After a signature win against 10th ranked Villanova, Marquette played a poor second half in a loss to the Georgetown Hoyas. The Golden Eagles’ Big East season is over, but they are now primed for a run in the big tournament.

After two hard fought wins in as many days against St. John’s and Nova, MU appeared a little exhausted in the second half on friday; they were outscored by 20 points in the final 20 minutes against a bigger Georgetown team. The Hoyas were able to expose Marquette’s weakness- their lack of a legit big man- as Greg Monroe had a monster game (23 points, 13 rebounds, 7 assists, and 2 blocks).

Beating G-Town and reaching the Big East finals would have been huge obviously, but the win over Nova on thursday will do wonders for the seeding of MU. Once considered a bubble team, the Golden Eagles look like they’ll likely be a 7 or 8 seed in the tournament. Thats pretty good considering they were a 5 seed in their own conference tournament, and were looked at as a 10 0r 11 seed in the big dance up until about 2 weeks ago.

Because of their ability to shoot the 3ball, MU will be a tough out no matter who they play. As a 7 or 8 seed, they will likely be matched up with a 1 or 2 seed in the second round. Marquette will obviously be the underdog in this game, but they still have a chance at beating anyone based on their outside shooting and experience they have because of the tough schedule they’ve had going through the Big East their last 20+ games. Any team without a dominant big man (a la Greg Monroe) will definitely not be happy to see Marquette next weekend.

Shortly after the Badgers completed an impressive road win over Illinois on Sunday, they likely watched and waited for the Michigan State/Michigan game to end.  After MSU won, Wisconsin earned themselves the four seed and packed up to return to Madison.

And that’s just how Bo Ryan and Badger fans like it; go about your business and keep playing hard.

The Badgers will face Illinois on Friday afternoon, a rubber match for two opponents who played well against each other this season.  However, UW clearly has the upper hand going into the Big Ten tournament, as they continue to ride the hot hands of Jason Bohannon and Jon Leuer, as well as the steady guard play of Trevon Hughes and Jordan Taylor.

If all goes accordingly, the Badgers will most likely face Ohio State in the semi-finals.  In my opinion, this would be the best game of the tournament, if not the whole month of March.  In their first meeting, Evan Turner was injured, and the Badgers rolled to an easy victory.  When Turner returned later in the season, OSU toppled Bucky.

So if there’s any pattern here, it’s that the Badgers have many scores to settle throughout the Big Ten tourney.

The gameplan against Illinois is pretty simple: out rebound them, let Jason Bohannon get the hot hand, and have Trevon Hughes pilot the whole operation.  Throw in a healthy dose of Jon Leuer, along with solid play off the bench, and the Badgers should have no problem advancing.

Assuming Ohio State advances through the winner of the Michigan/Iowa game (and they will), the Badgers would play in their second consecutive rubber match of the tournament.

It never comes easy in the Big Ten, but you’d never guess that’d be the case with the way Bo has his guys playing not just this March, but every March.

Peeps’  ”Article of the Week”

I came across this article today and the first thing I thought of was “NBA Live 94″ for Sega Genesis.  Remember the days where some players didn’t have their names used in popular video games? (I’m looking at you, MJ).  Well now, Ed O’Bannon is suing the NCAA for using player’s likenesses in everything from video games, DVD’s, apparel, and magazines.

You’ll have to read the article to get the jist of everything (Frank Deford is a great writer, so its worth it).  But it looks like the NCAA might actually be at fault in this regard, something that you don’t hear often.

Cheers and happy reading!

Now that Marquette has won eight of their last nine games and are on the good side of the tournament bubble, they can really look back at the effort at the end of the last 3 games as what helped them get into the big dance.

79-76 (OT), 63-61 (OT), and 84-83 (OT). That’s what you’ll see when you look at MU‘s schedule and results for its last three games. As you can see, the Golden Eagles have played in overtime three times in a row, one shy of the NCAA record. Even more astounding, they have won all of these games.

In the first game against Cincy, it was Lazar Hayward- who was having one of his worst games of the season- that hit a game-tying 3 pointer at the end of regulation to send the game to OT. He then proceeded to lead the team in OT to a big win against a tough team on the road.

A few days later, it was Jimmy Butler against St. Johns. The same man who hit a fade-away game winning jumper against UCONN on the road did the same thing in Queens, NY against the Red Storm.

And Saturday, it took a total team effort to put down a pesky Seton Hall team in beautiful Newark, NJ. All five of MU’s starters reached double figures, led by Lazar hayward who had 23. Darius Johnson Odom and David Cubillan also had strong efforts with 16 points each.  DJO would not be denied on his way to the hoop late in regulation.

Bottom line, MU has a lot of clutch players on their team, and that’s why they have won 8 of 9 and hopped off the bubble a little bit. They still have two important games against Notre Dame and Louisville coming up to finish the season plus the Big East Tournament. But, as it stands now, the Golden Eagles have played their way into the big dance.

For a year in which MU lost 3 of their top four players from the year before, and projected starting point guard Junior Cadougan to a major injury, they have really fought hard. Kudos to Lazar Hayward, Jimmy Butler, DJO, Maurice Acker, and David Cubillan.

There is absolutely nothing significant to report about Wisconsin’s 78-46 thrashing of Indiana.  The game was close for about the first five minutes, and from there, the Badgers were essentially on cruise control for the remainder of the game.

Actually, I stand corrected.  Seeing an irate Tom Crean get ejected in the 2nd half was pretty awesome.  My how the mighty have fallen, Tom…

All jokes aside, the Badgers are entering a fairly easy stretch of games to close out the Big Ten regular season; at the Kohl Center against Iowa on March 3rd, and then a road finale at Illinois on March 7th.  Iowa should be a breeze, but Illinois is underrated in many aspects and already showed they could beat UW in their own home a few weeks ago.

While I’m not one to cheer for injury (and I’m still not), the Badgers caught a bit of a break yesterday when it was discovered that Purdue forward Robbie Hummel is out for the season with a torn ACL.  The Boilermakers and Badgers went 1-1 against each other this season, with Hummel playing a significant role in each game.

In essence, the road to the Big Ten tournament title game just got a bit easier for the Badgers.  Purdue struggled last season without Hummel, and the weight of the entire season now rests on the shoulders of E’Twaun Moore.

All the Badgers can do now is take care of business and come prepared for the Big Ten tournament.  But who am I kidding?  Would you expect anything less from a Bo Ryan lead team?

If the Golden Eagles have the misfortune of missing out on the big dance for the first time since 2005, they will most likely be looking back at this three game stretch as where the ship sank.
MU’s next 3 games are all against strong, but not elite competition. The three teams- South Florida, Pitt, and Cincinnati- are all pretty much in the same bout as the Golden Eagles. They all sit in the middle of the Big East standings are considered bubble teams for the tourney at this point (although Pitt may be in the best position of the four teams).
The first game, Saturday vs. USF, could be the most important of the three. The Bulls are hot of late, and could be considered as one of the big surprise teams in the NCAA this year. After going just 9-22 last year, USF has pulled it together this year and has garnered wins against the likes of #7 Georgetown and #23 Pittsburgh. They are a tough team and very much alive for a tournament selection; and a win at the Bradley Center Saturday would be big on their resume. Led by a strong front court of Augustus Gilchrist and Jarrid Famous, South Florida could create match-up problems for MU. The Golden Eagles will need another big performance from their back court to counter the Bulls’ paint presence.
On Thursday, Marquette travels to the Zoo to take on the perennially strong Pitt Panthers. After starting out the season very strong, Pitt hass cooled down -losing four of their last 7 games. Of the Panthers’ six losses this year, only 1 has come at home. The Zoo is considered one of the hardest venues to win in for opposing in the Big East, and will provide a major challenge for Marquette. If the Golden Eagles are able to win this game, it would certainly boost their chances come Selection Sunday.
The final of the three games is against the Cincinnati Bearcats. UC plays hard every night and are led by uber-talented Freshman Lance Stephenson. Stephenson and forward Yancy Gates will be matched up on Lazar Hayward and Jimmy Butler respectfully, creating one of the most intriguing 2 on 2 match-ups MU has seen this season. Hayward and Butler must win these individual battles if MU has any hope of countering the Bearcats rebounding advantage (Cincy comes in 4th in the Big East in team rebounding).
After these three games, the Golden Eagles travel to St. Johns and Seton Hall before closing out at home against Notre Dame and Louisville. All these are important, but this three game stretch against other bubble level teams will really separate MU from the pack; this could be a good or bad thing depending on how they do.

Despite the heartbreaking loss to Illinois on Tuesday, the Wisconsin Badgers still have a great chance to take home the Big 10 regular season title and continue to reach their goal of winning the Big 10 tournament.

I was as devastated as any Badger fan when they succumbed to that rare home loss against a surprising Illini team, but I see little use in panicking.  Sometimes a wake-up call like that can actually be a good thing for a team that wasn’t expected to do anything special this season.

Since Jon Leuer went down with a fractured wrist, the Badgers are 5-2 and have displayed the kind of effort that seems to come naturally to Bo Ryan coached teams; continue to work hard and go about your business.  No team handles adversity quite like the Badgers. Since Kalin Lucas went down, Michigan State has struggled to regain its swagger.  Ohio State was a mess without Evan Turner.

Not the Badgers.  Bo Ryan has instilled the confidence in his players to carry on and pick up the slack when a fellow teammate gets hurt. It’s rare to find a coach who can build such confidence in his team, but Ryan has earned his living doing that exact thing for the Badgers since he was hired.

The Badgers will also have the benefit of a fairly easy schedule to close out the season. Tomorrow they square off against an Indiana team that is still deep in the process of rebuilding.  After that, UW won’t face a ranked opponent unless Illinois earns a spot in the top 25 before March 6th (UW’s final regular season game at Illinois).

It’s going to be a close race to crown the regular season champion, but if the Badgers can continue their consistent play and rebound from a rare hiccup at home, I think they’ll bring home the bacon.

Just imagine how strong this team will be going into March Madness if Jon Leuer comes back to full strength.  Don’t look now, but the Badgers have the fortitude and attitude to make a strong run at the Final Four this year.

The end of January and beginning of February is an interesting time in college basketball. Other than the Superbowl, the NFL season is pretty much over and peoples’ interest is starting to shift over to the hardwood. It’s also the midway point through conference schedule and teams are really starting to show their true colors. Right now is a good time to sit back and gauge what you see in your favorite teams.

So what about Marquette? They’re in the middle of the pack in the Big East with a 13-8 (4-5) record. At first glance, you may look at this win/ loss ratio as NIT worthy. But this is the BIG EAST, by far  the best conference in college basketball. Of those 9 games played in conference, six of them have been against top 20 teams. Thats a pretty damn hard schedule. Its not as if all those games have been losses either; the Golden Eagles took down an elite Georgetown team on January 6th and recently went out to Hartford, CT and beat the Huskies. And the games MU has lost… A buzzer beater at West Virginia, two games to No. 2 Villanova by a total of 4 points, a close game (76-71) at the Carrier Dome to the fifth ranked Syracuse Orange, and MU’s worst performance of the season in Chicago in a another buzzer beater loss to lowly DePaul.

Next question, whats the road ahead look like for MU? Well it’s a lot easier than the one they’ve traveled thus far. Of the nine conference games left, they have only one against a ranked team (No. 17 Pitt). Thats not to say it’s the easiest schedule, they still have to face the Notre Dames, Louisvilles, and Cincinnatis of the world. But the rest of the games are definitely should-wins. If the Marquette takes care of business in the final month plus of the regular season and makes a splash in the always trilling Big East tourney, they will be looking at a top 25 ranking and a definite spot in the big dance. If this happens, they’ll be looking back to the time when they were 3-5 in conference, were slipping a little bit, and were saved by monster performances by their big three (Lazar Haywood, Jimmy Butler, and Darius Johnson-Odom) in a tough win vs UConn as the turning point of the season.

Lazar and Jimmy have to bring it every night

The lack of any legit big man has been a problem that Marquette seems to be forced to deal with every year, but when they get good performances out of their big three they can compete with anyone in the country. If Marquette plays their cards right they’ll be a tough out in the tournament, no matter who they play.

After watching Digger hit the dance floor with a (smokin’ hot) Clemson basketball cheerleader, I developed a whole new found appreciation for the man, the myth, the DIGGA. Then I started searching YouTube for other Digga vids and found out soon enough that Digga is a DANCING FOOL!

The man’s got some sick moves for an old-timer college basketball commentator. Check out these six vids of Digger breakin it down hard.

Question: How do the Wisconsin Badgers respond after a home win against the Duke Blue Devils?  Answer: They drive through a blizzard and get beaten down hard on the road by mid-major UW-Green Bay, losing 88-84 in overtime.

No, the transitive property is not viable in sports. UW-GB would lose to Duke ten out of ten times.  What happened to the Wisconsin Badgers last night? Bryquis Perine had 22 points to lead the UW-GB Phoenix while Rahmon Fletcher chipped in with 18 points.  Perine is a Milwaukee native who lead Milwaukee Vincent to a state title his senior year.  Trevon Hughes poured in 27 to lead the way for the Badgers while Keaton Nankivil had 26 points and 10 boards.  This was a sloppy game for the Badgers as they committed 18 turnovers and seemed to be reaching rather than moving their feet all night.

Bryquis Perine

What is going on in Madison?  They beat the Duke Blue Devils and then follow it up with this performance?! Last night was UW-GB’s first EVER victory over the Badgers. The Badgers are supposed to go into the little guys’ house and win by 15. This game was not televised outside of Madison and Green Bay and you will not find many video highlights of the game because the little guy can’t afford it!  But I am sure that the 9,759 on hand didn’t see the same Badgers team that they had seen up until last night.

Here are a few thoughts from the game:

1. Turnovers kill.
2. Missed free throws hurt (Badgers were 29-40).
3. Jason Bohannon, where are you? This is a guy who is supposed to be hitting threes from the moment he steps on the floor, and he just is not getting it done. 25% from behind the arc (1-4) will not cut it (actually, Bohannon was 1-4 in the game as well).  Still UW-GB showed up to play and took this game from the Badgers. They deserve the credit.

So, what does this mean for UW-GB in the Horizon League?

I saw my UWM (UW-Milwaukee Panthers) squad play Tuesday night and show very little effort while losing to Marquette by 20 points.  I hate everything about UWM’s swing offense. Butler has been losing a few games but against some very tough competition (Georgetown, Minnesota; Ohio State is next).  Detroit has beaten Albany…I guess that counts. Wright State almost beat Washington.  There is a lot to see here once conference play really gets going, but I see Butler and UW-GB as the class of this conference. The best case scenario is that two teams make the tourney, but Butler has to notch some wins in non-conference play.

After Butler and UW-GB, I see Wright State, Loyola, Detroit and UWM fighting for a home playoff game in the first round of the Horizon League Tournament.

Badger Nation should feel ashamed that their team is being discussed with the likes of the Horizon League!

In attendance at last night’s game in Green Bay were:

Packers (inconsistent) Kicker Mason Crosby

Mason Crosby

Packers Tackle (and GQ Model) Mark Tauscher

Ugh. He Ugly.

Yes, the Gophers and Badgers are both in the Big Ten. But we can’t ignore THE best conference in college basketball.  I may be buying into the ESPN bias of showing like eight games a week on their family of networks, but this IS the best conference in the nation.

The Big East should be showcased, and I have no problem with that.  Also, Marquette (in Milwaukee) does fall into the category of WiscoSota sports, but I don’t drink their milkshake. It tastes like shit. Either way, all teams and players in the Big East (at least the good ones) will get their due in this season preview.

Player of the Year

Luke Harangody F/C Notre Dame- The most unsexy pick and player in college basketball.  He will most likely get his 25 and 12 a night.  I would think defenses would key on him, but Notre Dame has done a good job of surrounding this Big Man with shooters and heady players.  I see him having another big year while Notre Dame will be fighting for an NCAA tourney bid.

Considerations would also have to go to Scottie Reynolds from Villanova, Desean Butler from West Virginia, Lazar Hayward from Marquette ( look for a big year without any other experienced scorers on the team)  and Greg Monroe from Georgetown.

Czar Lazar!

Newcomer of the Year (transfer or frosh)

Lance Stephenson G/F Cincinnati- This kid is not afraid to shoot the ball and he does…alot.  I watched him play in High School, and he basically was jacking shots from any and everywhere. He was not very efficient either, which is certainly not a good combo.

BUT, Stephenson and Devin Ebanks from West Virginia are probably the most athletic players in the Big East.  Lance uses his body well taking it to the rack and absorbing contact while finishing.  It will be interesting to see if he gets the calls early on in the season.  Another player to keep an eye on is freshman Dominic Cheek from Villanova.

Coach of the Year

Bob Huggins (Thuggins) West Virginia-  Its really a toss-up for me between Thuggins and Jay Wright from Villanova.  Both coaches have solid squads, and whoever finishes with the most wins should get Coach of the Year.  Also, if Rick Pitino can work some magic in Louisville, then he should be in the conversation as well.

The “Thuggins” reference comes from the fact that he recruits players who have questionable backgrounds, and at Cincinnati he had a 28% graduation rate. Not every player makes it to the NBA, Thuggins. Two notable NBAers that Thuggins has recruited are Kenyon Martin and Michael Beasley (was recruited by Thuggins but never played for him).

Bob Thuggin' it up

Most Imporoved Player

Kemba Walker G from Connectcuit-  This award could go to a number of different players because the league lost a lot of talented upperclassmen last year. These new guys will have their chance to shine.  The Huskies are looking to replace much of their team from last year and Kemba is the perfect guy to step up.

Kemba is a lightning-quick point guard who can get to the rack and hit the open J.  Last year he came off the bench in a small role, but now he has the reins to the team and it will be interesting if he can lead them.  Also, I feel like Mike Rosario from Rutgers will improve greatly in his all-around game.

Projected Finish

1. West Virginia-Devin Ebanks and Desean Butler will lead this team.
2. Villanova- When you run four guards and one Big, you need quality depth and they have that.
3. Louisville- Pitino will have this team vying for a Big East title by the end of the year.
4. UCONN-Stanley Robinson needs to take his game to the next level.
5. Syracuse- Love the way they play the 2-3 zone.
6. Georgetown- Greg Monroe running the high post should create lanes in the Princeton offense.
7. Notre Dame- Need shooters to make shots to complement Harangody.
8. Cincinnati- Deonta Vaughn looks to improve on his 15.3 ppg last year.  Look for nearly 20 this year.
9. Seton Hall- Jeremy Hazell finished second in the league in scoring at 22.3 a clip.
10. Pitt- Oh how the mighty have fallen. Watch Ashton Gibbs.
11. Rutgers- Mike Rosario is going to take the game by storm.
12. St. John’s- They have Crackbaby (Anthony) Mason Jr.
13. Marquette- Lazar Hayward will have to play out of his mind to help this team win.
14. Providence- Only have four returning players.
15. South Florida- I don’t know what to tell you…they are bad.
16. DePaul- went 0-18 last year.  They’re going to get one this year…right?

I think the Big East will have at least seven teams make The Dance this year. Eight teams is not out of the question, either. The Big East is, after all, THE best conference in college basketball.