The Marquette men’s basketball team (4-1) continues to show a ton of potential every time they suit up.

That didn’t change in Monday night’s loss to the #1 ranked Duke Blue Devils. The young and, in large part, inexperienced Golden Eagles fought very hard and it seemed that they might be headed for another upset of the Duke Blue Devils in the same tournament (the CBE Classic Championship in Kansas city) that they defeated them in four years ago.

A few reoccurring problems reared their ugly heads in the end as our Golden Eagles fell victim to the top ranked team in the country, 82-77.

The Negatives

- The MU basketball team, at least in recent memory, has always struggled with skilled big men due to their lack of interior size and skill.

6’10, 240 lb Junior Forward, Mason Plumlee absolutely dominated the game on both ends of the floor last night. He consistently caught the ball deep inside and finished strong around the hoop all evening.

Plumlee went 12-16 from the field (mostly on lay-ups and dunks) and he also found his teammates on a few very nice passes in route to a three assist performance. Plumlee also dominated the glass and the defensive interior adding 12 rebounds and swatting five shots.

Plumlee is one of the better big-men that MU will face all season but I know many MU fans had loftier expectations for the improved underclassmen, Chris Otule and Freshmen big, Devante Gardner.

- Darius Johnson-Odom (DJO) and the rest of the MU basketball team’s love affair with the three ball has to cease when your shooting a putrid 20% from deep. DJO didn’t even record a field goal until the second half and him, Dwight Buycks, Vander Blue, Jae Crowder and even Jimmy Butler seemed content settling for jumpers during points in the game when they needed a bucket.

Jimmy and Jae both finished with pretty strong offensive performances (22 pts, 15 pts respectively) but this team is clearly best when they are attacking the hoop. In their defense, Mason Plumlee’s dominance in the paint may have deterred them from continuing to go to the tin.

- My final gripe is the offense when Dwight Buycks is running the offense. Dwight has clearly improved his overall game since arriving on campus at MU, but I’m not sure he’s the distributor that this team needs this season.

This team is clearly loaded with offensive talent and a PG committed to running the offense and finding the open man would definitely help the flow of the offense. I’m not saying that I don’t think Dwight can be that guy, but I do think there may be better options for that job on the current roster.

The Positives

- MU fans have got to be more than encouraged with what they saw from sophomore PG, Junior Cadougan last night. Junior was an excellent change-of-pace floor general against a tremendous basketball team. He was a huge reason for MU’s run that tied the game early to mid-way through the second half. Junior finished with seven assists and took what the defense gave him offensively as he finished with 5 points on 2-3 shooting.

These numbers aren’t flashy, but again, if you can find a PG committed to getting the talent around him the ball where they like to receive it; this team could be very scary.

- Creating turnovers. That’s how our Golden Eagles stayed in the ball game. They baited Freshmen standout, Kyrie Irving and National Championship holdover, Nolan Smith into a whopping 11 turnovers just between the two of them (19 overall).

Vander, Dwight and especially Jae displayed excellent hands as they stripped the ball from Duke’s studs several times.

Otule and Gardner will improve MU’s interior defense this season but Buzz Williams will have to preach play-making and staying opportunistic for this defense to be considered strong.

- Interior scoring was ample against a tough interior opponent. Devante once again displayed  a pretty good offensive arsenal inside (nine points, 4-7) and Chris Otule was average which is pretty much all you can ask from him when hes going against Mason Plumlee. Jae Crowder has also shown the ability to score inside and out.

- The Talent! I know the experience and chemistry isn’t there yet, but you’ve got to admit that this team has the potential to be something special.

MU didn’t play their best game and they stuck with the best team in the country. They will only get better from here on out.

The Golden Eagles have another chance to make some noise against the # 18 ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs in the consolation round of CBE Classic Championship tonight at 6:45.

Gonzaga (2-2) has lost to two very tough teams in Kansas State and San Diego State.  Gonzaga’s 7 ft Center, Robert Sacre may give Marquette problems but I see this being another close game.

I don’t make score predictions but win or lose, we’ll see some encouraging things from this team.

If there has been one constant during MU Coach, Buzz Williams’ tenure as Marquette’s head coach it’s been that the Golden Eagles exceed expectations—at least the expectations of the national pundits.

Take last year for example; everyone in the national media knew that MU would finish near the bottom of the Big East. They had just lost their 3 best players in Jerel McNeal, Wes Matthews, and Dominic James. They had lost their best recruit, Junior Cadougan to an injury (torn achilles tendon) that would keep him out for the majority of the season. Players that were coming in to replace these guys—players like Darius Johnson-Odom, Jimmy Butler, and Maurice Acker—were complete question marks at the time. Acker, initially, wasn’t even apart of Marquette’s roster.  On top of all that, Buzz Williams found a way. He led the Golden Eagles to the big dance, took them deep into the Big East Conference tourney (semifinals), and finished with 22 regular season wins.

This year is similar. Lazar Hayward, an NBA first round pick, and unquestioned senior leader of the team is gone. There are some apparent holes to fill in the low post and at point guard.  Once again, the national media isn’t giving the Golden Eagles a lot of respect. Most publications are picking MU to finish 8^th or 9^th in the loaded Big East (which, this year,  may not be good enough for the tournament). But there is still reason to be optimistic about this squad and there is reason to think that MU will once again exceed expectations.

Take a look at this team. The two returning stars are Jimmy Butler (14.7 ppg, 6.1 rpg last season) and Darius Johnson-Odom (13 ppg, 58.2 ts% last season). These guys were integral parts of last year’s success. The team brought in JUCO (Junior College)  player of the year, Jae Crowder, who appears to be a Lazar Hayward clone. This freshman class is also one of the best MU has had in years . The state’s best player, Vander Blue, signed on and figures to be a big part of the rotation. The same can be said for highly touted recruits, Reggie Smith, big man Davante Gardner, and Jamail Jones. Senior, Dwight Buycks figures to play big minutes at the point guard position. At center, 6-11 Chris Otule, who has been hit by injury the last couple years, is set to see more time and is expected to make a contribution as well.

DJO and Butler will be fixtures in the starting line up and Jae Crowder will most likely be a major player at power forward. If Buzz Williams can get big contributions from two or three of the afore-mentioned freshman and holdovers aas well as returning players, Joe Fulce F and Junior Cadougan PG, this team will again exceed expectations. A big positional battle will be minutes at the point guard position.  Dwight Buycks is holding off newcomers Reggie Smith, Cadougan and Vander Blue (who is really more of a shooting guard). It should be interesting to see how that shakes out, as Buzz Williams has lots of options. In the low post, expect Crowder to be a big re-bounder and a scrappy player in the paint. Wide bodied, Davante Gardner has also been very impressive so far with his ability to both shoot and bang down low. If Otule can come in and get some rebounds and block/alter shots, it would be huge for the Golden Eagles, who last year, lacked any significant size inside.

The regular season starts off with some tough competition with non-conference games against the likes of Wisconsin, Vanderbilt, and a mini-tournament in Kansas City where the team plays defending national champ, Duke, and either Gonzaga or #3 Kansas State. Then the real fun begins when Big East season basketball opens up on January 1 vs West Virginia.

Look for this team to lose some disappointing games like they did last year, but also hang tough against the elites (like Duke, Villanova, etc.). They will be playing in and most likely winning some big games this year. My prediction is that they exceed expectations and finish better than 8^th or 9^th in conference.

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.

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.

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.

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.