Proud of the Team

[MU83]

Many of you who have posted after the back-to-back losses to WV and Villanova are focusing on what has gone wrong or what should be done differently.  From my perspective, both the coaching staff and players should be commended. 

We all knew going into this season that it would be difficult to compete with the top teams in the Big East after last seasons graduation.  Add to that the injuries and defection of Maymon, and the team is severely shorthanded.  The fact that the team has no true point guard, no inside presence, and a very short bench puts the coaches and players in a very difficult situation.  I for one (and from what I've read from others) thought before the season that it would be a long shot for the team to reach the NCAA tournament and be over .500 in the Big East.  The strong early showing against what everyone thought was a good Michigan team and a team, in Xavier, that has been strong in recent years led many to believe that the team would continue their performance from a year ago. 

I believe that this team and it's coaching staff have performed at a very high level for most of the year.  Yes it would be nice to start winning some of the close games, but I for one, am very proud of the effort displayed on a nightly basis and believe that this group is representing the university well.  Please remember that although many of us may not want to admit it, Marquette is not Kansas or Duke or Connecticut or Kentucky when it comes to picking and choosing the high school players we want.  Buzz Williams appears capable of recruiting at a high level and I believe he will continue to do so.  I also believe that Buzz will continue to grow as a coach and will provide us with many quality teams in the future--something we can all be proud of.

[5YearsatMU]

Ditto. 

[AZWarrior]

Yes - it would be more fun to discuss why we are almost winning games in which, on paper and based on predictions, we shouldn't even be competitive.  We were picked to be 12th in the BEAST, after all.

Yes - losing games in the final seconds is tough, and it's a problem.  But it's a good problem, if there is such a thing.  I'm going to continue to believe the glass is half full.   

[NersEllenson]

Many of you who have posted after the back-to-back losses to WV and Villanova are focusing on what has gone wrong or what should be done differently.  From my perspective, both the coaching staff and players should be commended. 

We all knew going into this season that it would be difficult to compete with the top teams in the Big East after last seasons graduation.  Add to that the injuries and defection of Maymon, and the team is severely shorthanded.  The fact that the team has no true point guard, no inside presence, and a very short bench puts the coaches and players in a very difficult situation.  I for one (and from what I've read from others) thought before the season that it would be a long shot for the team to reach the NCAA tournament and be over .500 in the Big East.  The strong early showing against what everyone thought was a good Michigan team and a team, in Xavier, that has been strong in recent years led many to believe that the team would continue their performance from a year ago. 

I believe that this team and it's coaching staff have performed at a very high level for most of the year.  Yes it would be nice to start winning some of the close games, but I for one, am very proud of the effort displayed on a nightly basis and believe that this group is representing the university well.  Please remember that although many of us may not want to admit it, Marquette is not Kansas or Duke or Connecticut or Kentucky when it comes to picking and choosing the high school players we want.  Buzz Williams appears capable of recruiting at a high level and I believe he will continue to do so.  I also believe that Buzz will continue to grow as a coach and will provide us with many quality teams in the future--something we can all be proud of.

  Amen..well said, and really all that needs to be said

[Daniel]

Many of you who have posted after the back-to-back losses to WV and Villanova are focusing on what has gone wrong or what should be done differently.  From my perspective, both the coaching staff and players should be commended. 

We all knew going into this season that it would be difficult to compete with the top teams in the Big East after last seasons graduation.  Add to that the injuries and defection of Maymon, and the team is severely shorthanded.  The fact that the team has no true point guard, no inside presence, and a very short bench puts the coaches and players in a very difficult situation.  I for one (and from what I've read from others) thought before the season that it would be a long shot for the team to reach the NCAA tournament and be over .500 in the Big East.  The strong early showing against what everyone thought was a good Michigan team and a team, in Xavier, that has been strong in recent years led many to believe that the team would continue their performance from a year ago. 

I believe that this team and it's coaching staff have performed at a very high level for most of the year.  Yes it would be nice to start winning some of the close games, but I for one, am very proud of the effort displayed on a nightly basis and believe that this group is representing the university well.  Please remember that although many of us may not want to admit it, Marquette is not Kansas or Duke or Connecticut or Kentucky when it comes to picking and choosing the high school players we want.  Buzz Williams appears capable of recruiting at a high level and I believe he will continue to do so.  I also believe that Buzz will continue to grow as a coach and will provide us with many quality teams in the future--something we can all be proud of.

+1.  this team has heart and plays their heartts out everytime they are on the court.  I am also proud of this team and the coaches for keeping us in these games.  We will win some of them, and we will win in the future too.

[MerrittsMustache]

I 100% agree that this team has played their hearts out and that Buzz has done an excellent job so far. Like most MU fans, I did not have particularly high hopes for this team heading into the season and those expectations were lowered even more after the injuries to Junior and Otule. However, I'm still expecting this team to win games when they are in position to do so.

MU has 5 losses on the season. Three of those losses were basically inexcusable (and that doesn't even include the blown lead to NC State). Yes, the team is inexperienced and undersized and undermanned and all that, but that doesn't mean that failing to execute down the stretch is acceptable. I don't care if they're playing a HS girls team or the LA Lakers, if all you need to do is hit FTs to ice the game, you need to do it. Period.

I'm definitely not a "doom-and-gloom" fan and I'm generally a pretty optimistic person, but sooner or later the moral victories have to stop and this team needs to finish the job. I would never argue that the team isn't giving their all, but it's one thing to play your heart out and get beat by a better team and it's another to outplay a "superior" team for 39 minutes only to give it away at the end. In fact, MU might be the first team in history to simultaneaously exceed expectations and be very disappointing.

[Hards Alumni]

I 100% agree that this team has played their hearts out and that Buzz has done an excellent job so far. Like most MU fans, I did not have particularly high hopes for this team heading into the season and those expectations were lowered even more after the injuries to Junior and Otule. However, I'm still expecting this team to win games when they are in position to do so.

MU has 5 losses on the season. Three of those losses were basically inexcusable (and that doesn't even include the blown lead to NC State). Yes, the team is inexperienced and undersized and undermanned and all that, but that doesn't mean that failing to execute down the stretch is acceptable. I don't care if they're playing a HS girls team or the LA Lakers, if all you need to do is hit FTs to ice the game, you need to do it. Period.

I'm definitely not a "doom-and-gloom" fan and I'm generally a pretty optimistic person, but sooner or later the moral victories have to stop and this team needs to finish the job. I would never argue that the team isn't giving their all, but it's one thing to play your heart out and get beat by a better team and it's another to outplay a "superior" team for 39 minutes only to give it away at the end. In fact, MU might be the first team in history to simultaneaously exceed expectations and be very disappointing.

You and I have basically the same opinion... well said.