dominance didn’t last long as UW quickly settled down and the two teams played the tight game most expected.

MU finally began to pull away when Dominic James broke a 64-all tie with just over five minutes to play, which started a 5-0 run. Hayward, James, Matthews, and Burke were solid enough at the free throw line to secure the win.

By the numbers, James has now put together back-to-back games that show why he’s a possible early-entry player in this year’s NBA draft. However, when the level of competition is taken into account, his performance against the Badger is easily his most impressive game since last year’s win over Duke.

The emergence of Dwight Burke as a legitimate offensive threat is a positive development for MU. Burke managed to find the holes in Wisconsin’s front line defense and make several nifty dunks on the slower, taller Wisconsin interior defense. He also managed to hit two clutch free throws with 1:27 to go and MU holding onto a 4 point lead, spoiling Bo Ryan’s strategy of intentionally fouling him off the ball on an inbounds play in order to put him on the line.

With Wisconsin’s loss, Notre Dame now has the 3rd longest home winning streak in the nation. MU looks forward to snapping that one next February 9th in South Bend.

AP Report on the game

J/S Online Coverage

GoMarquette.com game review

Happy Birthday Dwight Burke!