Marquette embarrassed themselves today

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

Both in their play and their behavior. The tone was set early in the game by Crean's complete over-reaction to a harmless shove -- the type of contact that happens 15 times a game.

There was more, but I won't go into it.

Just awful.

[CTWarrior]

Seemed like they took some serious caffiene pills out of the gate.  They were really wired.  I agree that the behavior was very poor.

[MUCam]

I think that is a little bit of a harsh over-reaction on your won part, wouldn't you say? Or is it possible that sometimes emotions make us say or do (or type) things that might be a little over-the-top in retrospect?

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

I am not over-reacting in the least. Crean made a fool out of himself early in the game (check out Sichting's facial expression when trying to calm Crean down) and the team fed off of it. I've never seen a Marquette team behave worse during the course of a game. I'm not even that upset about the loss -- although we could have won that game -- it's the way we represented ourselves that irks me. And that is on Crean, no matter what you think. ND did nothing but play hard. We did nothing but cry foul and complain.

[ilovefreeway]

I agree with the statement that Crean over re-acted, but other then that I can't see what you are talking about.

The shove into the baseline looked pretty bad at full speed, also that guy stood over him like he was proud if it.  DJ got in his face, good.

As for Fritz, he got shoved and shoved back.  So what?  

As for the play, why do you think every loss is soooooooo bad?  We got beat at ND.  That has happened to every team who has played there this year.  

[TJ]

Both in their play and their behavior. The tone was set early in the game by Crean's complete over-reaction to a harmless shove -- the type of contact that happens 15 times a game.

There was more, but I won't go into it.

Just awful.

He shoved McNeal away, put his hands up as if to say "I'm innocent," and then smiled about it as he walked away (which Crean couldn't see, but the TV camera caught very well).  Crean may have overreacted some, but there was definitely something to react to on that play.

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

I agree with the statement that Crean over re-acted, but other then that I can't see what you are talking about.

The shove into the baseline looked pretty bad at full speed, also that guy stood over him like he was proud if it.  DJ got in his face, good.

As for Fritz, he got shoved and shoved back.  So what?  

As for the play, why do you think every loss is soooooooo bad?  We got beat at ND.  That has happened to every team who has played there this year.  

Baloney! He was going to check on him until the ref jumped in and Marquette's bench freaked out.

[CWSKeith]

Baloney! He was going to check on him until the ref jumped in and Marquette's bench freaked out.

Heh.  Check on him.  I guess we have differing views on what happened...  Checking on him would imply going over to McNeal and bending over, sort of asking him if he's okay.  That's not what the ND player did.  He seemed quite satisfied with what had happened...

[CTWarrior]

I agree with the statement that Crean over re-acted, but other then that I can't see what you are talking about.

The shove into the baseline looked pretty bad at full speed, also that guy stood over him like he was proud if it.  DJ got in his face, good.

As for Fritz, he got shoved and shoved back.  So what?  

1.  Agree that Crean over-reacted.
2.  Agree that Harangody looked like he was barking at McNeal after knocking him into the stanchion, which is totally uncalled for.  His block attempt was clumsy but not malicious, IMO.  I suppose I do not have an issue with James getting in his face if it was because of the barking, though I am not sure that is why James did what he did.
3.  Fitz's push was eentirely uncalled for and indefensible, but was out of frustration.  It happens.

It just seemed we were really wired in a weird way for this game.  Don't know how to explain it.  But we came out hyped up and were fouling like crazy after the nice start.

[LastWarrior]

Both in their play and their behavior. The tone was set early in the game by Crean's complete over-reaction to a harmless shove -- the type of contact that happens 15 times a game.

There was more, but I won't go into it.

Just awful.

AMEN!!

[lab_warrior]

ND were a bunch of classless pieces of crap.  That reject, Carter, shoved McNeal.  Falls was shoving people left and right, ala Reggie Miller, to get open the whole game.  And Harangody--a fatter, uglier, piece of trash, I have yet to see this season.
Can't wait to play them in the BE tournament, where they don't get the home referees calling a foul every trip down the floor.  

[ilovefreeway]

"Baloney! He was going to check on him until the ref jumped in and Marquette's bench freaked out."

I assume you're talking about the JM shove, so I'll comment like you are.  

How the hell do you know what he was thinking or what his intensions are?  It looked to me like he was not being the best of sportman, and the bench reacted.  Now, what do you want the team to do?  Should they let someone shove a teammate and admire their work without a reaction, or should they first ask "excuse me sir, are you going to help him up or are you being as ass?  I just want to make sure so I can react in the most appropriate manner in the course of this emotionally charged game."  

I'll take a team that gets in the guys face.  Now if DJ clocked him, he'd be talking about a whole different thing, but letting the other guys know that you will not just take hard fouls is a good thing.

[Tom Crean's Tanning Bed]

Don't also forget Tory Jackson deciding to dribble the ball down for a layup with 7 seconds left instead of running out the clock in a 9 point game before getting fouled by Fitzgerald, and then putting the layup in off his free throw miss as time expring to pad his stats/score.  That type of crap was inexcusable.

The Fitzgerald push was not the best idea, but if you watch the replay, Harangody BENT at the knees and jumped forward to fall when Fitz pushed him.  Watching Harangody out there was like watching Brock Lesnar in WWE; the guy is just a pure piece of crap.

Let's play these guys on a neutral court in NYC.  I think the result will be quite different.

[augoman]

I have no prob w/ defending a teammate, but the overreaction by Crean surprised me.  I haven't seen him react like that in his 8 years no matter how hard or intentional a foul committed.  In fact, DePaul punched DJ in the crotch during a loose ball scrum and the crowd almost rushed the court, but TC was cool and calm.
Carter is a punk, acted the part today, and was obvious to all who watched nationally,(unless they have green-blinders on).
Unfortunately, I, too, think we embarrassed ourselves today, but it was by blowing a nice lead and coming apart at the end.

[tower912]

I was expecting a thread like this.  From you.   We allowed ourselves to be baited, rose to the bait, fed the crowd's frenzy, which motivated ND.   The domers were classless and we allowed ourselves to get sucked in.    Disappointing.

[AlienWarrior]

Bottom line ,we need stronger inside play ,which will give us easier outside shots . GTown is the class of our league this year and cold easily make the final 4 .so be it .

[Pakuni]

Crean overreacted a bit, but so what? I'll never get too upset about a coach standing up for one of his players, especially when he's standing up against thuggish behavior by an opponent. Bully for Tom I say.

It's funny. For years the anti-Crean crowd has steadfastly defended some of Mike Deane's antics, particularly in the NCAA loss to Providence, as standing up for his players. Yet Tom Crean apparently committed a cardinal sin this afternoon. Go figure.

FWIW, I don't think it was the shove that really set off Crean, but rather when Russell flipped the ball at he and McNeal as he was walking away.

[dennycrane]

Why should the players be expected to maintain their composure if the coach can not?

[Pakuni]

Why should the players be expected to maintain their composure if the coach can not?

Composure had very little, if anything, to do with today's loss. MU lost because Notre Dame played better than they did. It's that simple.

[Tom Crean's Tanning Bed]

Why should the players be expected to maintain their composure if the coach can not?

So let's see if I understand this right...the reason this game was out of hand was because of Crean?  Please.

When Crean had the incident with Carter, it was at the under 16 timeout.  We were up at the time by 8-10, I'm not sure.   5 minutes later, it was a 23-10 MU lead after a Matthews three with about 11 minutes left in the half.  So to say that the team absolutely lost it because of Crean is absurd.  
  
The refs lost absolute control of this game, and ND could basically do with impunity whatever they felt like doing to MU physically.  I really hope the Big East league office has a look at this game; this game was out of hand from about the midway through the first half through the second half.  Granted, yes, it was physical up to that point, with MU on the floor diving for loose balls, etc. and winning those battles.  But the officials made a drastic change in how they were going to call the game, and clearly decided to call the game one way.

[Whereisal]

Crean embarassed Marquette today.

Can anyone say bubble?

Nice example coach.  As in many past years, the team is burning out at the end of the season.

Wasn't Blackledge going to be the big that we so need?

[patso]

Fitz played without confidence again and made passes after making it look like his best option was to shoot. Cubillan did not get enough shots. The Notre Dame meathead shoved Barro around too much. James needs to stop forcing.Matthews needs to look for more shots.Need to post up Barro and have him throw the ball back out to open guard Barro needs to make all shots within two feet of basket.
The refs also were terrible as the Notre Dame team was pushing holding etc. the whole game.They called fouls on Marquette in the second half where the transgression was clearly committed by ND. It's a good thing there were no serious injuries in the game. let's beat Pitt and move on.

[AlumKCof93]

I disagree with most who say MU embarrassed themselves today as I thought the players behaved themselves.  Fitz push was no harder than what Carter did to McNeal.  Harongody either was off balance or was just acting.  Either way, he had it coming as he was pushing the entire game.
What I do have an issue with is Crean.  I've never seen him act like that and am shocked he didn't get a T.  Why did he so overreact?  We were up big and had the game in control.  We were already wired so it wasn't to get his team going at all - if anything, I think it fired up ND.  I think he just blew a gasket and it cost the team.

[Murffieus]

Wen a coach acts like TC did----one of two things will happen----either it really fires his team up----or it distracts them from the science of the game. Since we were already "fired up" it did the latter. It was all downhill after that!

IMO, too much emphasis on the mental part of the game----and not enough on the execution part of it !

[mviale]

I love it - the MU-ND rivalry is back!