MU Women's Basketball Thread

[Marquette Fan]

The Davidson WBB team had to cancel the rest of its season because so many players are injured.

Earlier in the year, Arizona and TCU had to hold open tryouts for extra players due to numerous injuries.

I had never heard of this kind of thing happening, let alone to three D1 teams - including two high-majors - in one season.

Xavier canceled two games in early December due to not having enough players available and I know they added at least one volleyball player to their roster. 

[Marquette Fan]

Marquette takes care of business today and wins at Butler 74-52.  Liza Karlen led the team in scoring with 20 points with only 19 minutes of playing time - she was limited in the first half due to foul trouble.  Marquette finishes the regular season 22-7 overall and 11-7 in the BE.  They will finish either 4th or 5th in the BE depending on what Villanova does at home against DePaul tomorrow.  If Villanova wins and ties MU, Villanova gets the tiebreaker and the 4th seed.  If Villanova gets upset tomorrow, MU gets the 4 seed.  Either way MU will face Villanova in the first BET game - a team they lost to twice this season.  And then UCONN is pretty much guaranteed to be waiting in the next round.

NET was 37 before today's game.  I'd really like to see them at least beat Villanova in the BET.  I give them zero chance against UCONN.

[Marquette Fan]

Marquette finishes tied with St. John's and Villanova in the BE but they got swept by both those teams so they held no tiebreakers of course.  St. John's swept MU and beat Villanova in their only head to head meeting so they got the 3 seed and Villanova is the 4 seed playing 5 seed MU in the first round of the BET.

Marquette's NET has been slipping a bit and is down to 38 today.  They still show as one of the last teams without a bye in most projections I've seen.  However, I think it would be in their best interest to beat Villanova in the BET on Saturday - losing to them 3 times this season would not be good and I think a loss to them might put them on the wrong side of the bubble.

ESPN's bubble watch - https://www.espn.com/womens-college-basketball/insider/story/_/id/39663602/womens-bubble-watch-2024-ncaa-tournament-march-madness-bracket-predictions


I give them zero chance after that first BET game as they'll have to play UCONN.  That horrible game against St. John's at home is really haunting them - just take care of business in that one like they should have and they finish 3rd in the BE and face Creighton in the semi's instead of UCONN and they'd actually have a chance against Creighton.  Not to mention the games at St. John's and Villanova that they blew at the end.

BE awards should be announced tomorrow morning - I'm expecting Liza Karlen to make the 1st team.

[Marquette Fan]

Listened to a little bit of the DePaul-Seton Hall BET game today and heard a familiar voice - Chloe Marotta was one of the commentators for FloHoops.

[Marquette Fan]

MU pulls out a close one against Villanova 50-48.  It sure looked like it was going to go the same way as their two regular season meetings that MU blew.

They are sure to lose to UCONN tomorrow but I think they are in the NCAA tournament after this win.

Frosh Skylar Forbes came up big for MU today especially in the first half.

[Spaniel with a Short Tail]

Didn't get a chance to see the ending but it must have been a nail biting last 50 seconds.

[Marquette Fan]

Didn't get a chance to see the ending but it must have been a nail biting last 50 seconds.

I was pacing in my family room - was quite hard to watch as I thought they were going to blow it again . 

[MUfan12]

I wonder if it's time for Scholl to have the Wojo talk with Duffy. Hire an offensive-minded assistant to fix this or we're moving on. She's pretty well compensated and their ceiling seems to be the 8-9 game.

It's absolutely brutal to watch. Predictable, inefficient basketball. Scoreless the last 15 minutes. I know it's UConn but that is pathetic.

[Marquette Fan]

I wonder if it's time for Scholl to have the Wojo talk with Duffy. Hire an offensive-minded assistant to fix this or we're moving on. She's pretty well compensated and their ceiling seems to be the 8-9 game.

It's absolutely brutal to watch. Predictable, inefficient basketball. Scoreless the last 15 minutes. I know it's UConn but that is pathetic.

UCONN was down yet another player with an injury today.  This was a game MU could have easily been in if they had any kind of offense.  I'm not sure I've ever seen a team score 0 points in a quarter and they had a whole 9 points in the second half total - just awful.

I question whether they should even make the NCAA Tournament at this point but they probably will get a bid.  One and done again I'm sure.

4 senior starters on this team that just collapsed once conference season got here - not looking too good for the future at this point.  Of course I'm not sure how good they were to begin with as they had a super easy non-conference schedule so maybe it's more like they showed their true colors once conference season got here.

[Scoop Snoop]

The two above posts pretty well cover it but disagree about giving Duffy a way to stay. I think Scholl needs to pull the plug on Duffy. No "hire an offensive minded assistant". Just "move on" and find a new coach.

[cheebs09]

The two above posts pretty well cover it but disagree about giving Duffy a way to stay. I think Scholl needs to pull the plug on Duffy. No "hire an offensive minded assistant". Just "move on" and find a new coach.

She's made the tourney 2/3 years, and not sure if we would have gotten in in 2020. It looks like they should make it this year. I'm not sure that's going to get a coach fired. Is our ceiling much higher than that?

[Scoop Snoop]

She's made the tourney 2/3 years, and not sure if we would have gotten in in 2020. It looks like they should make it this year. I'm not sure that's going to get a coach fired. Is our ceiling much higher than that?

Fair point, but the collapses scream trouble. They're unwatchable when that happens. Four seniors this season. Yeow!

[Marquette Fan]

She's made the tourney 2/3 years, and not sure if we would have gotten in in 2020. It looks like they should make it this year. I'm not sure that's going to get a coach fired. Is our ceiling much higher than that?

They would have made it in 2020.  Duffy has yet to win an NCAA Tournament game and I’m betting that won’t change this year.  I’m less than thrilled about the future of the program but not sure any changes will be made.

[Galway Eagle]

Maybe wait for Keiger to get axed at PSU then move on from Duffy? I think she had us rolling and can't imagine PSU is thrilled with her record there.

[Marquette Fan]

Duffy mentioned as a potential candidate at Kentucky:

https://amp.kentucky.com/sports/college/kentucky-sports/uk-basketball-women/article286411820.html

I think this is just a reporter throwing her name out there - I don’t know that Kentucky will consider her.

[The Lens]

I think you’re gonna see Duffy’s name out there for more than a few jobs. 

[Marquette Fan]

Marquette has moved down to a play in game now in the latest bracketology.  Well I guess they are technically called the first four.  Still not sure they deserve a bid but for now they are on track for one.

UWGB blew out number 1 seed Cleveland state in their tournament final yesterday to grab their automatic bid - they had been a first four out in the bracketology as far as at large bids go.  Just mentioning them as they are a state team.

[Spaniel with a Short Tail]

As of this morning, the Athletic has MU #2 on the last four IN list.

[Marquette Fan]

As of this morning, the Athletic has MU #2 on the last four IN list.

And holding steady as the first team in the list of last four in on Charlie Creme's ESPN bracketology.  And their NET is 40 which I believe it has been for a few days.  I thought most women's tourneys were done by now but there are more still going on than I expected.  I will have to keep a lookout for any bid stealers.  Although I do think many of the conference tourneys still going on are for one bid conferences.

[Marquette Fan]

It's finally Selection Sunday!  The Women's Show is on ESPN at 7P central. 

I don't think it's a given that Marquette will get a bid but it's looking pretty likely they'll get a bid.  I'm thinking an 11 seed with a first four game.

Here's what some bracketology sites are saying:

ESPN bracketology - 11 seed with a first four game - https://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/30423107/ncaa-women-bracketology-2024-women-college-basketball-projections

Herhoop stats  - 11 seed with a first four game - https://herhoopstats.com/bracketology/


College sports madness -10 seed - https://www.collegesportsmadness.com/womens-basketball/bracketology

[WhiteTrash]

Will MU get some support from the ND crowd?

[Marquette Fan]

Surprised by the 10 seed and not being in the First Four.  Now let's see if they can get their first NCAA Tourney win in the Duffy era.

[Marquette Fan]

Will MU get some support from the ND crowd?

Yeah I'd think Duffy would get some love from the crowd at her alma mater in the opening game.

[Marquette Fan]

I learned something new tonight - there is a new women's postseason tourney this year called the WBIT and it looks like a lot of teams that would have gone to the WNIT are going to this tournament now.  This is the first year of this tournament and it's owned and funded by the NCAA.  It has 32 teams - early games on campus sites and semifinals and final at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indy.

Here's the bracket:
https://www.ncaa.com/_flysystem/public-s3/images/2024/03/17/2024-WBIT-bracket.png

Kieger's Penn State team is one of their #1 seeds and BE team Villanova is another #1 seed.  Georgetown, St. John's and Seton Hall are other Big East teams in the WBIT tournament.

[Marquette Fan]

Not so sure about the NCAA's WBIT tourney so far - they announced their bracket and pairings and had Miami as a #1 seed.  Then Miami declined the invite and they replaced them with James Madison as a #1 seed.  Nothing like going from not even in the tournament to a #1 seed - https://x.com/Seidel_Z/status/1769552417643758029?s=20

WNIT has Butler and Providence in it from the Big East.