So much respect Murray St.

[AZWarrior]

Murray St was good and I expected them to be good. Did anyone else notice that during the timeout just before the game turned the fans were chanting overrated. They should take back their chant.

Chanting "over rated" is really a left-handed insult to your own team.  Alternatively, I like to view our defensive intensity as a major factor in Murray State's poor shooting percentage.

[brewcity77]

Brewcity posted nice on their forum. Well done.

Bit of a pain, too...lots of hoops to join their forum, and had to have the confirmation email resent a couple times. Still, I was impressed, and they deserve props. Hell of a team, far better than I expected.

[Big Papi]

I thought Murray State was a good but not great team.  They sure did play hard and tough but we missed soooo many shots that normally go in and it wasn't Murray State defense as much as it was just rushed shots and shots that were just off.  If Vander could learn how to finish around the basket, we win by 20.

[Henry Sugar]

Was trading texts with Tim during the game.  My analogy was that Marquette was Apollo Creed from Rocky One.

"He doesn't think this is a show.  He thinks this is a damn fight!"

Yeah, I compared MSU to Rocky

[AZWarrior]

What was the line on today's game?

[Dawson Rental]

Murray State was really, really good. However, in the end, Coach Williams out-coached Murray, and the Warriors were simply in better shape. After 35 minutes, the Racers began to wilt, while Marquette seemed to get stronger. To state the obvious, being better conditioned and, more importantly, mentally "tuffer", determined the winner of this 40 minute toe-to-toe slug fest. What a great game!

I would like to take this opportunity to point out the coach of Murray State is not himself named Murray, otherwise the outcome could very well have been different!

[connie]

Was trading texts with Tim during the game.  My analogy was that Marquette was Apollo Creed from Rocky One.

"He doesn't think this is a show.  He thinks this is a damn fight!"

Yeah, I compared MSU to Rocky

I was thinking the same thing. This was a slugfest, pure and simple.  You can nitpick if you want, but this was an out and out battle, and that earns my respect for Murray State.

[mu_hilltopper]

Can anyone more familiar with MSU give a guess on .. was MSU "off" yesterday, or was Marquette's defense the reason they lost?

I ask because .. I think MU was off, missing more-than-usual open 3s, mid-range jumpers, and around-the-rim.

[jsglow]

I personally congratulated several Murray State fans after the game.  They were gracious in defeat, proud of their team, and wished us well going forward.  I'll reserve judgement on the UK throngs.

[Dr. Blackheart]

Can anyone more familiar with MSU give a guess on .. was MSU "off" yesterday, or was Marquette's defense the reason they lost?

I ask because .. I think MU was off, missing more-than-usual open 3s, mid-range jumpers, and around-the-rim.

It was a very physical game.  Every time DJO went on the move on offense without the ball, his defender had a fistfull of jersey.  Every shot was contested at the rim.  Junior's defensive effort was focused and simply outstanding on Canaan....the guy is a 1st team AA and shoots nearly 50% from three.  As is often the case on these quick turnaround games, teams have to be able to play in the half court in these grinder games.  Lastly, many kudos to Buzz with his game management...working in rest, critical time outs and adjustments, working Sheesh in in the 2nd to just finally wearing down their bigs.  The refs let both teams play, and Buzz adjusted.  Many UK fans I talked to said that was a brilliant time out and was the difference.

Lastly, DJO was a stud.  Just wanted it on both ends and was being worked and working it all game.  Kudos to both teams on great efforts.

[statnik]

Can anyone more familiar with MSU give a guess on .. was MSU "off" yesterday, or was Marquette's defense the reason they lost?

I ask because .. I think MU was off, missing more-than-usual open 3s, mid-range jumpers, and around-the-rim.

I think much of it was MU's swarming D.  I didn't think we were capable of such a consistent defensive effort (sans a few easy baskets in transition and halfcourt).  Helped that they didn't have much size, so we could overwhelm them physically.

[CTWarrior]

Both teams played good D, but both teams missed some very makeable shots, particularly in the first half.  Think we were better conditioned and just wore them down, as was said in many other threads.  We shoot like we did yesterday against Florida (assuming they get past NSU) and we may well lose.

That said, it was a very spirited game with both teams giving their all, the kind of game you like to see in the tournament.

[Goose]

They were a nice team but the best team won yesterday. I think we played poorly for too many minutes of the game and were in control much of it. Not taking away from Murray State but we are the better team. I think we would beat them 7-8 times out of ten on neutral court. Boys... bigger and better fish to fry between now and April 2nd.

[nyg]

Can anyone more familiar with MSU give a guess on .. was MSU "off" yesterday, or was Marquette's defense the reason they lost?

I ask because .. I think MU was off, missing more-than-usual open 3s, mid-range jumpers, and around-the-rim.

Friend of mine who is a PITT alumni, brought this up.  If this year's MSU squad was in the Big East, would they be like a Rutgers/Providence or an upper tier team?  Based on yesterday's performance, I really couldn't give a fair answer.  

[tzznandrew]

Murray State was really difficult to seed.  Only one loss is quite impressive, but they're conference was not very good, and they lost at home to Middle Tennessee State.  I watched them a couple times and I wasn't very impressed (including the conference tournament).  I figured a 6 was fair.

But watching them against "us" I decided that, at least by the end of the year, they could have competed in the Big East.  Certainly more losses, but they'd have won more games than Rutgers, I think.

[CTWarrior]

Friend of mine who is a PITT alumni, brought this up.  If this year's MSU squad was in the Big East, would they be like a Rutgers/Providence or an upper tier team?  Based on yesterday's performance, I really couldn't give a fair answer.  

They'd have been a very good team, I think.  Somewhere between 9-9 and 13-5 depending on how their schedule broke.   I haven't seen a lot of them other than dismantling St. Mary's and their game against us, so I don't know how much that opinion is worth.  I can guarantee Providence or Rutgers (or most of the BE conference, for that matter) would not have done as well as 31-2 against Murray State's schedule.

[Avenue Commons]

That was a very, very good Murray State team. Having to play them in their home state as a 6 seed was a very tough matchup for Marquette in the Round of 32. It's rare that the team we played in the Round of 32 was a better seed (6) than the team we will play in the Sweet 16. Florida is a 7 seed and Norfolk State is a 15 seed. Add the fact that Murray State was nationally ranked in the Top 10, and one could make the argument that was a "better" team than anyone MQ might face in our region other than Michigan State.

[Golden Avalanche]

Chanting "over rated" is really a left-handed insult to your own team.  Alternatively, I like to view our defensive intensity as a major factor in Murray State's poor shooting percentage.

I've never understood this cheer.

It is chanted by dumb people who are too dumb to realize the dumbness of dumbing down your team's victory.