We are now only...

[VwArrior1]

1 game out of 4th place in the BE.  Who would of ever thought.

[mug644]

Yup, the G'town and Pitt losses really helped tonight. Though we don't really want to see USF keep up their momentum.

[MR.HAYWARD]

personally i think it would be better for us for USF to have lost

[mug644]

personally i think it would be better for us for USF to have lost

Could be, but we have yet to play them. As long as we beat them (like we did G'town), it might not matter one way or the other.

[nyg]

Could be, but we have yet to play them. As long as we beat them (like we did G'town), it might not matter one way or the other.

USF will be a tough game, especially since they get their talented bigman, Gus Gilchrist back.  Jones, Howard and Famous are playing very, very good and are on a roll.  This is not a pushover game anymore.  Hopefully it will be a good win.

[PE8983]

We are going to have to play our "A" game to beat them.

[jaygall31]

4 wins away from .500 in league play.

Am I far off from saying if we finish 9-9 or better Buzz should be big east coach of the year?

[KipsBayEagle]

4 wins away from .500 in league play.

Am I far off from saying if we finish 9-9 or better Buzz should be big east coach of the year?

I don't think your far off at all, but barring Marquette winning the big east tournament, its going to either Jay Wright/ jamie Dixon/ or if somehow usf can keep this up, their coach

[MU1984]

KenPom just tweeted that its even money on BE wins between G'town and Marq.  Wow.  With 8 games to go and all those close losses, lets give it up to Buzz and the players!  Never, never saw this coming.

[Sir Lawrence]

KenPom just tweeted that its even money on BE wins between G'town and Marq.  Wow.  With 8 games to go and all those close losses, lets give it up to Buzz and the players!  Never, never saw this coming.

I like this tweet of his better:

Snopes needs to investigate if Marquette's earlier loss to DePaul actually occurred or if it's just an urban legend.

[Marquette84]

1 game out of 4th place in the BE.  Who would of ever thought.

Some of us did, but at the time, projecting anything better than 12th place led to accusations of "having an agenda".

4 wins away from .500 in league play.

Am I far off from saying if we finish 9-9 or better Buzz should be big east coach of the year?

Crean didn't win when the 2006 team finished in a tie for 4th after being picked for 12th.  Buzz isn't going to win for finishing .500--especially when you have two teams sitting with one loss overall.  I think we'd have to run the table, and then see VU, SU and WVU lose a few more games each.

With just one loss each, I think the award is Wright's or Boeheim's to lose right now.  Unless both teams utterly collapse, we'll know the COY on 2/27 after these two teams play each other.  

[NersEllenson]

Also feel it would have been better had G'Town beat USF..we need that Signature win to look as good as possible.  Furthermore, don't look now..but we very well could be battling with USF for a spot in the tourney.  With that win over GTown, they moved squarely onto the bubble.  I see the USF game as a MUST WIN game for MU...as I see the Big East getting 8 teams in the Dance..maybe 9.  We know the 5 locks, but then it is going to come down to 3 (possibly 4) out of MU, Cincy, L'ville, Notre Dame, South Florida and I'm gonna say UCONN.

[MU1984]

Let's not forget that this is all worthless if we dont go into the Homer Simpson dome and beat Prov.

[MU B2002]

In case anyone is wondering...

USF losses: ND(H), LOU(A), WV, Cuse(A), CMU(H), SCar(N), Cin (A)

Good Wins: Gtown(A), Pitt (H)


I was curious, so I thought I would share.

[PE8983]

Pitt:
Not (1) single impressive out of conference win.
Blown out against Texas.
Lost to Indiana.
6-4 in conference (Wins at Syracuse, Cinci, and UConn; Home against Louisville)
Lost 4 of their last 5 including bubble teams Seton Hall and S. Fla.
Why are they a lock for the dance???

[Hards Alumni]

Pitt:
Not (1) single impressive out of conference win.
Blown out against Texas.
Lost to Indiana.
6-4 in conference (Wins at Syracuse, Cinci, and UConn; Home against Louisville)
Lost 4 of their last 5 including bubble teams Seton Hall and S. Fla.
Why are they a lock for the dance???

moreover, why is anyone mentioning Dixon for BEAST COY?

[bradforster]

Am I far off from saying if we finish 9-9 or better Buzz should be big east coach of the year?

If South Florida finishes .500 in the league you could make just as strong an argument for Stan Heath.  MU was picked to finish 12th in most pre-season forecasts and South Florida even lower than that.  Considering the Bulls are 16-62 since joining the conference, Heath would have the inside track on claiming the honor. 

Here are the pre-season comments of one Big East blogger on the two teams:

13. Marquette - It's going to be a long year for Buzz Williams.

15. South Florida - Stan Heath continues to struggle to recruit top high school players to South Florida.

More proof that pre-season polling is both entertaining and nugatory. 

There's plenty of hoops left, but both teams have favorable schedules the rest of the way and legitimate shots at finishing .500 or better in the conference.  The game on February 13th just got a lot more interesting. 

[GOMU1104]

People were mentioning Dixon as a COY candidate when they 5-0 in BE play, not so much anymore.

Regardless...Pitt will be fine. I would say winning 8 in row, including 3 straight road wins @ Syracuse, @ Uconn, and @ UC is pretty impressive.

By the way...how mad would this board be if we had a 6'9" 240 LB McDonalds AA freshman that was averaging 12.9 mpg, 3 ppg, and 2.6 rpg in BE play?  That is what Pitt has in Dante Taylor...thats how unpredictable recruiting can be.

[nyg]

People were mentioning Dixon as a COY candidate when they 5-0 in BE play, not so much anymore.

Regardless...Pitt will be fine. I would say winning 8 in row, including 3 straight road wins @ Syracuse, @ Uconn, and @ UC is pretty impressive.

By the way...how mad would this board be if we had a 6'9" 240 LB McDonalds AA freshman that was averaging 12.9 mpg, 3 ppg, and 2.6 rpg in BE play?  That is what Pitt has in Dante Taylor...thats how unpredictable recruiting can be.

My best friend, a PITT alumni and B-ball junkie has said the same regarding Taylor.  Taylor was a stud in HS, a McDonald's and Parade All American.  PITT personnel thought he would be a replacement for Blair and might even be a "one and done".
Hasn't turned out that way and no one knows why, but some believe it is the transition from HS to college.  Taylor played at three different HS, the last being one of those "basketball factories" and has had problems adjusting to campus and college b-ball life.  Some kids who have gone through the same (Wall) can adjust, some cannot.  Taylor definitely has the talent and potential and maybe it will take a year.  Yes, the PITT boards are doing exactly what this board would be doing.

[PE8983]

Herb Pope was the same way coming out of HS, and supposedly was going to go to Pitt.  It takes a while for bigs to develop, so the longer we wait to get one in, most likely it's going to be even longer until they are ready.

[NersEllenson]

Pitt:
Not (1) single impressive out of conference win.
Blown out against Texas.
Lost to Indiana.
6-4 in conference (Wins at Syracuse, Cinci, and UConn; Home against Louisville)
Lost 4 of their last 5 including bubble teams Seton Hall and S. Fla.
Why are they a lock for the dance???

Reasonable point - but it just seems the national pundits like Pitt, and that their program carries a little more respect than does MU's.  Not saying that is right by any means - they both have been great since MU joined Big East play.  I do think that if it came down to a choice between Pitt and MU for the last Big East team to get into the NCAA - Pitt would get the nod. Obviously, if we beat Pitt that would tilt things in our favor.  But, as you point out..it probably is wise to move Pitt off of the "Lock" line.