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Author Topic: [Rosiak's Blog] Up next: Sacramento State  (Read 1323 times)

ToddRosiakSays

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[Rosiak's Blog] Up next: Sacramento State
« on: December 13, 2007, 01:45:08 PM »
Up next: Sacramento State

With the tough portion of their non-conference schedule out of the way and final exams winding down, the 10th-ranked Marquette Golden Eagles (6-1) will open a five-game homestand on Saturday afternoon with Sacramento State.

The Hornets (2-7) aren't expected to provide much of a test for MU. Either is IPFW (4-4), which visits Monday night, Coppin State (3-7) or Savannah State (6-7). But at this point in the season it's more about notching as many victories as possible heading into conference play, so that's exactly what the Golden Eagles are aiming for.

They're also aiming for in-house improvements, though, and what better time to work on them than the coming three weeks?

I think there's three things right now that we have to be completely focused on, not withstanding the fact it's exam week, said coach Tom Crean recently. No. 1 it's a great time for us to get better. Over the last two weeks, since we got back from Maui, there's no doubt that our team has gotten better and I think it's shown in the way that we've played. No. 2, we don't want to give anything back. We've had some great wins, we had a tough loss to Duke and right now we want to make sure we're taking care of business and we're getting ourselves prepared as we play these games at home. And No. 3, we're preparing to win our league like other people.

Georgetown's undefeated, Pitt's undefeated, Louisville's had a couple of toe-stubs but they're going to be just fine. Notre Dame is playing well, got a great home winning streak going, Villanova's playing well, I'd be shocked if West Virginia's not ranked by the time we get in there. It's a great time to get better. After this week it'll be a situation where they'll really have nothing else to do but rest and prepare for Christmas and play basketball. So we're happy with the timeframe of where it's at right now and anxious to see if we can improve.

Sacramento State, which lost to No. 17 Oregon on Tuesday, comes to town with junior Loren Leath averaging 18.9 points per game but not much else; no other Hornets player averages in double figures. The Hornets are also shooting just 41.2% overall, 58.2% from the free-throw line and are being out-rebounded, 40-32.6, per game.

MU, which has never faced Sacramento State, then faces a quick turnaround as it hosts IPFW on Monday night. The two games in three days were thrown in by design by Crean, who likes to have his team well-versed in quick turnarounds by the time the Big East season rolls around.

The great thing about this week is we'll have a Saturday-Monday, he said. We'll have two of those situations during the Big East, I believe, with Saturdays and Big Mondays, and it's like an NCAA tournament-type situation, and we're totally trying to build our preparation so that when we get into those types of situations in January, February, March it's not foreign to them. With a young team I'd be more concerned about that than with a mature team. I'll be shocked if we don't come out and play with a lot of energy.

Hand-to-hand combat: When asked to comment on his team's defensive play of late, Crean credited a few areas but made special mention of the continuing training the Golden Eagles are receiving in tae kwon do.;I think it's maturity. Without a doubt, the tae kwon do, we're seeing the effects of that, he said. We did it again last week. J.K. Lee, when his people come in here they help us a great deal. It's the breathing, it's the stretching, it's the hand quickness. Those things are just adding. I love it, I love what it's giving us, but really it's them, it's the way they practice, it's what they want to get done on the floor.
Never satisfied: Atop Crean's list of areas to improve upon in the coming games is rebounding, among other things.

We're not even close to where we have to be in the league. The last two games have been better, but we've got a long way to go, he said. There's so many things to get better at. Our screening was better the other day but that's got to become more consistent. Our ball reversal was good but we've got to get back and get more free throws; in the last two games we haven't shot more free throws than our opponents have. Our percentage is not great. The only area we're really consistent in right now is playing hard, and that's a good place to be consistent at but it's not enough to win big. We've got to get better at a lot of things.

Bench brigade: In discussing the Golden Eagles' bench, Crean said he felt he had more than five starting-caliber players on his roster, which is what he's aiming for every year. He then used a couple of his big men as an example of MU's growing depth.

We started the season bringing Ousmane (Barro) off the bench for no other reason than I didn't want him in early foul trouble because last year I felt we had too many games - go back to the Wisconsin game; the whole dynamic of the game changed when we had to sit Ousmane down - and we wanted to guard against that a little bit, he said. Still get him quality minutes but let the game get going before we get him in. Well, Dwight Burke's making it tough for me to change my mind. I look at those two as being contributors.
"Really with Dan (Fitzgerald) out right now and with Trevor (Mbakwe) out, those are two guys that would have been even more a part of making our bench stronger and making our lineup stronger.

Injury update: Speaking of Fitzgerald, Crean said with the upcoming stretch of home games will allow the senior forward the luxury to return to MU's lineup from his sprained left wrist when he's completely ready.
We're going to take a little time with it right now. There's no sense rushing him back, said Crean. We're going to let it take its course. He's dressed every day, he's here. He's engaged in it every day. But we'll just wait and see. It's hard to tell. He wants to play yesterday. I think now with this stretch we're not going to rush him back. If it would have been close last week obviously that would have been a little different story, but it's not. So let's just wait.

http://blogs.jsonline.com/muhoops/archive/2007/12/13/up-next-sacramento-state.aspx
« Last Edit: December 13, 2007, 01:51:27 PM by SoCalwarrior »