Women win 14th straight!

[MUfan12]

MU beats DePaul 82-79, after being down by as many as 14 in the first half.

Huge win for Coach Mitchell and the ladies!

[4everwarriors]

Coach Mitchell's a winner.

[ToddPacker]

Mitchell's winning percentage = .636, Crean's = .650.  Mitchell has had ten seasons prior to this and Crean 7.  I'd say we're lucky to have two excellent coaches who have their respective programs headed, generally, in the right direction.  Congrats to the lady Warriors!

[Big Papi]

Mitchell's winning percentage = .636, Crean's = .650.  Mitchell has had ten seasons prior to this and Crean 7.  I'd say we're lucky to have two excellent coaches who have their respective programs headed, generally, in the right direction.  Congrats to the lady Warriors!

Not good enough.  Anything short of .700 winning percentage considering the facilities and money invested in our basketball programs is a huge disappointment.

Just kidding. 

The women's team is having a great season.  They looked real good smoking Syracuse.  Glad to see channel 32 on Time Warner is devoted to wisconsin sports.  Got to see the Syracuse-MU women game and a great interview with Cords.

[ilovefreeway]

"Coach Mitchell's a winner."

Yes, it only took her 10 years to come close to what Tom did in his 3rd.

[MU Avenue]

... but she seems to be a strong recruiter who prepares her teams solidly and leads -- guides -- them well during games.

I would not say the same about Coach Crean. Yes, he has had some recruiting successes and some good wins. But many of the players he has brought in -- Ousmane Barro and other weak big men -- have not made the team better or stronger. And his tenure at MU also includes some horrible, ridiculous losses.

Crean does a good job of creating hype for himself and his teams. He gets fans excited -- to his credit. But that hype and excitement tend to be dashed when we see his teams begin almost every game slowly, play to the level of their competition and, overall, fail to materialize into the teams that were hyped and, therefore, expected.

Crean seems to struggle badly in the heat of battle. His teams throughout his time at Marquette have run no discernable offense other than to pass the ball several times before lobbing up long-distance shots. It is also difficult to make sense of Crean's substitutions and of the adjustments he makes -- if any -- when the team is playing poorly or has fallen behind by good margins.

I like Tom Crean. He seems like a good, well-intentioned guy who is a great fit at Marquette. I am just not sure he is the topnotch coach that ESPN announcers and some sports reporters would have us believe. If he really is a star and a hot commodity within the collegiate coaching ranks, I would ask someone to explain why.

[ilovefreeway]

"And his tenure at MU also includes some horrible, ridiculous losses."

And some amazing unpredictable wins, or does he not get credit for that?

[maxpower773]

Of course he wouldn't...that was all the players that he recruited and help become better....What I really don't get is did everyone just suddenly forget the 90's? I won't even get into the years before that. Going back to the original subject though...great win for the women, lets see how long they can keep this streak going.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Mitchell's winning percentage = .636, Crean's = .650.  Mitchell has had ten seasons prior to this and Crean 7.  I'd say we're lucky to have two excellent coaches who have their respective programs headed, generally, in the right direction.  Congrats to the lady Warriors!

Actually, Crean is at .661

[ChicosBailBonds]

I like Tom Crean. He seems like a good, well-intentioned guy who is a great fit at Marquette. I am just not sure he is the topnotch coach that ESPN announcers and some sports reporters would have us believe. If he really is a star and a hot commodity within the collegiate coaching ranks, I would ask someone to explain why.

I don't know....perhaps averaging 20 wins per year in your first 7 years ever as a head coach despite inheriting a losing team?  Going to a Final Four as a non-BCS school which has only been done 3 times in the last 30 years.  Beating the likes of Coach K, Coach Knight, Coach Howland, Coach Calhoun, Coach Ryan, Coach Pitino, Coach Tubby Smith, Coach Crum, Coach Huggins, Coach Dixon, Coach Wright, Coach Few, etc, etc.

Putting 3 players in the NBA in the last 3 years.

Oh, and he just turned the ripe old age of 40.

Sorry for the sarcasm, but that's just for starters.

The ridiculous losses, I'd love to know what those are as well.  ND State?  I guess Coach Ryan also has ridiculous losses.  Winthrop?  Let's see, NCAA several straight years now.  I'm hard pressed to identify what the "ridiculous" losses are to be honest with you.  I can find a whole slew of wonderful wins, many where we were the underdog in seeding / ranking / sports odds.

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

I'd say losing by 47 points to Louisville was more than a little ridiculous.

[ilovefreeway]

Ridiculous losses:
1) S. Alabama (pre-season NIT)
2) W. Mich (NIT) Injuries the real reason but I blame TC (and he blamed himself) for not having a 2nd PG on the team
3) E. Carolina @ E. Carolina (twice I think) always bothered me
4) Louisville when TD was hurt (see #2)
Honorable mention: NDSU (upsets happen, but that was bad)

I can't think of anymore that fall in the "ridiculous" catagory.  Kansas was a bad loss, but I can't call any FF loss "rediculous" and I can't blame a 3rd year head coach for getting taken to school by a HOFer.  I think TC has proven himself against the best of the coaching world since then (Knight, K, Huggy, Pitino, Calhune (sp), Bo (remember he beat them when Travis was so hurt he should not have played).  

Great wins: (just my opinion and the ones I can think of over coffee this morning)
1) Kentucky
2) UConn
3) G'Town - Pitt back to back
4) #4 ranked Cincinnatti in '02
5) the 1st GAS run (Tenn, indiana, Gonzaga)
6) the great comeback from halftime v. Louisville
7) #14 ranked Wake Forest
8)  Duke
9) The rest of the '03 NCAA run

[Big Papi]

Ridiculous losses:
1) S. Alabama (pre-season NIT)
2) W. Mich (NIT) Injuries the real reason but I blame TC (and he blamed himself) for not having a 2nd PG on the team
3) E. Carolina @ E. Carolina (twice I think) always bothered me
4) Louisville when TD was hurt (see #2)
Honorable mention: NDSU (upsets happen, but that was bad)

I can't think of anymore that fall in the "ridiculous" catagory.  Kansas was a bad loss, but I can't call any FF loss "rediculous" and I can't blame a 3rd year head coach for getting taken to school by a HOFer.  I think TC has proven himself against the best of the coaching world since then (Knight, K, Huggy, Pitino, Calhune (sp), Bo (remember he beat them when Travis was so hurt he should not have played).  

I agree with both your lists.  Interesting to note that most of the bad losses i remember come from Diener's senior year when the season fell apart when we lost Diener and didn't have a backup point guard.  I don't have a problem with that considering a lesson was learned and coach said that he will never make that mistake again.  Even Coach K has experienced a very bad year but in his bad year his team finished well below .500 after a long successful run before and soon after that season.