observations from the game (in person)

[spiral97]

Rocky and I were at the game sitting behind MU's first half basket.  As such, we had a fairly good look at the team throughout the game.

Here are my observations:
1.) The first thing I noticed and continued to notice the entire game was mcneal has an INCREDIBLE awareness and vision of the court.  I watched his eyes and he would never look directly at anything.. you could tell he was almost completely using his peripheral vision and making darn good decisions based on it (usually).  He could tell where the opponents were going to be and where he would best take (or send) the ball.
2.) Barro had a pseudo-breakout first half then all of the bigs seemed to disappear for the 2nd half.
3.) We play fast.  Much much faster than it even looks like on tv.
4.) Cubillan has some serious energy and gets after the opponent with attitude.  Several times he would clap his hands at the opponent and say stuff like "are we gonna play or what" while the opponent is clearly exerting themselves.. cubillan looked like he was running circles around them many times.
5.) first half fouls were very much under control.  second half foul situation seemed to be unfairly lopsided (although I always hate to blame the refs for unequal calling, there were phantom calls against MU all over and meanwhile our guys are getting mugged on the other side).  But they played through it and kept their composure.
6.) TT's valentine (#5) was unbelievably good for his size (he's only 5'7" tall and still lead them in scoring with 17 points - had several steals and quick breaks as well).
7.) Duke plays a MUCH slower pace and I get the feeling they may very well be a.) lost at our pace and b.) tired by the second half.  Their D wasn't that great (air force's shooting percentage must have been fairly high in the first half at least).

other notes:
1.) Dukie V. was there of course.. look for pictures from rocky.
2.) duke fans were in abundance.  My theory is that duke fans travel so much because that's the only way many of them can see their team play in person (due to the small size of their home arena).
3.) There were some MU fans but yellow was clearly in the minority (hence the tv camera focusing on our group many times - we were on ESPN2 at least twice and probably ESPNU twice more).
4.) arena isn't too bad given its age.  had the feel of the old mecca.
5.) I have tremendous respect for hilltopper's camera abilities now.. my camera shots all came out blurry even with pre-focusing and sports mode enabled.  we'll try to get better ones tomorrow.
6.) being happy duke won left me feeling dirty but giving all the players high fives on their way through the tunnel had a cleansing effect - perhaps that shower may never come now  8)

[spiral97]

oh.. and one more thing.. when blackledge turns sideways he really DOES dissapear!

[rocky_warrior]

Not much to add (esp since many of you have already seen the team)...but a few things

- I'm really liking cubillan and blackledge.  Trend is coming into his own too.  All 3 are VERY active on defense.  Of course, the entire team is VERY active on defense, I especially noticed Cubillan and Fitz (before he went down) all over the place (even if Fitz did miss a switch).

- I still feel like we're moving too fast for our own good sometimes, but I guess you have to take the good with the bad.  As long as it still leads to wins, i can take the bad.

- Hope we'll see more MU fans tomorrow.  Good crowd, but Duke clearly owned the house.  It'll be a tough game tomorrow.  Hopefully we can convert some TT and Air Force fans.

-Glad to meet some fellow 'scoopers at the game.  Hopefully we'll see a few new faces (err...screen names) around here soon too.

[CWSKeith]

My one extra comment from watching the game on TV is about Dwight Burke.  I thought he played extremely well in the first half, doing a nice job on the boards, and even had that real nifty spin move around the basket.  When we start seeing good big men -- starting tomorrow with McRoberts -- I think Burke will be able to a pretty good job as a guy off the bench.

[mu_hilltopper]

Great report, guys!  Keep it up!

[StillAWarrior]

- Hope we'll see more MU fans tomorrow.  Good crowd, but Duke clearly owned the house.  It'll be a tough game tomorrow.  Hopefully we can convert some TT and Air Force fans.

If we can get the TT/AFA fans on our side (not unthinkable given the Duke hate and Marquette's underdog status), will that outnumber the Duke fans?  Or did Duke have a clear majority?

[rocky_warrior]

If we grab all the AFA and TT fans, we would have a much bigger crowd than duke (get some yellow shirts for these people!).  Individually though, the Dukies blue t-shirts were the most prominent.  Wow I'm pumped!  I think I need some BBQ

[spiral97]

I think I need some BBQ

alright alright.. i'll go get in the shower and then we can go.. geesh..

btw - should we start unleashing some of the stuff we've been working on rocky? 

[rocky_warrior]

If there weren't so many new posts to read, I could focus on the new features more

BTW....MMMMM....BBQ...(babyback ribs...)

[SoCalwarrior]

I went to a wedding in KC last year and can still taste those Jack Stack ribs.