I know that thisteam is different, but a Friday night game in South Florida, something is not sitting well. I like our team a lotand think they are not getting any respect, but that being said this is a big trap game.....
they will come to play, i am not too worried about the team showing up. USF plays decent at home (more than most give them credit). But I believe our quickness will give them trouble!
This team has been very focused so far this year, I wouldn't expect any thing less tonight.
I just want to put this out there and see how people respond: Are you going to be all that upset once (not saying tonight) a loss occurs?
Personally, at this point I would be upset losing to a weaker USF team but at the same time would be very okay with the fact that we just put together a ton of wins. I would not respond like some posters who see a loss and do a 180 and starting hating on the team and saying how it just proves the team is flawed and so on. That is usually what seems to happen on this site, a few people flip out over "A" loss.
Does the team want to be the Kentucky of the Final Four year, ie, riding a long winning streak with a high ranking and everyone gunning for us.
I mean maybe it is tonight that a loss occurs and that gets them fired up for the last chunk of the season. Maybe they lose to Pitt or UCONN and that totally deflates the team because all the critics were "right".
I am not a hater, I would love to be 10-0 if not better but one still has to be realistic.
There I said it, I am still a huge fan. I still want a perfect BE season. I will most likely be burned at the stake for this post. Oh well.
GO MARQUETTE
I don't think I am anymore worried about this game then any other against a team we should beat. I agree with many that have posted on here over the past month that this team does not worry me nearly as much as teams in the past when facing teams we should beat. I can't see any one of the big 4 letting us lose this game.
As far as the respect thing goes I think the shark has been jumped on that one. We are ranked #5 in this week's power rankings on ESPN some other rankings have us as high as #4. Lunardi has us as a 2 seed and Jerel is regularly getting mentioned as a potential Big East POY and possible 1st team all american.
The only negative I hear anymore is that experts are not sure that our front court can keep up with a team with serious size and I have the same concern. I think Buzz has done a great job of working with our strength against bigger teams, but until we match up with UCONN, NC, or OK I am not going to be confident in how we will perform against top-level bigs.
We are MARQUETTE!
I know thatwe are going to lose a game. There is no way we run the table. I would be upset if it was against a weak team like tonight. If we do lose to UCONN or PITT I am fine with they are in the same class as we are. I just hate losing to a waeker team like South Florida.
Talk to classof70....we pulled him off the ledge earlier this week.
http://www.muscoop.com/index.php?topic=12207.0
I think the mid-game slide versus DePaul helped show all (players, coaches, fans) they are mortal and will be out for a convincing road win tonight.
Let's save the first Loss for some other game.
I think we will obviously lose agme at some point but will be very disappointed for the kids if they lose to USF, St Johns or Seton hall. NCAA seeding and our quest for a big ten title not to mention our national recognition will all take a big hit if we lose one of those three games. So i will be more nervous before those three games than the others. losing to any of the other games are forgivable and we can recover from losing to those three not so much, big hit on all three levels
Quote from: smrunner99 on February 06, 2009, 04:26:37 PM
I mean maybe it is tonight that a loss occurs and that gets them fired up for the last chunk of the season.
I do not want to lose to USF to "fire the team up". First, they seem pretty fired up when necessary (see @ND and GTown). Second, let's preserve our conferences losses for the tougher games.
Not looking forward but @Nova scares me much more than @USF. Nova has been playing tough at home.
Quote from: jtsanto on February 06, 2009, 04:12:52 PM
I know that thisteam is different, but a Friday night game in South Florida, something is not sitting well. I like our team a lotand think they are not getting any respect, but that being said this is a big trap game.....
What does "trap game" even mean? Who said that first, its one of those sport sayings that has gotten really old. I for one am not worried about a group of 4 seniors and 1 Junior going into Tampa and sticking it to them.
I'm worried. Two days in Florida, playing a team we should beat, a very tough road game at Nova ahead of us. All the makings of a letdown game. Senior leadership has taken us this far, and barring foul trouble or injuiries, it should again tonight. But this could be a very ugly, sloppy game.
No more worried than I am for any road game.
Right now, we're in "win and advance" mode as far as I'm concerned. I could care less about margins of victory or "style points". Let's just get this win, get out of town, and focus on the next one after tonight's over.
Nope. MU by 15.
I like that----MU by 15!!!
We're going to beat them in such dramatic fashion tonight that the refs will check the bottoms of our shoes for flubber.
There are no easy road wins in the Big East.
Different coach, different conference, difference era, but I vividly recall a few years ago dragging my sorry ass to a sleazy bar and begging the bartender to find our game vs. East Carolina. (Hell, I thought "East Carolina" was the Atlantic Ocean. There's a university there?) The bartender found a weak signal (this was in the satellite days), and I sat alone at the end of a lonely bar and struggled to watch through the static/snow on a tiny TV.
And we lost.
There are no easy wins on the road, and especially not in the Big East, and especially against a team that's got nothing to lose. Think of it this way: This is their Sweet Sixteen appearance. If they win, the students will storm the floor. Promise.
I think we'll win.
But we should take nothing for granted.
There are no easy road wins in the Big East.
To paraphrase Yogi Berra
90% of the time we beat them everytime
Quote from: MR.HAYWARD on February 06, 2009, 04:36:49 PM
I think we will obviously lose agme at some point but will be very disappointed for the kids if they lose to USF, St Johns or Seton hall. NCAA seeding and our quest for a big ten title not to mention our national recognition will all take a big hit if we lose one of those three games. So i will be more nervous before those three games than the others. losing to any of the other games are forgivable and we can recover from losing to those three not so much, big hit on all three levels
That's a good idea, I bet we'd be the favorites over there, plus we could beat up on bucky more often...
Comparative scores
USF beat Depaul 80-58 and 70-61. SF won by a total of 31 points.
MU beat Depaul 79-70 and 76-61, MU won by a total of 24 points.
Based on that SF is the better team.
Yes, I would be upset if they lost this game.
Quote from: MR.HAYWARD on February 06, 2009, 04:36:49 PM
NCAA seeding and our quest for a big ten title not to mention our national recognition will all take a big hit if we lose one of those three games.
I am worried that we somehow got moved into the big ten conference. Yuckkkk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
;)
I am worried...
Quote from: ErickJD08 on February 06, 2009, 06:25:36 PM
I am worried...
It would make my preseason prediction look right, since I said USF would win. But I've missed on most of the season with that prediction. But yes, I'm worried and have been all week. Thought we looked sloppy against DePaul.
James is having one of his typical games where he jacks and misses 3 after 3, and he isn't making any free throws, so yes, I am worried now.
We played terribly and are down by four, and if we had made FTs, we would be fine. The boys are playing stupid basketball tonight, most notably James. They can wake up and take care of business in the second half.
O ye of little faith. Have you forgotten that we are a second half team?
Quote from: MARQKC on February 06, 2009, 05:03:11 PM
There are no easy wins on the road, and especially not in the Big East, and especially against a team that's got nothing to lose. Think of it this way: This is their Sweet Sixteen appearance. If they win, the students will storm the floor. Promise.
There are no easy road wins in the Big East.
OK, I got the part about storming the floor wrong. What kind of crappy fans do they have in Tampa, anyway?
But I got the other part right. There are no easy road wins in the Big East.