The Positives

[MileHigh]

Tough loss I know...but there seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel:

Butler continues to impress, a star for the future
Acker will do a good job at leading the team next year
The team proved yesterday and today that they are capable of playing good basketball without James
More rest for the NCAA?? (3 games in 3 days alot)

Any others?  Thoughts??

[NavinRJohnson]

A win would have been nice, but I am pretty satisfied with what went down the last couple days. Any doubt these guys had about their ability to play without James should be erased. They aren't going to the Final Four, but they dismantled an inferior opponent and played a team likely to be a 3 seed basically to a draw. They can play with anyone they are going to see in the first couple rounds. Frankly, that's good enough for me.

I would have loved for them to be able to play one more game without James before the NCAA, but at the same time, I think they avoided what would have probably been a pretty comprehensive beating at the hands of UL. Get home, get some rest, practice and get ready for next week. I think they should leave NYC feeling pretty good about things.

[Jackson_Downer]

This is the first game since James went down that I saw a team that took advantage of momentum.  In the gauntlet, they never seemed to do that.  

Now it's a question of which team shows up in the Dance, the first half team or the second half....

[MU B2002]

Positive...  Our next opponent will not be from the Big East.  Thought they should a lot of heart in the 2nd half.  Yes, it was a lousy way to lose, but it showed they can make a huge run against high levels of talent.

[Markusquette]

Well we can prove to play and stay with teams without James, but it seems to me having James is what wins us games.  We'll see come tournament time.

[MUhoops12]

I recall Jay Bilas saying that losing early in the Big East Tournament is a blessing in disguise. I really hope so.

[Lighthouse 84]

Let's hope the committee sees it that way and doesn't penalize the Warriors for losing by a point.  Hopefully, they saw a team with alot of heart come back from 16 down, who should have won the f-ing game and in their infinite wisdom and odd collective sense of humor, pit the Warriors against Nova in a matchup down the road in the tournament.

[DonCornholeone]

That one hurt about as much as the Stanford game.  It was just frustrating to watch that last minute, the game was ours.  I am SO SICK of playing these mega-talented Big East teams!  One reason I'm excited for the tourney is to see us play some non-B.E. teams... how brutally difficult have our last 6 games been... (well, minus St. Johns).  I hope we get a chance to feast on one of the Big Ten teams...

[bamamarquettefan]

Where are all the "we can't win because Buzz doesn't practice freethrows" armchair coaches.  If we had hit just two of the six free throws we missed, we would have won!  Imagine a team shooting only 84.6% from the line in a pressure packed, come-from-behind game!  Imagine barely outshooting the best free throw shooting team in the Big East!

Where are you critics!

And listen, I really do think MU Scoop has to put Jimmy Butler up as the stud of the game, I don't care if we lost by one point.  Dominic is my favorite player and a flat out stud, but he is cheering on the rest of the team now and I'm sure he'd be happy to have his photo to the left replaced with the guys he is cheering for.