A few thoughts from San Jose

[ChicosBailBonds]

Pep rally was nice, not quite as good as Anaheim but better than San Diego.  Strong showing.  We walked past the tail end of the Washington pep rally and it had fizzled out.  I thought we were going to be in good shape in terms of crowd size.  That is until we got to the arena and there was purple everywhere.  Not good.

The game itself was a ton of fun, just the result sucked.  Way too many Washington fans in there for my liking but what are you going to do when a school has 40,000 students and is located on the west coast.  It is what it is.

Fouling.....that's why I wrote the article on Cracked Sidewalks the other day about how tightly they called the game would be critical in my mind....and it was.  Early on they weren't letting Washington do much and their fans were pissed in the first half.  In the second, they were physical and the refs let them play.

But having said all that, up 15 points and then the out score us like 38 to 16.  You could just feel the collapse coming.  DJO was non-existant in the second half, Jimmy had tons of issues.  Thought the seniors played very well all things considered.

Huge huge Washington advantage with the crowd.  Very much outnumbered.

I thought we played at way too fast a pace in the first half, but it seemed to work.  I was afraid the game would be in the 90's the way things were going, but the problem was that it put us in foul trouble. 

Next year will be interesting.  No Lazar and really no one like Lazar that will be on the team.  Junior has got to make huge strides.

The book on Tom Crean officially ended tonight.  No more remnants left, it's all Buzz here on forward. 

I'm tired...my 11 year old is totally bummed....his third straight MU NCAA game where we've lost in the final seconds.   Plane takes off in about 45 minutes. 

Big East getting their ass kicked in the tournament.

[77ncaachamps]

Chicos, I couldn't have said it any better.

The Marquette contigent was a proud one but the Washington base was the loud one.
You could feel them energize the team. The 15 point lead collapse was the most disheartening series of play I've seen this season other than Florida state.

A Washington fan even agreed with my calling for MU to foul in the final seconds. A discussion among some neighboring fans followed suit after Pondexters shot.

MU is now 0-2 in the West Coast games I've seen them, both NCAA games.

[Dish]

On the bright side, there is no California 1st/2nd round sites next year.

[79Warrior]

Sure would like to have seen Juniors shot go in. He did not get a single point from the field this season.

[Moonboots]

On the bright side, there is no California 1st/2nd round sites next year.

Hopefully there's 1st and 2nd round Marquette sightings next year....

[punchystones]

How much more painful will this lost be if Montana beats New Mexico?  I thought we beat New Mexico and would destroy Montana.  Saturday is going to be a depressing day.

[LastWarrior]

Huge huge Washington advantage with the crowd.  Very much outnumbered.

On TV, the UW support was very apparent.  It definitely sounded like we were playing on their home floor.  I personally underestimated how well their fans would show.  Props to them...

[Dish]

New Mexico is going to have a real tough time with UW, especially if they bring out the amount of fans they brought out tonight.

[Norm]

The ability to play closer to your school than the opponent cannot be underestimated in the NCAA's. I'm not sure most people realize that George Mason didn't play more than 150 miles form their campus the first four rounds the year they made it to the Final Four. In fact, they played in Washington, DC in the Regional's, about 10 miles from their campus. The home court advantage they had as a low seed in the Regiona'ls was unbelievable.

Would UW have come back down by 15 if the game was played say, in Buffalo, with them only having about 1/4 of the crowd? Who knows, but the ability to play so much closer to than their opponent, being a #11 seed, really helped them.

[westcoastwarrior]

Just got back from the game.  I was nervous in the morning when Wash. U used up all of there allocation (550) and bought 1000 more tickets.  So I was thinking we were going to be outnumbered 3-1...but when we got to the stadium.. It looked like 5-1.  They had a huge home court advantage.

In term of the game...Lorenzo made some good 2-half adjustments.  Completely denying DJO the ball. When he did get the ball, he was almost at the half court line.

Jimmy couldn't get in the flow of the game..it seemed every time out the coaching staff was dealing with something bleading (mouth, elbow..).

Plus...Lorenzo decided to pick his poison...Acker...deny everyone else the kick-out...let Acker drive...which was not successful.

On a bright note...my kids had a good time.

On a bright note...the kids had a nice time.

[Norm]

So how much of the crowd cheered for MU? 20 percent? Less?

Was there any talk among those at the game that Buzz should have called a TO earlier in the UW run that got them back in the game?

[ChicosBailBonds]

So how much of the crowd cheered for MU? 20 percent? Less?

Was there any talk among those at the game that Buzz should have called a TO earlier in the UW run that got them back in the game?

I was not sitting with the MU folks as I had tickets from CBS. In fact, I was surrounded by locals mostly that were actually cheering more for Washington.  No real talk in my section about the timeouts or lack of one.

As far as how many people were cheering for Marquette, 20% is probably a decent number.  Hard to say.  UW fans were everywhere, upstairs, downstairs, endzones.  A lot of them and they were loud. 

We had our foot on their necks and we didn't close out the deal.

Good to bump into some folks at the pep rally that are on the message boards.  Always a friendly lot.  Father Wild was there.  Steve Cottingham.  Steve Novak....took a few photos with the kids...very generous young man. 

It certainly was an exciting game, just a bummer of a result.  Next year will be very interesting, I have no idea what to expect.  A lot of talent but so many unknowns.

[Hards Alumni]

Just got back from the game.  I was nervous in the morning when Wash. U used up all of there allocation (550) and bought 1000 more tickets.  So I was thinking we were going to be outnumbered 3-1...but when we got to the stadium.. It looked like 5-1.  They had a huge home court advantage.

personally, I have a huge problem with this.  Why an 11 seed gets to play a game that is a 2 hour plane ride, while the 6 seed has to travel across half the country just isn't right.

I understand, but it just doesn't sit right with me.

[4everwarriors]

I don't think the proximity to Washington had anything to do with the loss. Romar had more horses and therefore a better gameplan than Buzz. Basically, MU can only play one way with the current roster. Was Buzz outcoached? Yeah sure, but he's not clueless. Just doesn't have enough playas. Maybe the 15 pt. lead should have been handled differently. The boys were gassed. UW ran them silly in the first half; smart move. Also. Butler and DJO cannot disappear during games; both did, so credit Romar.
Finally, as we all can see, seedings mean very little. Knight is right. Get into the Tourney and see who you play next. Washington is very good with a stellar coach. As for MU, I think we have the coach, now just get some servicable big men.

[96warrior]

I don't think the proximity to Washington had anything to do with the loss. Romar had more horses and therefore a better gameplan than Buzz. Basically, MU can only play one way with the current roster. Was Buzz outcoached? Yeah sure, but he's not clueless. Just doesn't have enough playas. Maybe the 15 pt. lead should have been handled differently. The boys were gassed. UW ran them silly in the first half; smart move.

This is the crux of our problems, more than anything else - including lack of size. We just don't have a deep enough bench. When the slide started, you could see how bad it was going to get just by looking at how tired the guys were.

I remain utterly impressed with the achievements this team made this year. I bet they sleep for weeks after this. They must be exhausted.

[willie warrior]

On the bright side, there is no California 1st/2nd round sites next year.

There is also no guarantee that we will make the dance next year.