Marquette plays today too ya know. Stanford @ Marquette 5:45 CST

[thebruce44]

The problem I saw from this season was their tendency to kick out & rely on the 3, though, as opposed to actually going to the rim. I know they do go to the rim, but not nearly as much (from what I watched) as they opt to kick. When you rely on the trey, your offense instantly has an achilles heel, obviously.

 

I think a lot of this has to do with teams playing a zone against them. Really, there is no reason not to play a zone against MU's offense. When teams would do this, their only means of scoring becomes the long range jumpers or points off turnovers and transition baskets off misses on the other end.

 

For someone who is more in tune with NBA basketball, any chance McNeal goes pro this year? I didn't see him leaving until after his senior year, but someone at work was saying he thinks he could be drafted in the first round. I disagree, but this isn't really something I know much about. I still don't understand why Tucker wasn't a lottery pick last year when he was one of the best players in the NCAA.

[Blunt36]

Why is it that hardcore Marquette fans knock the Badgers whenever they get a chance? 31-4.

Why is it that when one poster makes a post knocking the Badgers, your response is a generalization about "hardcore Marquette fans"? I realize there are plenty of Badger haters among MU fans, but there are also just as many MU haters among Badger fans, that's for sure. For every negative comment made about UW by some MU fan, I can promise you there is a similar negative comment made against the Golden Eagles by a fan of the Badgers.

 

 

I think as far as this rivalry goes, there are very few fans who are truly unbiased, and almost every single fan choses one team over the other. The degree to which the fans cheer for/against their rival does vary though, everything from "I'll cheer for the other unless they're playing my team" to "my second favorite team besides (MU or UW) is whoever is playing (the other)". In any case, the negativity/hate among some fans, obviously doesn't come exclusively from the MU side.

 

[tristarscoop]

They don't need offense from the post since any of their guards can drive to the rim and Lazar is kinda a tweener.

The problem I saw from this season was their tendency to kick out & rely on the 3, though, as opposed to actually going to the rim. I know they do go to the rim, but not nearly as much (from what I watched) as they opt to kick. When you rely on the trey, your offense instantly has an achilles heel, obviously. Couple that with a lack of a solid post game, and that's an offense with some holes in it. Crean likes the wing-oriented offense, to be sure, though.

I couldn't agree with this thought more. We would try once or twice to penetrate and if that didn't work, we never tried again and we were relegated to throwing up completely ill-chosen and ineffectual 3 pointers. Fitzgerald would have a few hot shots, but mostly threw up whiff after whiff and though Cubillan was hot early, he was 0-for in the post-season.

 

I love Marquette basketball, but they were the most frustratingly painful team to watch this season. They couldn't ever put a team away.

 

Also, Crean has a reputation for being able to recruit the big men, but being incapable of coaching them once he lands them.

 

Finally, I'm still unsure why we wasted a year of Mbakwe's eligibility for the 14 or so minutes he played this season.

[slack00]

Finally, I'm still unsure why we wasted a year of Mbakwe's eligibility for the 14 or so minutes he played this season.

 

I've seen this said a lot. Why is it that Mbakwe's year was "wasted" and it wasn't for other UW and MU freshmen?

 

Leuer 276 minutes

Mbakwe 101 minutes

Jarmusz 87 minutes

Christopherson 87 minutes

Hazel 48 minutes

Nankivil 46 minutes

MU's weakness was its bigs, and Mbakwe filled in with some good minutes down the stretch. He wasn't dominant by any means, but they took a chance that he could be the difference in a tournament game. Did it work out as well as they had hoped? No. Was it a 'waste'? I don't think so.

 

However, Nankivil was healthy all year and was still never going to crack the lineup ahead of Butch and Stiemsma. To me, his year seems like it was more of a 'waste' than Mbakwe's.

[tristarscoop]

I say that because I don't think he made an impact that was worthy of using up that eligibility. If he'd come in and made a splash, I could see the justification. That didn't happen, so I feel like we should have let him continue to rehab and get better instead of taking that year of eligibility for a few mediocre minutes.

 

I don't think you can compare Mbakwe to the others you listed because none of them were/are expected to be the immediate impact he was/is. Of course many underclassmen have minimal minutes. But I don't think you can lump Mbakwe in that group of subs. He has always been meant to be an impact player. Size has been an issue for MU and presuming that Mbakwe will stay around all 4 years of eligibility, I would have liked to see us keep him for that extra year as opposed to losing this year's eligibility for what I feel is no good reason.

[homer]

I think Jarmusz' year was wasted.....as was Nankovil's.

[slack00]

I say that because I don't think he made an impact that was worthy of using up that eligibility. If he'd come in and made a splash, I could see the justification. That didn't happen, so I feel like we should have let him continue to rehab and get better instead of taking that year of eligibility for a few mediocre minutes.

 

I don't think you can compare Mbakwe to the others you listed because none of them were/are expected to be the immediate impact he was/is. Of course many underclassmen have minimal minutes. But I don't think you can lump Mbakwe in that group of subs. He has always been meant to be an impact player. Size has been an issue for MU and presuming that Mbakwe will stay around all 4 years of eligibility, I would have liked to see us keep him for that extra year as opposed to losing this year's eligibility for what I feel is no good reason.

I guess this just doesn't make sense to me. The guy that has a chance to make an immediate impact should be redshirted, while the ones that aren't expected to make an immediate impact should play? Seems backwards to me.

[samwise]

I think a major weakness in the end for Marquette was Jame's inability to get the ball in the hoop. His last three games this season he shot:

 

Pitt- 3 for 16, with 3 assists

Kentucky- 3 for 9 with 3 assists (He did make 10 Free throws)

Stanford- 4 of 16, 10 assists

 

The thing with James is he is lightening quick and he has tons of ability, but he struggles to put the ball in the basket. A perfect example was against Stanford when he put up a shot in the lane, it bounced out, but he soared above everyone else for the rebound (showing crazy hops and athleticism) only to miss another close shot.

[TooLiveBrew]

To the topic of red-shirting... If you slap the RS on a frosh, then see a bunch of injuries to the point where he's 'needed', can you just play him and forfeit his redshirt? If that's the case I don't see why Nankivil & Jarmusz weren't, but it's ultimately the player's choice, right?

[slack00]

Correct, you don't really have to declare the redshirt ahead of time. As long as the player isn't in any games, they still have the option of redshirting. Nankivil and Jarmusz could have done this, but once they took the floor at all (even in garbage time) the option was lost.

[tristarscoop]

I say that because I don't think he made an impact that was worthy of using up that eligibility. If he'd come in and made a splash, I could see the justification. That didn't happen, so I feel like we should have let him continue to rehab and get better instead of taking that year of eligibility for a few mediocre minutes.

 

I don't think you can compare Mbakwe to the others you listed because none of them were/are expected to be the immediate impact he was/is. Of course many underclassmen have minimal minutes. But I don't think you can lump Mbakwe in that group of subs. He has always been meant to be an impact player. Size has been an issue for MU and presuming that Mbakwe will stay around all 4 years of eligibility, I would have liked to see us keep him for that extra year as opposed to losing this year's eligibility for what I feel is no good reason.

I guess this just doesn't make sense to me. The guy that has a chance to make an immediate impact should be redshirted, while the ones that aren't expected to make an immediate impact should play? Seems backwards to me.

Mbakwe was injured and unable to play, that's why he was red-shirted. He is still listed out there on sites like Scout.com as out for the season with a knee injury. Then he rehabbed and became game-ready late in the season, so we decided to take away the red-shirt and put him in for some limited minutes.

 

[tristarscoop]

I think a major weakness in the end for Marquette was Jame's inability to get the ball in the hoop. His last three games this season he shot:

 

Pitt- 3 for 16, with 3 assists

Kentucky- 3 for 9 with 3 assists (He did make 10 Free throws)

Stanford- 4 of 16, 10 assists

 

The thing with James is he is lightening quick and he has tons of ability, but he struggles to put the ball in the basket. A perfect example was against Stanford when he put up a shot in the lane, it bounced out, but he soared above everyone else for the rebound (showing crazy hops and athleticism) only to miss another close shot.

I think this hits on another criticism of Crean, which is that players don't seem to improve under his tutelage. I'm not sure you can still make the argument that James is the star of this team or that he's the super star it looked like he might have been coming out of his freshman year. He's still a good player, but can we honestly say he's a better player now than he was 2 years ago? I think he's really maintained status quo, though our expectations were that he'd get better. Therefore, we're all kind of disappointed with his output.

 

[TooLiveBrew]

Diener, McNeal & Wade come instantly to mind in terms of players that improved under Crean.

[tristarscoop]

Ok, first, I didn't say that I believe that criticism about Crean, just that it's one levied on him by detractors.

 

Secondly, I'm playing devil's advocate, but don't you think those 3 would have improved even if you or I were coaching them?

[TooLiveBrew]

I probably could've stunted at least one of the three's growth. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

 

Sorry, I wasn't trying to debate your point, just some free association.

[tristarscoop]

As long as it wasn't Diener. He's short enough as it is!!

[danzig6767]

I think a major weakness in the end for Marquette was Jame's inability to get the ball in the hoop. His last three games this season he shot:

 

Pitt- 3 for 16, with 3 assists

Kentucky- 3 for 9 with 3 assists (He did make 10 Free throws)

Stanford- 4 of 16, 10 assists

 

The thing with James is he is lightening quick and he has tons of ability, but he struggles to put the ball in the basket. A perfect example was against Stanford when he put up a shot in the lane, it bounced out, but he soared above everyone else for the rebound (showing crazy hops and athleticism) only to miss another close shot.

I think this hits on another criticism of Crean, which is that players don't seem to improve under his tutelage. I'm not sure you can still make the argument that James is the star of this team or that he's the super star it looked like he might have been coming out of his freshman year. He's still a good player, but can we honestly say he's a better player now than he was 2 years ago? I think he's really maintained status quo, though our expectations were that he'd get better. Therefore, we're all kind of disappointed with his output.

 

It's kinda hard to turn a poor shooter into a good one by the time a kid already reaches college. The best way for a shooter to get better is hard work in a gym shooting one shot after another. James just isn't a good jump shooter and i doubt he'll ever become a good jump shooter regardless if a different coach works with him.