It's beginning to look a lot like...Marquette basketball season
Written by: tkraft212@gmail.com (Tim Kraft)
As if the trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQ-KPsEyXso) for Marquette Madness didn’t get you excited enough for Friday, there are many other aspects of the Marquette basketball program that have people chirping about this team. I can’t speak from experience because I wasn’t really a fan of Marquette basketball during the Final 4 run and maybe it’s because Twitter (http://twitter.com/muathletics_mbb) and Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/gomarquette) are bigger than ever, but this seems to be the most hyped team in a while.
Jimmy and DJO played a ton of minutes last season and can only get better with more experience. People are saying great things about Cadougan and we'll hopefully see why he was ranked so high coming out of high school. There's loads of hype about Vander Blue, Jae Crowder, and the rest of the newcomers. The list goes on...
Although I’m going to miss my fellow graduates (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUzi3gzGvsg&p=2FA42BB9B645CFE9&playnext=1&index=1), I don’t see why Buzz and crew can’t exceed expectations. Again (http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=jn-bigeastrank082809).
With the recent news that 2012 stud recruit J.P Tokoto might also be at the AL Friday night (http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/104807749.html), there is reason to believe that Marquette is getting closer and closer to being one of the nation’s top programs. Sure, just because Tokoto is coming to madness doesn’t mean he’s committing to be a Golden Eagle (he also has Duke, UNC, Kentucky, and Kansas on his radar). But to be mentioned in the same sentence with schools like that is an accomplishment in its own right.
Another positive is that our team is healthy (knock on every piece of wood you can find). Last season at this time, DJO and Cadougan were both down with injuries and were unable to complete boot camp. As far as I know, every member of this squad completed boot camp. Obviously it’s a long season, but it’s nice to have arguments about starting lineups and substitutes compared to lack of depth like we’ve had for a couple years.
To be a homer and include some close friends in this, too, Marquette’s student media features some of the best and brightest minds in terms of current college students. We’ve all seen the work Brad Galli (http://twitter.com/BradGalli), Todd Warner, and the rest of the MUTV Sports crew put out there. This year, Andrei Greska (http://twitter.com/andreigreska) is the MU Tribune sports editor and will without doubt produce some great material on the men’s basketball team. Andrei kept a blog throughout this summer’s World Cup (http://grwb10.blogspot.com/2010/08/travels-abroad-opening-of-chivas-new.html)and currently has a blog about the MU women’s volleyball team (http://jumpinjesuits.wordpress.com/). So after every game when you’ve read CS, argued with Chicos on MUScoop, looked at Rosiak’s recap, etc., check out mutvsports.com and marquettetribune.org for their game recaps and next day analysis.
This upcoming season seems to be creating the most buzz I’ve seen in recent years â€" pun absolutely intended.
I hope to be at madness Friday night and will provide many more updates on twitter at timkraft13 (http://twitter.com/timkraft13).
We Are Marquette.
http://www.crackedsidewalks.com/2010/10/its-beginning-to-look-lot-likemarquette.html
chico gets a shout out on cs. awesome
Not to be a dick, but... what's with this amature-hour puff piece for MU's crappy media outlets?
Quote from: wyoMUfan on October 14, 2010, 10:27:23 AM
chico gets a shout out on cs. awesome
Chicos is actually one of the founding members of CS. He doesn't post much anymore, but he did contribute to the roundtable posts
Quote from: Skatastrophy on October 14, 2010, 10:32:55 AM
Not to be a dick, but... what's with this amature-hour puff piece for MU's crappy media outlets?
hey... lay off the new guy
We invited Tim K to join CS about a week back. He's a recent grad with a journalism degree (and a job to boot). Tim wrote for the MU Tribune for two years, including one covering the basketball team last year, if that gives you an indication of the shouts to MU media. We think he'll bring a different perspective to the team.
Having said that, Tim can also deal with the criticism directly. Fire away.
Quote from: Skatastrophy on October 14, 2010, 10:32:55 AM
Not to be a dick, but... what's with this amature-hour puff piece for MU's crappy media outlets?
That was kind of dickish. And what is so bad about MU's media outlets? They are doing a really good job with the various online videos and such, in my opinion.
Quote from: MarkCharles on October 14, 2010, 10:56:13 AM
That was kind of dickish. And what is so bad about MU's media outlets? They are doing a really good job with the various online videos and such, in my opinion.
Of course it was dickish. Any time anyone says "Not to be a dick, but..." you know that the next thing they say is going to be pretty bad.
GoMarquette.com has had 1 good episode of Marquette Revealed that has been good so far (the most recent boot camp epi), and that's not produced by the University. GoMarquette.com hasn't had any interesting or breaking news/content since Coach Rab's blog.
The Marquette Tribune is poorly written, editorialized soft "news." When's the last time that a Trib article was linked to the forums that offered any insight into the basketball program?
Nothing against Tim K personally (seriously Tim, this is the internet, I'm probably a 100lb 65 year old homeless man at a cafe trying to start fights) but the article was without purpose. It started off as an introduction post, but fizzled out. The lack of analysis and phrases like "I can't speak from experience..." and "People are saying..." only contributed to the glaring lack of analysis. This is the type of happy feely puff I expect from the Trib, not CS.
I'm not trying to rip this to shreds for the purpose of being a dick. I'm trying to quantify my criticism instead of tossing insults about. Honestly, nothing personal. Remember, I'm probably homeless and without a high-school education.
No offense taken. It wasn't really meant to be an analysis piece, though. There's nothing to analyze right now.
As my first post I just wanted to talk a little bit about how everyone is talking about this team and how much respect Buzz's program is getting. So I decided to include some media outlets that haven't been recognized by everyone.
I appreciate the constructive criticism, though. Hopefully once the season gets going there'll be more to analyze, more discussions, etc.
Quote from: Skatastrophy on October 14, 2010, 11:08:02 AM
The Marquette Tribune is poorly written, editorialized soft "news." When's the last time that a Trib article was linked to the forums that offered any insight into the basketball program?
Dude, did you write for the Warrior or something. I don't think I've ever seen that much Trib hate. I'm not sure what you expect from a COLLEGE newspaper that has to get on its knees in order to scrape an interview with whomever the SID's decide to make available. Come back round Nov. 4 and you will have a meaty basketball preview to bash.
Thanks for the shout out Tim. I can't wait to read you stuff in the future.
Quote from: Skatastrophy on October 14, 2010, 11:08:02 AM
Of course it was dickish. Any time anyone says "Not to be a dick, but..." you know that the next thing they say is going to be pretty bad.
GoMarquette.com has had 1 good episode of Marquette Revealed that has been good so far (the most recent boot camp epi), and that's not produced by the University. GoMarquette.com hasn't had any interesting or breaking news/content since Coach Rab's blog.
The Marquette Tribune is poorly written, editorialized soft "news." When's the last time that a Trib article was linked to the forums that offered any insight into the basketball program?
Nothing against Tim K personally (seriously Tim, this is the internet, I'm probably a 100lb 65 year old homeless man at a cafe trying to start fights) but the article was without purpose. It started off as an introduction post, but fizzled out. The lack of analysis and phrases like "I can't speak from experience..." and "People are saying..." only contributed to the glaring lack of analysis. This is the type of happy feely puff I expect from the Trib, not CS.
I'm not trying to rip this to shreds for the purpose of being a dick. I'm trying to quantify my criticism instead of tossing insults about. Honestly, nothing personal. Remember, I'm probably homeless and without a high-school education.
Agree mostly. I am new to being a Marquette student, and when I read the Marquette Tribune the other day, I was surprised how poorly written it was. My undergrad had top-notch papers though, so it was tough to judge.
But I disagree that GoMarquette.com is weak. College athletics websites never have breaking news or interesting content, because they are controlled by the university. And name me one college athletics website that puts out better stuff than Marquette Revealed (maybe not strictly their content, but same difference) and MUTV.
Quote from: Henry Sugar on October 14, 2010, 10:51:54 AM
Chicos is actually one of the founding members of CS. He doesn't post much anymore, but he did contribute to the roundtable posts
Shhhh.....you're not supposed to say that so there isn't a stain of sabotage attached to CS. ;D
I'm working on a few things for CS right now, plus a few haikus that are really going to get your juices going.
Quote from: pux90mex on October 14, 2010, 11:25:54 AM
Dude, did you write for the Warrior or something. I don't think I've ever seen that much Trib hate. I'm not sure what you expect from a COLLEGE newspaper that has to get on its knees in order to scrape an interview with whomever the SID's decide to make available. Come back round Nov. 4 and you will have a meaty basketball preview to bash.
- The Warrior wasn't around when I was in school. It's a little too hardcore with the politics for me.
- There hasn't ever been Tribune hate because nobody bothers to read anything in it except for the police blotter.
- A *College* newspaper should be able to find talented, passionate individuals that can generate original content that is well researched and written. The trib has always seemed more like a small high-school's yearbook committee.
-I'm sure that the Trib's "meaty" basketball preview will contain a lightweight version of the topics that have already been talked to death on this forum in the offseason. I mean, just gleaning posts from this forum could generate an article of a quality not normally demanded by the Trib.
Quote from: MarkCharles on October 14, 2010, 11:26:33 AM
And name me one college athletics website that puts out better stuff than Marquette Revealed (maybe not strictly their content, but same difference) and MUTV.
MUTV comes from MUTV, not gomarquette.com.
Revealed is put out by an independent firm, not by anyone at the university.
If they want traffic to be driven to the website they have to have the best content first. The University is constantly a day behind on all major news coming out about the basketball program. If they cared about fine-tuning the message and brand surrounding MU Athletics and becoming the defacto source for MU News then they're going to have to do a much better job putting out content in a timely manner.
Additionally, have you tried to find a men's basketball article on the website recently? You have to click a video in the carousel, over over that video and wait for a menu to come up and then click on a link in the menu to get to the article. The usability expert behind that one should be dragged out back and shot.
Quote from: Skatastrophy on October 14, 2010, 01:13:34 PM
- A *College* newspaper should be able to find talented, passionate individuals that can generate original content that is well researched and written. The trib has always seemed more like a small high-school's yearbook committee.
I think http://marquettetribune.org/2010/10/12/carousel/athletics-knh1-kw2-je3/ (http://marquettetribune.org/2010/10/12/carousel/athletics-knh1-kw2-je3/) qualifies for your criteria: original, well researched, and well written. Give it a once over and tell me if you don't agree.
I'm not trying to argue with you because you do make valid points. All I'm saying is it's not as dire a situation as you are making it out to be. Anyways, thanks for your thoughts.
Quote from: ChicosBailBonds on October 14, 2010, 11:37:41 AM
Shhhh.....you're not supposed to say that so there isn't a stain of sabotage attached to CS. ;D
I'm working on a few things for CS right now, plus a few haikus that are really going to get your juices going.
Haikus? First you go commie on us, now your going Buddhist on us too?
New learned comments,
leading to a great uproar,
ChicosBailBonds posts.
Recruiting brought up,
Buzz to Crean comparison,
inevitable.
"I wasn’t really a fan of Marquette basketball during the Final 4 run "
I first thought he meant the run in '77 - I didn't realize CS would have someone on staff that is so young. Since he is - cut him slack.
Quote from: pux90mex on October 14, 2010, 01:38:45 PM
I think http://marquettetribune.org/2010/10/12/carousel/athletics-knh1-kw2-je3/ (http://marquettetribune.org/2010/10/12/carousel/athletics-knh1-kw2-je3/) qualifies for your criteria: original, well researched, and well written. Give it a once over and tell me if you don't agree.
I'm not trying to argue with you because you do make valid points. All I'm saying is it's not as dire a situation as you are making it out to be. Anyways, thanks for your thoughts.
Definitely well researched and written, but it came out well after it was first discussed in the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/09/sports/ncaabasketball/09bigeast.html?_r=1&ref=sports) and Cracked Sidewalks (http://www.crackedsidewalks.com/2010/03/big-easts-big-spender-marquette-hoops.html).
Don't get me wrong, the Trib did a bang-up job expanding on the topic. But it's a challenge for me to call it original content when it has the same premise as articles printed 7 months before the article in the Trib came out.
I'm being harsh because it's easier to get a point across when you're talking in absolutes. I agree that the Trib isn't in dire straits. I suppose I'm just projecting my expectations (desires) for the Trib to be a resource that the entire Marquette community cherishes instead of something I pick up at my reunion once every 5 years. The Trib should be competing with Marquette Magazine, in my opinion, for subscribers that are looking for something that's more connected to the students currently attending the university as opposed to University party-line feel-good stories (MU Mag, not the Trib). I want the Trib to get to the point that alumni are pounding down the doors to get copies (or inundating the website, as it were).
I just don't know what to do to help, so I bitch and moan about it :)
I have to agree that I didn't find a whole lot substantive in this post, and in the Trib in general. But its your first one, so no big deal. I'm sure there'll be better content to come. Welcome aboard and best of luck. :)
Quote from: Skatastrophy on October 14, 2010, 02:26:04 PM
The Trib should be competing with Marquette Magazine, in my opinion, for subscribers that are looking for something that's more connected to the students currently attending the university as opposed to University party-line feel-good stories (MU Mag, not the Trib). I want the Trib to get to the point that alumni are pounding down the doors to get copies (or inundating the website, as it were).
Now you have entered my wheelhouse here because this is what I do. It really isn't fair to compare an alumni magazine to a student newspaper. Alumni magazines have experienced professional staff of writers and designers that don't turn over that often, a pretty decent sized budget, and only have to develop magazines a handful of times per year. (If that...without looking it up I cannot tell you how often MU comes out with its magazine.)
The Tribune is a training groud for future journalists. They are unpaid, inexperienced students, that turn over regularly and have limited budget resources. Furthermore, they produce something once a week so they don't really have the time to be creative with layouts, real in depth with their stories,etc. And let's face it, with what is going on in the industry today, there isn't a large number of students looking to go into journalism.
IOW, your expectations are unreasonably high.
Quote from: The Sultan of South Wayne on October 15, 2010, 08:04:08 AM
IOW, your expectations are unreasonably high.
Always.
And the Trib's expectations should be unreasonably high too. It's the only way to achieve real success.
MU Magazine can't afford to pay a huge staff of writers. The Trib can dip into an entire university worth of talent to crank out a great product. Challenging the authors of the content to get significantly better is the only way to bring up the quality of the Trib's current product. How many talented writers have gone through Marquette and have either half-arsed it or not bothered writing for the Trib because the quality wasn't high enough? (I obviously have no answer to that and it's total conjecture)
I'm a software guy and I'm very good. I'm not going to bother contributing to an organization or product that's crap to begin with unless they're in the process of forcing real organizational change to improve their entire software development process. From my experience I could definitely see some real talent at MU getting a, "Why bother writing for the Trib?" attitude.
Something to do with that whole, "It's better to shoot for the stars and miss than aim at the gutter and hit it."
Quote from: Skatastrophy on October 15, 2010, 08:38:35 AM
Always.
And the Trib's expectations should be unreasonably high too. It's the only way to achieve real success.
MU Magazine can't afford to pay a huge staff of writers. The Trib can dip into an entire university worth of talent to crank out a great product. Challenging the authors of the content to get significantly better is the only way to bring up the quality of the Trib's current product. How many talented writers have gone through Marquette and have either half-arsed it or not bothered writing for the Trib because the quality wasn't high enough? (I obviously have no answer to that and it's total conjecture)
Pulitzer material right here Skat: http://marquettetribune.org/2010/10/14/news/startup-wpo1-ld2-dac3-dj-will-pumps-up-the-crowds/
Quote from: reinko on October 15, 2010, 08:45:44 AM
Pulitzer material right here Skat: http://marquettetribune.org/2010/10/14/news/startup-wpo1-ld2-dac3-dj-will-pumps-up-the-crowds/
The AP is in negotiations with the Trib to pick that piece up.