Rebounding!

[rocky_warrior]

Last year at our second exhibition game, UW Whitewater outrebounded us 35-33 including 15 offensive boards compared to six from Marquette.  (ugh)

This year, in the Stritch game (essentially the second exhibition), Marquette outrebounded Cardinal Stritch 49-34, including 20 offensive boards compared to 11 for CS.

While it's too early to say "HEY!  We're gonna' kick ass!", it's certainly a good sign that we're much better at about the same point in the season.  Tomorrow's game will be another good datapoint - that I'm sure many will watch carefully.

The other nice thing to see, is that against CS, 8 players had 4 or more rebounds.  There's still a possibility one of our big guys (Ooze?) will grab 10+ per game, but I'd expect to see a lot more of the team rebounding aspect this year.  That's fine with me...it gets the job done...

[rocky_warrior]

To pull a Spiral and reply to myself...good article on Barro in the MU Tribune today:

Barro scored a career-high 13 points in two of Marquette's last three games in 2005-'06. But the 6-foot-10 Dakar, Senegal native never has eclipsed six rebounds in 58 career games. He has shown shaky hands, sometimes fumbling passes or rebounds. This year, he knows that must change.

"That's a big goal," he said. "I want to be one of the top rebounders in the Big East."

Hey, I hope he succeeds in his goal!  Full Article Here

[spiral97]

I'm famous 

[spiral97]

in the spirit of things I thought I'd reply to myself and add good looking too 

[TheGym]

I don't think there is any possiblity that Ooze grabs 10+ rebounds per game.  That is obviously the weakest part of MU's game.  However, if Ooze can get it above 7 per game then that would be great.  With the amount of rebounds the guard are going to get the bigs just need to hold their own.

My biggest worry is keeping the opponent off of the offense boards.  Georgetown and Pitt are going to pound us if we can't match up.

[NYWarrior]

"My biggest worry is keeping the opponent off of the offense boards."

I agree -- this, and MU's ability to hit the three-pointer. 

[WashDCWarrior]

I don't think there is any possiblity that Ooze grabs 10+ rebounds per game.  That is obviously the weakest part of MU's game.  However, if Ooze can get it above 7 per game then that would be great.  With the amount of rebounds the guard are going to get the bigs just need to hold their own.

I think we will be a better, but not a great, rebounding team this year.  It will need to be a team effort, though.  I could see Barro grabbing about 6/game to lead the team assuming he plays 22-25 minutes.  The key though, is I see James, McNeal, Matthews, Fitz all averaging around five.  Additionally, if Trend gets significant PT, he could be the top rebounder on the squad.

[TheGym]

The key though, is I see James, McNeal, Matthews, Fitz all averaging around five.  Additionally, if Trend gets significant PT, he could be the top rebounder on the squad.

The wildcard in all of this is Hayward.  Reports and quotes from players seem to indicated that he can rebound very well.  If he can get into the normal rotation at #4 that could help on on the boards.  I also believe that we will know fairly early how good a rebounding team this is.

[bheitz]

The wildcard in all of this is Hayward.  Reports and quotes from players seem to indicated that he can rebound very well.  If he can get into the normal rotation at #4 that could help on on the boards.  I also believe that we will know fairly early how good a rebounding team this is.

Completely agree on Hayward.  Also, I like Trend's rebounding from what I saw at the HH scrimmage.  If he gets some minutes he could surprise.

[dwaderoy2004]

if we are going to score in the 80's like crean has said, then we better be a darn good rebounding team.  long rebounds will be ours all year, cause the big three are all excellent rebounders.  our success depends on our ability to grab defensive rebounds in the post and quickly outlet to any guard.  the ball fills the lane, and the other two guards hit the wings.  you can't score without the ball, and i'm sure crean has been stressing this in practice. 

and actually, if youre looking for our leading rebounder, it'll be wes.  he had a couple games last year where he had 12 or 13.  he's just good.