College Basketball 2009

[bucks2281]

I have a friend who works as an MU team manager, so he "works" on the sideline during games. Two things:

 

a) He says the officiating was putrid and one-sided, FWIW.

b) He says the whole locker room was crying after the game. Poor Dominic...nobody deserves what happened to him tonight.

[jjfanec]

a) He says the officiating was putrid and one-sided, FWIW.

I watched the second half of the game and there was one call that was terrible against Marquette - it was a clean block by someone Burke or Butler and he got called for a foul. However, outside of that I am not sure I would say it was one-sided. I mean Marquette was in the bonus rather quickly in the second half. Now, I did not watch the first half so it could have been pretty bad then, but I thought the second half was decently fair. I should mention I am neither a Marquette or UConn fan.

[thebruce44]

I too have been very tough on James, but that is a bad way to go out. As someone who has broken their 5th metatarsal, I can say I can't envision him coming back, especially with the stress he would put on it from the way he plays. Very tough loss, but MU still played well.

 

The officiating and Price were too much to overcome. Especially they way the calls seemed to go against MU in spurts that somehow coincided with the 2 UConn runs.

 

This is about as good of a loss as you can get. Buzz and the Warriors did a great job tonight. Another effort like that may get them past Louisville.

[Fatter than Joey]

I don't think anyone would've beat UConn with Price shooting the way he was

 

He put on a show -- that one shot he had, where he made that guy fall down off the dribble was particularly amazing.

[blatzlight]

I don't think anyone would've beat UConn with Price shooting the way he was

 

Price was James man. Also, James is/was Marquette's best on the ball defender.

[Glennron]

I don't think anyone would've beat UConn with Price shooting the way he was

 

Price was James man. Also, James is/was Marquette's best on the ball defender.

That's why I said "Add the fact someone 6 inches shorter (and more importantly not as good) is guarding him and he's bound to go off." I was at the WVU game where James was on Ruoff who must have 6+ inches on him, and Ruoff couldn't do a thing offensively. James is going to be sorely missed on defense.

 

I certainly wouldn't call the officiating putrid. The call on Burke was bad, and Thabeet jumped and bodied a guy driving in the first half that wasn't called, other than that they weren't any really bad calls I thought. Probably a little bit in UConn's favor, but wasn't really close to affecting the outcome of the game.

[Marc Newfield of Dreams]

If Acker plays like he did last night, they can win at least 1 out of the last 3.

[Glennron]

Does anyone know which team would receive the 4 seed in the BE tourney if Marquette and Villanova end up with identical records? I'd imagine head-to-head is first but since they split I'm not sure how it works. We'll just have to hope Nova loses to Notre Dame tonight and Marquette can win one more game so they have a double-bye locked up.

[gobrew23]

The next tie breaker after head-to-head is the teams record vs. the 1 seed in the Big East, if that is tied it will continue down to the 2 seed, then the 3 seed etc. until one of the teams has an advantage. I put a link to the 2008 tie breaking procedures, I assume they are the same in 2009.

Big East Tie Breaking Procedures

MU is 0-1 vs. UConn, 0-1 vs. Lou, at Pitt 3/04, 1-0 vs. Prov, vs. Syr 3/07

Nova is 0-1 vs. UConn, 0-1 vs. Lou, 1-0 vs. Pitt, 1-0 vs. Prov, 2-0 vs. Syr

So if MU loses to Pitt and Nova wins out, Nova would win the tie breaker. If MU beats Pitt and loses to Syr and Nova wins out, Nova would win the tie breaker. So, basically what it comes down to is MU has to win out, or win 1 game and have Nova lose 1 game.

However if MU beats Pitt, then Pitt will have 4 losses in conference as well and MU would have a head-to-head tie breaker over them.

Sorry, that got longer and more in depth than I anticipated. Hope it makes sense.

EDIT: Villanova at Notre Dame tonight...GO NOTRE DAME!!!

[Glennron]

Wisconsin challenging Illinois' 33 point game with only 10 points with 4 minutes left in the first half.

 

Meanwhile looks like Marquette will continue to lose close games to elite teams. Hopefully the selection committe sees that and doesn't autmomatically think "4-6 in last 10" or whatever it will be.

[burniebrewer]

I'm sorry, but how anyone can watch the Badgers is beyond me.

 

This year's team makes Bennett's teams look like an offensive powerhouse.

[Glennron]

I'm not saying I agree with this criteria, but I always hear analysts ask if a particular team "looks like a tournament team" when deciding whether or not they should make it. If that's actually something they look at, Wisconsin has to be pretty low on that list. Aside from Landry, the team didn't even shoot 25%. If you give up only 41 points through 38 minutes, you should not lose a game.

[SeriesFinale]

The most maddening thing for me about watching them isn't even the lack of offense or the pace, but the fact that they can't close out games. It feels like watching the Brewers play with a lead at times.

 

I still think they make the tourney provided they win one in the Big Ten tourney (a relatively big if), but I'd much rather see these younger guys make an interesting run through the NIT

[Glennron]

Well Marquette's going to play Saint John's after they beat Georgetown (for the second time this season) today. Even though it's at MSG, if Marquette loses this game I'll probably lose all hope for them to do anything in the tournament. Wisconsin would seem to be in unless they get blown out by OSU on Friday.

[BrewCityUnit]

Congrats to North Dakota St. For those who don't know Saul Phillips (one of Bo Ryan's top assistants) is the head coach with Bo's son Will an assistant on the staff. They reached the tournament during their 1st year eligible in Division 1. Fellow Brewerfan poster Luke232323, your brother Mike had a great game! Congrats on the victory.

[heresrobin]

Cleveland St. beats Butler to get the automatic bid. If you think that Butler is ahead of Wisconsin in the at-large discussion, then that is not good news for Wisconsin.

[razzzorsharp]

Awesome, go Horizon League! Sad that UWGB lost in the semifinals though.

[jjfanec]

If you think that Butler is ahead of Wisconsin in the at-large discussion, then that is not good news for Wisconsin.

While it is not great news for the Badgers according almost every bracket right now they are not even in the last 10 in. Many have them as a 9 seed. That leaves 4 10,11, and 12 seeds they are ahead and those spots are almost all at-large bids. In fact they are ahead of at least three bubble teams in their own conference in Penn State, Michigan and Minnesota. They should be safe even if they lose their first game in the Big Ten tourney because very few bubble teams have played well down the stretch.

[fondybrewfan]

Yeah I don't think there is anyway that Wisconsin doesn't make the tourney. I also think Penn State and Michigan will make it while Minnesota gets left out. Obviously if there are some more upsets in league tourneys this week things could change.

 

March and April are by far my favorite sports months of the year. I love the NCAA tourney, IMO it is the best sporting event there is (Unless the Crew were to make the WS).

 

I think VCU might be this year's Davidson or George Mason. Siena & Cleveland St are decent picks for a 1st round upset as well. If St Mary's gets in they could also be tough.

 

I am predicting a first round ouster for Wisconsin, I am also not confident that Marquette will make it to the 2nd weekend. Marquette is in the 4-6 range and there are always a ton of 5-12, 6-11 upsets in the 1st round. 4-13 upsets aren't as frequent but it is possible

[homer]

BYU is my sleeper.

 

It's an interesting year in that there are between 5 - 8 teams that could legitimately win the whole thing. Usually it's like two or maybe three. Off the top of my head there's Memphis, UNC, Pitt, UConn, Duke, Louisville, and maybe Oklahoma.

[BoneDaddyKool]

memphis hasn't played alot of good teams, and I think they will be the first high seed to fall. Marquette prob needs to make the Big east semi's to get a 4 or 5 seed, if they lose early, I can see them getting hosed with a 7 seed. I like Pitt, they are hot, and sometimes a team that gets hot around now goes on a run. I'm looking forward to the tourney... always good stuff.

[brwrsfan]

Well Marquette hammered St. John's today, up almost 35-40 all second half. Held St. Johns to 2-23 shooting, 10 points total in the first half. It was a beat down in every sense of the word, so maybe that gives them a bit of confidence.

 

My biggest complaint, and this is a HUGE one, is that Marquette had McNeal, Matthews and Hayward all in until about the 4 minute mark in the game. They were up 35+ all second half. There is absolutely no reason they should have been in the game at that point. They should have come out with about 8-10 minutes left, it was abundantly clear this game was well over. With Villanova's up tempo style tomorrow, they could have probably used that extra 5-6 minutes of rest, not to mention the fact that if they make a deep run in the tournament, they could play as many as 4 games in 4 days...not very good coaching in my opinion. You had a chance to rest your starters in a blow out at the end of the season and don't take advantage of it. Could come back to bite them.

[Glennron]

I'm not positive, but I believe Memphis leads the country in defensive efficiency. I personally don't think they're as good as Pitt/UNC/UConn and maybe a couple others, but a run to the Elite 8 or even Final 4 wouldn't be the most surprising thing in the world.

 

I'll agree that BYU is a sleeper and could probably be a legitimate Sweet 16 candidate, though if they get in the 8/9 game that would obviously be pretty difficult.

[Marc Newfield of Dreams]

brwrsfan wrote:

My biggest complaint, and this is a HUGE one, is that Marquette had McNeal, Matthews and Hayward all in until about the 4 minute mark in the game. They were up 35+ all second half. There is absolutely no reason they should have been in the game at that point. They should have come out with about 8-10 minutes left, it was abundantly clear this game was well over. With Villanova's up tempo style tomorrow, they could have probably used that extra 5-6 minutes of rest, not to mention the fact that if they make a deep run in the tournament, they could play as many as 4 games in 4 days...not very good coaching in my opinion. You had a chance to rest your starters in a blow out at the end of the season and don't take advantage of it. Could come back to bite them.

Matthews- 31 min

McNeal- 26 min

Hayward- 27 min.

 

MU down to 10 scholarship guys. McNeal sat most of the first half. Someone needs to play, and the bench guys running around with each other for the last 3 minutes doesn't help them all that much. That's why Jerel was last to come out, so the bench guys can have some game experience with a starter or two in.

 

Mountain out of a molehill. They got plenty of rest.

[samwise]

Marquette game has been entertaining. All tied up with 2 minutes left.