Rush The Court grades MU season a B-plus

[Eye]

11.Marquette (22-15, 9-9): The Golden Eagles lost 15 games and made the Sweet Sixteen. If that doesn't give you an idea of how deep this conference is and how down college basketball was nationally, I don't know what does. Marquette was a good team and finished 11th out of 16 teams, but still made the NCAA Tournament. Judging by their seed, the Golden Eagles really needed that second round Big East Tournament win against West Virginia and their earlier road win at UConn to lock up a bid. Without one or two of those, Marquette may have been left out in the cold. This team was competitive out of conference, but failed to win any games of significance in the Big East until they beat West Virginia on New Year's Day. A beat down of Notre Dame nine days later got them off to a 3-1 start in conference but they did not win a meaningful road game until that critical overtime victory at Connecticut in late February. Besides making the Sweet Sixteen, the best news out of Milwaukee of late was that Buzz Williams is staying. He's done a really nice job at Marquette since taking over for Tom Crean and, despite his southern roots, jobs at Oklahoma, Texas Tech, or Arkansas are not the most attractive at this point. MU will take some personnel hits next year but a core group of Darius Johnson-Odom, Jae Crowder, Junior Cadougan, and Vander Blue have to give this passionate fan base some hope for the future. Marquette may not be as good next year but they could finish higher than 11th. The loss of Jimmy Butler and Dwight Buycks will hurt, but a decent recruiting class that includes California native Juan Anderson should add depth for next season. GRADE: B+

Here are their grades for the entire league ...

http://rushthecourt.net/2011/04/19/conference-report-card-big-east/#more-36922

[rocky_warrior]

failed to win any games of significance in the Big East until they beat West Virginia on New Year's Day.

Overall very fair, but the above statement cracked me up.  Can you imagine the horror of the team going 0-0 in the BE before finally beating WVU.  Talk about a win that was a long time coming.

[Markusquette]

Overall very fair, but the above statement cracked me up.  Can you imagine the horror of the team going 0-0 in the BE before finally beating WVU.  Talk about a win that was a long time coming.

lol yeah that made no sense

[brewcity77]

Overall very fair, but the above statement cracked me up.  Can you imagine the horror of the team going 0-0 in the BE before finally beating WVU.  Talk about a win that was a long time coming.

+2

I thought the exact same thing 

[Stuckin1977]

Sure, we didn't win any conference games before conference play began, but at least we didn't lose any either!

[TheDOC816]

He probably meant to say any games of significance not in the BE but proofreading can do wonders I'm told

[79Warrior]

Interesting he thinks we may not be as good next year. He does not appear excited by the new recruits, calling it a "decent class".

I suspect the MU fans base is way more optimistic for next season.

[APieperFan3]

I suspect the MUs fan base is way more optimistic for next season.

Just wait until mid-July....

[MerrittsMustache]

Overall very fair, but the above statement cracked me up.  Can you imagine the horror of the team going 0-0 in the BE before finally beating WVU.  Talk about a win that was a long time coming.

I think he has a good point. MU was 13 games into the season at that point but they had yet to win a conference game 

[AZWarrior]

  would be a teal substitute?   

[MerrittsMustache]

would be a teal substitute?   

Teal doesn't show up on some PDAs so I figure a winking face is a safer way to avoid getting posters all worked up.

[boyonthedock]

he probably meant didnt win any big games until the big east season. but messed it up

[Stuckin1977]

Yeah thanks, we got it

[BrewCity83]

He neglected to say that we were both winless and undefeated going into the season.