We have such a long way to go it's not funny

[Mutaman]

Agreed. Crowder is a stud, and is not soft. He should not be playing Center.

Outrebounded tonight 31-21. By UW friggin M. Nuff said.

[NersEllenson]

You said we never get blow out, I show a fact that we had and you're upset about it.  Typical.


I'll see how MU does in their next two games before making my predictions.  Before the season started, I had MU winning against UW-madison.  I also had us at 5-2 at this point.  So far I'm dead on.   MU needs to shore up a lot of things in the next two games and then I'll make my prediction one way or another.

Right now, UW-madison is the better team.  Fortunately, we're not playing them RIGHT NOW.

I'm not upset about the fact you pointed out we got beat by 25 or whatever by Georgetown on the 3rd game in less than 72 hours with Tom Creans midgets at point and shooting guard who were 5th and 4th year seniors respectively.

But..since you are SO put off by this years MU team and it has so many issues that make it appear at present that it will get destroyed and schooled by UW - let's just get your prediction on record right now.  I don't care about your pre-season pick that you thought MU would win...you've seen our output so far and seem to be disgusted..so let's get your pick..how bad will it be Chicos??

My pick - we beat Wisconsin.  Period...even with all that in your small mind ails us currently.  As I recall, UW got beat by about 10 points by Green Bay last year..what a terrible loss that would have been for MU, right?  I mean how could a solid team like UW possibly lose to a schoool of Green Bay's caliber??

[Boone]

Loved DJO's "traditional" game tonite.

[ChicosBailBonds]

But..since you are SO put off by this years MU team and it has so many issues that make it appear at present that it will get destroyed and schooled by UW - let's just get your prediction on record right now.  I don't care about your pre-season pick that you thought MU would win...you've seen our output so far and seem to be disgusted..so let's get your pick..how bad will it be Chicos??

My pick - we beat Wisconsin.  Period...even with all that in your small mind ails us currently.  As I recall, UW got beat by about 10 points by Green Bay last year..what a terrible loss that would have been for MU, right?  I mean how could a solid team like UW possibly lose to a schoool of Green Bay's caliber??

Disgusted?  Hardly.  Frustrated?  Yes.  Youthful teams will do that.  Calling two timeouts with two minutes to go and we commit a TO and then take a wild 35 foot shot with the clock expiring....frustrating.  Not disgusted, but very frustrating.

As you will recall, UW lost to Green Bay last year in OT and it was by 4 points and it was away. OH, and UW-Green Bay was a post season team that actually won a post season game and then lost to Rick Majerus and SLU in 2OT.  Other than, great comparison.   

I need to see more of what MU does in the next two games before I make my prediction (I've already made my season predictions on our blog and I picked MU).  Sorry you don't like that.

[4everwarriors]

Time for the boys on this team to strap it on.

[Jay Bee]

I need to see more of what MU does in the next two games before I make my prediction (I've already made my season predictions on our blog and I picked MU).  Sorry you don't like that.

As you will recall, UW lost to Green Bay last year in OT and it was by 4 points and it was away.

So you need two more games to make a prediction, yet you made a prediction weeks ago?  Why not give an update now?  

Good to see you give passes for overtime losses, losses by 4 points or less, and away losses.  I suspect those rules are applied by you only in certain cases (i.e., not MU games).  By the way, uw-Maidsen was ranked #20 at the time they lost.

[NersEllenson]

So you need two more games to make a prediction, yet you made a prediction weeks ago?  Why not give an update now?  

Good to see you give passes for overtime losses, losses by 4 points or less, and away losses.  I suspect those rules are applied by you only in certain cases (i.e., not MU games).  By the way, uw-Maidsen was ranked #20 at the time they lost.

Thank you Jay Bee...once again Chicos does it to himself..talking out of both sides of his mouth to advance his agenda.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Listening to Buzz's postgame interview, I just don't think it's time to panic. 7 games in 14 days. That's insane. I don't think anyone else in the country has done that. This is the biggest game UW-M has played since their Sweet 16 run. Of course they were up for it. And that Ja'Rob McCallum was unconscious in the second half.

It's a young team with a young coach. They've had relatively little prep time for most of their games thus far. That won't be the case for Wisconsin. It's not nearly time for the panic button, and they have plenty of problems of their own. They struggled with a mediocre Boston College team, shot wretched against Manhattan and only scored because the Jaspers were even worse, and lost to UNLV. It's not like Ohio State or Kansas is coming to town. We may not be at our best, but Becky's been arguably worse than us. Look at who beat us, two of the top 20 teams in the country. Wisco could pose a threat if we play poorly, which is possible, but based on the results thus far, we should be okay.

Not panicking, just frustrated.  This is a talented team but they are playing dumb basketball.  There is no senior leadership that is evident.  Jimmy, be the man!! 

I'm mostly concerned that Buzz has relied on stellar senior leadership the last two years that he was fortunate enough to come into.  He doesn't have that this year.  Maybe Jimmy and DB are those guys, but they don't seem to be...at least not yet.  Jimmy seems rather quiet and I honestly can't figure DB out just yet.  As a result, we are playing young...young and dumb. 

That's frustrating. 

I agree with you completely that Wisconsin doesn't have anywhere near the talent MU has on the court, but that's also what makes it so frustrating.  After Leuer, MU has better players just about at every position, but that doesn't mean we play smart at those positions or play experienced at those positions. 

UW vs Notre Dame tomorrow will be interesting to watch.  They play North Carolina State after that and then against UWM prior to playing us.

[ChicosBailBonds]

So you need two more games to make a prediction, yet you made a prediction weeks ago?  Why not give an update now?  

Good to see you give passes for overtime losses, losses by 4 points or less, and away losses.  I suspect those rules are applied by you only in certain cases (i.e., not MU games).  By the way, uw-Maidsen was ranked #20 at the time they lost.

Sigh.

All of the contributors to Cracked Sidewalks make their predictions for the entire season ahead of time, before the first game is played (this is probably too nuanced for Ners to understand, so if you could help him I would appreciate it).

Those predictions were made based on viewing one game...St. John's University of Minnesota.   You'll forgive me but I'll be watching UW-madison play a few more games as well as MU before I make my prediction.  If the game were held tomorrow, I'd pick Wisconsin.  The game isn't held tomorrow.

I'm glad UW-madison was ranked #20 at the time of that loss, goes to show you what I've said for the last 10 years...pre-season rankings aren't worth crap.  How's that UCONN preseason ranking looking right now?   

Ners was trying to compare this UW-M team to last year's UW-GB team which is laughable in all areas, but that should not be surprising. 

[nomorebuycks]

CHICOS, I would love to sock you in the face...multiple times. you are a poison to this board. Do you even care about MU basketball? All you do is point out the negatives time after time. You pretty much suck. And usually whatever you say is way off base.

You want to punch the guy in the face because he's critical of the team's play?  I've always thought many MU fans seemed to have some sort of an inferiority complex where they can't handle criticism from other fans, talk radio hosts or print journalists.  This kind of post just proves the point.

[Jay Bee]

You'll forgive me but I'll be watching UW-madison play a few more games as well as MU before I make my prediction.  If the game were held tomorrow, I'd pick Wisconsin.  The game isn't held tomorrow.

I'm glad UW-madison was ranked #20 at the time of that loss, goes to show you what I've said for the last 10 years...pre-season rankings aren't worth crap.  How's that UCONN preseason ranking looking right now?   

The game isn't held tomorrow but predictions are predictions.  They are held at the time they are made.  I'm glad you were able to tell me the shocker of the year - you have changed your mind and now expect Wisconsin to win.

You've said for the last 10 years that preseason rankings are crap?.. and point out a December 9th UW loss to UWGB as evidence (despite Wisconsin finishing 16 and 19 in the AP and Coaches Poll, respectively)... yet a few days ago, here in November, you start a thread to point out Marquette is in the 200s when it comes to the RPI?  Hmm.. guess you like saying the same thing, over and over and over again.

[marquette99]

10 steals and team shooting over 50 percent are certainly 2 things we did really well. We are shooting much better than the past 6 years - our percentages are just coming a lot more on drives than jumpers - but percentage is good.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Jay Bee...serious, read what you write.

Yes, preseason rankings, as in the WRITERS and COACHES rankings.  Those are what I've said are crap.  There is no way for the writers and coaches to be able to know what 355 DI teams are doing, how well they will be playing, etc in the preseason. THAT is what I said.  Sigh.  And yes, they are crap.  The UWGB game last year is not the only example, I've given a ton of examples to Lenny to show how piss poor the preseason coaches and writer rankings are each year.  More than 60% of the time the teams they select in the top 25 don't finish there in the 3 or 4 years I looked at.  That is piss poor. 

I also said, clearly, that the RPI rankings were early and I CLEARLY showed the Ken Pom rankings, too, to give the readers the extremes of both rankings.  Same records, same data, but totally different conclusions (because of the earliness in the season and how they apply that data).  At least the computer rankings are taking raw data in of ACTUAL GAMES and not making up predictions like the writers and coaches are in preseason.  Again, huge difference.

Finally, I said if the game was held tomorrow I'd pick Wisconsin.  And again, CLEARLY, I stated the game ISN'T held tomorrow.  I'll make my prediction based on more data.  In the preseason, when I threw crap against the wall like the writers and coaches do, I said MU would win 22 games and would beat Wisconsin.  That was before one real game was played.  As we get closer to this actual game, I'll make my decision then. Is Davonte back? Is DJO in the groove for good?  How is our guard play? Etc, etc.   Now, I'm sure next week you'll run around saying on November 27th you picked Wisconsin to win.  No, I didn't, but that's what you and Ners will say anyway.  I'll make my prediction as the game approaches with more data.

[Jay Bee]

Is Davonte back?

You get e-motional when your character starts to become revealed.  Who is this Davonte you speak of?  If early rankings are so crap, why post them?  Was it simply to harp on what you've said the past ten years?  If so, why didn't you make the point that they were crap and meaningless in your original post?

Have a GOOD night, my friend.

[brewcity77]

Finally, I said if the game was held tomorrow I'd pick Wisconsin.  And again, CLEARLY, I stated the game ISN'T held tomorrow.  I'll make my prediction based on more data.  In the preseason, when I threw crap against the wall like the writers and coaches do, I said MU would win 22 games and would beat Wisconsin.  That was before one real game was played.  As we get closer to this actual game, I'll make my decision then. Is Davonte back? Is DJO in the groove for good?  How is our guard play? Etc, etc.   Now, I'm sure next week you'll run around saying on November 27th you picked Wisconsin to win.  No, I didn't, but that's what you and Ners will say anyway.  I'll make my prediction as the game approaches with more data.

My main issue with these comments tonight is that it doesn't take Wisconsin into account at all. Have we struggled some? Sure. Have they struggled some? Hell yes. They won two games in the Old Spice Classic in very non-convincing fashion. They beat Manhattan while shooting like pure crap and scoring only 50 points. They beat a poor Boston College team after struggling through the first half and needing a monster second half run to take control. Compare that to how we did in the CBE. Honestly, despite them going 2-0 thus far and us going 0-2 in KC, I would say without a doubt that Marquette's performances were more impressive. It's not even close. The main difference is that we played #1 Duke and #18 Gonzaga, while they played two teams that likely won't even be considered for the Big Dance. The only team they played that will be in the mix come March is UNLV, and they lost that game.

Why do you think Wisconsin is so good? You can pick at Marquette's faults until the cows come home, but what about Bucky's? For all our blemishes, they have us beat in that category by far, it just doesn't stand out as much because they have played such poor competition. Does anyone really think they'll beat Notre Dame tomorrow? Maybe they'll surprise me, but I haven't seen anything from Wisco to convince me they are any better than Marquette.

[ChicosBailBonds]

My main issue with these comments tonight is that it doesn't take Wisconsin into account at all. Have we struggled some? Sure. Have they struggled some? Hell yes. They won two games in the Old Spice Classic in very non-convincing fashion. They beat Manhattan while shooting like pure crap and scoring only 50 points. They beat a poor Boston College team after struggling through the first half and needing a monster second half run to take control. Compare that to how we did in the CBE. Honestly, despite them going 2-0 thus far and us going 0-2 in KC, I would say without a doubt that Marquette's performances were more impressive. It's not even close. The main difference is that we played #1 Duke and #18 Gonzaga, while they played two teams that likely won't even be considered for the Big Dance. The only team they played that will be in the mix come March is UNLV, and they lost that game.

Why do you think Wisconsin is so good? You can pick at Marquette's faults until the cows come home, but what about Bucky's? For all our blemishes, they have us beat in that category by far, it just doesn't stand out as much because they have played such poor competition. Does anyone really think they'll beat Notre Dame tomorrow? Maybe they'll surprise me, but I haven't seen anything from Wisco to convince me they are any better than Marquette.

Let's look at it the other way. They held Manhattan to 35 points for the game, that's pretty good defense...hell, even a God awful Prairie View team scored 50+ against MU and UW.

They beat Boston College who had just beaten Texas A&M.  I don't know how good BC is this year.  I watched some of the UNLV game and thought UW played pretty well in a hostile place against a likely NCAA team.  They lost by one point.

I was also impressed with our play against Duke.  I was not as impressed with our play against Gonzaga, a team we should have beaten.  They may have a #22 next to their name, but I'm not sure I buy that ranking right now.  Because of the league they are in, they certainly will make the NCAA tournament again.  That's a given. 

[Ready2Fly]

Sigh.

[Stretchdeltsig]

Marquette is still a work in progress.  This team is young and very talented.  The team is still trying to find its identity.  What's exciting is the potential, once Buzz and the team gets its act together!  We have seen flashes of how good this team can be.  Otule had 5 blocked shots last night and played his best game.  It showed that if he continues developing, he can be a factor.  Gardner can definitely be a factor on offense right now.  Crowder needs to play closer to the basket to grab more offensive rebounds.  Blue has shown that he is a great talent.  He needs to step up his offensive game; quit playing like a freshman and slash more to the basket.  Overall, Marquette needs to return to its aggressive, high energy defense; play more full court press, utilize all its players.  Play hard and good things will happen.

[4everwarriors]

Right now, UW beats MU at the BC. Why, they get it. Bo has a defined system both offensively and defensively, the players know what it is when they're recruited, it's practiced, and doesn't vary. Like it or not, Bo is a legendary coach and winner. Consistency, consistency, consistency....
MU might get it this season, and then again, may not. What is Buzz' style of play? I don't know. Does it vary based on the talent he gets yearly? We'll see.

[MUfan12]

Terrible decision making with passing, shooting, rebounding, defense.  Thank God UW hyphen m shot poorly because they had open looks after open looks.  They are not that good which just shows you how far we have to go.

Up by nearly 20 and we nearly pissed the whole thing away practically at home with a ton of our fans there.

We better get it together quickly or a real road game with 10 of our fans in attendance is going to be ugly.

We have time, but tonight was ridiculous.  Wisconsin will destroy us in two weeks if we don't get our act together.

Back to the original post... Chicos is 100% correct. This team is not good right now. I cringe at the thought of a BE schedule right now. UWM is not a good basketball team, but MU let them stay in it. I was having DePaul flashbacks in the second half.

What really gets me is they can play exceptionally good ball in 5 minute stretches, and then give up a 10-2 run and erase all of it. It keeps happening too. You'd think they'd learn at some point.

[Canadian Dimes]

Whatever.  UWm played a good game.  It's their Super Bowl.  We played okay.  Did some good things..and no..Wisconsin won't destroy us - no team destroys Buzz's teams Chicos.  Step back from the ledge as usual.

we have not gotten destroyed since the tanned one left...georgetown was third game in 3 days with no bench  ...getting blown out includes rolling over...teams quitting and getting destroyed was one of his trademarks not one of Buzzs

[GGGG]

CHICOS, I would love to sock you in the face...multiple times. you are a poison to this board. Do you even care about MU basketball? All you do is point out the negatives time after time. You pretty much suck. And usually whatever you say is way off base.

If people would just actually address the substance of what he says, instead of writing crap like this above, this board would be a lot easier to read.

I think his initial post was a little chicken littleish, but there are a couple of nagging things that I don't think can be written off as fatigue....our inability to rebound...our point guard play.  These will be killers come BE time. 

[79Warrior]

CHICOS, I would love to sock you in the face...multiple times. you are a poison to this board. Do you even care about MU basketball? All you do is point out the negatives time after time. You pretty much suck. And usually whatever you say is way off base.

Looks like you put quite a bit of thought into that post. I cannot believe the number of thin skinned posters on this board. I, for one, was very unimpressed with the team last night. I consider myself a big fan of the program and there is notrhing wrong with criticsm.

For those banking on a win over Wisconsin......................................

[NersEllenson]

Looks like you put quite a bit of thought into that post. I cannot believe the number of thin skinned posters on this board. I, for one, was very unimpressed with the team last night. I consider myself a big fan of the program and there is notrhing wrong with criticsm.

For those banking on a win over Wisconsin......................................

Could it be that UWM played a really, really good game last night?  Upsets can happen you know?  UCONN beating Michigan State this year.  Purdue getting beaten by Richmond last night.  Evansville beats Butler last night. 

I get annoyed with some elitist posts here who think by virtue of us wearing an MU jersey, we should destroy a decent mid-major team, that happens to be a cross-town rival, that looks at playing/beating MU as its Super Bowl of games. 

[Jay Bee]

If it was such a bad game, why did our RPI rise 50 spots?