[Enlund's Blog] Gardner's return remains uncertain

[TomEnlundSays]

Gardner's return remains uncertain
               




               

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/138877749.html
               

[The Lens]

If he doesn't play at UConn there is reason for concern. 

Until then we're lucky with how the sked breaks.  He can either play vs Cinci and then benefit from the long week off for recovery or he can continue to rest and have nearly 2 weeks to get ready for UConn.  We win at home without him. It's when we have 3 road games out of 4 that we need to be back at full strength if possible.

[Wade for President]

Count me being in the camp that thinks Yancy Gates and Co. could be really tough without Gardner.

[DCWarriors04]

If he doesn't play at UConn there is reason for concern. 

Until then we're lucky with how the sked breaks.  He can either play vs Cinci and then benefit from the long week off for recovery or he can continue to rest and have nearly 2 weeks to get ready for UConn.  We win at home without him. It's when we have 3 road games out of 4 that we need to be back at full strength if possible.

It said he could have gone last night but didn't out of caution. Pretty confident he'll be back either Saturday or next week against UConn.

[dwaderoy2004]

I think he'll dress Saturday and come off the bench in an "if necessary" role.

[nyg]

Count me being in the camp that thinks Yancy Gates and Co. could be really tough without Gardner.

Me too.  I think he sits one more week and then hopefully rested totally for UCONN. 

Beating Cincy without Gardner, even at home will be a task. 

[Stretchdeltsig]

Agree, we need Gardner to play to have a change to beat Cincinnati.  And, the sooner he plays he can knock off the growing rust from being idle.  He was starting to play more minutes before the injury.  Hope he hasn't lost too much. 

[dwaderoy2004]

I think we beat cincy at home with or without gardner.

[Clam Crowder]

It's sad that fans think a team as good as us needs one player to have a chance to beat an unranked team.

[JamilJaeJamailJrJuan]

It's sad that fans think a team as good as us needs one player to have a chance to beat an unranked team.

No crap. Gardner would obviously help, but MU definitely does not "need him" in order to win the game against Cincy this weekend.

[LON]

It's sad that fans think a team as good as us needs one player to have a chance to beat an unranked team.

But...Otule/Gardner >>> David Robinson/Tim Duncan

[Silkk the Shaka]

But...Otule/Gardner >>> David Robinson/Tim Duncan

Compared to any center tandem we've had in the past 15-20 years, that may actually be true....

[Windyplayer]

It's sad that fans think a team as good as us needs one player to have a chance to beat an unranked team.

Not really, Cincy is a really, really good road team. Ask G-town and UConn. They also had an 7 or 8-game road winning streak in the BEast spanning from last year to the start of this conference season. With Cashmere and Gates, they can beat any team on any given night barring a Kentucky or Cuse.

[MU82]

Gardner needs to be healthy and ready for March. If that means having to do without him most or all of February, so be it.

[Scooter22]

With respect to Cincy, just remember that last week Depaul played them even at Cincy for 36 minutes, and only folded in the final stretch....  I really don't think that Cincy is that good.  At home I think it's a W either way.  Only problem is that I can't quite muster the same vitriol for Cronin (who seems a good guy) as compared to Huggy bear.

[strotty]

It's easy to look at Cincinnati and think, "Oh, no. Yancy Gates." While Gates certainly is not a player to take lightly, you have to remember that the Bearcats go four guards for most of the game (post-brawl). If Marquette can limit Gates like they did Pope in the second half, it comes down to guard play. With the way Junior and Blue have stepped up (and the consistency of DJO), I like Marquette's odds.

[wadesworld]

With respect to Cincy, just remember that last week Depaul played them even at Cincy for 36 minutes, and only folded in the final stretch....  I really don't think that Cincy is that good.  At home I think it's a W either way.  Only problem is that I can't quite muster the same vitriol for Cronin (who seems a good guy) as compared to Huggy bear.

You realize that we trailed after 20 minutes to DePaul last night and we didn't really put them away until the last couple of minutes either, right?  We were down double-digits to them.

Another problem is our rebounding without Gardner.  DePaul is the worst rebounding Big East team, and they were POUNDING us on the glass in the first half.  Cincinnati will take advantage of that on Saturday.

[Wade for President]

It's sad that fans think a team as good as us needs one player to have a chance to beat an unranked team.

Really?!?  Do you not recall an "unranked" team coming to the Bradley Center and throttling us?  Cincy/Gates has given us trouble in the past, and having Gardner back would be a huge benefit for MU.  Maybe not totally necessary to get the win, but our size and depth are big question marks at this time.

We got embarassed on Saturday, were trailing a lousy DePaul team by 12 on Monday (both teams unranked...cough, cough).  It's not sad my friend...it's reality.

[MUMac]

You realize that we trailed after 20 minutes to DePaul last night and we didn't really put them away until the last couple of minutes either, right?  We were down double-digits to them.

Another problem is our rebounding without Gardner.  DePaul is the worst rebounding Big East team, and they were POUNDING us on the glass in the first half.  Cincinnati will take advantage of that on Saturday.

Disagree.   MU put them away early in the 2nd half.  Never really concerned that De Paul could come back.  Yes, they cut it to single digits, but that was it.

If Cincy shoots as unbelievably as De Paul did, they will likely take a lead on us as well.  When De Paul played De Paul ball, MU smoked them.  The 25-5 run from the 3 minute mark of the 1st half to the 2nd half is demonstrative of that.  MU turned up the heat defensively and De Paul could not answer.  I kind of expect something similar on Saturday.

[MUMac]

Really?!?  Do you not recall an "unranked" team coming to the Bradley Center and throttling us?  Cincy/Gates has given us trouble in the past, and having Gardner back would be a huge benefit for MU.  Maybe not totally necessary to get the win, but our size and depth are big question marks at this time.

We got embarassed on Saturday, were trailing a lousy DePaul team by 12 on Monday (both teams unranked...cough, cough).  It's not sad my friend...it's reality.

See, this is the inconsistency I do not understand.  On Saturday, we got embarrassed by the final score.  It was a game (4 points) with 10 to go.  MU doesn't get any credit for the first 30 minutes.  But, on Monday, De Paul get's all the credit in the world for the first 17 minutes when they built their lead, but MU get's no credit for dominating from that point out to win the game. 

[Henry Sugar]

Cincy isn't that good, not actually that big, and they're on the road.  They also haven't really played well in a month (the ND game)

[MU82]

We can beat anybody and lose to anybody. Taking a team with Gates lightly, especially when we probably will be without Gardner, is just silly.

I hope for a win and I think we'll win. But to talk like this is going to be "easy" ... I don't know what folks have seen so far to convince them of this.

[chapman]

Just get our press going and we're ok against Cincy.  Our guards are too strong for theirs in a full court game, and we'll steal half of the entry passes to Gates.  Was the game changer against DePaul-they struggled to get the ball up, tried long passes inside and got them stolen, and spent so much energy dealing with the press that their shooting went ice cold.  We don't have more guard depth than they do, but Vander, Mayo, and DWill are strong defenders and this style lets them show that off.  It also opens the things up for Jae to add to his steal totals, and spaces the floor, which allows undersized but athletic players to get more boards. 

[wadesworld]

Disagree.   MU put them away early in the 2nd half.  Never really concerned that De Paul could come back.  Yes, they cut it to single digits, but that was it.

If Cincy shoots as unbelievably as De Paul did, they will likely take a lead on us as well.  When De Paul played De Paul ball, MU smoked them.  The 25-5 run from the 3 minute mark of the 1st half to the 2nd half is demonstrative of that.  MU turned up the heat defensively and De Paul could not answer.  I kind of expect something similar on Saturday.

See, this is the inconsistency I do not understand.  On Saturday, we got embarrassed by the final score.  It was a game (4 points) with 10 to go.  MU doesn't get any credit for the first 30 minutes.  But, on Monday, De Paul get's all the credit in the world for the first 17 minutes when they built their lead, but MU get's no credit for dominating from that point out to win the game. 

Isn't your first post, well, pretty inconsistent in its own right?  You complain that Wade for President doesn't give Marquette credit for 30 minutes of good basketball (fortunately for us this season, games are 40 minutes long, so I'm not sure we need to give credit for 30 minutes when 40 minutes is what we need), yet you say that the 25-5 run was more demonstrative of "DePaul ball."  Should they not receive credit for 20 minutes of good basketball (they led into the 2nd half)?  And maybe the last 10 minutes of the Notre Dame game were Marquette getting back into "Marquette ball."  I mean, let's face it, we typically play a good 30 minutes and a horrible 10 minutes in games.  Against Notre Dame, our 30 good minutes weren't good enough to make up for the 10 horrible minutes like it has been a number of games.  So maybe that was "Marquette ball."

I guess if you want to go knock DePaul and claim that it was just because of a hot streak (no doubt they made some prayers, but they also outhustled us in every way in the 1st half, also knocked down some WIDE OPEN 3s, and KILLED us on the offensive board) rather than giving them credit for a good 25 minutes (within 4 with 15 to go, like Marquette was within 4 with 10 to go at Notre Dame), then I'm not sure how you can give credit for Marquette having a good 30 minutes at Notre Dame.  Heck, Marquette never held a double-digit lead at Notre Dame like DePaul did on Monday.  Seems hypocritical to me.

[Golden Avalanche]

With respect to Cincy, just remember that last week Depaul played them even at Cincy for 36 minutes, and only folded in the final stretch....  I really don't think that Cincy is that good.  At home I think it's a W either way.  Only problem is that I can't quite muster the same vitriol for Cronin (who seems a good guy) as compared to Huggy bear.

Cronin is a 100% douche. Witness his bullshit "faux tough guy" press conference after the Xavier game and then his subsequent gutless punishment.

Cronin was known as a douche under Huggins. He was known as a douche when he left under the dark of night to be at Pitino's side. He was known as a douche at Murray State. He was known as a douche for scheduling the 15 worst teams in Division I last year full well knowing he'd be fired if he didn't stockpile wins of any kind.

The irony of it all is that Huggy is known as a pretty good dude off the court. Same with Pitino. But as MU fans we're always going to have the ones we hate.