Coach Rab's latest e-mail

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

Anybody read it? It's the one with the good info on recruits.

I found the blurb about the "other site" particularly interesting, especially when you consider his past references to the Cracked Sidewalks blog.

Anybody want to wager that some kind of belly-aching led to this reference?

[downtown85]

where can I find Coach Rab's e-mail?

[rocky_warrior]

Is there someway to "subscribe" to his e-mail list?  Can you post the blurb?  Also, no need to obscure the "other site" here - you're allowed to say Scout and Marquette Hoops on MUScoop's boards.  Just don't try the reverse over there   

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

Sorry -- maybe it's only sent to season ticket holders. They're very nice little e-mails. I like getting them. I just thought it was amusing that his previous references to Cracked Sidewalks drove them to take action!!
________

I am often e-mailed…

”Coach Rab, the 7 game win streak is great, the updates are fantastic, but what about the new guys?!? Well, here you go with a few articles and updates on our recruiting class for next year.

Trevor Mbakwe, 6'8, PF, St. Paul (St. Bernard) MN

Scott Christophersen, 6'1, PG, Melrose (Melrose-Mindor) WI

Patrick Hazel, 6'7, PF, Blairstown (Blair Academy) NJ

Damien Saunders, 6'8, WF, Fitchburg (Notre Dame) MA.

*From the did you know file…did you realize that the year Dwyane Wade signed with Marquette (1999-2000 recruiting class), that the highest that class was ranked by the “so called experts” was 50th best in the nation and 6th best in Conference USA? Point being, recruiting rankings are not all their cracked up to be.

Enjoy…

First things first, I have been remiss in my recent newsletters by not mentioning two wonderful Marquette supporters, John Dodds and Jim Ganzer, and the outstanding information they provide at their web site. John and Jim bleed “Blue and Gold” and are not only a wealth of information regarding Marquette basketball, but tremendous guys as well. Here’s a “shout out” to John and Jim for all they do to support Marquette hoops.

http://marquette.scout.com/ (Nobody gets it done like Dodds and Ganzer)

Scott Christophersen, 6'1, PG,LaCrosse (Aquinas) WI

http://www.lacrossetribune.com/articles/2007/02/07/sports/00lead.txt (read about Scott’s latest victory)

And this from Mark Miller of wishoops.net:

Scott Christopherson has been compared to a number of former Wisconsin prep standouts in the past. Some believe he is a bigger version of Fond du Lac’s Travis Diener. Others liken Christopherson’s game to ex-Wausaukee star Anthony Pieper. I don’t believe Christopherson is as quick as Diener or as athletic as Pieper, but he might be equal to the aforementioned duo in terms of overall skill level. The future Marquette Golden Eagle had 26 points, eight rebounds and six assists against Rockford. He can knock down shots from all over the court and does an excellent job of locating open teammates. Like Ritchay, Christopherson also isn’t afraid to get down and dirty in the lane rebounding against bigger players. Though Christopherson will have an adjustment guarding opponents in the Big East Conference, his ball handling and shooting skills as good enough to warrant playing time for coach Tom Crean.

Trevor Mbakwe, 6'8, PF, St. Paul (St. Bernard) MN

http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/sports/high_school/16562834.htm

Trevor Mbakwe, who is scheduled to be Christopherson’s roommate in the fall at Marquette, created quite a stir in the Minnesota prep basketball world when he left Class AAAA Henry Sibley and enrolled at Class A St. Bernard’s last September. Many Minnesota fans predicted St. Bernard’s would go undefeated with Mbakwe in its lineup and coast to the Class A state title. Well, 14 games into the season St. Bernard’s is indeed unbeaten, and three of its victories have come against respected Wisconsin opponents in Randolph, Milwaukee Marquette and Wauwatosa West. Mbakwe possesses freakish athletic ability and appears to be making great strides in his ability to defend, make free throws and connect on medium-range jump shots. He had 28 points, 15 rebounds and three blocked shots against Randolph. He also had five thunderous dunks and is a sight to behold when he jumps off two feet in the lane for a throwdown. Few have any doubts Mbakwe will be an immediate contributor for Crean at Marquette.

Patrick Hazel, 6'7, PF, Blairstown (Blair Academy) NJ

http://marquette.scout.com/2/584041.html

Tom Keegan is the sports editor of the Lawrence Journal-World. He covers Kansas University football and basketball and is a 1981 graduate of Marquette University. The New York native weighs in on Patrick Hazel's commitment to MU for MarquetteHoops.com
 
Here's a good rule for anyone who makes a living assembling a basketball roster: When evaluating a post player, if he drops the basketball often enough to suggest he has bad hands, cross his name off your list of prospects and move on to the next one.

Big men with bad hands won't get the big rebound. Big men with bad hands will frustrate the fancy-passing guard and make him gunshy about feeding the post.

Big men with bad hands fumble away so many opportunities they crush a team's momentum and when that happens, fatigue sets in and pretty soon everyone is playing as sloppily as the big man with bad hands and who wants to watch that? Coaches rely on drills to improve hands, but generally an athlete either has good hands or he doesn't. Seeing a player's hands improve to the extent national championship team Jerome Whitehead's did during his career is rare. Since I read on MarquetteHoops.com (which I check repeatedly ever day) that Patrick Hazel committed to Marquette, I've read everything I could on him, yet none of the content made a reference to his hands, either good or bad. So I set out on a mission to find someone who had seen him play often and wanted to see if that someone would offer an opinion on his hands without being asked.

I didn't want the usual coach speak, but did want an honest, hold-nothing-back viewpoint from a coach who had seen Hazel play often enough to offer an informed opinion on his game. In exchange for that, I offered anonymity. I found someone who watched him often during this past summer and Mr. Anonymous gave his read.

"I would have said definite Atlantic 10 player and at first a bit of a reach as a Big East player," Mr. Anonymous said. "I thought he'd have to go to the right Big East school to be able to develop into a good Big East player, a school where he'd be surrounded by hard workers. He had a little bit of an attitude, not real bad, just a little and he didn't always work hard."

As for his game, Mr. Anonymous said: "He's not a good shooter and not a good free-throw shooter. He runs the floor great. I mean great. He's a good rebounder and he can really block shots. He's a little undersized, but he's got a real knack for blocking shots."

Anything else?

"Oh, and one more thing, he said, before delivering the payoff pitch. "He's got great hands."

As Marv Albert would say, YES! The verdict is in: Good recruit.

Damien Saunders, 6'8, WF, Fitchburg (Notre Dame) MA.

The Crusaders had a chance to move into the top spot, but a loss against Bridgton at the MCI Tournament kept Michael Beasley & Co., at No. 2. Beasley (Kansas State) led ND Prep with 28 points in the loss to Bridgton and is averaging a team-high 24 points and 14 boards per contest. Damian Saunders is also averaging a double-double (11 points, 11 boards) per game.

"He's a very good basketball player," Barton said. "We are going to need him down the road and soon."

Saunders, a 6-foot-7 forward from Waterbury, Connecticut, does a lot of little things that help Notre Dame Prep be perhaps the best team in the country. "He is a terrific rebounder," Barton said. "He's been one of our best players all season. Beasley gets all the attention, Damian is our MVP.”

Jason Rabedeaux

Assistant Coach

Marquette Basketball

The Big East Conference



1-800-373-4668

414-288-3140 - O

414-313-3655 - Mobile

414-288-3294 - Fax



jason.rabedeaux@marquette.edu

[Harrison]

Mostly recycled info but still a great email and a real nice touch by a member of the coaching staff.  I have given up my season tickets living 180 miles away as my kids have entered those years that they are constantly involved in something so thanks for sharing. Boy do the guys at Scout come off as a bunch of screaming bratty kids that threw a temper tantrum, gee I wonder why?

[MarquetteVol]

Crazy that Coach Rab just gives out his cell phone number to every season ticket holder. How's that for accessibility?

[NYWarrior]

Mostly recycled info but still a great email and a real nice touch by a member of the coaching staff.  I have given up my season tickets living 180 miles away as my kids have entered those years that they are constantly involved in something so thanks for sharing. Boy do the guys at Scout come off as a bunch of screaming bratty kids that threw a temper tantrum, gee I wonder why?

it is a nice touch by Rab....good to see him actively court the MU fan base -- its a small part of the mix, but important IMHO

[bartmiller#1]

Pretty funny-- I asked for a link or reference to a picture of all the new retired jersey banners on the Dodds board the other day.  Someone posted a link to here.

The link and message was removed shortly after it was posted.

Weird.  It runs counter to the way that almost all web sites are set up. 

[spiral97]

*tells self - "if you don't have something nice to say then don't say it"* 

regarding the rab e-mail though - very cool of him to send them out.. very accessible and welcoming to the fans who want to know about what's happening inside marquette hoops.  he also had a segment on the past tom crean tv show where he explained the fundamentals of various passing techniques using current players to demonstrate.. pretty cool!

[rocky_warrior]

Crazy that Coach Rab just gives out his cell phone number to every season ticket holder.

Crazier that it's safer to give away a phone number than an e-mail address these days...

[Harrison]

I think it is a great idea by the program.  Living in a city with another Big East member I am used to numerous articles about recruits.  Usually during the summer at least 1 a week about who is visting who they are watching and phone calls to the gurus about the kids.  No the coaches cannot speak but a newspaper that is dedicated to covering that school has other avenues.  I am also very well aware of every player on that team where he is from, due to half page size articles throughout the season on the players.  I guarantee i am way more versed on the players of this local team than 99% of Mu fans are about their team.  the other 1% are reading my post. This helps the community become more of a part of the team.  Helps the fan base take ownership.  Now we all know the JS does nothing of the sort.  Ok we might get a three inch long one column blurb about a player once or twice in his career or 1 blip summary artcile about recruiting that Todd and the JS will immediately point to.  But we all know that is a bunch of crap.  Kudos to the Mu program to reach out to it's fan base to cover a hole that the local rag is incapable of covering.

[Djgoldnboy]

Pretty funny-- I asked for a link or reference to a picture of all the new retired jersey banners on the Dodds board the other day.  Someone posted a link to here.

The link and message was removed shortly after it was posted.

Weird.  It runs counter to the way that almost all web sites are set up. 

That was me, I didn't even give a link, I said something like "I'll give you the scoop, it can be found at "another" board"....still it was removed....honestly I got a chuckle when I saw it was removed....I'm even a premium member over there so they already have my money.

[augoman]

re coach rab's email:
interesting..., season ticket holder forever and no emails to me, except from mu blue/gold prior to games-directing me to wear gold.

[mu_hilltopper]

Rab's emails don't go to STHs.  I believe they go to "friends" of the program.  I think it started a little over a year ago, I remember a posting that he sent out some emails, and said "if you know anyone who'd appreciate these, I can add them to the distribution."

I'm not sure what the rationale is from NOT just dumping the coach email to everyone, as I'm sure there's great interest above what the pre-game email gives to everyone.  (I think that one is called the "Insider" .. although that list is primarily ticket holders plus anyone who's ever given the ticket office their email addy.)

[State]

Rab also sends out a game day preview---thought I'd pass along his preview of MU/Rutgers...also some great clips...enjoy!!

Hi folks…various “comings and goings” from the Al McGuire Center. Enjoy the update. See you courtside tomorrow as we try to make it 8 straight against a very dangerous and talented Rutgers team!!
Enjoy the articles…
http://www.nba.com/heat/multimedia/htv0607_wadejersey.html (One more look back...this time via video of Dwyane Wade’s jersey retirement. An Incredible behind the scenes look at DWade’s special day)
http://www.postcrescent.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070206/APC0201/702060587/1892 (McNeal Gives Marquette an Edge)
RUTGERS PREVIEW:
The Rutgers men's basketball team (9-14, 2-8 BIG EAST) will end its two-game road swing at No. 11 Marquette on Wednesday, Feb. 7, at 8:00 p.m. (EST).

The match-up will air via webcast on ESPN 360. A multi-feature broadband service, ESPN 360, is free to fans that receive high-speed broadband service through an ESPN-affiliated provider.

Rutgers suffered a hard-luck 61-50 overtime loss at Connecticut (Feb. 3). Sophomore guard Anthony Farmer (Millville, N.J.) hit a three-pointer to tie the game at the end of regulation, but a late rally by Connecticut in the overtime period helped the Huskies edge RU at the Hartford Civic Center.

Sophomore forward Jaron Griffin (Manchester, N.J.) led the Scarlet Knights with 18 points, including 12 in the second half, while Farmer chipped in 13. Senior forward Adrian Hill (Canton, Ohio) posted a game-high 13 rebounds to go along with his eight points.

Rutgers is led this season by a pair of double-digit scorers JR Inman (Pomona, N.Y.) and Marquis Webb (Paterson, N.J.). Inman, also the team's leading rebounder (7.3 pg), is averaging 12.1 points per contest, while Webb chips in 10.0 points per game. Inman's rebounding average ranks 10th in the BIG EAST.

The Scarlet Knights' three other starters, Griffin, Hill and Farmer, provide a balanced scoring attack. Griffin is contributing 9.3 points per game, including 16.0 points per contest in the last three games. Hill, RU's second-leading rebounder with 6.5 boards per contest, chips in with 8.9 points per outing. Farmer, the team's assist leader (3.0 pg), rounds out the scoring with 8.6 points.

MARQUETTE NEWS AND NOTES:
WHO'S HOT
Dan Fitzgerald seems to have finally settled into his role as first man off the bench. The 6-foot-9 junior has knocked down 6 of his last 8 three-point attempts and 12 of 17 over the Golden Eagles' last four games, all victories. Most recently, Fitzgerald hit 4 of 6 on Saturday to finish with a season-high-tying 14 points and help lead MU to a 69-62 victory over Providence. For the season Fitzgerald has 33 threes, second-most on the team, and is making 45.2% of them, just behind freshman David Cubillan for the team lead. Fitzgerald is averaging 6.4 points and 3.9 rebounds per game.

WHO'S NOT
Sophomore guard Wesley Matthews has been on fire at the free-throw line of late, hitting 38 of his last 41 (92.7%). The rest of his teammates, though, haven't been able to catch on. After a 14-for-14 performance down the stretch helped saved MU at Pittsburgh, the team has reverted once again to its hit-or-miss style from the line. The Golden Eagles are 48 for 79 in their last three games - 60.1% - and still rank 15th in the 16-team Big East at 63.7%. Only DePaul, at 63.2%, is worse. For a team that gets to the line as much as MU, that inaccuracy is going to wind up hurting it in a close game sooner or later.

NOTEBOOK
For the record: Thanks to its current seven-game winning streak, MU is 20-4 overall and 7-2 in the Big East. It's also 13-3 at home, 5-1 on the road and 2-0 on neutral courts.

Upwardly mobile: A 1-0 week combined with bad weeks by Duke and Oregon conspired to bump the Golden Eagles up to 11th in the Associated Press poll and 12th in the USA Today / ESPN coaches poll Monday. Duke and Oregon, ranked ahead of the Golden Eagles last week, each lost twice and dropped accordingly in the polls.

Streaking: Coach Tom Crean is, of course, proud as can be of his team's seven-game winning streak. It's the longest in Big East play this season, and three short of the league's high-water mark last season, set by Villanova. It's also the longest league winning streak MU has put together since the Final Four run in 2002-'03, when it won nine straight in Conference USA. Even still, Crean has taken the opportunity to remind his players not to get ahead of themselves. "We can get a lot better, and that's what we focus on," he said. "I tell the team I was a part of 22 straight at Michigan State as an assistant. That's unique. We're finding different ways to win, and that's what we've got to keep hanging our hats on daily. We're a lot more focused on each individual game and each day vs. rehashing how many we've gotten in a row."

Shooting around: The Golden Eagles have reached 20 victories at an earlier date than any MU squad in the 90-year history of the program. . . . For the second time in his eight-year tenure at MU, Crean has piloted the Golden Eagles to consecutive 20-victory seasons. He has also won 20 or more games four times in his eight years at MU. . . . MU is second in the Big East in steals, averaging 10.2 per game. Only Seton Hall at 10.8 is better. . . . MU out-rebounded Providence, 42-29, on Saturday. The Golden Eagles are 14-0 when they grab more boards than their opponents.

http://www.crackedsidewalks.com/ (Your source for ALL that is Marquette Basketball…these have it all covered. From the RPI to game previews, no one does it like the guys at “CrackedSidewalks)

Jay Bilas Checks In With The Golden Eagles:

ESPN’s resident college basketball expert and all around “good guy” to all, except for those “haters” in Chapel Hill, gives his take on Marquette and why the Golden Eagles could potentially make a run to the Final Four…as well as his thoughts on Jerel McNeal.

For those that don’t know, Jay is a former Duke great and Chapel Hill is the home of his nemisis…the North Carolina Tar Heels.

Marquette
Why? This is a team I tabbed with this label in the preseason, and it is still in position, even though none of Marquette's offensive numbers would suggest a run deep in the Tournament. This is not a great shooting team and not a team with a great inside game. It is, however, a tough and together team with outstanding guard play. The Golden Eagles are a much improved passing and handling team that has done a better job of late of taking good shots and attacking off the dribble. Marquette is shooting better as a result and shooting more free throws. Dominic James, Jerel McNeal and Wesley Matthews are special guards, and no guard trio in the nation works as hard as they do. McNeal is an outstanding defender who gets more deflections than a hockey goalie. James can take over a game with his speed and explosiveness and Matthews does everything and lays his body on the line every game. With improved play from Dan Fitzgerald, David Cubillan and Ousmane Barro, Marquette has more options and versatility.

Why Not? The Golden Eagles are not consistent shooters, and in a tournament setting, the percentages suggest that will catch up with them. This is an outstanding offensive rebounding team, but in a one-game scenario, Marquette is held hostage by how it shoots the ball more than any other team on this list.

Most Indispensable Player: Dominic James. Marquette needs his energy and explosive scoring, as well as his dynamic leadership.

• The more I watch Marquette's Jerel McNeal, the more I think he will find a way to make an NBA roster and be a pro player who helps a team win. McNeal does not shoot it well, but he fills up the stat sheet in every other category, and he impacts the game. Against Seton Hall, McNeal scored 22 points, grabbed seven rebounds, dished 10 assists, and added 4 steals. Against Providence, on a day when Dominic James and Wesley Matthews struggled shooting the ball, McNeal scored 18 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and dished five assists in Marquette's win. Remember, McNeal did not play in the first game against Providence, a Marquette loss. McNeal can be that valuable.