Perhaps I'll be vilified for this, but...

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

...I didn't think we played that badly last night. Our rebounding was not great (I don't care what the overall numbers say) and I thought Fitz got jobbed on some of those foul calls, but overall I'd say solid games were turned in by James, McNeal and Fitz. Rather than claim we gave it away, you've got to hand it to DePaul.

I agree with Crean that our bigs did not show up, but a lot of that had to do with the fact that DePaul has MUCH better big guys than we do.

I do wonder if some of our guys are getting a little bit tired. Matthews really hasn't shown much energy in the last several games and what has happened to Cubillan? I suspect David was replaced after DePaul (Mejia) exploited him defensively, but could DC be hitting some kind of a wall?

It was tough to lose to DePaul, but I thought we played better than we did against Georgetown. I think we just ran into a team that was bound and determined to match our intensity -- and they did that and more. But we didn't play horribly.

Maybe I was watching a different game!

Incidentally, I've been going to these games in Rosemont for many years. There were NOT 60 percent MU fans in attendance. I'd say 40 percent at best...a good showing nonetheless.

[NavinRJohnson]

I don't necessarily disagree with you, but I do think we played a very poor defensive game. The feet just weren't moving quick enough (Cubillan in particular) especially in the first half, and the help was non-existent. When that happens, we lose, plain and simple.

[mu_hilltopper]

(PRN:  Who are you, and what have you don't with PRN?  I've analyzed your last 25 posts.  I served with PuertoRicanNightmare.  PuertoRicanNightmare is a friend of mine.  You sir, are no PuertoRicanNightmare.)    

[Djgoldnboy]

I do wonder if some of our guys are getting a little bit tired. Matthews really hasn't shown much energy in the last several games

I would be willing to bet Matthews is still recovering from the flu he had over the weekend.  Anyone who has had it knows it can take a week or two to feel 100% back to normal.

[WashDCWarrior]

PRN - I actually missed the first 13 minutes of the game, which is apparently where the defensive lapses were at their worst, but I tend to agree with your assessment.

Was this our best game? No, but we're not going back to drawing boards.  We didn't hit rock bottom.  We're not going to lose ever game the rest of the season.

Obviously the FTs hurt, but we're 67% in conference play.  Bad, but not killer.  Against Georgetown we were unusually good (92.3%) and last night we were unusually bad (52.4%)

Fitz really gets less out of his 5 fouls than anyone I've ever seen.  Can't figure it out, but it seems to happen regardless of who's officiating.

DJ's shot selection with 25 seconds was terrible, but definately not the sole reason we lost.