CBS Recap of L'Ville game

[JTBMU7]

for all the chicken littles on this board, please read the logical, level-headed review from CBS on last night's game...
"Louisville 84, Marquette 71.
"I'm not sure they've had a better meal all year long than what we served them tonight," Buzz Williams said of his team's uncompetitive loss to Louisville Thursday.

Louisville scores 84 after not cracking 62 in its past five games? An oddity, considering the opponent, which is No. 19 in the nation in defensive efficiency and lets up .91 points per possession. The Cardinals also forced 26 turnovers, which was a season-high for MU, the highest giveaway total in Buzz Williams' tenure and one shy of the Big East tournament record.

"I did a really bad job. If your team has 26 turnovers, and allows 26 offensive rebounds, which is the most since I've been here, it's on the head coach," Williams said. "Every player that played more than three minutes had a turnover."

And yet, the game didn't mean that much for the Golden Eagles. Marquette was waxed last season against Louisville in the quarters. It followed that up with a Sweet 16 appearance. How teams finish in the conference tournaments — last year notwithstanding — don't have a correlation to NCAA tournament performance. Syracuse has run the table before and lost in its first game. Others have bowed out in their first game and made Final Fours. Williams' team will be a three or a four seed on Selection Sunday, and they'll win at least a game, no problem, next week. The coach isn't fretting. This was a bad game, but it's not indicative of the team's season, and really, what was the urgency for Marquette here?

"I don't think we'll make any adjustments. It's groundhog day every day from what we do," Williams said of his team's preparation. "We're fortunate that our body of work lets us play another game. ... If you study our 31 games prior to now, we're probably just as good playing against teams that are like us. This is an aberration to how we play."

Absolutely. No matter how far they go, the Golden Eagles won't have another game with more than 25 turnovers and 25 offensive rebounds relented."

[MUMac]

What a poor article.  No ripping Junior apart?  Come on, poor reporting.  Buzz accepting the blame?  Sounded too conciliatory to me.  He should have been more shamed in his responses.  Really disappointed with that article!!!

[LON]

I was as upset as anyone last night, but I'm still optimistic.  Probably because I watched every game this year (except for UCONN) since I had Pre-Cana/Engagement Enrichment.  That and they can't possible play any worse than whatever the heck that was last night.

[WellsstreetWanderer]

How many turnovers did Buzz have? How many times did Buzz try to dribble between two players?
I hope they all watch this game over and over. Those early game shooting droughts are getting tedious to watch as well.

[MU82]

I love that Buzz took the blame. A lot of coaches would have gone into rip mode -- and I'm sure Buzz will do some of that in the privacy of the practice court -- but publicly, Buzz let everybody know that he, too, is a team player.

Recruits like coaches who don't throw them under the bus.

[JTBMU7]

I was as upset as anyone last night, but I'm still optimistic.  Probably because I watched every game this year (except for UCONN) since I had Pre-Cana/Engagement Enrichment.  That and they can't possible play any worse than whatever the heck that was last night.

When I did pre-cana (about 5 years ago), we had to watch a video on Natural Family Planning. Hilarious late-80's church video complete with Permed hair and turtlenecks. About halfway through the video I spot the Joan of Arc chapel in the background of one of the interviews and realized it was filmed on MU's campus... this was at a church in New York too, making it even more surprising.

Not surprising was that all of the couples in the video had 19 kids...

[brewcity77]

That's one opinion. One that is pretty thoroughly debunked here:

http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-basketball/2012/3/7/2851880/championship-week-conference-tournaments-college-basketball-ncaa

College basketball fans will hear plenty of people argue this week that losing early in a conference tournament is actually beneficial. These people are wrong.

Follow @sbnation on Twitter, and Like SBNation.com on Facebook.

Mar 7, 2012 - Over the past several years, there's been an increasingly audible contingent of fans claiming that a team is less likely to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament if it plays the maximum possible number of games in its conference tournament the previous week. You'd think Connecticut winning five games in five days on its way to the 2011 national championship would have quelled such talk, but to my surprise it's been every bit as abundant in recent days as it has been in years past.

The two main points used in this assertion are: 1) Sometimes a good team needs a loss before the big dance in order to restore focus; and 2) Playing three (or four ... or five) games in as many days leaves a team exhausted and vulnerable the week after.

This is a sentiment that I believe demands a rebuking.

While it's certainly possible that there are teams out there that would benefit from a swift kick in the ass, far more often than not, those squads aren't going to be winning championships anyway. The groups that need more than three days of rest to be 100 percent for a game and the ones that aren't mature enough to approach each and every contest with the right mindset probably aren't worthy of much faith in your office pool. If a team doesn't have the focus to win in early March or the legs to win three games in three days, then it likely doesn't have the focus to win in late March, or the legs to win six games in three weeks.

The point I'm trying to make isn't necessarily that there's a direct correlation between conference tournament success and NCAA Tournament success -- the best teams in the country win games, that's not one-handed brain surgery -- I'm just trying to say that there is not a benefit to bowing out early in a conference tournament. "Good losses" are for Little League teams and politicians.

The contrarian crowd always seems to bring up the same example: the 1996 Kentucky Wildcats, one of the greatest teams in history in college basketball and one which did not win its conference tournament. My initial response to this point is that UK lost to Mississippi State in the championship game, which eliminates any potential "well-rested" argument. My secondary response is that the '96 Wildcats were such a superior team that they can't be judged with an ordinary barometer.

People nowadays are always bringing "facts" into arguments, and since I'm a sucker for fads (let's compare pogs), I'll go ahead and share a few for you all to wrap your heads around (literally).

    Three of the four national semifinalists from 2007, 2010 and 2011 were conference tournament champions, and all four teams in the 2008 Final Four won their league tourney. The anomaly is 2009 when national semifinalists Michigan State (Big Ten), Villanova (Big East), Connecticut (Big East), and North Carolina (ACC) had all bowed out early in their respective conference tournament.
    The combined NCAA Tournament record of the six major conference tournament champions last year was 18-5, with Kentucky and Connecticut advancing to the Final Four. Of those five losses, two (Kentucky to UConn and Ohio State to Kentucky) came at the hands of a fellow big six tournament champion.
    In 2010, the combined NCAA Tournament record of the six major conference tournament champions was also 18-5. Of those six teams, only one (Ohio State) lost to a non-conference tournament champion (Tennessee). Three (Kentucky, Washington, West Virginia), were knocked off by one of the other five BCS champs (West Virginia beat Kentucky and Washington before falling to Duke).
    There were 10 conferences that sent multiple teams to the tournament last year. Of those 10, only two (VCU from the CAA and Arizona from the Pac-10) had a team that didn't win its conference tournament advance further in the big dance than the team that did.
    There were also 10 conferences that sent multiple teams to the tournament in 2010, and again, only two (Big Ten, Big 12) had a team that didn't win its conference tournament advance further in the big dance than the team that did.
    There were 12 conferences that sent multiple teams to the NCAA Tournament in 2007. Of those 12, only three (WAC, A-10, Pac-10) had a team that didn't advance to its conference tournament championship game advance further in the NCAA Tournament than a team that did. Of those three teams, only UCLA won more than one game.
    Over the past five seasons, the six major conference tournament champions are 88-26 in the NCAA Tournament and have claimed four of those five national titles.
    All six BCS conference tournament champions advanced to the Elite Eight in 2007. The other two quarterfinalists were Memphis -- which won the Conference USA Tournament -- and UCLA.
    The combined NCAA Tournament record of the six BCS conference tournament champions in 2007 was 24-5. Of those five losses, only one (Kansas' Elite Eight loss to UCLA) came against a non-fellow BCS conference tournament champion.
    In 2010, no tournament champion advanced to the Final Four. The record of the big six tourney champs that year was 11-6. Of those six teams, only Georgia (seeded 13th) and USC (seeded 10th) didn't make it past the first weekend. Louisville and Missouri were both defeated in the Elite Eight.
    Ten of the last 14 national champions have won their conference tournament. North Carolina in '09 and '05, Syracuse in '03, and Maryland in '02 are the exceptions.
    Twenty of the last 32 Final Four teams have been conference tournament champions, and three of those qualifying teams that didn't win their league title played in the same conference as the fellow semifinalist which did.

The statistics speak pretty clearly: winning three or four (or five) games in as many days puts you at no disadvantage as far as the NCAA Tournament is concerned. There are approximately 126 stoppages of play in every nationally televised college basketball game, and every major conference tournament champion this weekend is going to have between 4-6 days of rest before tipping off in the big dance. The kids are going to be all right.

While hoisting a league tournament trophy may not provide any sort of magic edge for the succeeding weeks, there's no question that it does improve seeding and breeds confidence. If you're a fan of a team playing for a conference title this week, there's no part of you that should quietly be rooting for an early exit.

[JTBMU7]

That's one opinion. One that is pretty thoroughly debunked here:

http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-basketball/2012/3/7/2851880/championship-week-conference-tournaments-college-basketball-ncaa

not at all.

this article is saying that winning your conf tourney by and large translates to success in the NCAA's.

the article i referenced simply said that losing early isnt necessarily cause for alarm.

it's pretty obvious to say that teams that win their conf tournament do well in the NCAA's.. they are most likely already 1-3 seeds so they should be successful regardless.

[LON]

When I did pre-cana (about 5 years ago), we had to watch a video on Natural Family Planning. Hilarious late-80's church video complete with Permed hair and turtlenecks. About halfway through the video I spot the Joan of Arc chapel in the background of one of the interviews and realized it was filmed on MU's campus... this was at a church in New York too, making it even more surprising.

Not surprising was that all of the couples in the video had 19 kids...

Actually, NFP session was the most rewarding for us and we did not thankfully watch the same video.  They definitely upgraded it, because if the couples in the video were actors, they fooled everyone watching it.

/refrains from making mucous analogy to MU's play last night

[CTWarrior]

I guess your reaction to this game depends a lot on how much you value the conference tournament.  We had a realistic chance (maybe 20% or something like that) of winning the BET.  We have significantly less than a 1% chance of winning the NCAA tournament.

If you look at everything that happens from October through Selection Sunday as merely gaining positioning for the NCAA tournament, I guess last night wasn't a big deal.  But if you look at the Big East Tournament as a jewel for its own sake, like I do, then last night really sucked.

[brewcity77]

I guess your reaction to this game depends a lot on how much you value the conference tournament.  We had a realistic chance (maybe 20% or something like that) of winning the BET.  We have significantly less than a 1% chance of winning the NCAA tournament.

If you look at everything that happens from October through Selection Sunday as merely gaining positioning for the NCAA tournament, I guess last night wasn't a big deal.  But if you look at the Big East Tournament as a jewel for its own sake, like I do, then last night really sucked.

+762 gazillion and 3

[klyrish]

It's not that I think the sky is falling or anything like that. It's that I'm so incredibly embarrassed at what a ridiculously poor showing we had last night. Right after getting ranked 7, Cinci rain a train on us and made it look like we'd never been on the court before.

Same thing happened last night.

I bleed blue and gold and will forever be a Marquette fan even after games like last night, but it hurts the pride. Big time. Had we lost to a buzzer-beater or just showed up AT ALL, I wouldn't be as upset. We played like UWM last night. I can't look anyone who knows anything about college basketball in the eye today.

[LON]

I guess your reaction to this game depends a lot on how much you value the conference tournament.  We had a realistic chance (maybe 20% or something like that) of winning the BET.  We have significantly less than a 1% chance of winning the NCAA tournament.

If you look at everything that happens from October through Selection Sunday as merely gaining positioning for the NCAA tournament, I guess last night wasn't a big deal.  But if you look at the Big East Tournament as a jewel for its own sake, like I do, then last night really sucked.

You're not saying anything I disagree with, but I'm not ready to go off the deep end (not saying you are).  But you have to admit, there are some trolleriffic posts being thrown around and a lot of gnashing of teeth.  I'm still optimistic since we've been privy to a very entertaining season so far, so I'll anxiously await MU's chance to redeem themselves for that giant turd they laid in the middle of MSG.