You know what is more embarrassing that last night?

[4everwarriors]

Definitely a gag job, but the loss to Kansas in the FF was much more embarassing.

[mugrad99]

Huh?  I don't think that's true....I believe I said that comment it after I watched it this morning. 

No you said you sped through most of it.

[NersEllenson]

Huh?  I don't think that's true....I believe I said that comment it after I watched it this morning. 

Dear Chicos,
Congratulations, you finally have a legitimate beef with Buzz Williams and this team.  You've been looking all year, and now you have your chance.  Am I surprised to read most of your criticisms of Buzz and this team today?  Not at all.  Why don't you take your fanhood and allegiance to IU and become a fan of your real crush in life - TC.  Buzz will outperform Tom Crean in the next 5 years..guaranteed...and guess what..he'll do it a poor old MU..and not at "Because IT'S Indiana..it's Indiana."

[MU B2002]

Huh?  I don't think that's true....I believe I said that comment it after I watched it this morning. 

you actually said

I'm at a restaurant for dinner and just got an alert on MU iPhone.


Is this serious?  Maybe we can stop the NCAA talk now


What an embarassment

[4everwarriors]

For maximum effect, next time fart just before you exit the elevator.

[ChicosBailBonds]

No you said you sped through most of it.

Yes, sped through it....as in commercials, free throws, dead time....I was still able to watch much of it and get the flow of the game.  They were flat, didn't seem to have the desire\effort\legs....whatever you want to call it.

[ChicosBailBonds]

you actually said

Uhm, that is correct. Follow the timeline

I said LAST NIGHT it was an embarrassment...whether I watched it or not LAST NIGHT, the result was an embarrassment based on the result.

Some people, for whatever reason, believe you have to watch the game to make that statement...I find that absurd.  We just lost to one of the worst teams in the nation...that's an embarrassment.

Keep following the timeline, however, and this MORNING I said I watched the second half via DVR (then later the 1st half) and that IS when I made the comment that their seemed to be a lack of effort.  I only said that AFTER I watched the game action, not last night when I hadn't seen it.

Therefore, I don't see anything inconsistent at all.   It was an embarrassing result, sight unseen.  After watching it, not only was it embarrassing but the team appeared to show up as if the game was already decided.  Lack of effort, lack etc (based on WATCHING the game).  Then, when the realized at the end that their lackluster effort could actually bite them in the tush, they started their free throw syndrome again.

Entirely consistent with what I said last night and observed this morning.

[MU B2002]

Um thanks.
I know all that.  I was just posting what u said last night, (which I believe was the statement that got certain folks worked up).  Really just to clarify you didn't mention a lack of effort before you saw the result.  But thanks for the timeline.

[mugrad99]

Uhm, that is correct. Follow the timeline

I said LAST NIGHT it was an embarrassment...whether I watched it or not LAST NIGHT, the result was an embarrassment based on the result.

Some people, for whatever reason, believe you have to watch the game to make that statement...I find that absurd.  We just lost to one of the worst teams in the nation...that's an embarrassment.

Keep following the timeline, however, and this MORNING I said I watched the second half via DVR (then later the 1st half) and that IS when I made the comment that their seemed to be a lack of effort.  I only said that AFTER I watched the game action, not last night when I hadn't seen it.

Therefore, I don't see anything inconsistent at all.   It was an embarrassing result, sight unseen.  After watching it, not only was it embarrassing but the team appeared to show up as if the game was already decided.  Lack of effort, lack etc (based on WATCHING the game).  Then, when the realized at the end that their lackluster effort could actually bite them in the tush, they started their free throw syndrome again.

Entirely consistent with what I said last night and observed this morning.

That's the thing about the internet..can't get your tone. From how I read your "sped through most of it". It sounds to me like you really didn't watch the whole second half. Just bits and pieces.

We'll agree to disagree on the "embarassing" part of the loss.

[Lennys Tap]

I sat in the second row. Thought we played hard but poorly. Lazar and DJO were also careless on a couple of occasions. De Paul is bad, but I was surprised that they were SO much bigger than us.

[MerrittsMustache]

I can't believe Marquette fans were called overly sensitive the other day.

[MU B2002]

but I was surprised that they were SO much bigger than us.

Wallace looked like a beast.

[Spaniel with a Short Tail]

I was there and IMHO the MU fan turnout was poor.  Also, since I didn't see any video, was the ref's call nullifying the basket before the end of the first half correct?

[LON]

I was there and IMHO the MU fan turnout was poor.  Also, since I didn't see any video, was the ref's call nullifying the basket before the end of the first half correct?

100% correct no doubt about it

I can't believe Marquette fans were called overly sensitive the other day.

Haha, nice.

[El Duderino]

Keep following the timeline, however, and this MORNING I said I watched the second half via DVR (then later the 1st half) and that IS when I made the comment that their seemed to be a lack of effort.  I only said that AFTER I watched the game action, not last night when I hadn't seen it.

Therefore, I don't see anything inconsistent at all.   It was an embarrassing result, sight unseen.  After watching it, not only was it embarrassing but the team appeared to show up as if the game was already decided.  Lack of effort, lack etc (based on WATCHING the game).  Then, when the realized at the end that their lackluster effort could actually bite them in the tush, they started their free throw syndrome again.

Which of the players specifically did you notice not playing hard?

Defense is almost always the first place we can see a team or players take plays off with less than full effort, yet i thought everyone on the team played very hard defensively. I guess Butler looked a bit lower on the intensity scale, but casual impressions by viewers can be misleading sometimes.

What you saw as lackluster effort i saw as confusion on how best to attack the defense DePaul switched to, frustration leading to apprehension over missing open shots they've been making in previous games, and finally choking at the line in the last minute yet again.

For all the struggles offensively, the team had held DePaul to only 46 points with  20 seconds left in the game and we also had the ball with a four point lead. Make some free throws the game is over. Hell, even with all the offensive struggles and gagged free throws, Stovall had to hit two very tough shots to get over 50 points and win the game. In the first half, we hit open shots. In the second half nothing went in. Making open shots has a great way of making an offense look more "focused". Look at the Badgers who weren't able to beat Michigan yesterday until shots started going in.

[Tugg Speedman]

What's for lunch?

Real Chili!  Blonde says "mix it up!"

[Lennys Tap]

Which of the players specifically did you notice not playing hard?

Defense is almost always the first place we can see a team or players take plays off with less than full effort, yet i thought everyone on the team played very hard defensively. I guess Butler looked a bit lower on the intensity scale, but casual impressions by viewers can be misleading sometimes.

What you saw as lackluster effort i saw as confusion on how best to attack the defense DePaul switched to, frustration leading to apprehension over missing open shots they've been making in previous games, and finally choking at the line in the last minute yet again.

For all the struggles offensively, the team had held DePaul to only 46 points with  20 seconds left in the game and we also had the ball with a four point lead. Make some free throws the game is over. Hell, even with all the offensive struggles and gagged free throws, Stovall had to hit two very tough shots to get over 50 points and win the game. In the first half, we hit open shots. In the second half nothing went in. Making open shots has a great way of making an offense look more "focused". Look at the Badgers who weren't able to beat Michigan yesterday until shots started going in.

I was at the game and concurr with your analysis. Good to see some sanity on the board.

[Marquette84]

For all the struggles offensively, the team had held DePaul to only 46 points with  20 seconds left in the game and we also had the ball with a four point lead.

Its highly misleading to say that we "held" DePaul to 46 points as some kind of masterful defensive performance. 

We didn't hold DePaul's scoring down--THEY did by running the shot clock down on nearly every possession. Holding the score into the 50's was exactly what THEY wanted to do--not our objective.

Meanwhile, the valid comparison--shooting percentage--tells a different story.  We "held" a team that was shooting 39% on the season to 42%--and they were without their two highest percentage shooters!

If anyone played good defense last night it was DePaul.  They held a team shooting 48% on the year six points below their season average, AND completely took away their opponent's transition game.

[MonsterWebWarrior]

I was at the game and concurr with your analysis. Good to see some sanity on the board.

+1.  Same here.  Thought we played hard on D.  Just completely out of sync on offense and choked on the FTs at the end.

Wasn't impressed by the MU student turnout either, but I applaud those who did show.  I sat opposite both student 'sections' and the DePaul students were much louder, but that was simply because they had more students there than us.  Frankly, I wasn't much impressed by the noise level from MU fans in general.  Seems we've gotten into a habit of sitting on our hands, drinking beer, and expecting a win instead of going nuts and taking over the building like we did during D Wade's years.  The energy from the MU fans has really fallen off to me since those years.

[El Duderino]

Its highly misleading to say that we "held" DePaul to 46 points as some kind of masterful defensive performance. 

We didn't hold DePaul's scoring down--THEY did by running the shot clock down on nearly every possession. Holding the score into the 50's was exactly what THEY wanted to do--not our objective.

Meanwhile, the valid comparison--shooting percentage--tells a different story.  We "held" a team that was shooting 39% on the season to 42%--and they were without their two highest percentage shooters!

If anyone played good defense last night it was DePaul.  They held a team shooting 48% on the year six points below their season average, AND completely took away their opponent's transition game.

I wasn't trying to imply Marquette played a good game when obviously they didn't. I just watched the game and didn't see this lackluster and lazy effort from the players that others claimed happened.

Besides the gagged free throws and fairly lucky shots by Stovall at the end, Marquette lost because the offense fell apart in the second half. It's not like Depaul carved us up offensively. If our offense doesn't fall apart, we win with ease. Now some blame that offensive collapse on lazy effort, i just saw it differently. The players looked confused by Depaul's defense, frustrated by not being able to solve it, and they also simply missed many open shot they normally make.

Overall i think Buzz has done a great job coaching so far this year, but maybe he shares in some blame for the offensive struggles yesterday. Maybe some wisdom from him could have helped the kids attack that matchup zone better. I don't know, but the players never looked very comfortable on how to exploit what DePaul was doing defensively. That's why when they did get open looks, it hurt so much that few would drop.

It felt like many other games over the years where Marquette faced an inferior team, but Marquette just couldn't put them away. Games like that happen to a lot of teams, but they usually end up winning a close one and everyone quickly forgets how close of a call it actually was. That would have been the case yesterday also if the perfect storm of events doesn't happen with 20 seconds left, up 4 and with the ball. If either of Lazar/Coobie doesn't choke, game over. Even with their choking, if Stovall doesn't hit two fairly lucky shots, game over and a week from now nobody remembers the close call.

[GGGG]

Which of the players specifically did you notice not playing hard?

Defense is almost always the first place we can see a team or players take plays off with less than full effort, yet i thought everyone on the team played very hard defensively. I guess Butler looked a bit lower on the intensity scale, but casual impressions by viewers can be misleading sometimes.

What you saw as lackluster effort i saw as confusion on how best to attack the defense DePaul switched to, frustration leading to apprehension over missing open shots they've been making in previous games, and finally choking at the line in the last minute yet again.

For all the struggles offensively, the team had held DePaul to only 46 points with  20 seconds left in the game and we also had the ball with a four point lead. Make some free throws the game is over. Hell, even with all the offensive struggles and gagged free throws, Stovall had to hit two very tough shots to get over 50 points and win the game. In the first half, we hit open shots. In the second half nothing went in. Making open shots has a great way of making an offense look more "focused". Look at the Badgers who weren't able to beat Michigan yesterday until shots started going in.

Spot.  On.  Analysis.

Thanks.