1. Oso was bad today. It happens.
2. First half, Omax does not switch off Lakosius, they never said his name. Second half, switches started and Lakosius heated up.
3. Brian Butch: "Just sloppy on offense for Marquette." Really can't be said better. Two straight games of uninspired offense.
4. Gold got more run. I like his defense. I love the take and finish with his left.
5. MU's defensive rankings continue to improve. So many steals and forced turnovers. Stevie ruled in the last minute.
6. TKo just keeps doing TKo things
7. I hope y'all pounded the under.
8. Chase Ross was the most consistent, productive player today. Good for him.
9. Butler brought MU down to their level and MU let them. Ugly.
10. I forget, am I allowed to mention free throws?
11. So, the last two games have been ugly grinds. MU has managed to win them both at home. Is this a product of the opponents' style or is the Big East coming up with adjustments? Is making it a grind the adjustment?
Worst thing to happen was going up 16-3. They lost all focus after that. Fortunately, the defense , errr Stevie, stepped up at the end.
Glad we purged that from our system...
Barf of a game. Oso take butler and the points? Does not exactly shut the door on the "Feb Fade" crowd.
I had mentioned in the Nova recap that at Butler was going to be the toughest of the "gimme" games left. Didn't think it was going to be at home instead.
There was nothing really fun about this game at all. Take the dub, hopefully no injuries, move on.
I'm tempted to vote Stevie for stud of the game because of that one defensive possession
Man that was ugly
Gritty win. Won't help the metrics but glad they pulled it out. I give Butler some credit and they did a good job of making the game ugly. I thought their defense was pretty good.
Good things about this game: we won, Chase played well, Ben Gold played a lot.
Bad things about this game: just about everything else. Ugly game.
Take the win. Now time to find ourselves again at UCONN.
Quote from: PointWarrior on February 04, 2023, 03:06:49 PM
Barf of a game. Oso take butler and the points? Does not exactly shut the door on the "Feb Fade" crowd.
These last two games would have been losses under Wojo, IMO.
Take the win, plently of teaching moments,, and pummel UConn.
Ugly win. Better than an ugly loss.
Every team has a bad game. Typically in a wojo coached year we would have found a way to lose.
Put this one behind us and move on to UConn and pretend today didn't happen.
If nothing else it can get this team refocused that not every game no matter how bad the opponent is going to be a cake walk. 19-4 let's go boys.
Teams are starting to get chippy with MU. Sign of respect .
Butler has talented players and a very good coach. So I am delighted we were able to avoid a home upset and get the win.
Wondering if there were a lot of pro scouts at the game ? Sometimes that creates an extraordinary pressure on a player .
Back to back games with half court struggles is mildly concerning. We also switched too liberally and over helped way too much on D
Ugly, but a W nonetheless
Quote from: HowardsWorld on February 04, 2023, 03:11:38 PM
Every team has a bad game. Typically in a wojo coached year we would have found a way to lose.
Put this one behind us and move on to UConn and pretend today didn't happen.
If nothing else it can get this team refocused that not every game no matter how bad the opponent is going to be a cake walk. 19-4 let's go boys.
19-4 in 2019
February swoon confirmed
#10 - I miss the days of Howard or Hauser at the FT line when it was pretty much automatic.
Quote from: Goose on February 04, 2023, 03:11:13 PM
Ugly win. Better than an ugly loss.
I can live with an ugly win to get to 11-2 in the Big East.
Quote from: cheebs09 on February 04, 2023, 03:19:57 PM
I can live with an ugly win to get to 11-2 in the Big East.
Problem is, not a win by a single possession so Shaka still hasn't passed a test
Quote from: lawdog77 on February 04, 2023, 03:10:15 PM
These last two games would have been losses under Wojo, IMO last year.
Take the win, plently of teaching moments,, and pummel UConn.
The February fade is fading.
Quote from: Herman Cain on February 04, 2023, 03:11:55 PM
Teams are starting to get chippy with MU. Sign of respect .
Butler has talented players and a very good coach. So I am delighted we were able to avoid a home upset and get the win.
Wondering if there were a lot of pro scouts at the game ? Sometimes that creates an extraordinary pressure on a player .
Butler has one talented player and he did not play today.
Matta has a long way to go, they are 3-10 in conference and before this game, lost their last four each by 20 points.
Pro scouts??? Must have made the whole team worried and looking in the stands as where the scouts were seated. That's why Oso had six turnovers, Jones missing two front ends, etc. crazy.
Box score to print and use for kindling in the fireplace tonight:
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore/_/gameId/401485248 (https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/boxscore/_/gameId/401485248)
That said, glad Ben got some run and had a good afternoon.
Got blown by on defense a time or two but also had some really nice defensive possessions.
Nice all-around game for Ross as well.
Dropped to 3 on offense.
But now 50 on defense for kenpom.
Watch Stevie guard the Butler player with the ball 3 straight handlers was amazing.
Tough game to watch during some stretches, hopefully they got the bad offensive tendencies out of their systems
Man y'all got spoiled quick by this team.
This is all part of their growth. Teams are gonna pack it in and make it ugly. So far they've done well enough to win.
Quote from: nyg on February 04, 2023, 03:24:46 PM
Butler has one talented player and he did not play today.
Matta has a long way to go, they are 3-10 in conference and before this game, lost their last four each by 20 points.
Pro scouts??? Must have made the whole team worried and looking in the stands as where the scouts were seated. That's why Oso had six turnovers, Jones missing two front ends, etc. crazy.
lukosious can be pretty solid, forgot motta was their coach-give him a couple more years
Opponents adjust. Tough teams fight through that and garbage days to win. Liking this team more and more.
Quote from: MUfan12 on February 04, 2023, 03:55:12 PM
Man y'all got spoiled quick by this team.
This is all part of their growth. Teams are gonna pack it in and make it ugly. So far they've done well enough to win.
The only team that packed it in and made it ugly was Marquette. Butler unnatural carnal knowledgeing sucks. Without the TO's by butler, this was a L.
Classic case of playing down to the level of the competition. Shaka will have our guys' attention, and we'll be ready Tuesday.
Oso's worst offensive game of the season (and he still had 8-5-4-2). Just everyone was meh (or worse) after the fast start.
It happens. Houston looked like crap against Wichita State not long after losing at home to Temple. Bama got crushed by Oklahoma. Even good teams have bad games. It's nice to have a bad game in a win -- good teaching moments for Shaka.
Connie
I am with you. Not a great performance and only a mope would have been worried about L in the waning moments.
Point
I do hope you are joking. It was a sloppy, disjointed game for the final 30 minutes and I would think that if Butler was cleaner today that the flow would have looked different. I am very confident that they would not have lost if Butler had less turnovers, but that is my take.
There was not one second in the game where I thought the outcome was in doubt. If Butler had played better, Marquette would have played better, too.
The only scenario in which that would have been a loss would have been if Brad Stevens and Gordon Hayward were with Butler again.
Quote from: MUfan12 on February 04, 2023, 03:55:12 PM
Man y'all got spoiled quick by this team.
This is all part of their growth. Teams are gonna pack it in and make it ugly. So far they've done well enough to win.
The packing it in is a crucial point. DePaul, Butler, and Nova really collapsed and took away back cuts.
Quote from: Spaniel with a Short Tail on February 04, 2023, 03:18:20 PM
#10 - I miss the days of Howard or Hauser at the FT line when it was pretty much automatic.
And Davante Gardner ha! "Auto - ma - tic"
A rather unsatisfying win, but a W is a W is a W.
On to plotting for UConn.
It's a w. Defense was good. They dared us to shoot and a few rattled out. Ball needs to move crisper on Tuesday
Quote from: Uncle Rico on February 04, 2023, 03:13:38 PM
19-4 in 2019
February swoon confirmed
Good thing we're 19-5 - swoon avoided.
On one hand, this is the kinda game MU woulda dropped in the Wojo era. This team persevered.
On the other hand - considering the history of Feb/March slides (including last year's team) - it's always concerning when an MU team can't say they're playing their best basketball this time of year.
Quote from: mugrad_89 on February 04, 2023, 04:34:29 PM
Good thing we're 19-5 - swoon avoided.
We're worse. That's not good news at all
If the Butler player that missed the game is "good," then they have about 5 "good" players. 4 other guys on the team have basically the same numbers.
You know it's been a good year when 8 and 9 point wins over Big East teams are the bad games.
Onto UConn.
Was Jimmy in the building today? I saw Wes was there.
Quote from: Juan Anderson's Mixtape on February 04, 2023, 04:39:10 PM
You know it's been a good year when 8 and 9 point wins over Big East teams are the bad games.
Onto UConn.
That butler game was a better game than nova.
Quote from: Uncle Rico on February 04, 2023, 04:35:00 PM
We're worse. That's not good news at all
19 -5 is nothing but good news... let me guess - Joplin in STOG...
Quote from: wadesworld on February 04, 2023, 04:47:43 PM
Was Jimmy in the building today? I saw Wes was there.
He was at Whitnall last night. Feel like he might have been
The '77 beer was lousy.
Never want what I got today on my phone :A close game alert when we are playing Butler.
Quote from: tower912 on February 04, 2023, 04:16:12 PM
The packing it in is a crucial point. DePaul, Butler, and Nova really collapsed and took away back cuts.
Yep. Against DePaul we got enough threes to make it a laugher. Not as much in the following two.
Quote from: warriorchick on February 04, 2023, 05:32:03 PM
Never want what I got today on my phone :A close game alert when we are playing Butler.
Your phone was a bit of a liar. The eye test will always beat AI!
Take that, Chat GPT
Chat GPT doesn't come up with great thread titles.
Quote from: 🏀 on February 04, 2023, 05:24:23 PM
The '77 beer was lousy.
I actually thought it was decent. They were flowing like crazy at Good City before the game.
Great idea by Marquette and those breweries. Excited to try different ones in the future.
Quote from: 🏀 on February 04, 2023, 05:24:23 PM
The '77 beer was lousy.
It was fine. Have had worse. But a fun thing to add to the festivities. Can't say I'd rush out to buy a four pack.
Quote from: MUfan12 on February 04, 2023, 06:07:52 PM
It was fine. Have had worse. But a fun thing to add to the festivities. Can't say I'd rush out to buy a four pack.
This summarizes my feelings as well
Quote from: mugrad_89 on February 04, 2023, 03:06:14 PM
Worst thing to happen was going up 16-3. They lost all focus after that. Fortunately, the defense , errr Stevie, stepped up at the end.
Weird game. Even the crowd lost energy after the big lead it seemed, until the end.
Thought it would have looked cool if the whole crowd was waving the towels. Apparently instructions were needed and the game didn't generate that kind of energy. Let down of a game in some ways, but the build up and start were good, and most importantly win and move on.
Hopefully this is just a bit of a lull offensively that we will snap out of rather than a trend. A lot of buckets that went in and out-even layups.
Quote from: StillWarriors on February 04, 2023, 06:50:26 PM
Weird game. Even the crowd lost energy after the big lead it seemed, until the end.
Thought it would have looked cool if the whole crowd was waving the towels. Apparently instructions were needed and the game didn't generate that kind of energy. Let down of a game in some ways, but the build up and start were good, and most importantly win and move on.
Hopefully this is just a bit of a lull offensively that we will snap out of rather than a trend. A lot of buckets that went in and out-even layups.
First game I've been to in 3 years. Just no flow at all yet it still felt like Marquette was never in danger. It was definitely a hard game to get into.
In the arena it looked like guys were just dead. Looked like they were trying hard, but their bodies were just fatigued. A lot of hands on knees, short minutes, frequent subbing.
That time of year, finding ways to win when your not at your best is important and Marquette did that twice this week.
Defenses are switching every screen and packing it in the lane to restrict offensive flow. Gotta hit shots to loosen them up. This isn't Marta's first rodeo either. He had a plan and they executed.
When Gold plays 19 mins when he's only been getting 3-5 mins recently, you've gotta think there were other motives other than beating the metrics behind this decision... I was particularly interested in the lineup where Shaka had Gold, Omax, and Oso all out there at once. Playing around with lineups can cause a little disruption in the matrix us fans have gotten used to this year.
I don't think Shaka ever thought it was in doubt either... from the minute he and the coaches game planned this one.
Quote from: GoldenEagles03 on February 05, 2023, 12:49:51 AM
In the arena it looked like guys were just dead. Looked like they were trying hard, but their bodies were just fatigued. A lot of hands on knees, short minutes, frequent subbing.
That time of year, finding ways to win when your not at your best is important and Marquette did that twice this week.
That doesn't bode well for Tuesday, quick turnaround.
Quote from: DoctorV on February 05, 2023, 09:03:44 AM
That doesn't bode well for Tuesday, quick turnaround.
OMax in particular looked to be having a very hard time catching his breath. They'll be alright. Just getting into the grind of the season that everyone is going through.
It is really hard to win when you aren't playing to your potential and they found a way to win both games in a fairly ugly fashion. That's a great sign that they can scrap out wins even when they aren't scoring 80 or 90.
Quote from: GoldenEagles03 on February 05, 2023, 09:25:49 AM
OMax in particular looked to be having a very hard time catching his breath. They'll be alright. Just getting into the grind of the season that everyone is going through.
It is really hard to win when you aren't playing to your potential and they found a way to win both games in a fairly ugly fashion. That's a great sign that they can scrap out wins even when they aren't scoring 80 or 90.
When the opponent is Butler on your home court, scrapping out a win is not that impressive.
A friend compared yesterday to the Chicago State game, and I think it's a decent comparison. Some first half struggles, but had a run that gave us a comfortable enough halftime lead. Then got up big in the second half before a lackluster finish that left the final result not as decisive as our overall game control would indicate. Yesterday was never really in doubt, but it also wasn't the thumping it should've been.
Three days after that mediocre Chicago State effort, we had a pretty good result. Let's hope three days after Butler we have something similar.
Quote from: GoldenEagles03 on February 05, 2023, 09:25:49 AM
Just getting into the grind of the season that everyone is going through.
As Shaka said at his press conference:
"This is the most challenging time -- early-, mid-, late-February -- to find within you the clarity to go play with absolute purpose, and that's because it's a long year."He had all the Februaries covered!
Quote from: brewcity77 on February 05, 2023, 09:52:19 AM
A friend compared yesterday to the Chicago State game, and I think it's a decent comparison. Some first half struggles, but had a run that gave us a comfortable enough halftime lead. Then got up big in the second half before a lackluster finish that left the final result not as decisive as our overall game control would indicate. Yesterday was never really in doubt, but it also wasn't the thumping it should've been.
Three days after that mediocre Chicago State effort, we had a pretty good result. Let's hope three days after Butler we have something similar.
Honestly the Nova game was closer to the Chicago State game than the Butler game was. We played worse against Chicago State than we did in either of the last two games.
Its just that because of offense has been so good, and no fans are used to liking defensive basketball.
Reverse the Adjusted efficiency's from the Butler game and applying them to Chicago state, would be a 67.6-51.3 Win for Marquette over Chicago St. That's a 2.3 point better result.
Using Bartorvik MU's game score yesterday was 91. That is equal to the Depaul game and the Notre Dame game. That is higher than both nova games, the Georgetown game, the St Johns game, both conference losses, and every single nonconference game except three Baylor, Georgia Tech, and Purdue.
Quote from: MU82 on February 05, 2023, 10:00:19 AM
As Shaka said at his press conference: "This is the most challenging time -- early-, mid-, late-February -- to find within you the clarity to go play with absolute purpose, and that's because it's a long year."
He had all the Februaries covered!
Now you're stealin' Rico's material?
Butler fan moved to top of my most disliked conference foe. Drunk. Loud. Obnoxious. Clueless.
Older MU dude in Sec 118 was ready to throw down with two Butler drunks. Yelling SHUTUP multiple times at the top of his lungs.
Quote from: brewcity77 on February 05, 2023, 09:52:19 AM
A friend compared yesterday to the Chicago State game, and I think it's a decent comparison. Some first half struggles, but had a run that gave us a comfortable enough halftime lead. Then got up big in the second half before a lackluster finish that left the final result not as decisive as our overall game control would indicate. Yesterday was never really in doubt, but it also wasn't the thumping it should've been.
Three days after that mediocre Chicago State effort, we had a pretty good result. Let's hope three days after Butler we have something similar.
Yep. UCONN didn't impress that much in DC, so neither team should brag too loudly about their win. Just a guess on my part, but I think Hurley shares some of the same in-game coaching problems Neptune and Ewing do, but superior talent bails him out. Not expecting a win. but it would not surprise me if we take UCONN down.
Quote from: Jockey on February 05, 2023, 10:50:17 AM
Now you're stealin' Rico's material?
Did Unk also pull that unintentionally humorous quote from Shaka? If so, I missed it.
I watched the game off my DVR in the evening yesterday and I thought outside of some missed layups, some missed Kam free throws, and Oso's uncharacteristic bad passing day, they didn't play that bad. It probably helps when you already know the outcome, but they did lead the entire game and win by 8. What does stand out to me is that it seems like teams, unable to match up talent wise, are playing bully ball with us. BUtler, Providence, Xavier, etc, these teams are not necessarily taller than MU but seemingly outweigh them at every position.