Marquette shocked much of the college basketball world Friday night with a dominating 66-55 victory over the Xavier Musketeers. Most people (including myself) thought this one would come right down to the wire, but the golden eagles proved us wrong by jumping out to an early lead and never looking back. While most of the stats from this game were pretty even, the main difference was overall shooting, in that MU had a fantastic day from the field while Xavier was mediocre on 2-point and 3-point jumpers.
Let's look at our keys to the game and see how they panned out:
1. Stop Tu Holloway. CHECK. Marquette clearly figured out that to stand a chance against these guys we needed to stop their best performer in Tu Holloway. While Holloway averages 20 ppg, we held him to single-digit scoring for just the third time this season, only 5 points. Kudos to Jimmy Butler who gave Holloway fits all night and kept him from finding any rhythm in the back court.
2. Stay out of foul trouble. Semi-Check. While the X-Men had 1 more foul than MU (19-18), Otule did foul out of the game. With just 2 boards and no points though, it was a pretty quiet night for Chris anyways, so there was no real harm done with knocking him out of the game. No one else on the team had more than 3 fouls.
3. Speed up the tempo. Negative. Friday's contest with 63 possessions was actually a slower pace than both teams play, as MU and X average 67.5 and 66 possessions, respectively. Marquette has been a better half-court team than a transition team all year, so this may have played to their advantage.
4. Beat them on the boards. Semi-check. Xavier did have 2 more boards in this game, but we had four more offensive boards than they did, which allowed us to get those ever-crucial second chance points. Crowder, Butler, and Gardner had 6, 5, and 5 boards, respectively.
Like I said, aside from the keys above, overall shooting was the main difference in this game. MU shot 42% from beyond the arc, 53% overall, while the musketeers were 15% and 41% from those categories. Marquette took a lot of smart jump shots from all over the floor, created by open looks through transition and high ball screens. Jimmy Butler had a couple nice drives in the paint that he dumped off to Crowder for the easy deuce (one of them being a three-point play).
Top performances go to Jimmy Butler and DJO. DJO put up 19 points and went 4-6 from 3-point land. Rarely did he put up a shot that just made you scratch your head. Jimmy had the best overall performance with 15 points, 5 boards, 4 assists, and 3 steals. He clearly was not ready to end his career in a Marquette jersey that night.
MU takes on Syracuse Sunday evening at 6:30. As you probably know, we took down the orange during their 4-game skid in conference play, so we know we're capable of beating these guys. If we play on Sunday the way we did on Friday, I like our chances to make the Sweet 16.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Marquette vs. Xavier: The Battle For Jesuit Supremacy
Now that Selection Sunday has come and gone, it's time to fret over MU's next matchup. The golden eagles drew an 11-seed in the East region and take on 6-seed Xavier in Cleveland at 6:30 CST on Friday.
This is a tough contest for both teams, as these two squads match up pretty well with each other. Let's get into the pros and cons of the 2010-11 X-Men.
What they do well
- Get to the free throw line. The musketeers are taking 24 free throws per game and their FTA/FGA ratio is 45%, 32nd in the country. Tu Holloway alone gets to the free throw line almost 9 times a game and is shooting 87% from the charity stripe.
- Score inside. Big man Kenny Frease is their inside presence, scoring 12 ppg. At 265 lbs he's got muscle to throw around in the low post and can give an under-sized 4- or 5-man fits.
- Win basketball games (props to Charlie Sheen). These guys have only lost twice since conference play began. They've got a ton of confidence right now, and with all of the tournament experience they have (3 consecutive trips to the Sweet 16) they certainly won't be rattled by the big stage.
- Defend the two-ball. Opponents are shooting under 44% from inside the arc against them. They'll switch between zone and man-to-man defense on you which can either force you to take outside shots or bad two-pointers.
What they don't do well
- Force turnovers. Xavier only forces their opponent to turn the ball over on 19% of defensive possessions, 246th in the country.
- Shoot three-pointers. As prolific of a scorer as Tu Holloway is, he only shoots about 35% from beyond the arc, and he's the best on the team.
- Pass the rock. Of the 7 guys that play meaningful minutes, only 3 of them have an assist/turnover ratio over 1.
Keys to the Game
- Stop Tu Holloway. This guy is far and away the best player on Xavier. He averages 20 ppg, 5.5 apg, and 5 rpg, all while playing about 38-39 minutes a game. Game plan for this guy is a little different than playing a one-man show like Providence, because while you can focus on Holloway, you can't take your eyes off Frease. MU will need to play good man-to-man defense to keep the X-Men off balance.
- Stay out of foul trouble. Xavier draws a lot of contact from the opposition, so guys like Crowder and Otule will need to keep their hands off to prevent putting them on the foul line and putting ourselves on the bench.
- Speed up the tempo. Marquette averages about 1.5 possessions more per game than Xavier. If we can press on defense and score in transition, we can throw the musketeers of their game plan.
- Beat them on the boards. These teams match up pretty evenly in rebounding, but MU's offensive boards as a % of total is much higher than Xavier's (36% vs. 33%). If we can keep them off the glass, we can score put-back shots on offense and score in transition off of defensive boards. We match up pretty evenly with these guys as far as size goes, so Crowder, Otule, and Gardner will have to win the position battle in the paint against these guys.
Ken Pomeroy is predicting a one point victory for the golden eagles. Regardless of how confident that makes you feel, any game decided by a point will be an absolute dogfight until the end. While Xavier is a tournament-tested team, we're a Big East-tested team who knows how to play those close games against tough competition. When it's all said and done I think this will feel more like an 8-9 matchup than 6-11. Let's just hope we can come out with a win and another date with Syracuse.
This is a tough contest for both teams, as these two squads match up pretty well with each other. Let's get into the pros and cons of the 2010-11 X-Men.
What they do well
- Get to the free throw line. The musketeers are taking 24 free throws per game and their FTA/FGA ratio is 45%, 32nd in the country. Tu Holloway alone gets to the free throw line almost 9 times a game and is shooting 87% from the charity stripe.
- Score inside. Big man Kenny Frease is their inside presence, scoring 12 ppg. At 265 lbs he's got muscle to throw around in the low post and can give an under-sized 4- or 5-man fits.
- Win basketball games (props to Charlie Sheen). These guys have only lost twice since conference play began. They've got a ton of confidence right now, and with all of the tournament experience they have (3 consecutive trips to the Sweet 16) they certainly won't be rattled by the big stage.
- Defend the two-ball. Opponents are shooting under 44% from inside the arc against them. They'll switch between zone and man-to-man defense on you which can either force you to take outside shots or bad two-pointers.
What they don't do well
- Force turnovers. Xavier only forces their opponent to turn the ball over on 19% of defensive possessions, 246th in the country.
- Shoot three-pointers. As prolific of a scorer as Tu Holloway is, he only shoots about 35% from beyond the arc, and he's the best on the team.
- Pass the rock. Of the 7 guys that play meaningful minutes, only 3 of them have an assist/turnover ratio over 1.
Keys to the Game
- Stop Tu Holloway. This guy is far and away the best player on Xavier. He averages 20 ppg, 5.5 apg, and 5 rpg, all while playing about 38-39 minutes a game. Game plan for this guy is a little different than playing a one-man show like Providence, because while you can focus on Holloway, you can't take your eyes off Frease. MU will need to play good man-to-man defense to keep the X-Men off balance.
- Stay out of foul trouble. Xavier draws a lot of contact from the opposition, so guys like Crowder and Otule will need to keep their hands off to prevent putting them on the foul line and putting ourselves on the bench.
- Speed up the tempo. Marquette averages about 1.5 possessions more per game than Xavier. If we can press on defense and score in transition, we can throw the musketeers of their game plan.
- Beat them on the boards. These teams match up pretty evenly in rebounding, but MU's offensive boards as a % of total is much higher than Xavier's (36% vs. 33%). If we can keep them off the glass, we can score put-back shots on offense and score in transition off of defensive boards. We match up pretty evenly with these guys as far as size goes, so Crowder, Otule, and Gardner will have to win the position battle in the paint against these guys.
Ken Pomeroy is predicting a one point victory for the golden eagles. Regardless of how confident that makes you feel, any game decided by a point will be an absolute dogfight until the end. While Xavier is a tournament-tested team, we're a Big East-tested team who knows how to play those close games against tough competition. When it's all said and done I think this will feel more like an 8-9 matchup than 6-11. Let's just hope we can come out with a win and another date with Syracuse.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Big East Tourney Recap
Marquette's run in the Big East Tournament came to an end on Thursday after getting blown out by Louisville. I'm still thinking/hoping we'll be a 10-seed for the Dance, but with factors such as in-conference matchups and surprise wins in the conference tournaments, we could be moved up or down a seed.
A few thoughts from each game in the BE Tourney:
Providence
- Pretty simple formula for beating these guys. Stop Marshon Brooks, stop Providence (and ultimately stop Keno Davis from having a job
- Didn't like how we defended the three-ball, especially at the end of the first half. Jimmy Butler was the main victim on the MU side, as Vincent Council had a stretch where he just couldn't miss from beyond the arc.
- Transition offense was much improved over the last few games. Looking to see more of that next week
West Virginia
- Junior Cadougan. WOW. The kid played like an absolute beast, making great passes off the dribble, scoring in transition. This is the guy we've been waiting to see coming out of his shell. With Dwight Buycks gone next year, I've got high hopes for him when he takes over as the starting point guard.
- Defense looked great. The mountaineers didn't have much of answer to what we were doing, which was key in us coming back from a 10-0 deficit
- Only 4 points for Jae Crowder, be he also had 9 boards, 3 steals, and 2 blocks. Just goes to show you don't have to score 20 points to have a big night
Louisville
- Whatever
The brackets come out tonight at 5pm central. Check back here in the middle of the week for a preview of MU's matchup as well as some advice for filling out your bracket.
A few thoughts from each game in the BE Tourney:
Providence
- Pretty simple formula for beating these guys. Stop Marshon Brooks, stop Providence (and ultimately stop Keno Davis from having a job
- Didn't like how we defended the three-ball, especially at the end of the first half. Jimmy Butler was the main victim on the MU side, as Vincent Council had a stretch where he just couldn't miss from beyond the arc.
- Transition offense was much improved over the last few games. Looking to see more of that next week
West Virginia
- Junior Cadougan. WOW. The kid played like an absolute beast, making great passes off the dribble, scoring in transition. This is the guy we've been waiting to see coming out of his shell. With Dwight Buycks gone next year, I've got high hopes for him when he takes over as the starting point guard.
- Defense looked great. The mountaineers didn't have much of answer to what we were doing, which was key in us coming back from a 10-0 deficit
- Only 4 points for Jae Crowder, be he also had 9 boards, 3 steals, and 2 blocks. Just goes to show you don't have to score 20 points to have a big night
Louisville
- Whatever
The brackets come out tonight at 5pm central. Check back here in the middle of the week for a preview of MU's matchup as well as some advice for filling out your bracket.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
I've Changed My Mind Already
With last night's win over West Virginia, I say that puts us firmly at a 10 seed. No telling how far we can go in the Big East Tournament, but if we continue to play the way we did in the second half last night, we should be in the championship game.
I'll provide a recap of MU's Big East tourney run once it ends, and will follow that up with a preview of our game in the NCAA Tournament (!!!!!)
I'll provide a recap of MU's Big East tourney run once it ends, and will follow that up with a preview of our game in the NCAA Tournament (!!!!!)
Monday, March 7, 2011
Where Should Marquette be Seeded?
First of all, congrats are in order for DJO making Second Team All Big East and Jimmy Butler getting an Honorable mention. Well done guys, if I had it my way you'd both be on the First Team.
Now onto the important stuff. To those of you that follow Cracked Sidewalks, you've probably seen this already but there's a website called The 2011 Bracket Matrix, which you can see here. This is a pretty neat site, in that it compiles bracket projections from all different types of websites, from the big guys like ESPN and CBS to other sites like Bracketography that do nothing but predict the 64-team field. All of the seedings are summed up and averaged so you can see the consensus seed for each team.
This site was last updated this morning so it's about as recent as we're gonna get. With that in mind, believe it or not, MU is currently a 10-seed on it. Of the 81 brackets on the site, here's our breakdown in terms of seed projection:
Not bad. 5% have us out of the dance, and 85% have us as an 11-seed or higher. However, if you go to the site, you'll see one major caveat, which is that not all of the brackets are updated as of 3/7, some are about a week old. Here's a table showing the "As of" dates:
Could be better, but it looks like about 70% of the brackets are completely up to date, 30% are missing the loss to Seton Hall, and about 15% don't include the loss to Cincy. There's some decent information coming from this site, but take it with a grain of salt until at least all of these brackets are updated through 3/7.
With that in mind, let's take a look at a few other factors the Committee is going to look at:
Record: 18-12
Conference Record: 9-9
Record over last 10 games: 5-5
RPI: 68
Strength of Schedule Rank: 31
Record against Top 25 RPI: 4-6
Record against Top 50 RPI: 4-11
Record against RPI 50-100: 3-2
Record against RPI over 100: 11-0
Out of Conference RPI: 122
Pretty mixed bag of figures here. Here's the way I see it:
Pros
- Record against Top 25 RPI. Going just under .500 against the cream of the crop looks very good, and those 4 quality wins against West Virginia, Notre Dame, Syracuse, and UConn will look very favorable in front of the Committee. They want to see that we're both capable of winning big games and winning on the road, and we've done both of those with this stat.
- Strength of Schedule. 31st toughest schedule will show that we're tournament tested and won't be intimidated by anyone we'll face if we make the dance. Heck, the Big East Tournament is practically a NCAA Tournament with 16 teams and a ton of talent.
- Record against RPI over 100. No bad losses is good news for MU. Seton Hall's RPI is 91 so we just snuck in there with an unblemished record against bad teams.
Cons
- Record against Top 50 RPI. Compare this to the record against the top 25, and it basically says we've gone 0-5 against the 26-50 in the RPI. These teams are the complete cream of the crop, but they're pretty close. Hopefully the Commitee puts more weight on the top 25 than the top 50.
- Record over last 10 games. The Committee likes to see who's on a hot streak, and at this point we're anything but. Had we beaten St. John's, Cincy, and Seton Hall we'd be in a different boat, but at this point we just look flat, if not worse.
- Out of Conference RPI. The Comittee, especially over the last few years, has put extra emphasis on the entire body of work, from mid-November to mid-March. Our weak RPI from November to December won't look very good to the Committee, and this could be the difference between a 12-seed and NIT.
Enough with the numbers Dan, what seed are we getting, if any???
Tough to say at this point, as the Big East Tournament is a big factor in deciding our future. At this point, I'm assuming we beat Providence, and fall to West Virginia in the second round. Between our quality wins and tough schedule, I think the Committee will look favorable on us. Along with this, there's the "soft bubble" that the media has been talking about. What this means is that the Butlers and Gonzagas of the world aren't as good as they've been in recent years which means they won't get high seeds and push power conference teams to higher seeds, as well as other power conference teams out of the tournament. This means there's more room for the bubble teams like ourselves (and yes, that's a good thing). With this in mind, I think when it's all said and done we'll have done enough in the Committee's mind to come out with an eleven seed. I'll readily admit I've been wrong before (just look at my pre-season predictions), but that's my prediction-du-jour and I'm sticking to it until I decide to change my mind.
Now onto the important stuff. To those of you that follow Cracked Sidewalks, you've probably seen this already but there's a website called The 2011 Bracket Matrix, which you can see here. This is a pretty neat site, in that it compiles bracket projections from all different types of websites, from the big guys like ESPN and CBS to other sites like Bracketography that do nothing but predict the 64-team field. All of the seedings are summed up and averaged so you can see the consensus seed for each team.
This site was last updated this morning so it's about as recent as we're gonna get. With that in mind, believe it or not, MU is currently a 10-seed on it. Of the 81 brackets on the site, here's our breakdown in terms of seed projection:
| Seed | # of Brackets | % of Total |
| 7 | 1 | 1.2% |
| 8 | 2 | 2.5% |
| 9 | 10 | 12.3% |
| 10 | 35 | 43.2% |
| 11 | 21 | 25.9% |
| 12 | 8 | 9.9% |
| Out | 4 | 4.9% |
| Total | 81 | 100.0% |
Not bad. 5% have us out of the dance, and 85% have us as an 11-seed or higher. However, if you go to the site, you'll see one major caveat, which is that not all of the brackets are updated as of 3/7, some are about a week old. Here's a table showing the "As of" dates:
| Date | # of Brackets | % of Total |
| 2/28 | 9 | 11.1% |
| 3/1 | 2 | 2.5% |
| 3/3 | 4 | 4.9% |
| 3/4 | 9 | 11.1% |
| 3/5 | 2 | 2.5% |
| 3/6 | 23 | 28.4% |
| 3/7 | 32 | 39.5% |
| Total | 81 | 100.0% |
Could be better, but it looks like about 70% of the brackets are completely up to date, 30% are missing the loss to Seton Hall, and about 15% don't include the loss to Cincy. There's some decent information coming from this site, but take it with a grain of salt until at least all of these brackets are updated through 3/7.
With that in mind, let's take a look at a few other factors the Committee is going to look at:
Record: 18-12
Conference Record: 9-9
Record over last 10 games: 5-5
RPI: 68
Strength of Schedule Rank: 31
Record against Top 25 RPI: 4-6
Record against Top 50 RPI: 4-11
Record against RPI 50-100: 3-2
Record against RPI over 100: 11-0
Out of Conference RPI: 122
Pretty mixed bag of figures here. Here's the way I see it:
Pros
- Record against Top 25 RPI. Going just under .500 against the cream of the crop looks very good, and those 4 quality wins against West Virginia, Notre Dame, Syracuse, and UConn will look very favorable in front of the Committee. They want to see that we're both capable of winning big games and winning on the road, and we've done both of those with this stat.
- Strength of Schedule. 31st toughest schedule will show that we're tournament tested and won't be intimidated by anyone we'll face if we make the dance. Heck, the Big East Tournament is practically a NCAA Tournament with 16 teams and a ton of talent.
- Record against RPI over 100. No bad losses is good news for MU. Seton Hall's RPI is 91 so we just snuck in there with an unblemished record against bad teams.
Cons
- Record against Top 50 RPI. Compare this to the record against the top 25, and it basically says we've gone 0-5 against the 26-50 in the RPI. These teams are the complete cream of the crop, but they're pretty close. Hopefully the Commitee puts more weight on the top 25 than the top 50.
- Record over last 10 games. The Committee likes to see who's on a hot streak, and at this point we're anything but. Had we beaten St. John's, Cincy, and Seton Hall we'd be in a different boat, but at this point we just look flat, if not worse.
- Out of Conference RPI. The Comittee, especially over the last few years, has put extra emphasis on the entire body of work, from mid-November to mid-March. Our weak RPI from November to December won't look very good to the Committee, and this could be the difference between a 12-seed and NIT.
Enough with the numbers Dan, what seed are we getting, if any???
Tough to say at this point, as the Big East Tournament is a big factor in deciding our future. At this point, I'm assuming we beat Providence, and fall to West Virginia in the second round. Between our quality wins and tough schedule, I think the Committee will look favorable on us. Along with this, there's the "soft bubble" that the media has been talking about. What this means is that the Butlers and Gonzagas of the world aren't as good as they've been in recent years which means they won't get high seeds and push power conference teams to higher seeds, as well as other power conference teams out of the tournament. This means there's more room for the bubble teams like ourselves (and yes, that's a good thing). With this in mind, I think when it's all said and done we'll have done enough in the Committee's mind to come out with an eleven seed. I'll readily admit I've been wrong before (just look at my pre-season predictions), but that's my prediction-du-jour and I'm sticking to it until I decide to change my mind.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
MU Finishes Regular Season With An Embarrassing Loss to Seton Hall
No recap of the game today, but to those that didn't see, MU had a terrible performance in Newark with a 13-point loss. The game was over after the tip, and we never pulled within 8 points of the pirates after the first 5 minutes. MU finished 9-9 in conference play and takes on Providence Tuesday night at 8 pm in the BE tourney.
Here are a couple recaps of the game:
Cracked Sidewalks: The last time we lost to Seton Hall, gas cost 23 cents a gallon
Todd Rosiak: MU turns in its worst performance of the season
Here are a couple recaps of the game:
Cracked Sidewalks: The last time we lost to Seton Hall, gas cost 23 cents a gallon
Todd Rosiak: MU turns in its worst performance of the season
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Jimmy Butler Scores 30 as Marquette falls to Cincy on Senior Night
With a bid to the NCAA Tournament still on the line, MU had a crucial home match-up against Cincinnati Wednesday night. With a win, we would've been on pace to finish 11-7 in conference play and secure a bye in the Big East Tournament. Cincy, on the other hand, had a different plan in mind, and simply outplayed us and won 67-60. With the loss, we're now 9-8 in conference play and desperately need a win at Seton Hall on Saturday.
The calling card of the bearcats is their defense, and this was very apparent last night. Cincy played a 2-3 zone against us that we just couldn't seem to figure out. We had a tough time finding guys to get open which lead to costly turnovers. Their full-court press seemed to stifle us too, as if we'd never seen a press before. Junior Cadougan made a few foolish passes across the key that turned into easy buckets for the bearcats and killed any momentum we had. Along with the turnovers, we had a poor shooting night (39% from the field, 20% from the three) which kept us from gaining any traction against the bearcats.
At the half, MU was down by 6 and had a pathetic 3 assists matched with 9 turnovers. In the second half, Cincy played good enough on defense (or maybe we played poor enough on offense) that we never were able to get within 5 points down the stretch. With a minute to go and a 5-point deficit, Marquette had a phenomenal chance to get back in the game with two open 3-point opportunities (I believe DJO and Buycks had the open looks) but hesitated on both which ultimately resulted in a missed shot, a Cincy rebound,and 20 crucial seconds burned off the clock. At that point, we were down too much to stage a comeback through fouling and the bearcats held on to win by 7.
After turning the ball over 11 times on 57 possessions against Cincy, this is now the second game in a row where we've turned over the ball on at least 19% of our possessions (AAAHHHH!!!). Once may be a fluke, but twice is a trend, and if the trend continues, then we picked the absolute worst time to up our turnovers. The question is: what's causing this? Is it the fact that we're still a young team? Is Cadougan trying to do too much in the point guard role? Did the pressure of winning a game on senior night for the first time in three years prove to be too much? Whatever it is, Buzz has 3 days to fix it on the road and 2 more days to prep for the Big East Tournament. Maybe... I don't know... work on beating the press??? But I digress...
A couple bright spots despite the loss. As usual, we won the foul situation, 22-10. Unfortunately Cincy runs 9 deep each game so there was never an opportunity to get their guys in serious foul trouble. The other, and more important, point of the night was Jimmy Butler's performance in his last home game in a gold uniform. I'm sure his back was killing him after the game, because he absolutely carried us for 40 minutes. Every time we had nothing going on offense, Butler took the game in his hands and made a spectacular cut to the rim to both draw contact and put points on the board. Butler finished the game with 30 points, 6 boards, and 3 steals (did I mention he went 15-17 from the charity stripe?). Well done Jimmy, we're going to miss you.
Nothing major to take away from the Senior Night speeches. Rob Frozena by far got the most applause when it was his turn to talk. Speaking of Frozena, you've gotta give this guy tons of credit. He worked just as hard as everybody else on the team and got virtually no playing time to show for it (18 career points, 12 less than Jimmy Butler scored last night). Congrats to Rob on being the first ever four-year walk-on to play for Marquette. There's a lot to be said for what you've done as a student athlete.
Oh, and one more thing... Dear Students: Please show up to the MU home games next year. If I can make the 90-mile drive, you can make the 12-block walk. Thank you.
The calling card of the bearcats is their defense, and this was very apparent last night. Cincy played a 2-3 zone against us that we just couldn't seem to figure out. We had a tough time finding guys to get open which lead to costly turnovers. Their full-court press seemed to stifle us too, as if we'd never seen a press before. Junior Cadougan made a few foolish passes across the key that turned into easy buckets for the bearcats and killed any momentum we had. Along with the turnovers, we had a poor shooting night (39% from the field, 20% from the three) which kept us from gaining any traction against the bearcats.
At the half, MU was down by 6 and had a pathetic 3 assists matched with 9 turnovers. In the second half, Cincy played good enough on defense (or maybe we played poor enough on offense) that we never were able to get within 5 points down the stretch. With a minute to go and a 5-point deficit, Marquette had a phenomenal chance to get back in the game with two open 3-point opportunities (I believe DJO and Buycks had the open looks) but hesitated on both which ultimately resulted in a missed shot, a Cincy rebound,and 20 crucial seconds burned off the clock. At that point, we were down too much to stage a comeback through fouling and the bearcats held on to win by 7.
After turning the ball over 11 times on 57 possessions against Cincy, this is now the second game in a row where we've turned over the ball on at least 19% of our possessions (AAAHHHH!!!). Once may be a fluke, but twice is a trend, and if the trend continues, then we picked the absolute worst time to up our turnovers. The question is: what's causing this? Is it the fact that we're still a young team? Is Cadougan trying to do too much in the point guard role? Did the pressure of winning a game on senior night for the first time in three years prove to be too much? Whatever it is, Buzz has 3 days to fix it on the road and 2 more days to prep for the Big East Tournament. Maybe... I don't know... work on beating the press??? But I digress...
A couple bright spots despite the loss. As usual, we won the foul situation, 22-10. Unfortunately Cincy runs 9 deep each game so there was never an opportunity to get their guys in serious foul trouble. The other, and more important, point of the night was Jimmy Butler's performance in his last home game in a gold uniform. I'm sure his back was killing him after the game, because he absolutely carried us for 40 minutes. Every time we had nothing going on offense, Butler took the game in his hands and made a spectacular cut to the rim to both draw contact and put points on the board. Butler finished the game with 30 points, 6 boards, and 3 steals (did I mention he went 15-17 from the charity stripe?). Well done Jimmy, we're going to miss you.
Nothing major to take away from the Senior Night speeches. Rob Frozena by far got the most applause when it was his turn to talk. Speaking of Frozena, you've gotta give this guy tons of credit. He worked just as hard as everybody else on the team and got virtually no playing time to show for it (18 career points, 12 less than Jimmy Butler scored last night). Congrats to Rob on being the first ever four-year walk-on to play for Marquette. There's a lot to be said for what you've done as a student athlete.
Oh, and one more thing... Dear Students: Please show up to the MU home games next year. If I can make the 90-mile drive, you can make the 12-block walk. Thank you.
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