Sorry for the Delay

Yes, I'm sure you've all figured out by now that the Marquette season is well underway.  After a close call over Norfolk State, MU is now 5-0 going into the long weekend.  Check back here next week for the "5 things we've learned so far" post about the 2011-12 squad.  Happy Holidays.

Offseason News and Notes

Since we're in the college basketball doldrums, aka summer, I figured it's time to put up some off-the-court news to help pass the time until early November.  Enjoy.

A look at the newcomers for 2011-12:

Juan Anderson - 4-star, 6'6 wing who can do just about everything.  Averaged 17 points, 7 boards and 3 assists per game this season.  He'll be playing behind Jae Crowder and Jamil Wilson next season, but should be able to make an impact in the limited playing time he'll get.  Look for him to break out his sophomore season.

Todd Mayo - 6'3 SG, with great basketball genes in the bloodline.  If we can get talent similar to brother O.J without the baggage, we'll have a dynamite player in Todd Mayo.

Derrick Wilson - 6"0 PG with good quickness.  Shouldn't be seeing much PT this season as he'll be behind Blue and Cadougan on the depth chart.

Jamil Wilson - Technically a newcomer since he had to red-shirt last season due to transferring from Oregon.  He's gotten a lot of hype since coming to MU.  Very athletic and versatile forward.  Likely to be a starter once the roster shakes out.

Jake Thomas - Walk-on transfer from South Dakota with good shooting range.  He'll be sitting out this season.


And the outgoers:

Eric Williams and Dave Singleton have both left the program.  Williams is transferring to Sam Houston State where he'll have 2 years of eligibility left.  Plenty to speculate about with this move (injuries, playing time, etc), but whatever the reason is it's too bad because it seems like Williams was maturing into the role of being either a starter or 6th man for this season.  The departure of Singleton should have little to no impact on the team going forward.

Steve Cottingham, the Athletic Director since 2007 is stepping down as well.  No replacement has been named yet.



Alumni Updates


Dwayne Wade has been his usual dominant self in the NBA this season, averaging 25 points, 6 boards and 5 assists per game, and his playoff numbers so far are slightly better than those averages.  Even with the addition of Lebron James and Chris Bosh to the line-up this season, Wade is still the leader of the team.  Even though the Heat fell short of winning the title this year (depending on which newspaper you read), Wade still had yet another fantastic season.

Wes Matthews has been earning every bit of that $34 million contract he signed with Portland, averaging 15.9 ppg (2nd on the team), 3 rpg, and 2 apg.  The Trailblazers made it to the playoffs but were knocked out by the eventual champs, the Mavs, in the first round in 6 games.

Lazar Hayward had a quiet rookie season, but nonetheless productive.  He played in 42 games and averaged 4 ppg while only playing 10 minutes per game.  The Timberwolves can't possibly get any worse (or can they?) which hopefully translates into more playing time for Lazar next season.

Doc Rivers led the Boston Celtics to the second round of the NBA playoffs before getting knocked out by Dwayne Wade and the Heat.  After the playoffs, he signed a 5-year, $35 million extension with the Celtics.  On a side note, his son Austin is ranked as the #1 player in this year's freshman class and is headed to none other than Duke.  Congrats Doc!

Jerel McNeal had a spectacular year in the NBA Development League with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers.  McNeal averaged 19 ppg during the regular season and 28, 7, and 6.5 in the playoffs.  The Vipers made it to the championship but fell to the Iowa Energy 2-1.  In the lone win over Iowa, Jerel had 37 points, 9 boards and 8 assists.  He also signed a 10-day contract with the New Orleans Hornets while Chris Paul was injured, but didn't see any playing time.  Hopefully his work from this season will get noticed by teams around the NBA.

Dominic James had a decent season with Lukoil Academik Sofia in Bulgaria, with 14 ppg, shooting 66% from inside the arc, and a season-high game of 25 points.  Lukoil ran the table during the regular season with an impressive 28-0 record and was knocked out in the quarterfinals by Krka in the EuroChallenge.

Steve Novak picked a bad time (ok, I guess he didn't "pick" it) to leave the Mavs for the Spurs.  Novak was traded mid-season to the Spurs but still spent most of his time riding the bench, playing just 9 minutes per game.  For those 9 minutes he was in each game, his shooting percentages were pretty impressive, shooting 57% from beyond the arc and 52% overall from the field.  Had he been nonexistent with the Mavs instead of the Spurs, he may have been the third MU alum in the last 5 years to get a championship under his belt.

Travis Diener had a solid year in the Italian League, Series A for Dinamo Sassari, averaging 13 points and 5 assists per game.  The club finished with a record of 13-15, 9th place in the league out of 16 teams.  Nice fo-hawk, Travis.





Maurice Acker is playing in the Premier Basketball League in Canada for the Quebec Kebs.  What is a Keb you ask?  Keb is short for Kebekwa which means Quebecker (real creative!).  Acker only averaged 8 ppg this season, but had an assist/turnover ratio above 2.  The Kebs went 15-8 in the regular season and finished second in their division.


Dwight Burke played in the Czech Republic for Ostrava for most of the season and ended with Evreux in France.  Burke had a productive season, averaging 13.5 ppg and 7.5 rpg despite being sidelined for 3 weeks with an ankle injury.

Brian Wardle, as you may know, finished up his first year of coaching for the UW-Green Bay Phoenix.  The team went 14-18 overall and was knocked out by Wright State in the first round of the Horizon League Championship.


Congrats to Jimmy Butler!  Butler was the 30th overall pick by the Chicago Bulls in this year's NBA draft.  Scores of articles have come out in the past week about the journey Jimmy's been on from being homeless, to faxing in his NLI from a McDonald's, to now making a 6-figure salary (and maybe more) right out of college.  This is now the second year in a row a MU player has been drafted in the first round.  Both Lazar Hayward and Jimmy Butler had impressive performances at pre-draft camps and the scouts took notice.  On a side note, I haven't worn a Bulls jersey since I had a black Jordan jersey in middle school 15 years ago.  This may be reason enough for me to get a new one.

Nice picture below of Jimmy and Buzz at the Berto Center.  To those who don't know, Jimmy picked 21 as a "tip of the cap" to Joe Fulce, who was his roommate this last season.




That's all for now.  Updates on Cottingham's replacement to follow soon.

MU Alumni White Sox Outing

Are you a MU alum?  Do you have at least a mild interest in baseball?  Do you like alcoholic beverages?  Would you like to combine all three of these aspects into one outing?  Then you're in luck!

On June 5, there's going to be a White Sox outing for MU alums.  Game is at 1:10 against Detroit.  $75 gets you a ticket in the lower reserved section and 2 hours (11:30-1:30) of all you can eat and drink (beer and wine, no hard stuff) in the patio section.  If you've already got a ticket to the game, you can also purchase just the patio portion for $42.  Discounted prices are available for those 60 and over and 13 and under as well.  There will also be a raffle for various MU and Sox prizes during the event.  Hope to see you there!


Click on the link below to get your application:

http://marquette.edu/alumni/whitesoxpatioparty.pdf

Buzz Signs New Contract With MU

It's official, Buzz will be staying at MU, as he just agreed to a new contract with Marquette.  Todd Rosiak has a brief overview of it, but no terms have been disclosed yet.

I'd had about enough of those "Buzz to OU" rumors, glad this finally got taken care of.

Q&A With Todd Rosiak

After the 18-point loss to UNC in the Sweet 16, MU's season has come to an end.  While the regular season was a rocky one, the golden eagles put up an impressive performance in making it to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament, and made believers out of many fans still skeptical of Buzz.

To go along with this, it seems that MU has all but locked up Buzz into a new contract and quenched any rumors of him leaving.  And with a new crop of talent coming in, all appears to be well in Mil-town for now.

To give us some perspective on the season that was and what lies ahead, I gave a list of 10 questions (9 of them being serious) to Todd Rosiak from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.  You can follow him at JS Online or on Twitter.  Enjoy


1. When the NCAA Tournament began this year, what did you think was a realistic goal for MU?  How surprised were you that we made the Sweet 16, if at all?

I thought beating Xavier was a real possibility, as it was a good matchup for MU. I also thought the Syracuse game would be a close one, but one that MU wouldn't win. So, the team probably went a game further than I expected it to. Aside from 2003, I've come to expect the worst from MU when it comes to the NCAAs -- i.e. tough losses in the early rounds -- so from that standpoint, this season's performance has to be deemed a success from where I sit.


2. MU went 0-4 in meaningful OOC games, 9-9 in Big East play, 2-1 in the Big East Tournament, and of course went 2-1 in the NCAA Tournament.  When you add all of this up, how successful was this season?  Does the Sweet 16 appearance wipe out losses from earlier in the season?

I don't think there's any question the run in the NCAAs outweighs all the close losses in the regular season. How could it not? For whatever reason, MU lacked that "closer's mentality" in tight games for the most part, and that's something that has to be looked at moving forward. In my opinion, the team suffered from the lack of a strong, senior voice as well as a lack of that "go-to" guy that Lazar Hayward was the year before. Jimmy Butler and DJO had their moments, but too often they disappeared for long stretches and at crucial times. That can't happen.


3. What impressed you the most about the 2010-11 team?  What frustrated you the most?

I would say MU's resilience this year impressed me the most. It was kind of like last year in that regard -- tons of tough, frustrating losses, but somehow the team found a way to dig deep when it mattered most, and got into the Sweet 16. I would say the biggest downside to the season would be the team's inconsistency combined with the inability to seemingly learn from its mistakes. Seeing the same problems crop up game after game was head-scratching at times.


4. Chris Otule and Davante Gardner both made big strides this year.  Do you see one of them taking more of a lead role in the paint next season, or splitting time like this year?

I would anticipate a two-headed monster in the pivot just like it turned out this year. Both are developing nicely, and each player's strength seems to offset the other's weakness, which is obviously nice to have. Buzz can sub offense-defense when need be, or ride the hot hand on a given night also. Suddenly, the need for a big man doesn't seem so glaring.


5. Of the returning players for next year's campaign, who do you think will improve the most?  Why?

I would expect Vander Blue to take that next step. MU needs him to. No doubt about it, he was a disappointment this season -- especially on the offensive end. He still has plenty of ability, though, and if he's willing to put in the time in the gym over the summer to re-work that jump shot, he could turn into the player most people thought he'd become. Continued development from Jae Crowder and Chris Otule will also be a must.


6. Who do you think Marquette's starting 5 will be next January?  Or will it still be a work in progress at that point?

Buzz seems to settle on a core group of guys by January each season. Without having seen any of the incoming guys yet, it's hard to answer that question. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see the starting lineup consist of all returning guys -- Cadougan, DJO, Wilson, Crowder and Otule.


7. After losing Jeronne Maymon and Reggie Smith in the last 2 years, MU clearly has had to deal with players leaving due to lack of playing time.  With a lot of talent returning and coming in next season, are you concerned we'll have, as Yogi Bera puts it, deja vu all over again?

I think transfers are going to continue to be an issue not only at MU, but just about everywhere. It's just part of the deal now. Kids are growing up in an instant-gratification society, and some aren't willing to wait their turn. From MU's standpoint, the team takes something of a PR hit when a guy like Maymon or Smith transfers out so quickly. But on the flip side, MU also isn't wasting any more of its time trying to develop someone that isn't in it for the long haul. Cut the losses and move on.


8. Of the new guys coming in (and Jamil Wilson), who do you think will have the greatest impact on the team next season?

I would expect Wilson to have the biggest impact, simply because he already has a year of Division I ball under his belt from his time at Oregon and another year under his belt practicing with the team at MU. Throw in his tremendous athleticism, and you could have a more talented Jimmy Butler -- i.e., a guy who can do all sorts of things and play at a number of different positions. Of the incoming guys, Juan Anderson and Todd Mayo intrigue me most -- Anderson for his versatility and Mayo for his ability to score, as well as his bloodlines.


9. Of the departing seniors, Jimmy Butler leaves the biggest shoes to fill (aside from Frozena's popularity).  Who do you think will fill that role?  Do we need multiple players to fill it?

As I mentioned before, I think this year's team lacked strong senior leadership. I don't see DJO having that kind of personality, either. That's going to put a lot of pressure on Crowder to step up and be vocal and lead the team. Cadougan strikes me as someone who could be a strong, positive personality in the locker room. Considering the position he plays, that would be a great thing for MU.


10. Rumor has it you once saved 10 children from a burning building while on your way to accepting the Pulitzer Prize for Beat Writing.  Any truth to that???

I'll settle for just surviving the upcoming Brewer season. The Pulitzer can wait.



Thanks again Todd!

Marquette and UNC Meet in the Tourney for the First Time Since 1977

With all the media attention MU has gotten about JUCO players, Buzz's antics, and a Sweet 16 being someone's birthday, it's time to get past all of that and focus on the task at hand: taking down North Carolina.  While Marquette has made an impressive run thus far as an 11-seed, it only gets tougher from here when they take on the #2-seed tar heels Friday night in Newark.

Since Larry Drew left the squad in December and Kendall Marshall took over at point guard, UNC has improved tremendously.  They're creating much better looks on offense and are turning over the ball at much lower clip than they had over the last 1.5 seasons.  They're probably the most improved team in college basketball over the last 3 months, and to use a couple cliches, they've gone from "pretender" to "contender."  After losing to Duke at Cameron in February, Carolina rattled off 9 straights wins, won the ACC regular season crown, and made it to the finals of the ACC Tournament before getting knocked off by Duke.  The tar heels beat Long Island University in the first round and narrowly escaped with a win over Washington in the second round.

Most media folks have Carolina winning this game because 1) Carolina's a 2-seed playing an 11-seed and 2) Carolina's a 2-seed playing an 11-seed.  Not a lot of writers have the stones to predict the upset, but Jon Rothstein does.

What you need to know about Carolina

They're deep.  The heels have 9 guys on their team that play at least 15 minutes a game.  Coach Roy Williams can constantly sub fresh legs in throughout the game to wear down the opposition.  Of these 9 guys, 5 of them are averaging at least 7 ppg, and three of those five are double-digit scorers.

They're long   Of the 9 guys that play meaningful minutes, 5 of them are 6'7 or taller.  John Henson and Tyler Zeller are averaging 10 and 7 rpg, respectively.  Between these two, they're blocking 4.5 shots per game.  Henson doesn't look like a force to be reckoned with given his build at 6'10 and 210 lbs, but anyone who's watched him live knows that he can compete with just about anyone in the paint, including ACC foes Chris Singleton and the Plumlee brothers.  Carolina is the best rebounding team left in the dance with 46 rpg.

They're fast  The heels average 72 possessions a game, more than anyone else in the Sweet 16.  Roy has always coached his teams to play fast and score in transition, and this team is no different.  Kendall Marshall excels at having court vision in transition and can almost always find the open man down the floor.

They play great defense  Carolina is allowing 0.886 points per possession, 5th best in the Sweet 16.  Between blocking shots and good defensive rebounding they don't allow a lot of second-chance points.  They also limit their opponents in shooting free throws, as their FTA/FGA ratio is second in the country, only behind Ohio State.

A Few Thoughts on 2 out of 11 Big East Teams Making the Sweet 16

Ok, clearly there's been a lot of ink spilled over the Big East in the last few days and the fact that "the best conference in the country" only got 2 teams into the Sweet 16 out of the 11 that made the dance.  While there are a few supporters out there, Gary Parrish is one of them, most writers are saying that the Big East shouldn't have deserved to clog up thr 68-team field with 11 of its own teams when only 2 could make the Sweet 16.

As an avid supporter of Big East basketball, I figured it's worth a shot to take an un-biased (maybe) look at each of the 11 teams to see if the haters are right, or if the Gary Parrishes of the world are right.  Let's go from the top down.  For future reference, when I say "first round" I'm referring to the field of 64 teams, not 68.

1. Pitt - Beat #16 UNC-Asheville in the first round, lost to #8 Butler in the second round by a point.  This game had arguably the wildest finish of the tournament thus far, with two questionable fouls being called with less than 5 seconds left in the game.  Nonetheless, Butler came out on top in this one.

2. Notre Dame - Beat #15 Akron in the first round, lost to #10 Florida State in the second round.  The fighting irish ran into a team that defends the three-ball better than any other team in the country.  As a result, ND had a poor shooting night and was down by double-digits for most of this game.

3. Connecticut - Defeated #14 Bucknell in the first round, beat #6 Cincy in the second round.  One of the two remaining teams in the tournament.

4. Syracuse - Beat #14 Indiana State in the first round, lost to #11 MU in the second round (!!!)

5. Louisville - Lost to #13 Morehead State in the first round.  The eagles made a clutch three-pointer and a key block at the end of the game to win by a point.

6. West Virginia - Beat #12 Clemson in the first round, lost to #4 Kentucky in the second round.  This one was pretty close for most of the way, but the wildcats made just enough shots down the stretch to advance.

7. Cincinnatti - Beat #11 Missouri in the first round, lost to #3 UConn in the second round.

8. St. John's - Lost to #11 Gonzaga in the first round.  The Johnnies were clearly the underdogs with their third-highest scorer in D.J Kennedy out for this game.

9. Georgetown - Lost to #11 VCU in the first round.  Same as St. John's, having Chris Wright back for the first time in three weeks certainly didn't help these guys.

10. Villanova - Lost to #8 George Mason in the first round.  The wildcats continued their end-of-season collapse with yet another loss, this one coming right down to the wire.

11. Marquette - Beat #6 Xavier in the first round, beat #3 Syracuse in the second round.  One of the two teams remaining in the tournament.

Right off the bat, the Big East could have at most 9 teams in the Sweet 16 since the second round featured two BE match-ups.  Allow me to play a little defense for the other 7 teams:

- Pitt took on a team that's very tournament-tested.  Even though Gordon Hayward is gone, the bulldogs still have Shelvin Mack and Matt Howard from last year's team that lost at the buzzer to Duke in the national championship.  Referee calls aside, taking down this team would've been no easy feat.

- Notre Dame drew a terrible match-up in Florida State.  Like I said, FSU is the best at defending the three-ball, which is a nightmare for a team like Notre Dame that wins big games by hitting three-pointers.  If Notre Dame can't shoot well, they can't win.

- Preston Knowles from Louisville got injured with 9 minutes left in the game and didn't return.  Up until then he had 9 points, 5 assists and 3 steals.  Think he could've made a 2-point difference in those 9 minutes?  Probably.

- West Virginia took on a very hot team at the moment in Kentucky.  The wildcats had a mediocre stretch in the middle of their season, but have been playing great basketball over the last month.

- St. John's played without D.J Kennedy, wh is not only 3rd in scoring on the team, but lead the Johnnies in rebounds and steals.  This is a quite a big hole to fill, no matter what team you are.

- Georgetown has a similar story.  Having Chris Wright (arguably the second-best player on the team behind Austin Freeman) back for the first time in three weeks was still a burden for the hoyas.  And he certainly didn't play like his old self, scoring only 6 points instead of his usual 13 and committing two more fouls than his average.  Not to mention, VCU absolutely destroyed Purdue on Sunday, so it's not like they lost to a garbage team.

- Villanova went down to the wire with George Mason, which is what's supposed to happen in a 8-9 match-up.  If these teams played 10 times, they'd probably split the series 5-5.

With all of these defensive points in mind, does this mean we should've gotten 9 teams into the Sweet 16?  Absolutely not.  But I do think a few of these merit a discussion.  Of the 7 teams that didn't make the Sweet 16, I feel that Pitt and West Virginia probably should've made it to the Sweet 16 too.  If Louisville and St. John's didn't have their injury issues, they probably would've been in the regionals too.  Nobody should've expected Villanova to make the Sweet 16 because they would've been drilled by Ohio State, and G-town is a toss-up.

Do the haters out there have a point?  Maybe.  Did the Big East deserve to get all of these teams in, even though they didn't all advance as far as they should have?  I think so.  The 37 at-large bids go to the 37 best teams, but does that mean you're not one of the best teams because of one game that you played and lost?  Every team in the tournament is just as hungry to win as the teams in the Big East.  Just because a team lost to an equal team or was upset by a worse team doesn't mean they didn't deserve to be there in the first place.  Given the pedigree, should the Big East have won more games this post-season?  Definitely.  But don't hate on the conference because it didn't pan out that way.