Had Marquette continued to play like it did ...

[MU Avenue]

... against Providence and Syracuse, it would not be enjoying sweet, well-earned victories against the likes of UConn, West Virginia, Louisville and now Pitt.

Those who pointed out here a few weeks ago that Marquette was playing horribly and that Coach Crean was making some puzzling decisions and moves were writing the truth.

Marquette looked awful against Providence, almost as bad against Syracuse and like a team in trouble in many of the games leading up to the start of the Big East season.

I think it lame when people, including ChicosBailBonds earlier this evening, present this "I never had a doubt" nonsense.

These latest wins could not be sweeter. Crean and his players deserve plenty of applause for realizing that the team was playing badly -- taking way, way, way too many low-percentage shots; missing too many free throws; playing weakly and inconsistently up front; and running no discernible plan or sets on offense.

Marquette is playing better these days. This does not change the fact that we were all discouraged and extremely worried a few weeks ago given our team's play and our coaches seeming inability to make adjustments, especially in the heat of battle.

This is a forum for people to address and react to Marquette's play. When the team plays well, even knocking off some of the best teams in the land, we all feel ecstatic. When the team goes through tough times, no one is wrong to come here, acknowledge what is happening and offer possible explanations for what is wrong and must improve.

Crean and his players clearly were not afraid to admit there were serious issues that they needed to correct if they were going to compete against UConn, Pitt and the rest of the Big East. Crean even said it -- repeatedly.

But according to some who write here, including ChicosBailBonds, the rest of us should simply fall in line and ignore what Crean and his players were not afraid to admit.

[tower912]

Absolutely right that they looked like crap 3 weeks ago and were scaring us to death.   That is what makes this run even sweeter.  TC and his coaches have done a phenomenal job of refocusing this team and getting them do the things that need to be done.

[ChicosBailBonds]

... against Providence and Syracuse, it would not be enjoying sweet, well-earned victories against the likes of UConn, West Virginia, Louisville and now Pitt.

Those who pointed out here a few weeks ago that Marquette was playing horribly and that Coach Crean was making some puzzling decisions and moves were writing the truth.

Marquette looked awful against Providence, almost as bad against Syracuse and like a team in trouble in many of the games leading up to the start of the Big East season.

I think it lame when people, including ChicosBailBonds earlier this evening, present this "I never had a doubt" nonsense.

These latest wins could not be sweeter. Crean and his players deserve plenty of applause for realizing that the team was playing badly -- taking way, way, way too many low-percentage shots; missing too many free throws; playing weakly and inconsistently up front; and running no discernible plan or sets on offense.

Marquette is playing better these days. This does not change the fact that we were all discouraged and extremely worried a few weeks ago given our team's play and our coaches seeming inability to make adjustments, especially in the heat of battle.

This is a forum for people to address and react to Marquette's play. When the team plays well, even knocking off some of the best teams in the land, we all feel ecstatic. When the team goes through tough times, no one is wrong to come here, acknowledge what is happening and offer possible explanations for what is wrong and must improve.

Crean and his players clearly were not afraid to admit there were serious issues that they needed to correct if they were going to compete against UConn, Pitt and the rest of the Big East. Crean even said it -- repeatedly.

But according to some who write here, including ChicosBailBonds, the rest of us should simply fall in line and ignore what Crean and his players were not afraid to admit.

I hate to bring some truthiness back to the ballgame, but here you go.  You show me where I ever said "I never had a doubt".  In fact, if you go back to the Syracuse game I was on here saying this team was AWFUL and I qualified it three dots later....at least right now.

Guess what, they got better.  At least some of us knew that was possible, there were a whole gangload of people here that had these guys buried for good.  Just as there are certain individuals here that only arrive after a loss...hmm, who could they be.

Here are two helpful links for you to prove my point.   

http://marquettebasketball.blogspot.com/2007/01/no-way-to-sugarcoat-itthis-team-is.html

http://www.muscoop.com/index.php?topic=1053.0

[mu_hilltopper]

I continue to be dumbfounded (by many parties) on the criticism of criticism.  I'm not really sure what the OP is talking about here, as the thesis is confusing.

Look, there were many games where we didn't look very sharp in OOC games.  Add in two BE losses to start the season, which exposed some weaknesses that looked like killers, followed by 4 tough games, looked like we were in deep doo-doo.  So yeah, surprise surprise, people spoke up about our team's deficiencies and had negative predictions for the future.

Big deal.  You don't have to be all sunshine and sausages 24/7 to be considered a good fan.   If you didn't have a moment of doubt about our team after the 0-2 start, you're beyond blue & gold glasses.  You had blue & gold lasik.

[mviale]

I didnt hear criticism about our play, I heard crean is a horrible coach and he recruited a sorry combination of players.  I heard that Barro is a waste and that we needed AMo and Stemler.

Those of us that have been around, know that sophomores need some time to jel and we are jellin right now.

[Marquette84]

Crean and his players clearly were not afraid to admit there were serious issues that they needed to correct if they were going to compete against UConn, Pitt and the rest of the Big East. Crean even said it -- repeatedly.

But according to some who write here, including ChicosBailBonds, the rest of us should simply fall in line and ignore what Crean and his players were not afraid to admit.

The difference is that those critical of the team:
a) were more than willing to overlook any strong non-conference performences (Duke, Texas Tech) while complaining that 18-20 point wins were problems simply because MU didn't win by 40.
b) were apparently ignorant of the fact that one of our two best players missed the game against Providence, and hadn't practiced for a week prior to Syracuse.
c) were willing to make pretty darn conclusive statements about the quality of our players, the worth of their scholarships, and their inability to improve.
d) pined for players who left our program, sugsseting that if only Mason or Amo or Bradley or Christian wouldn't have transferred we'd be a better team.


Would it have been too much to ask that fans consider the impact of losing McNeal and waiting to see what the extent of his injury was before writing us off for the season?

[CTWarrior]

After the loss to Syracuse, I thought it was going to be a long season.  Our horrific outside shooting to that point led me to logically conclude that with no low post presence and no outside shooting, we would be a fatally flawed team on the offensive end and thus would not be more than a bubble team/likely NIT team.  I've always been a supporter of Barro because of his constant hustle, but I had no clue he would play this well this quickly.  He's improving by leaps and bounds every day.  Who wauld have thought he'd have been capable of that lefty scoop shot on the move across the lane in January 2007 after watching him in December 2006?  Looking back, I certainly don't think my thinking was wrong.  That the team has managed to address all these shortcomings in such a short period of time is very unusual in team sports.