Buzz Williams has Marquette (9-0) playing some of the best ball in the nation, and as a result the Golden Eagles have moved up to No. 11 in both polls.
But as ESPN's Eamonn Brennan writes today, an argument could be made that Marquette should be ranked even higher. Here's Brennan with more on that.
- Joe Kaiser
Eamonn Brennan
Marquette should be in the Top 10
"I'm sort of confused: Why isn't Marquette ranked higher? The Golden Eagles are undefeated. Arguably, they got the best nonconference win of any team in the top 10 with the possible exception of Kentucky (which beat North Carolina at home) when they beat Wisconsin in the Kohl Center. Based on sheer results alone, isn't Marquette's resume, so to speak, better than Baylor's? For that matter, can't we say the same thing about Missouri and Xavier -- two other undefeateds with much more than a win at Northwestern buttressing their positions?"
Basing poll position solely on who you beat in mid-December is a bit of a fool's errand. The polls at this stage of the season are a strange mix of pre-season hype, perceived talent, conference affiliation and previous season's results with some current season game results thrown in for good measure. We and Indiana and Missouri are all undefeated and have a better resume than Syracuse right now. Syracuse is now number 1, but I guarantee that most people that voted them number 1 in no way, shape or form think they are as good as Ohio State or Kentucky or North Carolina. It's just that those other teams lost so they move down, and Syracuse hasn't lost so they move up to fill the void. Because Syracuse started out ahead of us, we won't pass them unless they lose.
Marquette is way overrated, since Otule got hurt.
Quote from: bilsu on December 15, 2011, 07:48:11 AM
Marquette is way overrated, since Otule got hurt.
I get that feeling, too, but I'll reserve judgement for a few games to see how we adjust to playing without him.
Besides the obvious lack of another intimidator in the lane, my biggest concern is that without Otule we will just get hammered on the defensive boards. Early on if you crashed the offensive boards against us, you would get more than your fair share of offensive rebounds but we would make you pay with runouts for easy baskets if we got the defensive rebound. We are tremendous at transitioning from defense to offense. So opposing coaches had to make a risk/reward choice. Bang the boards for more putbacks but risk the easy basket or concede the rebound and get back on defense. Without Otule, I'm afraid the decision will be increasingly to pound the offensive glass as we saw against Washington and that it will be a winning strategy as our opponents grab a larger and larger % of those rebounds.
Quote from: bilsu on December 15, 2011, 07:48:11 AM
Marquette is way overrated, since Otule got hurt.
No teal, so I assume you are serious. Sorry if my sarcasm detector is not functioning this morning.
We will not be underrated much longer in my opinion. Once Wilson is back and if Juan can play in a couple of weeks we will move up the ladder. Even with Juan I think we make it undefeated until BE play.
I would prolly say it's definately possible that MU is likely overrated without Otule, however, to say they're way overrated without him is just not the case.
There is a post presence on the D end with Otule. He is long and gets his hands on lots of balls being so tall. MU during the UW game and others exchanges players all the time depending if it is D or O. Now Gardner has to play both ends, he is fairly weak on the D end, need to learn an old art, blocking out. Offensively, DWill is put in to play D, and Juan for D as well. It
was a good rotation. Wilson being healthy is very important the rest of December. He is long and gives them a 3 man rotation upfront.
Quote from: Goose on December 15, 2011, 08:49:51 AM
We will not be underrated much longer in my opinion. Once Wilson is back and if Juan can play in a couple of weeks we will move up the ladder. Even with Juan I think we make it undefeated until BE play.
unfortunatley, Juan is missing way to much practice time(and playing time) in his short career so far at MU. I would expect less, not more from him. His best opportuniy to get his feet wet was in non conference games. The roatation tightens up in BE play.
Do not underestimate the loss of otule.
Quote from: 79Warrior on December 15, 2011, 10:05:05 AM
unfortunatley, Juan is missing way to much practice time(and playing time) in his short career so far at MU. I would expect less, not more from him. His best opportuniy to get his feet wet was in non conference games. The roatation tightens up in BE play.
Do not underestimate the loss of otule.
If Juan is able to practice during the break, that is what he needs. If not, then I agree with you. Depends upon how quickly he can return.
With finals, if he has to miss a week, this is a good week to miss.
Quote from: ATWizJr on December 15, 2011, 08:32:07 AM
No teal, so I assume you are serious. Sorry if my sarcasm detector is not functioning this morning.
No sarcasim. MU simply is not as good without Otule and I do not see them being the 11th ranked team without him.
Missing Otule is a blow for sure, but lets not over estimate his value. We are missing a big guy that gave us minutes and that will be missed. Prior to the season I felt we were an elite team due to the talent and depth and still believe the depth will overcome Otule being out.
Expectations for this team should remain where they were prior to the injury. Would add that we are not in position to have any other injury setbacks going forward.
The team will definitely have to make some adjustments. My guess is that, to make up for the loss of O'Tule, they keep some of their guys back to pound the defensive boards better. In turn, they will have to give up some of the transition game that we saw earlier this season as a trade-off. This will also require them to execute better on offense.
We have the players to do this. We've already seen Blue demonstrate (at least twice) that he can literally jump completely over other players....need that for defensive boards. Gardner has the body to box out other players....just gotta execute.
For me, the wild card is Buzz, and his ability to teach this new paradigm in practice, and coach it during games. If he can get his players to pull this off, we are definitely a top 10 program this year. My opinion is that Buzz will get his team to adjust and we continue on our winning ways!
Quote from: real chili 83 on December 16, 2011, 08:39:39 AM
The team will definitely have to make some adjustments. My guess is that, to make up for the loss of O'Tule, they keep some of their guys back to pound the defensive boards better. In turn, they will have to give up some of the transition game that we saw earlier this season as a trade-off. This will also require them to execute better on offense.
We have the players to do this. We've already seen Blue demonstrate (at least twice) that he can literally jump completely over other players....need that for defensive boards. Gardner has the body to box out other players....just gotta execute.
For me, the wild card is Buzz, and his ability to teach this new paradigm in practice, and coach it during games. If he can get his players to pull this off, we are definitely a top 10 program this year. My opinion is that Buzz will get his team to adjust and we continue on our winning ways!
my thoughts exactly-buzz will have them play a little different style to compensate. the wilson boys, jae and gardner inside and don't underestimate the talent of mayo-he's the real deal if he can keep it under control as i think he's shown. he's anxious to light it up. his inside-outside game will loosen things up