You want Motivation Marquette players and Buzz?

[real chili 83]

Did Abe move to Florida?

[muhoops1]

Good luck on Thursday night.

OK, enough of the pleasantries. These are college basketball coaches and former coaches making their opinions known.  They may be wrong but hard to argue with what they said in the games I have seen you play.

Our coach has two national titles, three Final Fours, an Elite 8, SEC titles.  Buzz appears to be a good coach, but has two Sweet 16s.  The experts are right

Marquette has two main scorers and then a big drop off.  Only two of your players scored on Saturday.  They accounted for 55% of your scoring total.  Gardener can get some points for you in some games vs some opponents. Stop Odom or Crowder, either one, and you stand a great chance to win the game.  Even let those two guys get their average and who is going to step up?  What are you guys going to do next year when those to leave?  The experts are right.

Crowder went to a JUCO one assumes to have his grades improve and his basketball prospects.  Considering no one landed him out of high school, probably a safe assumption on Fox's part.

Your point guard is entirely too inconsistent, dribbles the ball too high and throws passes that do not need to be thrown.  Your other guard, Blue, is a defender only.  Mayo has some game, but he is a freshman.

Valvano's comment is a rehash of the John Wooden quote.  10 minute droughts sounds extreme but Marquette does go into a shell at times.  Saturday was a perfect example.  A couple of droughts. The Big East championship was another similar game.  Crowder and Odom do mask the rest of your team.  You are missing a third scorer to scare someone.  You are gutty and tough, but nothing they said was a stretch.

We are playing better of late.  You lost to LSU and Vanderbilt at home.  We beat both those teams.  We are ranked 12th in the Ken Pomeroy rankings while you are 17th.  

Florida will not kill Marquette, but we will win by 8.  Good luck on Thursday.  We expect to win this game.  We have a better, more seasoned coach, better athletes across all 12 members and we are playing well.  You probably feel the exact opposite.  Looking forward to the game.

Gators

Go away inbred.

Warriors

[ErickJD08]

I am not going to say MU nation expects a victory. I will say this. The people who have more money than you can dream of have Marquette winning by 1.5.

I'll take their prediction over yours.

[MU82]

And my dad can beat up your dad, so there!

[Windyplayer]

We're exactly where we want to be, once again--flying under the radar with our opponent having a false sense of confidence. I love it.

[LovinCrowder]

Albert Gator:

You seem to be very critical of Marquette, but why don't we talk about your Gators.  See I have 4 months of proof to show that while you think Florida has scorers galore, the game tape reveals a highly underachieving team.  So Kenny Boyton is the next coming of Michael Jordan?  Hardly. Patric Young the next coming of Wilt Chamberlain? Bust.  I must have missed how electric these players were when they were getting swept by a Tennessee team that was awful (that same Tennessee team that got beat at home by Austin Peay).  How about that 11 point loss to the Vols at the O Dome?  What about that loss to a pathetic Georgia team?  62 points wasn't enough.....oh wait, you still lost by 14.  But you're right...that 3 point loss to Ky in the SEC championship was impressive...that made you guys 0-3 against them this year.   The SEC was bad this year, as it is most years.  Take away Kentucky and the conference is pretty much a joke.  See while you were losing to Rutgers in 2OT, we would beat them by 17.   We had only 1 loss to a non tournament team, you had 4.  

I love how you say Florida is playing better right now than Marquette.  Apparently being 3-4 over the last 7 games is considered an achievement....do you want a gold star? (one of those wins was over 15th seeded Norfolk who we beat 2 times this season already...not such a great win to count).  Marquette is 5-2....with those two losses on the road/neutral against fellow Sweet 16 teams Louisville and Cincinnati.  Marquette is 15-3 over their last 18 games...still think Florida is on a better roll?  

I also love how you claim Billy Donovan is such a fantastic coach.  But really, wasn't it the one recruiting class?  After back to back titles...how was missing the tourney for 2 consecutive years and then losing in the first round.  It seems to me that without his gem of a recruiting class, Donovan is a rather average coach. (Think Coach K would miss the tourney in consecutive years?)  

"Florida will not kill Marquette, but we will win by 8".....thank god you are aren't playing Tennessee again.   Im glad you expect to win this game....just know that Marquette is ranked...and Florida went 2-6 against teams that ended up ranked.  While I agree that on paper Florida had a very good team this year....names alone won't get you wins.  And this year...it seems your Gators are all talk...and no walk.

[Albert Gator]

Hold on here...I know I "only" went to Marquette, but is it just me or does his logic sound flawed?  First, he says that only two of MU's players scored on Saturday.  Then he says that they accounted for 55% of MU's scoring total.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that up there with saying



And in other late-breaking news:



And you lost to freaking Rutgers.  That's like losing to 8th seeded Butler as a two seed.  Oh... wait...

Good one.  Typing fast, but I was under the assumption that you would realize that I meant your two guys weren't the only ones that scored.    They scored 55% of your team's points, but there were others that scored - none of which reached double figures.

[Albert Gator]

Go away inbred.

Warriors

Inbred?  I am originally from the midwest and went to school in Florida.  Stayed down here.  Let's not get carried away.


A few items for the other guys here since I don't wish to respond to every question.  I assure you the Gators and Billy are taking Marquette seriously.  As a fan, I am taking you seriously.  I said we would win by 8.  It should be a solid game, a tough game, but I believe we will prevail.  That is not disrespectful, that is how I feel.  You have a good team or you wouldn't be this far.  However, in my opinion and those of others, you have two great players and then a bunch of young parts.  Of course it is easy to say shut down one of your two greats and that is all that has to happen.  It will not be easy.  We may not be able to do it.  At the very worse, I expect Billy to allow your two guys to get theirs but have to work at it and let someone else beat us.  Vander Blue cannot make a layup.  Seriously, I have never seen a guy shoot layups like him as a guard and it gives off a long rebound because it is such a brick.  My opinion.  The only guy I worry about is the big man down low in Gardener but can he last a whole game?  Can you defend our 3?

The other questions you asked.  We did lose to Rutgers in double overtime at Rutgers.  Rutgers beat Notre Dame at the RAC.  Did you beat Notre Dame?   

Offensive and defensive efficiency?     Our overall Pomeroy rating is 11.  You are at 17.  I could not care less about what goes into it, the final ranking is all that matters to me.  We have to play the likes of Vanderbilt and LSU who you lost to as well as this club named Kentucky, the overall #1 seed.  We lost to Kentucky last week by 3 points. 

It is true we live by the three and die by the three.  If we are shooting well, we will win.  If we are not shooting well, we likely lose.

Best of luck

[The Process]

Good one.  Typing fast, but I was under the assumption that you would realize that I meant your two guys weren't the only ones that scored.    They scored 55% of your team's points, but there were others that scored - none of which reached double figures.

In fairness, you come from a school that worships Tim Tebow like a cult figure. It's not a leap to assume that logic isn't taught at Florida as a result.

[Albert Gator]

In fairness, you come from a school that worships Tim Tebow like a cult figure. It's not a leap to assume that logic isn't taught at Florida as a result.

Some people do worship him.  So do a number of other people in this country.  Honest, wholesome young man that delivered championships.  Hard not to like someone like that, but there will always be haters.  We do appreciate your Dwyane Wade here in Miami.  He's a good peep that we can get behind.

[The Process]

Some people do worship him.  So do a number of other people in this country.  Honest, wholesome young man that delivered championships.  Hard not to like someone like that, but there will always be haters.  We do appreciate your Dwyane Wade here in Miami.  He's a good peep that we can get behind.

One key difference: Wade has talent that translates to the pro game. Tebow can't even complete half his passes and is now being punted. Miami needs another bad quarterback... Why not him?

[LovinCrowder]

 You keep going back to the Pomeroy ratings….which is all fine and well.  Yes you are 11….we are 17.  But again…what was your record?  What was Marquette's?  I said it once and I stand behind it….Florida is a collection of overhyped players who underachieve.  To see them as anything more is being ignorant.  You also keep repeating how Marquette has only 2 players who can score.  But I again ask….how many did Tennessee have?  They had no one who could score and beat you twice.


 I laugh at how you claim a close loss to Ky as being good….they still beat you three times.  0-3. So while your offensive and defensive ratings may say your 11th…your actual performance says you are much worse.  

[Dawson Rental]

Inbred?  I am originally from the midwest and went to school in Florida.  Stayed down here.  Let's not get carried away.


A few items for the other guys here since I don't wish to respond to every question.  I assure you the Gators and Billy are taking Marquette seriously.  As a fan, I am taking you seriously.  I said we would win by 8.  It should be a solid game, a tough game, but I believe we will prevail.  That is not disrespectful, that is how I feel.  You have a good team or you wouldn't be this far.  However, in my opinion and those of others, you have two great players and then a bunch of young parts.  Of course it is easy to say shut down one of your two greats and that is all that has to happen.  It will not be easy.  We may not be able to do it.  At the very worse, I expect Billy to allow your two guys to get theirs but have to work at it and let someone else beat us.  Vander Blue cannot make a layup.  Seriously, I have never seen a guy shoot layups like him as a guard and it gives off a long rebound because it is such a brick.  My opinion.  The only guy I worry about is the big man down low in Gardener but can he last a whole game?  Can you defend our 3?

The other questions you asked.  We did lose to Rutgers in double overtime at Rutgers.  Rutgers beat Notre Dame at the RAC.  Did you beat Notre Dame?   

Offensive and defensive efficiency?     Our overall Pomeroy rating is 11.  You are at 17.  I could not care less about what goes into it, the final ranking is all that matters to me.  We have to play the likes of Vanderbilt and LSU who you lost to as well as this club named Kentucky, the overall #1 seed.  We lost to Kentucky last week by 3 points. 

It is true we live by the three and die by the three.  If we are shooting well, we will win.  If we are not shooting well, we likely lose.

Best of luck

Really, does that say anything more than Kentucky got bored of playing you?

[bdee29]

I heard Billy Donovan was going to sign a contract to coach the Magic on Wednesday night, then come back to coach UF on Thursday.

[GoMarquette32]

Florida did play in the mighty sec this year.

[GoMarquette32]

I love how this guy is using leverage of Kentucky. Just because there's one quality team in your conference and you play them a lot doesn't say squat about Florida. I just want vander to throw down on that ugly mo fo Murphy.

[Albert Gator]

One key difference: Wade has talent that translates to the pro game. Tebow can't even complete half his passes and is now being punted. Miami needs another bad quarterback... Why not him?

One other key difference.  Tim won college championships.  Wade did not. 

[dgies9156]

The other questions you asked.  We did lose to Rutgers in double overtime at Rutgers.  Rutgers beat Notre Dame at the RAC.  Did you beat Notre Dame?   

Ummm, no. But I believe we beat Rutgers fairly convincingly.

[Albert Gator]

You keep going back to the Pomeroy ratings….which is all fine and well.  Yes you are 11….we are 17.  But again…what was your record?  What was Marquette's?  I said it once and I stand behind it….Florida is a collection of overhyped players who underachieve.  To see them as anything more is being ignorant.  You also keep repeating how Marquette has only 2 players who can score.  But I again ask….how many did Tennessee have?  They had no one who could score and beat you twice.


 I laugh at how you claim a close loss to Ky as being good….they still beat you three times.  0-3. So while your offensive and defensive ratings may say your 11th…your actual performance says you are much worse.  

Your overall record is factored into the ratings, is it not?  Are you suggesting it is not? We will see come Thursday on a neutral court.  Great game, UF pulls away late to seal the deal.

[Albert Gator]

Florida did play in the mighty sec this year.

A league that you went 1-2 against.   

[Albert Gator]

Ummm, no. But I believe we beat Rutgers fairly convincingly.

At Marquette.  We beat Vanderbilt at our place.  How did you do against the Commodores? 

[Novak4Three]

Shoot! Albert Gator has figured out what coaches of other teams have failed to figure out 27 other times this year - just stop DJO and Crowder. Let's hope he doesn't tell coach Donovan or we're done for!!

+1

[GoMarquette32]

A league that you went 1-2 against.   

You don't seem to understand that we had just lost our starting center and size that we usually don't have. We had to adjust to go small for the rest of the year and those two games showed it. But I'm curious, what is it that Tennessee had that Florida couldn't handle?

[rocky_warrior]

Your overall record is factored into the ratings, is it not?  Are you suggesting it is not? We will see come Thursday on a neutral court.  Great game, UF pulls away late to seal the deal.

I hate to feed trolls, but we have some pretty good stat geeks on this site (and crackedsidewalks.com).  This quote is from last year (hence the UNC reference), but conveys the point pretty well - of why Florida's defense makes it a long shot for winning this game.

http://www.crackedsidewalks.com/2011/03/warriors-look-to-go-from-sweet-to-elite.html

It's all about the defense
It is tough to look past the numbers.  Before the first round games, I looked into the defensive numbers for teams that win their first game, make the Sweet Sixteen, and advance to the Elite Eight.  The results were striking.  Over the past five tournaments, only 25% of teams with a defense as bad as Marquette's (#54) even won their first game.  Only 15% of those teams made it to the Sweet Sixteen.  Since 2007, only one team with a ranking worse than 50 has made it to the Elite Eight.  The average defensive ranking of Elite Eight teams is around 16.  UNC has the #7 defense this season.

Florida's defense is at #74 this year.  Marquette's is at #16.  Good luck.  You'll need it.

I think Rob has some updated numbers, but couldn't find them.  If you're lucky maybe he'll add them here.

[Novak4Three]