How the F does Wisconsin get so lucky in the tourney every year??

[bilsu]

I do not see it as getting lucky. Wisconsin would of beaten Pitt. Pitt was not playing well. Pitt lost their first game in Big East tournament and was not great in their opening round game. Butler, if they are hitting threes, will be a tougher matchup for UW than Pitt. Wisconsin's size would of nullified Pitt's inside game and Pitt is not a great three point shooting team.

[ChicosBailBonds]

I do not see it as getting lucky. Wisconsin would of beaten Pitt. Pitt was not playing well. Pitt lost their first game in Big East tournament and was not great in their opening round game. Butler, if they are hitting threes, will be a tougher matchup for UW than Pitt. Wisconsin's size would of nullified Pitt's inside game and Pitt is not a great three point shooting team.

Agree

[Mutaman]

You could see this coming as soon as you saw the brackets. Pitt had an expressway to the final four but choked as usual. Butler? They got beat twice by UWM. Of course Wisconsin is good but they are still the same team that embarrassed itself on national tv against Ohio State and scored 33 points against Penn State. They will lose as soon as they meet a decent team. Unfortunately, that may not be for a while.

[BCHoopster]

They win because they have one of the best coaches in college.  Lucky no chance, look at there
roster right now, 2 All-Americans, they should win.  Role players that have really improved, particularly
Bruiser, the kid really has picked up his game.  Tim Jarmusz played the best game of his life today, for
all the abuse these boards have been on him, great for Tim, senior leadership.  Gasser, smart, plays hard.
Boring basketball at times for sure, winning basketball with Bo all the time.  Jamie Dixon, Jay Wright, Buzz
Williams, they still have along way to go in getting in Bo Ryans league!  Mu fans may not like it, but you
better respect it.

[Mutaman]

They win because they have one of the best coaches in college.

True, but whens the last time he upset a team in the tournament? Or won a post season game when he wasn't favored? Do you think Marquette could'nt have beaten Belmont and K-State?

[ringout]

Maybe we should try beating them at home...that way they get a worse seed.  Maybe we need to win a few more games ourselves to get a better seed and better road.

Sure, they get Butler but they got their 4 seed by being a very solid team this year.  That's the key, THEY EARNED THEIR SEED.  Honestly, I think they would have given Pitt fits.

It's easy for you to be objective.  You don't have to listen to their BS all year long.  Move back to Wisconsin and then try to take the high road.  All you'll hear is Vander could'nt get into UW, and all the other BS they spew.  Lucky your in CA.

[Mutaman]

Honestly, I think they would have given Pitt fits.

Not a major prediction considering ODU and Butler  gave Pitt fits.

[cheebs09]

Wright has 7 straight trips to the tourney, 1 final four, 1 elite 8, and 2 sweet sixteens. I'd take that over what Bo has doneat UW. Good win for them. I hope butler knocks them out though.

[muguru]

It's easy for you to be objective.  You don't have to listen to their BS all year long.  Move back to Wisconsin and then try to take the high road.  All you'll hear is Vander could'nt get into UW, and all the other BS they spew.  Lucky your in CA.

EXACTLY!!! I would imagine it's much easier to take when you don't have to listen to their blowhard fans yapping their gums constantly. Try dealing with that and sing their praises then.

[BCHoopster]

True, but whens the last time he upset a team in the tournament? Or won a post season game when he wasn't favored? Do you think Marquette could'nt have beaten Belmont and K-State?

Wisconsin had a higher seed than MU, which means they had a better year than MU.  Sure MU might have been able to beat those
two teams.  You only can play what is in front of you, and they won both games.  If MU was in the top 3 in the Big East, they might
be in the same situation as Pittsburgh.  You take Butler lightly, play down to your competition, you can then lose, and they did!

[OnWisconsin]

So F'n sick and tired of their loudmouth blowhard fans getting to continually boast about how deep they went in the tourney. they are going to the Elite 8, and they will be proud of it even though they only had to beat Butler to do it. It's sh*t like this that really ruins 3 great days of the NCAA tourney for me. I want them to lose so badly and then when they win and get really F'n lucky with a draw in the process, it just stings so much more.

dude, shut the f.uck up!

You guys have won SEVEN tournament games in the past 10 years to WISCONSIN'S EIGHTEEN wins.  I'm sure you'll have a response for this too, dumbass. Good job this year with your 14 loses!

[OnWisconsin]

I also love how you are all assuming you would beat K-State, what grounds do you have to say that? They are a better team then you guys, their... 1) Tournament Seed 2) Regular Season performance 3) performance against the UW proves it. You guys play harder teams because you got a crapty seed because of a pitiful regular season. Also, how is drawing a 5 seed (and beating them) in the second round lucky? You people are delusional.

[spiral97]

I also love how you are all assuming you would beat K-State, what grounds do you have to say that? They are a better team then you guys, their... 1) Tournament Seed 2) Regular Season performance 3) performance against the UW proves it. You guys play harder teams because you got a crapty seed because of a pitiful regular season. Also, how is drawing a 5 seed (and beating them) in the second round lucky? You people are delusional.

sure seems like you're trying to convince yourself more than us.. hope it works out for ya.

[Tom Crean's Tanning Bed]

Or how about this...in some of our recent years we've gotten very unlucky in terms of draw and timing.  

2007...lose McNeal just a week before the tournament, draw an 8 seed without him in North Carolina (with a potential UNC matchup looming in round 2), get blown off the floor vs. Michigan State.  Remember too that team had an 8 game Big East win streak at one point with a win at Pitt in OT that year too.

2008...crappy draw. Beat Kentucky in the first round, get Stanford in the 2nd with 2 7 footers (and we have no one above 6'10").  Play our asses off, force the game into OT, get a 1 pt lead in the closing seconds, and Brook Lopez hits a shot falling behind the backboard he'd miss 9 times out of 10 to knock us out.

2009...12-2 in Big East play heading into the stretch...James breaks his foot 4 minutes into the UConn game, team loses 5 of their last 6 to fall from a potential 1/2 seed line to a 6 without him, barely survive Utah State in round 1 of the NCAA, fall apart in the last 2 minutes vs. Mizzou playing 6 players (and with James at about 65% in spot minutes off the bench).  

Not much you could do about some of it in terms of how you're seeded, but it's beyond frustrating when we think about what might have been with a couple of these teams (at least 2008 and 2009) had a ball bounced somewhat differently or avoided fluke injuries.  That, combined with seeing a chief rival to the west have March success, is definitely wearing on a lot of fans.  

A win tmrw and a Sweet 16 appearance of our own will do a hell of a lot to heal some of these wounds.

[El Duderino]

I'm glad i'm not a Marquette alum and thus would have to hate Wisconsin Badgers athletics.

Instead, i get to be like most of my friends and family who like sports, we like both Wisconsin and Marquette. I just like MU slightly more because i live in Milwaukee.

For the last six years, it's been great come NCAA Tournament time, i've have two teams each year to cheer for. Barring MU/UW actually meeting in the big dance, i never have to pick sides. Hopefully Marquette wins tomorrow and thus, i'll have two teams i cheer for in the Sweet 16.

As for the Badgers getting lucky draws in the NCAA Tournament, it's not like playing non-BSC high seed teams has meant it allowed them to reach a bunch of Elite 8's or Final Fours. In three of the last fours years, they were bounced by a 7th, 10th, and 12th seed. Upsets happen constantly in these NCAA Tournaments and that doesn't mean an easy win for the team facing a seed in the 7-12 range instead of a 1-5 seed instead.

I've watched nearly every Wisconsin game this year and more so than most teams, they are extremely reliant on the jump shot to win, especially the three point shot. Hell, in the first half of the Belmont game, they took 24 shots and an amazing 18 of those shots were three pointers. When they are making their threes, they can beat nearly anyone. When they are bricking their threes, they can struggle mightily to score just 50 points and sometimes even 35 points.

Well, in the first two games this week, they've made 21 three pointers and shot 54% and 45% from three. If that continues vs Butler, they'll advance. If they struggle from three, odds are very high they'll lose.

[muguru]

I'm glad i'm not a Marquette alum and thus would have to hate Wisconsin Badgers athletics.

Instead, i get to be like most of my friends and family who like sports, we like both Wisconsin and Marquette. I just like MU slightly more because i live in Milwaukee.

For the last six years, it's been great come NCAA Tournament time, i've have two teams each year to cheer for. Barring MU/UW actually meeting in the big dance, i never have to pick sides. Hopefully Marquette wins tomorrow and thus, i'll have two teams i cheer for in the Sweet 16.

As for the Badgers getting lucky draws in the NCAA Tournament, it's not like playing non-BSC high seed teams has meant it allowed them to reach a bunch of Elite 8's or Final Fours. In three of the last fours years, they were bounced by a 7th, 10th, and 12th seed. Upsets happen constantly in these NCAA Tournaments and that doesn't mean an easy win for the team facing a seed in the 7-12 range instead of a 1-5 seed instead.

I've watched nearly every Wisconsin game this year and more so than most teams, they are extremely reliant on the jump shot to win, especially the three point shot. Hell, in the first half of the Belmont game, they took 24 shots and an amazing 18 of those shots were three pointers. When they are making their threes, they can beat nearly anyone. When they are bricking their threes, they can struggle mightily to score just 50 points and sometimes even 35 points.

Well, in the first two games this week, they've made 21 three pointers and shot 54% and 45% from three. If that continues vs Butler, they'll advance. If they struggle from three, odds are very high they'll lose.



I'm sorry, but it's "fans" like you that make the UW-MU rivalry a weak one. Too many "fence sitters", that root for both teams. That disgusts me. Think Louisville fans root for Kentucky?? or North Carolina fans root for Duke?? HELL no!!! And that's the way it should be!! As a UL fan once told me about their rivalry with UK.... "You either bleed red or you bleed blue, there is no in between". Why can't it be like that in this state?? That's how it SHOULD be.

[steff_mckee]

Guys...You are Marquette grads.  Let's work on our english. 

Lucky your in CA.  Should be You're, not your.

and lose has never been spelled "loose"

Not to be a stickler, but c'mon.

[brewcity77]

I'll be honest, I'd always rather see Becky BADger lose, but I can't say I care that much. I think they'll have a lot of trouble with Butler. They're designed to take on quick, strong, athletic teams like Pitt. They don't have that stylistic edge over Butler. Either way it would have been a tight game. It's not like they're in the Elite 8 yet. Besides, at least for 11 or so hours, I can dream of a Marquette Sweet 16 match-up with Washington and revenge for last year.

Hey, if Becky can "luck" into a lower seed than expected game, why can't we?

[ChicosBailBonds]

You could see this coming as soon as you saw the brackets. Pitt had an expressway to the final four but choked as usual. Butler? They got beat twice by UWM. Of course Wisconsin is good but they are still the same team that embarrassed itself on national tv against Ohio State and scored 33 points against Penn State. They will lose as soon as they meet a decent team. Unfortunately, that may not be for a while.

They are also still the same team that BEAT OSU as well, one of only two teams in the country to do so.

[Goose]

Get seeded high enough and breaks happen. For those arguing that our 9th place BE tie was not so bad because of who we tied I hope you look closer at the need not be tied for 9th. To build the program to the next level we need to get higher seed in NCAA.

[ChicosBailBonds]

EXACTLY!!! I would imagine it's much easier to take when you don't have to listen to their blowhard fans yapping their gums constantly. Try dealing with that and sing their praises then.

Boys, I said this same thing a few weeks ago about beating our in state rival and you would have thought I had 7 eyeballs.  I totally agree with you guys but some here were literally saying it's no big deal what our rival does or how good they are or how we shouldn't care about them.  Believe me, I get it.  I feel for you.

[OnWisconsin]

sure seems like you're trying to convince yourself more than us.. hope it works out for ya.

It has, quite well. That's why we are 25-8 and in the sweet sixteen. Thanks for your concern

[Warrior_2002]

I'm not sure how many of the people on this board are from the state of Wisconsin, but I am.  I am also a Marquette alum.  Before I went to Marquette, I loved both Marquette and Wisconsin and was always happy for UW-GB or UWM when they made the tourney.  I admit that when I was going to Marquette, I began to develop a hatred for Wisconsin basketball, but now that I've graduated and am almost 10 years out, I like to see the state teams do well.  I will always be super tied to Marquette emotionally wayyyyyy more than I am to Wisconsin, but enjoy the fact that our little old state of Wisconsin has 2 teams that consistently get into the tournament. I always have that desire for Marquette to do better than Wisconsin, but for the Wisconsin residents to be ridiculing a great team (on either side) is getting old.  I just wonder how many on either side (Bucky or MU) liked both teams at one point in time and now bash the other.

[WI inferiority Complexes]

There are times when this board reads as a advertisement for MU grads to move out of the state of Wisconsin, shake the inferiority complex about the University in Madison, and gain a little perspective.  The infatuation with the Badgers is existent year-round at MUScoop, but predominant during the National Tournament.

I don't want to speak for all of the thousands of alumni who are not from the state of Wisconsin, but I know I echo many of their sentiments when I say, "Marquette not only made the tournament, but is playing today for a chance to got o the Sweet 16.  Who the hell cares what the Wisconsin Badgers are doing?"

[Warrior_2002]

There are times when this board reads as a advertisement for MU grads to move out of the state of Wisconsin, shake the inferiority complex about the University in Madison, and gain a little perspective.  The infatuation with the Badgers is existent year-round at MUScoop, but predominant during the National Tournament.

I don't want to speak for all of the thousands of alumni who are not from the state of Wisconsin, but I know I echo many of their sentiments when I say, "Marquette not only made the tournament, but is playing today for a chance to got o the Sweet 16.  Who the hell cares what the Wisconsin Badgers are doing?"

Thank you WI_inferiority!  If you aren't from Wisconsin I can't understand why you would hate Bucky.  Makes no sense as they are not the HUGE rival everyone wants to make them out to be.  As if it were Bears/Packers, Michigan/Ohio State or something.  Wisconsin residents need to realize that as well.  Don't feel so inferior.  Just be proud of Marquette and stop having a complex about the bigger school (Bucky).  I can understand emotions being tied more to MU.  But to call a good team lucky is just stupid.  They are very well coached and well disciplined.