Hey, it happens

[MU82]

Michigan, #6 team in country, loses B1G tourney opener to #22 Wisconsin.

Duke, #2 team in country and team many are mentioning as top-overall seed, mostly dominated in losing ACC tourney opener to Maryland.

Otto Porter, BE PoY by landslide and Wooden candidate, goes 4-13 from floor and 4-7 from line as GTown loses to Syracuse.

Yes, it sucked losing to Notre Dame. Yes, it sucked that all the Warriors didn't play as well as they wanted to and we wanted them to.

College athletes aren't robots. Good teams occasionally lose to seemingly inferior opponents all the time. Great players occasionally mess up. Marquette wasn't the best team to lose its postseason tourney opener, and Notre Dame wasn't close to being the worst to pull off an upset.

I know this doesn't make anybody feel better about MU's flameout, but misery does love company.

[Otule's Glass Eye]

Seeing what has happened to top teams the past few days (particularly today) makes me feel better about the loss. Our loss gives us some motivation going into the tourney.

[RJax55]

Michigan, #6 team in country, loses B1G tourney opener to #22 Wisconsin.

Duke, #2 team in country and team many are mentioning as top-overall seed, mostly dominated in losing ACC tourney opener to Maryland.

Otto Porter, BE PoY by landslide and Wooden candidate, goes 4-13 from floor and 4-7 from line as GTown loses to Syracuse.

Yes, it sucked losing to Notre Dame. Yes, it sucked that all the Warriors didn't play as well as they wanted to and we wanted them to.

College athletes aren't robots. Good teams occasionally lose to seemingly inferior opponents all the time. Great players occasionally mess up. Marquette wasn't the best team to lose its postseason tourney opener, and Notre Dame wasn't close to being the worst to pull off an upset.

I know this doesn't make anybody feel better about MU's flameout, but misery does love company.

I'm disappointed about the loss, as I would like to see MU play better in conference tournaments. However, I don't view ND as an inferior opponent. IMO, MU vs. ND is a pretty equal match-up. The frustrating part about yesterday was the continued problem with turnovers, as this team can't seem to correct that flaw.

People have being complaining about Pat Connaughton, but I have to tip my hat to the guy. He really struggled with his 3-point shot in Big East regular season play (only shooting 31%). He stepped up for the Irish and was the difference maker in the game. In many ways, Connaughton's performance was very much like Chris Otule's 8 for 8 game against ND. In the two games that each team play against one another, the star of the game was an auxiliary player.

[MU82]

I'm disappointed about the loss, as I would like to see MU play better in conference tournaments. However, I don't view ND as an inferior opponent. IMO, MU vs. ND is a pretty equal match-up. The frustrating part about yesterday was the continued problem with turnovers, as this team can't seem to correct that flaw.

People have being complaining about Pat Connaughton, but I have to tip my hat to the guy. He really struggled with his 3-point shot in Big East regular season play (only shooting 31%). He stepped up for the Irish and was the difference maker in the game. In many ways, Connaughton's performance was very much like Chris Otule's 8 for 8 game against ND. In the two games that each team play against one another, the star of the game was an auxiliary player.

Good point about Connaughton/Otule.

The frustrating part of the Connaughton thing is that any guy who only shoots 3-pointers can be taken out of the game if a team commits to doing so. After the second or third one, there is no way he should have been open to take a single other 3. Look at the way teams defend Novak now. If they want to keep him from making 3's, they simply don't let him. It's not as if Novak is going to blaze past a defender for a dunk. Same would have been true for Connaughton. If Buzz told Juan or Mayo or Jamil or whomever: "Never leave Connaughton. I don't care if you think you should double somebody in the lane or on the block ... don't do it! Don't leave Connaughton open ever," I like to think Connaughton could have been reduced to spectator/decoy. One of his late open 3's came on a rebound scramble; sometimes that can't be avoided. The others, though, were because of defensive lapses that really were borderline unforgivable.

Oh, and I forgot to mention in my opening post that Duke's loss came not that far away from home; indeed, Greensboro practically is their home away from home. It would have been as if Marquette had lost to Villanova in Racine.

[Sunbelt15]

Seeing what has happened to top teams the past few days (particularly today) makes me feel better about the loss. Our loss gives us some motivation going into the tourney.

Our loss gives us motivation, I Don't See It!?

[only a warrior]

Let's face it - our last 3 games were not stellar.  Almost losing to St. Johns and Rutgers before laying the turd against ND.  Team needs to play much better if it wants to avoid first/second round flameout

[hairy worthen]

Our loss gives us motivation, I Don't See It!?

The team has played better the next few games after a tough loss. That is credit to the coaching staff. 

Of course good teams lose in the conference tournaments, only one can win it all.

[Goose]

I agree with Hairy. This team usually seems to rebound after a bad loss and that is a credit to Buzz and his staff. They are going to need to regroup big time to make second weekend of tourney. Disappointed in ND loss mainly because it was ND.

[tower912]

This team has handled success AND adversity worse than previous teams under Buzz.   It seems they need a loss to remind them that they have to play the way Buzz wants them to for 40 minutes.   They win a few, scrape by in a few playing less than stellar, and then lose because they only play Buzz-ball (ball movement, reversals, paint touches, no dumb fouls) for ever decreasing sections of the game.    Hopefully, the ND game is the final lesson, the one that finally sticks, that tells them they must, on every offensive possession, move the ball, reverse the ball, and get the ball in the paint, either with a pass or dribble.   MU jumped out to the lead, got a couple of dumb fouls on their bigs, and quit playing their offense.  

[MUMountin]

College athletes aren't robots. Good teams occasionally lose to seemingly inferior opponents all the time. Great players occasionally mess up. Marquette wasn't the best team to lose its postseason tourney opener, and Notre Dame wasn't close to being the worst to pull off an upset.

I know this doesn't make anybody feel better about MU's flameout, but misery does love company.

Exactly.  And, in single-elimination tournaments, someone is always going to be headed home disappointed.  We've had a great season, and while it would be nice to see MU actually make it to the final day of the conference championship for once, the loss to ND is far short of disastrous.

I'd note too that during the game on Thursday night, I got numerous messages from non-MU friends that commented on how it was a great game between two quality opponents.  To the general college basketball fan, I don't think anyone knocked us for that loss.

That said--let's get up off the mat and come out swinging next weekend!