Ridiculously overconfident

[ChicosBailBonds]

Why do you have to be such a wet blanket?

I will never forget that game.  That is what basketball is about in March.  And all you can do is sit back there with your above-it-all attitude.

Because we've played like crap for four straight games and I'd like to see this team play better.  I'm thrilled we won, but just as if Gonzaga pulls this off, their fanbase will not be thrilled.  I'll remember the game as well, as a game we had no business winning but found a way to win...that's one of those "good news bad news" feelings.  Survive and advance, but also pray we can get our stuff together.  I don't know how many more wake up calls the fellas need, hopefully this one finally gets through to them.

[KenoshaWarrior]

That was a 14 seed vs a 3 seed....just a reminder.   They lost to UW-Milwaukee for Christ sake.

Werent you the same person who has been telling us how great Davidson is all week and how much you love IU

[Pakuni]

"Good coaching" isn't "the other team missing shots."  At the end, Buzz's guys were poised and McKillop's guys weren't.

MU didn't just miss shots. They weren't getting good shots. Davidson - not a particularly good defensive team - totally took MU out of it's offense and Buzz had no answer for it.
If MU had missed a bunch of bunnies and other open looks you would have a point. But that wasn't the case.

Nobody said anything about poise. Red herring.

[GGGG]

You must have watched a different game then Pakuni.  MU missed a bunch of shots that they have been hitting throughout the year.

[Chicos' Buzz Scandal Countdown]

Which is exactly what I said.  Sounds like my analysis is pretty good.   

Picturing someone winking at me while saying sassy things really puts a specific personality type in my mind for you.

If we were out-coached AND out-played how did we win? What's the other variable? Was the floor slanted?

[chcsportsfan]

Because we've played like crap for four straight games and I'd like to see this team play better.  I'm thrilled we won, but just as if Gonzaga pulls this off, their fanbase will not be thrilled.  I'll remember the game as well, as a game we had no business winning but found a way to win...that's one of those "good news bad news" feelings.  Survive and advance, but also pray we can get our stuff together.  I don't know how many more wake up calls the fellas need, hopefully this one finally gets through to them.

I think you said it all right there.  It is not on Buzz, it is on the players.  I think Buzz's game plan was good (and it was similar to what many posters here said prior to the game about what we "should" do defensively).  I do not think Buzz was outcoached whatsoever.  Just like last year against Florida our team shot incredibly poorly (20-58) and would have been even worse if not for the last 90 seconds.  Our defense was solid in my opinion.  Yeah there were a few open baskets but find a game or a team that does not have that.  Also some mental lapses and failures to execute by the players.  Utlimately, Buzz gave our guys a great opportunity to win through his game plan (ie. get the ball in the paint and stop them from shooting open threes).  We crushed them on the boards and if we shoot an ok percentage we win easily.  It is not like we were taking bad shots.  We missed countless layups and paint baskets.  We took mostly open threes.  I think the only possible complaint you may have that is valid against Buzz's coaching is his substitutions which at time can be mind boggling to us watching on tv.

[statnik]

Whatever MU82 - Mu played like crap and pulled it out.   they are a much better team than Davidson...

Davidson didn't play that well either.  They shot under their average and were poor from the free throw line, made a couple of critical mistakes when they were leading at the end of the game.  Amazing people think we're much better than Davidson.  They were on a huge winning streak, and we love playing just well enough to win.

[club cheezes VIP lounge]

Seriously?

A thread about how overconfident FANS of a team are?  Topped with "I told you it would be close" as if you're a basketball guru because you called a close game?

What the real world really wants to know is, why the hell would anyone watch DAVIDSON more than any other team IN THE ENTIRE COUNTRY besides MU?

Seriously?

You missed alot of great basketball this season...

[Marquette_g]

Whatever MU82 - Mu played like crap and pulled it out.   they are a much better team than Davidson...

Chicos and MU82 love being the contrarians. Congrats to them on being nothing but annoying.

[T.V. Diener 34]

+1000

We have played like crap lately, but win.  The idea that we would blow anyone out is comical.  They outplayed us, outcoached us but somehow we won.  An 80% FT shooting team shot 50% today, that really hurt them.

I keep hoping we will play a good game away from the BC, but it looks like we'll just keep slogging away with ugly ball....survive and advance.

Since when is 14-22 from the free throw line 50%?  I was no math major but......

[Newsdreams]

For those of you who say Buzz was outcoached I think you did not understand what Buzz did. The way he setup the D he took Davidson out of their comfort zone on the offensive side. He made them become us and try to play in the paint. Chris Otule took care of a lot of those shots by blocking and changing shots. Davidson only made 2 more three pointers than we did. A team that is supposed to live of three point shots, they average 21 3pt attempts per game, and today they attempted 17 that is a 20% difference. Plus their free throw misses - could not handle the pressure. MU made the free throws (78.9%). It all worked, a team that averages 74 ppg scored only 58 pts, at the end the way the D was setup gave us a chance to win.

[Lennys Tap]

Because we've played like crap for four straight games and I'd like to see this team play better.  I'm thrilled we won, but just as if Gonzaga pulls this off, their fanbase will not be thrilled.  I'll remember the game as well, as a game we had no business winning but found a way to win...that's one of those "good news bad news" feelings.  Survive and advance, but also pray we can get our stuff together.  I don't know how many more wake up calls the fellas need, hopefully this one finally gets through to them.

We didn't "play like crap". After a shaky start, we handled the ball well and we annihilated them on the boards. We did shoot it like crap, but we're not great shooters. Davidson is a very good team. They returned all five starters from from last year's team that almost beat Louisville in the tourney. Give them some well deserved credit.

Chicos, I know you love to play the contrarian, but it honestly (really not kidding) saddens me to see an MU fan stuck on how much we suck after the most incredible tournament comeback by a Marquette team in our storied history.

[real chili 83]

Looks like the internets don't agree with you...or the analysis just now on tv.  To each their own.  They executed very well, they missed their free throws (not a coaching situation) and they threw it away.  We got damn lucky, but I'll take it.  By the way, that was a 14 seed vs a 3 seed...

Sigh.

Did someone kick you dog? Tie a bow in your hair in sixth grade?

Sigh.

[El Duderino]

Looks like the internets don't agree with you...or the analysis just now on tv.  To each their own.  They executed very well, they missed their free throws (not a coaching situation) and they threw it away.  We got damn lucky, but I'll take it.  By the way, that was a 14 seed vs a 3 seed...

Marquette did get lucky to a degree at the end of the game, but i don't buy for a second that the players or coaches took Davidson lightly. That's typical message board cliche talk in all sports by fans of pretty much any team who gets upset or nearly upset. It has to be that the team looked right past the underdog.

1. Anyone who has watched this tournament over the years would know that numerous " big upsets" happen each year where 10-14th seeds win games. Hell, it's already happened today and Gonzaga nearly lost to a 16th seed.

2. While it certainly can be said that MU got some luck late that all of those threes went in and Davidson missed free throws, it also can be said that Davidson got lucky that for the first 38 minutes Marquette couldn't make any jump shots and other type of shots which have gone in in other games.

3. In any type of one loss and you are done basketball format where nearly all opponents are at least solid teams, the simple randomness of jumpers falling or not for each team in a given game will play a sizable factor in who wins unless one team is vastly superior to the other.

Even though they play different styles, Marquette this year reminds me a bit of Wisconsin. Since we don't run nearly as much as prior seasons, the half court offense is so vital and just like the Badgers, when our jumpers are mostly bricking, the offense struggles to score points, even with decent points in the paint production.

[lab_warrior]

I don't know why Marquette even bothered to show up.
They BARELY WON!

Edit:  The "I told you so" crap, it doesn't really work when the team
you're telling us so about loses. 

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

I didn't get a chance to watch the exhibition today, but I am really excited that we get to blow out Butler sat.

[karavotsos]

Davidson was good.  Expected them to be good.  Didn't think MU played bad, they just shot bad.  Thought their ability to play tough d and fight for everything is what kept them close enough.  Did not agree with McKillop's decision to take the air out of the ball up 7 with 4 plus minutes left.  I'd say don't take the air out of the ball to try to preserve a lead against MU in the NCAA tournament.

[MerrittsMustache]

Just to give everyone some stats on just how "ridiculously overconfident" this board was...

43 posters made predictions on the predictions thread.
4 posters picked MU to lose - 9.3%
4 posters picked MU to win a 1 possession game (1-3 pts) - 9.3%
7 posters picked MU to win a 2 possession game (4-6 pts) - 16.7%
17 posters picked MU to win by 7-10 pts - 39.5%
8 posters picked MU to win by 11-15 pts - 18.6%
1 poster picked MU to win by 16-20 pts - 2.3%
2 posters picked MU to win by 20+ pts - 4.7%

In summary, there were more posters who thought MU would lose than posters who thought MU would win by more than 15, nearly 75% of posters thought MU would lose or that the game would be decided by 10 points or less, and over one-third of posters predicted a loss or a close game while only about one-quarter thought the game would be decide by more than 10 points. Considering this was a 3-14 match-up, I'd hardly call those numbers "ridiculously overconfident."

BTW, only 1 poster picked MU to win by exactly 1 point (Thank you! Thank you!)

[keefe]

outcoached us

You keep saying this. Can you elaborate, please?

[NavinRJohnson]

I am not an I-told-you-so guy. In fact, in the year or so I've been posting here, I've never once said it. But ...

Numerous threads leading up to the game wondered why Davidson was considered an upset threat. The posters kept suggesting anybody who picked Davidson was a clueless idiot. I kept explaining that Davidson was a sound team that makes FTs, can hit 3s, has a stud in Cohen, etc. I have seen Davidson at least a dozen times this year -- Marquette was the only team I had seen more often -- and I said I totally understood why an objective observer might make Davidson an upset special.

The response? People who never had seen Davidson play one second this season mocked them for being "traditional" and for being from a rinky-dink conference. And they mocked anybody who dared suggest that Marquette wouldn't win in a rout.

Instead of concentrating on what we do know -- that Marquette is a good (but definitely not great team) with serious flaws -- many posters chose to concentrate on Davidson, who couldn't possibly be any good "because they don't have Steph Curry, you know."

You know what? Nobody took Davidson seriously when they did have Steph Curry until it was too late.

Why anyone who has watched us all year would be overconfident, I don't know. They must have been watching a different Marquette team that apparently steamrolled every opponent and then rolled to victory in the Big East tournament.

Marquette was very, very, VERY fortunate to win this game. Not saying anything everybody doesn't know there. My emotions are still too high for me to talk about all the things we did wrong (and thankfully all the things that went right at the end).

All I'll say is that I'm thrilled to be able to say "I told you so" after our guys miraculously pulled it out.

There. End of rant.

That's great, and the impact of all that ridiculous overconfidence was what exactly?

For the record, I voted "slightly confident" in the poll this morning. Hope that's ok.

[MU82]

OK ... I probably deserved some of the vitriol I received here. Nobody likes a know-it-all or, in my case here, an I-told-you-so-it-all.

I was venting. As I was watching the game, convinced we were gonna lose when we were down 7 with 1:40 left, for some reason I started to think about this board and about how so many otherwise-intelligent folks, who obviously hadn't seen Davidson play, were so certain Marquette would steamroll them.

I never was trying to suggest that somehow a fanbase's overconfidence had anything to do with what took place on the court. Sometimes, I'd just like each of us -- myself included -- to not have so much tunnel vision when it comes to our beloved Warriors. Sometimes, the other team actually shows up to play, too.

One poster even accused me of always being contrarian like Chicos. Low blow!

Look, had Marquette been playing Northwestern State or Southern, teams with which I'm totally unfamiliar, I wouldn't have claimed to have any special knowledge. I saw a lot of Davidson hoops because I live in Charlotte and they are featured fairly prominently here. They have a good, entertaining team. They're enjoyable to watch. That's all. When I saw that others were dismissing them out of hand, I thought I'd offer a little insight. My bad, I guess.

Anyway, I'm really not a bad guy. For a one-time I-told-you-so-it-all, that is.

[Dawson Rental]

Werent you the same person who has been telling us how great Davidson is all week and how much you love IU

Glass houses, KenoshaWarrior, glass houses.

[Dawson Rental]

Davidson was good.  Expected them to be good.  Didn't think MU played bad, they just shot bad.  Thought their ability to play tough d and fight for everything is what kept them close enough.  Did not agree with McKillop's decision to take the air out of the ball up 7 with 4 plus minutes left.  I'd say don't take the air out of the ball to try to preserve a lead against MU in the NCAA tournament.

Why not?  Legendary coaches like Dean Smith have.