[Cracked Sidewalks] Morning Grinds: News & Notes for Marquette Hoops

[CrackedSidewalksSays]

Morning Grinds:  News & Notes for Marquette Hoops

Written by: noreply@blogger.com (Tim Blair)

The Warriors are in Pittsburgh preparing for the second leg of the current two-game road trip. After topping Rutgers on the road MU remains one of seven undefeated teams in Big East play with St. John's setting the pace at 3-0.  Before we get to the Saturday matchup here's a look at your morning grinds on MU:

• Shannon Ryan at the Chicago Tribune penned a profile of emerging star Jae Crowder this morning.
• Ray Mernagh of the Big East Basketball Report also profiled Crowder this week.
• The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette compares the MU and Pitt programs and finds different paths to consistency.  You must read this article.
• The Anonymous Eagle takes an early look at the matchup with the Panthers -- and even dips their toes in tempo-free stats.
• Adam Zagoria recaps yesterday's Big East coaches' conference call -- good info from Buzz and his peers.
• Jerry Carino offers up a Big East notebook.  There's loads of good info here but somehow Carino ignored DJO on his "Who's Hot" list.
• Steve Novak was waived by the Dallas Mavericks.
• Wesley Matthews is profiled by The Columbian -- a great read.
  
• There's still no word on where former MU player Reggie Smith will land up.  Smith left MU during the Christmas recess.

http://www.crackedsidewalks.com/2011/01/morning-grinds-news-notes-for-marquette.html

[dwaderoy2004]

Luke winn gave CS a shoutout on his power rankings column.  Discussed FTR argument on twitter.  No link cause i'm on my phone...sorry.

[🏀]

Luke winn gave CS a shoutout on his power rankings column.  Discussed FTR argument on twitter.  No link cause i'm on my phone...sorry.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/luke_winn/01/06/power.rankings/index.html

[Skatastrophy]

I got into a good Twitter debate with the Marquette bloggers at Cracked Sidewalks over how much free-throw rate actually matters. They claim (and back it up with regression data) that the stat only represents three percent of total defense, and is therefore insignificant. My feeling is that it matters far more than that -- in Ohio State's case, at least, free-throw rate has a stronger correlation with its overall defensive efficiency than does defensive-rebounding percentage or turnovers-forced percentage. A low foul rate also allows a team to keep its best players on the floor and dictate its desired matchups at all times, which can boost defensive efficiency. Matta uses only a seven-man rotation, and the size and length of his starting lineup is a big reason why the Buckeyes are able to disrupt so many passes and contest so many jump shots.

[NYWarrior]

updated the post, thanks fellas.

Way to go, Henry Sugar!