[Cracked Sidewalks] Marquette aims to take the fight to the Irish

[CrackedSidewalksSays]

Marquette aims to take the fight to the Irish
Saturday afternoon. Big game. Rivalry game. .......how fantastic is this!

Matt from the ND blog did a great job on previewing the Irish, now let's get specific with the Top Five Numbers to Know about Notre Dame. Tipoff is scheduled for 1pm CST. As always, information comes from Pomeroy's Scouting Report and Game Plan.

17 - Notre Dame's Pomeroy Ranking

    * Notre Dame is a top 20 team according to Pomeroy (RPI of 52)
    * Marquette is ranked #6 according to Pomeroy (RPI of 23)

0 - Number of Away games that Notre Dame has played

    * The Irish have played four games at neutral sites, but none on an opponent's home court

27.1% - Offensive Rebounding Percentage (OR%) that Notre Dame allows on defense

    * As a reminder, OR% is the number of offensive rebounds out of total possible rebounds. The equation is Team OR / (Team OR + Opponent DR). Each defensive rebound by the opponent is a potential offensive rebound.
    * The OR% allowed by Notre Dame is 15th best in the country.
    * They've only allowed five opponents to crack 30%, and only one opponent has hit 40%.
    * Marquette is averaging 40.1% on offense, but has been shut down in their last two games by West Virginia (25%) and Seton Hall (30.6%)
    * In both of the Domer's losses, their opponent grabbed over 35% on offensive rebound percentage
    * Offensive Rebounding Percentage is the matchup of the game

18.4% - Notre Dame's Turnover Rate while on offense

    * ND turns the ball over less than one in five possessions
    * This places them in the top 10% of all Division 1 teams
    * Marquette is facing their third straight opponent that protects the ball very well
    * However, we are forcing opponents into a turnover rate of 23.7%, and we pushed both WV and SHU into more turnovers than they usually commit

35.8% - Marquette's average Free Throw Rate on defense

    * Free Throw Rate is Free Throws Attempted / Field Goals Attempted
    * When our opponents are held under 35%, Marquette wins
    * In the two losses, our opponents have gone over 50% on Free Throw Rate, meaning that the opponent was shooting a free throw every other time they took a shot

Summary
Notre Dame is a very good team, and we should feel concerned about this game. However, they have yet to face a rabid home crowd such as the Bradley Center. Notre Dame's success depends on how they do at securing and preventing offensive rebounds, as well as protecting the ball. Marquette needs to return to their previous offensive rebounding prowess and to limit the amount of times that ND gets to the line.

Should be a great game. Pomeroy forecasts a 79% chance of a Marquette win. With a hat tip to Henry's brother-in-law, look for the team to play inspired basketball and perform like Warriors.

Let's rock the Bradley Center on Saturday, because Marquette's gonna roll!

Links

    * Here is the GoMarquette preview.
    * CBS has a preview on YouTube.
    * CS' breakdown over at the ND blog.
    * Eric Silver's fine preview at MarquetteHoops.
http://www.crackedsidewalks.com/2008/01/marquette-aims-to-take-fight-to-irish.html