Give it to Pitino

[keefe]

The guy gets the talent and devised a great game plan that capitalized on their strengths vis-à-vis Marquette. Both coaches had a week to prepare for this game. Pitino's worked better and you have to give him credit. We may not like him and despise him for things like Porcini, etc... but he is a helluva coach.

One can look at this game as our guys didn't do their job but I think Pitino just had an excellent plan, better players, and superior execution. He really is one of the college coaching greats. We are fortunate to witness greatness.

[StillWarriors]

The guy gets the talent and devised a great game plan that capitalized on their strengths vis-à-vis Marquette. Both coaches had a week to prepare for this game. Pitino's worked better and you have to give him credit. We may not like him and despise him for things like Porcini, etc... but he is a helluva coach.

One can look at this game as our guys didn't do their job but I think Pitino just had an excellent plan, better players, and superior execution. He really is one of the college coaching greats. We are fortunate to witness greatness.

Can't argue with any of this except the being fortunate to witness greatness part. I'm feeling far from fortunate after watching us get throttled.

[The Lens]

I miss Denny Crum. Pitino owns us.

[forgetful]

I miss Denny Crum. Pitino owns us.

We play a similar style of basketball as Pitino, with lesser athletes.  Not a recipe for continued success.  I think Buzz actually coaches them better (or at least picks kids more coachable), but that only goes so far.

[lab_warrior]

Know who else gave it to Pitino?  Karen Sypher.

http://www.youtube.com/v/9CdVTCDdEwI&fs=1&source=uds

[TallTitan34]

You're doing something right if you don't get fired after the Karen Sypher thing.

[keefe]

I think Buzz actually coaches them better

Not sure about that. When Buzz gets 700 wins, 6 Final Fours and a Ring then the comparisons may begin. I'm not slamming Buzz but he's nowhere near as accomplished as Pitino. Let's hope he gets there but until then Pitino stands among the all-time greats. Today, like so many other times, he schooled us. Badly. I tip my hat to the man.

[Avenue Commons]

Give it to Pitino, he can ROCK a white suit in February.

[4everwarriors]

Had years of experience

[NCMUFan]

Rick Pitino is no doubt a HOF coach.  And he could of been better prepared than Buzz this game.  But it seems that there were a number of blow outs in Marquettes favor at the Bradley Center in the recent past where Rick looks like he is thinking "When does the bus pick us up?"

[Goose]

Rick flat out delivers the goods. Recruits top talent and gets them to play hard. Love or hate him he is a helluva college coach. I enjoy watching MU play against his teams. A game like Florida or UL shows us the need to continue recruiting higher level guys.

[Marqevans]

as Al used tosay: You cut off the head and the body dies.  In this case  he cut off Gardner and the Paint.

[GGGG]

Rick Pitino is no doubt a HOF coach.  And he could of been better prepared than Buzz this game.  But it seems that there were a number of blow outs in Marquettes favor at the Bradley Center in the recent past where Rick looks like he is thinking "When does the bus pick us up?"

"A number of blow outs?" 

I can think of one...maybe two...otherwise Pitino has pretty much owned Marquette.

[tower912]

His speed is faster than our speed, his toughness is tougher than our toughness, his team outhustles our team.    MU isn't ready to beat a top 10 (not ranked there at the moment, but have been earlier and will be later) in their gym this year.   

[GGGG]

His speed is faster than our speed, his toughness is tougher than our toughness, his team outhustles our team.    MU isn't ready to beat a top 10 (not ranked there at the moment, but have been earlier and will be later) in their gym this year.   

Marquette lost two NBA draft picks off last year's team.  One player has stepped significantly, but not yet to their level (Blue), some have stepped up a little, and the rest are about where they were.

[SWARM!]

Wilson has regressed significantly.

[CTWarrior]

His speed is faster than our speed, his toughness is tougher than our toughness, his team outhustles our team.    MU isn't ready to beat a top 10 (not ranked there at the moment, but have been earlier and will be later) in their gym this year.   

Don't think they outhustle us so much as they are quicker and continually beat us to the ball. 

Biggest issue is that we don't have guards that can handle that kind of pressure and get the offense started.  We started out OK because they were missing shots and couldn't get their full court pressure going.  After falling behind 9-1 they figured out how to deal with our high hard hedging and get the ball back to the interior guys before our bigs could recover.  Our defense was scrambling the rest of the game.  We stopped hedging so hard and left the jump shooters open.  And once Louisville scores and gets the pressure going and forces turnovers or bad shots they are off to the races.

IMO, they are NOT a national title contender because teams that can't score better than they do in the half court always find a way to lose in the NCAAs.  They just happen to be our kryptonite.

[NotAnAlum]

MU is a solid Top 25-40 team.  This is better than I thought they'd be this year.  We are not an elite team this year (I believe we were an elite team last year).  We will not be able to beat an elite team, which I believe Louisville is, on their floor without that team having a down game and a lot of luck.  I think some people were blinded by our BE start that was heavily influenced by playing at home and some luck.  Saying that this team has a shot at winning the BE sets expectations way too high.  I fully expect a struggle at SF and will consider anything better than a 3 point (one possession) win a bonus.  I'm hoping to get to 11-7 and a comfortable situation on selection sunday.  That is a reasonable expectation for this year.
Next year if some of the new kids can consistently hit from the outside maybe we can be elite again.

[Avenue Commons]

Marquette lost two NBA draft picks off last year's team.  One player has stepped significantly, but not yet to their level (Blue), some have stepped up a little, and the rest are about where they were.

Agreed. All in all this season has been a big success, in my humble opinion. I thought we were headed for the NIT, now it looks like a very real shot at the NCAA tourney again. As long as they continue to play hard, I'm ok with however this team turns out.

[keefe]

Agreed. All in all this season has been a big success, in my humble opinion. I thought we were headed for the NIT, now it looks like a very real shot at the NCAA tourney again. As long as they continue to play hard, I'm ok with however this team turns out.

I agree that the team is far exceeding expectations. Despite getting shamed yesterday Schulman and Bilas kept saying that each year every 'expert' overlooks Marquette and then there they are in the Sweet 16. Spoke very highly of Buzz and how hard his teams play.

Schulman and Bilas are the best duo on ESPN. I was surprised to hear Schulman is Canadian, though. Not sure I like that. Not one bit. A Canadian. Of all damn things.

[Stretchdeltsig]

Coach Pitino is a really, really good coach.  He is a great recruiter of quality big men and guards.  When Pitino pulls a player out of the game, he kneels in front of him and "coaches" the player what he did wrong and how to do it right.  Buzz is a good, young coach who is learning more each year.  It seems that Buzz is gaining confidence as a recruiter and has built a deep roster with good talent.  He needs to to step up his recruiting to land the best possible talent which means quality big men and fast guards that can dominate other teams.     

[Buzz Williams' Spillproof Chiclets Cup]

"A number of blow outs?" 

I can think of one...maybe two...otherwise Pitino has pretty much owned Marquette.

Agreed. Not sure where this "number of blowouts" comes from. We have lost 10 of the last 13 meetings against Louisville.

[GGGG]

Wilson has regressed significantly.

Actually he hasn't.  If you look at Jamil's game stats from last year compared to this year, they aren't that much different.

Last year...7.1/4.1/1.1 in 24mpg
This year...8.0/4.5/1.6 in 23mpg

He just isn't living up to other's expectations.

[kmwtrucks]

In regard to JW I really thought he would start hitting the 15-17 jumper at a higher rate.  I think he is as good at 22 as he is at 16.  35-40%.  I'm OK with that from 3 that is way to low for a short jumper.

[WI inferiority Complexes]

Agreed. Not sure where this "number of blowouts" comes from. We have lost 10 of the last 13 meetings against Louisville.

I thought we were going to blow them out at Louisville once, but we blew a 1 billion point lead with 6 minutes left.