Are we better than last year?

[geps]

Just thinking Jae and DJO a little better than last year. Blue and JC kind of better. Gardner a push. No Butler or Otule but have Mayo, Jones and Wilson. Big East down so we get 2 or 3 more wins? What do you think?

[mu89]

Gardner a push?

[strotty]

Gardner a push? Um, he is significantly better. Everyone on the team is better than they were last year, Cadougan is an upgrade at the point and Jamil Wilson is getting it done defensively in place of Jimmy, while Mayo's offensive game has made up for Jimmy's scoring output. This isn't to say Marquette has replaced what Butler did on a nightly basis, but overall this team is much better than last year's.

[National Champs]

DG is more than a push, Mayo's contributions have been huge, and we are much deeper over all.

[MuMark]

Jones? 

I'm not sure we are better without Jimmy, Buycks and Otule.

Gardner and Junior are improved and Mayo is good but not giving us anymore then what Buycks gave us last year.

DJO and Crowder are more consistent this year. Wilson isn't close to Jimmy.

We played more really good teams last year and lost to most of them.

Our seed will be better.

[THEultimateWARRIOR]

Just thinking Jae and DJO a little better than last year. Blue and JC kind of better. Gardner a push. No Butler or Otule but have Mayo, Jones and Wilson. Big East down so we get 2 or 3 more wins? What do you think?

Gardner is saving this team right now...Mayo is better then Buycks. DJO is much improved all around. Crowder is better. This team is much better and deeper than last year.

[MU82]

Gardner is significantly better but there is absolutely no replacement for either Butler or Otule.

I'd say it's about a push, but the conference certainly isn't as great, so that certainly should make us better relative to the rest of the league.

[BCHoopster]

The league is way down.  Pitt and Villy are both bad, sure DePaul is a little better but over all the bad teams have gotten better, ie. Rutgers and the Hall seem better.
Notre Dame down as well.  West Virginia might be a little better.  Overall, there is not the talent, particularly NBA type talent that was there in the past.   Kevin Jones,
DJO, Lamb, that is all I see.  Sure you can talk about Orihaki and Drummond, but they are ways away.

MU is better, Otule will never be an offensive presence, Gardner is the most improved player in the league right now.  The seniors have stepped up, Crowder is taking much more
leadership.  DWilson and Cadougan are much better than Mr. turnover, DBuycks.  Dwight played out of position, not all his fault.  JWilson is much bigger and better than Fulce.  Vander
is better, but not much.  Made 2 nice plays in Louisville game, needs to be more offensive, they are begging him to shoot. 

[Windyplayer]

Gardner a push.

Not to continue dumping on the comment, but it was pretty ignorant.

[wadesworld]

Not to continue dumping on the comment, but it was pretty ignorant.

Ignorance is bliss.

[Wade for President]

Overall, there is not the talent, particularly NBA type talent that was there in the past.  Kevin Jones,
DJO, Lamb, that is all I see.  Sure you can talk about Orihaki and Drummond, but they are ways away.

You're kidding, right?  Drummond is tabbed as a Top 2-3 pick in all the mock draft boards.  MAJOR talent.  Not where Dwight Howard was at this age, but Andre has a better jumper and better handles.

[GGGG]

Gardner a push? Um, he is significantly better. Everyone on the team is better than they were last year, Cadougan is an upgrade at the point and Jamil Wilson is getting it done defensively in place of Jimmy, while Mayo's offensive game has made up for Jimmy's scoring output. This isn't to say Marquette has replaced what Butler did on a nightly basis, but overall this team is much better than last year's.

It is way too early to say that.  I'm sorry, but I really like this team, but it has a ceiling.  We are missing Otule and Butler.  Yeah, Gardner has significantly improved...along with marginal improvements from others.  But this year's team doesn't have the versitility of last year's. 

And have we won a game that we were not supposed to win yet?  Wisconsin....and???

[Golden Avalanche]

Just thinking Jae and DJO a little better than last year. Blue and JC kind of better. Gardner a push. No Butler or Otule but have Mayo, Jones and Wilson. Big East down so we get 2 or 3 more wins? What do you think?

Yes.

But only because most everyone else isn't as good as last season.

[Silkk the Shaka]

This is a very interesting topic.  Last year, people were very quick (some delightfully so) to point to our 9-9 conference record and dismiss the team as mediocre while painting the picture that Buzz had the program headed in the wrong direction.  However, a lot of that record had to do with MU facing a whopping TWELVE Sagarin top 25 teams by the time the Big East tournament rolled around.  Even excellent teams like eventual national champion UConn will lose games against competition that good.  This year, MU has faced three Sagarin top 25 teams (Wisconsin, Syracuse & Georgetown) with two left on the schedule.  There's a world of difference between those two slates.  We'll never have a schedule that difficult again.  I'm guessing last year's team would be sitting at 4-2 against this schedule as well, and no way in hell would they have gone 9-9 in this year's Big East.

With that being said, what did we lose, and what did we gain?  We lost a first round talent in Butler, our starting center Otule, and Buycks.  We gained a year of experience for Cadougan, DJO, Crowder, Blue and Gardner, increased Gardner's minutes, and added Mayo.  Kind of a wash, maybe even a slight edge to last year's roster balance-wise, with this year's having more valuable experience in the system.  Had Otule stayed healthy this year's team would have had a clear advantage from a roster makeup perspective and experience perspective.

This year's team will almost certainly finish with a better conference record, if not much better, but I'm not so sure if both these teams played 10 times at their respective peaks one team would win more than 5.  Last year's team was young, had no major injuries, and used that tough conference slate to grow up quickly and peak at the right time (March, obviously).  I'd love for this year's team to avoid injury the rest of the rest of the way and peak at the right time again too.  I think they can, and I think we'll see the second weekend of the tournament for the second year in a row.

[bilsu]

At this time last year Gardner was not even getting in games. Crowder was always getting in early foul trouble. Maybe it is not accuarte as to who is actually better, but I rather have Mayo thank Buyckes. Cadougan is significantly better than last year at this time. Cadougan really was not very good until March of last year. Blue is playing smarter. However, MU has 4 wins against teams, who combined only have 6 conference wins, so I still am not sure how good this team is.

[BCHoopster]

You're kidding, right?  Drummond is tabbed as a Top 2-3 pick in all the mock draft boards.  MAJOR talent.  Not where Dwight Howard was at this age, but Andre has a better jumper and better handles.

Did you see the Cincy game last night?  If you did not, then you better watch him in the next game.  Passive game with big potential, but not even close to being ready
for the NBA.  Has very little offensive game and shoots free throws at a 37% clip.  Needs at least 2 more years in college.  After watching UConn, I think MU might be able
to beat them. Drummond has potential, but if you can not dominate in college how are you going to do in the pros?  Undersized center, or power forward with no offense.

[Lennys Tap]

 

And have we won a game that we were not supposed to win yet?  Wisconsin....and???

Well, we've only been an underdog 3 times - won 1 (UW), lost 1 (Syracuse) and threw one away (GTown).

The 1976 Indiana team didn't win a single game they weren't supposed to but still had a pretty fair year.

[PaintTouches]

 

Did you see the Cincy game last night?  If you did not, then you better watch him in the next game.  Passive game with big potential, but not even close to being ready for the NBA.

I think you just described Greg Monroe's career at Georgetown and he seems to be doing just fine in the pros. Drummond is a high lottery pick next year no matter how many games UConn loses. Size and athleticism like that doesn't get passed up in the association too often.

[BCHoopster]

Did you see the Cincy game last night?  If you did not, then you better watch him in the next game.  Passive game with big potential, but not even close to being ready
for the NBA.  Has very little offensive game and shoots free throws at a 37% clip.  Needs at least 2 more years in college.  After watching UConn, I think MU might be able
to beat them. Drummond has potential, but if you can not dominate in college how are you going to do in the pros?  Undersized center, or power forward with no offense.

Look at the box score from last night 2 for 9 from the field 4 points total 6 rebounds, sounds like a Chris Otule box score

[Silkk the Shaka]

Did you see the Cincy game last night?  If you did not, then you better watch him in the next game.  Passive game with big potential, but not even close to being ready
for the NBA.  Has very little offensive game and shoots free throws at a 37% clip.  Needs at least 2 more years in college.  After watching UConn, I think MU might be able
to beat them. Drummond has potential, but if you can not dominate in college how are you going to do in the pros?  Undersized center, or power forward with no offense.

So you watched probably his worst game of the season and drew all of these conclusions?  The only game I've seen him play was vs. WVU and he went for 20 points, 11 boards and 3 blocks on 9/11 from the floor.  The guy's got 4 double doubles in 7 conference games, and he's not just one of the elite shot blockers in the conference, but in the nation. As a freshman.  Not to mention he's 6'11" 275 lbs.  And since when has poor FT shooting from a stud center dissuaded a team from drafting said stud center (see: Shaq, Dwight Howard)?  If he's not a top three pick, he's lottery for sure.  This is the NBA draft we're talking about, not college All American voting.

[nyg]

http://www.draftexpress.com/nba-mock-draft/2012/

The mailman is right.  Drummond will be top 3 pick and according to every single mock draft is at the top.  One and done. 

[BCHoopster]

So you watched probably his worst game of the season and drew all of these conclusions?  The only game I've seen him play was vs. WVU and he went for 20 points, 11 boards and 3 blocks on 9/11 from the floor.  The guy's got 4 double doubles in 7 conference games, and he's not just one of the elite shot blockers in the conference, but in the nation. As a freshman.  Not to mention he's 6'11" 275 lbs.  And since when has poor FT shooting from a stud center dissuaded a team from drafting said stud center (see: Shaq, Dwight Howard)?  If he's not a top three pick, he's lottery for sure.  This is the NBA draft we're talking about, not college All American voting.

I saw nothing last night to change my mind.  He was playing against Yates last night, a truly bigman, and did nothing.  I am just stating that the NBA drafts on potential, he has
that, but he is a long ways away to be a difference maker in the NBA.  Yes, he has an NBA body, so does Greg Steinsma.

[lab_warrior]

With that being said, what did we lose, and what did we gain?  

Honestly, I think the comparison between the two teams is a "push."  We still have a lot of games left to find out about this team, starting this weekend.  I think we are better in some areas (more experience, Gardner, bench depth), but not in others (OTule, DJO and Jae not being as ferocious alpha dogs as Butler, Cadougan yet to be BE Tournament Cadougan yet) 

a lot of that record had to do with MU facing a whopping TWELVE Sagarin top 25 teams by the time the Big East tournament rolled around.  ...  I'm guessing last year's team would be sitting at 4-2 against this schedule as well, and no way in hell would they have gone 9-9 in this year's Big East.

Agree completely with this.  Man, last year's schedule was BRUTAL. 

 I'd love for this year's team to avoid injury the rest of the rest of the way and peak at the right time again too.  I think they can, and I think we'll see the second weekend of the tournament for the second year in a row.

This will happen.  I think the team is starting to play very well of late. 

And one last thing--the comparison between Buycks and Mayo--keep in mind Mayo has not been forced to play out of position as the starting PG.  But, Mayo seems to be more integrated into the offense, and takes less risks with the ball.  Both were/are good defenders.

[MuMark]

Its funny how people remember players once they are gone.

Buycks averaged almost 12 points a game. Shot 46% from the floor and 41% from 3 last year. He averaged 3.1 assists , 2.3 tunrovers and 1.3 steals per game in 28 minutes


Mayo has had a fine freshman season. He is averaging 9.9 points, shooting .448% from the field and .344 from 3. He is averaging 1.3 assists, 1.74 turnovers and .47 steals per game in 22 minutes.

Mayo is a better free throw shooter then Buycks was. Rebounding is about the same.

Mayo has more upside then Buycks....but he has not been better for us in 2011/12 then Buycks was last year.

[RJax55]

Its funny how people remember players once they are gone.

Buycks averaged almost 12 points a game. Shot 46% from the floor and 41% from 3 last year. He averaged 3.1 assists , 2.3 tunrovers and 1.3 steals per game in 28 minutes

Dwight averaged 8.8 points a game last year.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/team/stats/_/id/269/year/2011/marquette-golden-eagles