Seton Hall thoughts.

[CTWarrior]

Not really much to say about this game.  We were beaten by a better team and a team we don't match up well with.  They are too quick and too strong for us right now.

I will say this regarding the coaching.  HE seems to me to have improved his defense quite a bit this season, particularly his help defense.  We just need some more pieces, particularly at PG (though I think Carter is going to be a good one) and at PF (where we likely don't actually have one for next year).

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

If he takes a redshirt year, it will be the result of his transferring to another school.

I don't disagree with this

[hdog1017]

Seton Hall has always been a house of horrors. 

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

Could be worse.  Bobby Gonzalez could still be the coach?

[We R Final Four]

We could beat him.

[CountryRoads]

Agreed ... especially #1 & #7 .... as with most of our BE opponents this year, to win we will need to "steal" it. But that's what I hope for.

my new formulation for the big dance (aside from winning the BET )
@X - L
P - W
C - W
@DP - W
@C - W
V - L
GT - W
@B - W

realistically, we have a chance in every home game but Nova and away at DP & Butler...

Anyone here would have taken 1-1 this week. That is still possible although maybe not likely. St. John's gave them a game so why not us? I'll be cheering the guys on until the end Saturday. Go MU!

[Buzz Williams' Spillproof Chiclets Cup]

Seton Hall has always been a house of horrors.

I hope this was supposed to be teal.

Otherwise, not to let facts get in the way of a good narrative, but last night was Marquette's second-ever loss away to Seton Hall, and since joining the Big East, MU has taken 14 of 18 from Seton Hall, including 7 of 9 in the Tri-State area (5-2 in Jersey, 2-0 at the Garden).

[MU82]

I will say this regarding the coaching.  HE seems to me to have improved his defense quite a bit this season, particularly his help defense.  We just need some more pieces, particularly at PG (though I think Carter is going to be a good one) and at PF (where we likely don't actually have one for next year).

I actually was thinking the exact same thing yesterday when Henry provided some nice help defense several times.

[MerrittsMustache]

I actually was thinking the exact same thing yesterday when Henry provided some nice help defense several times.

Henry can come over and block shots but he's still below-average defensively. For the most part, he appears to lack a sense of urgency when playing D. I'm not sure if that's a result of not being overly engaged on D or if it's because he's still learning how to play team D which is causing hesitation.

[CTWarrior]

Henry can come over and block shots but he's still below-average defensively. For the most part, he appears to lack a sense of urgency when playing D. I'm not sure if that's a result of not being overly engaged on D or if it's because he's still learning how to play team D which is causing hesitation.

I agree that he is not particularly good, but I think he is a lot better now than he was in November/December.  I wouldn't be too quick to say he lacks urgency on defense.  I think he lacks quickness which makes it appear that way sometimes.  Once he's beaten, he stays beaten, where a quicker guy might be able to recover.  His footwork on D is improving, though, IMO.

[tower912]

He lacks quickness.   Witness the end of the DePaul game.    Witness him guarding the 5'8 kid from Stetson and having to foul him.     Still a fan.   Still a ways for him to go. 

[Hubert Davis]

This team is who we thought they were! Wojo and staff are equally as frustrating as the team. Very disappointing effort once again.

[brewcity77]

It wasn't rebounding. They got a lot of o boards but we had just as many and scored more second chance points. Those stats offset. They just shot it better than we did and got to the foul line. As JB often says eFG% reigns supreme.

You're comparing apples and oranges. Yes, they only got one more offensive rebound than us, but they got 10% more of the offensive rebound opportunities than us. eFG% is important here, you're right, but not for the reason you're saying. In this case, eFG% is important because Seton Hall could only rebound shots they missed.

In the game as a whole, SHU outrebounded us 50-31. That means when there was a loose ball, there was a 61.7% chance that a SHU player would get to it ahead of one of our guys. That's rebounding dominance, and on the offensive glass, they got more offensive rebounds in notably fewer attempts (because their shots were going in the basket).

We got our clocks cleaned on the offensive glass again. Not as bad as the last time, but far worse than the 13-12 OReb edge would indicate.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

You're comparing apples and oranges. Yes, they only got one more offensive rebound than us, but they got 10% more of the offensive rebound opportunities than us. eFG% is important here, you're right, but not for the reason you're saying. In this case, eFG% is important because Seton Hall could only rebound shots they missed.

In the game as a whole, SHU outrebounded us 50-31. That means when there was a loose ball, there was a 61.7% chance that a SHU player would get to it ahead of one of our guys. That's rebounding dominance, and on the offensive glass, they got more offensive rebounds in notably fewer attempts (because their shots were going in the basket).

We got our clocks cleaned on the offensive glass again. Not as bad as the last time, but far worse than the 13-12 OReb edge would indicate.

I'm not sure where you got your numbers. Hall outrebounded us 40-31 not 50. And most of those were a product of Marquette missing more shots giving Seton Hall more opportunities to get defensive rebounds. Yes, I know they had a higher offensive rebounding rate, but you missed my point. Despite the higher offensive rebounding rate, we still outscored them in second chance points. They got offensive rebounds but didn't do anything with them, or at least not as much as we did with our offensive rebounds.

The difference wasn't rebounding. It was a combination of eFG% and Free Throw Rate. They shot it better and drew more fouls. They made more FTs than we attempted. Their advantage on the boards wasn't as big of a factor. We are just exaggerating it because the symbolic turning point of the game happened on an offensive rebound. I think we rebounded fairly well considering Henry was in foul trouble for a significant part of the game.

[brewcity77]

I'm not sure where you got your numbers. Hall outrebounded us 40-31 not 50. And most of those were a product of Marquette missing more shots giving Seton Hall more opportunities to get defensive rebounds. Yes, I know they had a higher offensive rebounding rate, but you missed my point. Despite the higher offensive rebounding rate, we still outscored them in second chance points. They got offensive rebounds but didn't do anything with them, or at least not as much as we did with our offensive rebounds.

The difference wasn't rebounding. It was a combination of eFG% and Free Throw Rate. They shot it better and drew more fouls. They made more FTs than we attempted. Their advantage on the boards wasn't as big of a factor. We are just exaggerating it because the symbolic turning point of the game happened on an offensive rebound. I think we rebounded fairly well considering Henry was in foul trouble for a significant part of the game.

Oh, just some bad math on my part

They pounded us on the offensive glass again. The play that turned the momentum of the game was spurred by two consecutive offensive rebounds and a Whitehead three that led to our 3-point deficit ballooning to 9 in the span of about 40 seconds. Making shots meant they had fewer opportunities for offensive boards so the ones they got were more significant than the ones we got.

And yes, it was eFG%, but the point about rebounds comes down to a lack of toughness from our team in comparison to Seton Hall, and a huge portion of their eFG% was Delgado brutalizing our bigs with 8/9 shooting inside.

Bottom line, we need to be tougher, we need to keep guys off the glass, and when we are pushed around like that the results are going to be obvious.

[ecompt]

Ugh. The kid is a sophomore.  Don't get me wrong, he looked like crap last night, and has for the entire conference season, but lets not write him off for the future yet.

I hope you are right, but he needs to improve absolutely everything except his attitude to succeed in the BE.

[MU82]

This team is who we thought they were! Wojo and staff are equally as frustrating as the team. Very disappointing effort once again.

MU should do what Al Davis would have done -- fire Wojo. Hell, Al woulda fired him after the Belmont loss. Then he would have hired the replacement, fired the replacement, hired another replacement and fired another replacement.

And then he would have drafted Todd Marinovich, Marques Tuiasosopo and JaMarcus Russell to play PG for us.

And then he would have moved MU to L.A.

Just turn a once-proud franchise into a laughingstock, baby.

[rocket surgeon]

    george steinbrenner would have fired him, re-hired him, fired, re-hired, fire.....