Regular season thoughts

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Absolutely. No excuse to be blown out by butler with their talent compared to ours. And please, stop with the frosh excuses. These players have a whole season and an overseas trip experience by now.

Who on our team is as talented as Kellen Dunham and Roosevelt Jones? They start 2 RS seniors, 1 senior, a RS junior, and a junior. The first player off their bench is a RS senior. This is a team that finished in the top 20 last season. They have more talent than we do. We got blown out on the road. It happens.

Youth is never an excuse. It is a fact. Yes they are a whole season older. Guess who else is a whole season older? Their opponents. We are still the 8th youngest team in the country. If you don't think that's a factor, you are lying to yourself.

[GGGG]

Absolutely. No excuse to be blown out by butler with their talent compared to ours. And please, stop with the frosh excuses. These players have a whole season and an overseas trip experience by now.

But that also means that players on other teams have even more experience too right?

[ChicosBailBonds]

Absolutely. No excuse to be blown out by butler with their talent compared to ours. And please, stop with the frosh excuses. These players have a whole season and an overseas trip experience by now.

It happens.  We lost to a NCAA team, in their arena, on senior day.   

[Lennys Tap]

So you talk about Buzz and TC being creative, but then say we should never lose to Depaul.  You realize Buzz lost to Duhpal with 5 NBA players on his team, 4 of them starters? 

1. Mo Acker and David Cubillan started on that team - neither (to my knowledge) played in the NBA.
2. You brutally attacked Buzz and the team after that game, a common reaction of your "fandom" during the 2nd most successful era in Marquette history. None of us on Scoop will ever forget your "Choking dogs pee down their legs" article you penned for Cracked Sidewalks. Now you preach patience.
3. You thought the "Midgets" who lost to DePaul were devoid of talent - so bad that if Buzz even made the tournament with them he was a miracle worker deserving to be named National Coach of the Year. At least until he did it in spades and got a #6 seed. Now Six years later you're trying to denigrate Buzz for underachieving with a juggernaut loaded with NBA talent. Pitiful and transparently agenda driven. And just the kind of hypocrisy you love to rail against - ironic, hey?

[Lennys Tap]

Who on our team is as talented as Kellen Dunham and Roosevelt Jones? They start 2 RS seniors, 1 senior, a RS junior, and a junior. The first player off their bench is a RS senior. This is a team that finished in the top 20 last season. They have more talent than we do. We got blown out on the road. It happens.

Youth is never an excuse. It is a fact. Yes they are a whole season older. Guess who else is a whole season older? Their opponents. We are still the 8th youngest team in the country. If you don't think that's a factor, you are lying to yourself.

I agree that Butler is talented and experienced. I wasn't surprised they blew us out.

But "who on our team is as talented as Kellen Dunham or Roosevelt Jones?" You can't possibly be serious. Henry has more talent than those two guys even imagine having.

[1SE]

Listen, I think all of us would have been thrilled with a NCAA berth this year - that would have been an "A"

NIT is a "B" - sneaking in as a 6 seed is a "B-"

Missing the NIT with a winning record "C"

Losing record but better than last year "D"

Worse record than last year "F"

Had Wojo earned a "D" or "F" the seat should have been warm THiS YEAR

A "C" and he's looking at a warm seat next year if things don't improve

"B" and I'm happy to give him another year on this trajectory.

Bottom line, this season hasn't been great, hasn't been as good as it could have with this roster, but also could have been a lot worse. 

[MU82]

With the exception of a half-dozen or so games, I have enjoyed this season.

My wife and I went to Brooklyn and had a blast.

We watched the Wisconsin and @Providence games with large Marquette contingents and enjoyed ourselves immensely.

I liked watching Henry, Haanif and Traci. I liked watching the light bulb go on for JJJ. I thought Wojo improved as a coach. Although Duane drifted at times, he came through big several times and that was of course enjoyable.

Would I have liked more improvement from Duane and Luke and, for that matter, Wojo? Yep. Would I have liked wins against DePaul, Belmont and Creighton (among others)? Yep.

But overall, I enjoyed watching the games and I feel we are on the right path. I agree with a few others who say next year will tell us a lot, but we're still on this year.

I agree with tower and give this team a B. If I'm feeling like a tough grader after watching a bad loss, maybe a B-. If we win a couple of BET games, heck, I might go B+!

I guess I'm just an optimist. Seems a better way to go through life.

[ChicosBailBonds]

DePaul 51, Marquette 50

On that team

Lazar Hayward...NBA...started against DePaul
Jimmy Butler....NBA...started against DePaul
DJO....NBA....started against DePaul
Dwight Buycks...NBA....off the bench

Cubillan and Acker were 5 of 7 that game.  The four NBA guys were 11 of 31.

I was wrong in saying 5 NBA players and 4 starters.   Should have been 4 NBA players, 3 of them starters.  We scored 18 points in the second half.  DePaul's first Big East win in 25 games.  The only lead DePaul had the entire game was with one second left.  With that much talent, epic choking dogs.   

It happens.

[willie warrior]

But that also means that players on other teams have even more experience too right?

Right. But look at our talent compared to butler. And we have an AA coach. So no excuses for that blowout.

[PGsHeroes32]

1. Mo Acker and David Cubillan started on that team - neither (to my knowledge) played in the NBA.
2. You brutally attacked Buzz and the team after that game, a common reaction of your "fandom" during the 2nd most successful era in Marquette history. None of us on Scoop will ever forget your "Choking dogs pee down their legs" article you penned for Cracked Sidewalks. Now you preach patience.
3. You thought the "Midgets" who lost to DePaul were devoid of talent - so bad that if Buzz even made the tournament with them he was a miracle worker deserving to be named National Coach of the Year. At least until he did it in spades and got a #6 seed. Now Six years later you're trying to denigrate Buzz for underachieving with a juggernaut loaded with NBA talent. Pitiful and transparently agenda driven. And just the kind of hypocrisy you love to rail against - ironic, hey?

You completely missed his point on this one

[Dr. Blackheart]

DePaul 51, Marquette 50

On that team

Lazar Hayward...NBA...started against DePaul
Jimmy Butler....NBA...started against DePaul
DJO....NBA....started against DePaul
Dwight Buycks...NBA....off the bench

Cubillan and Acker were 5 of 7 that game.  The four NBA guys were 11 of 31.

I was wrong in saying 5 NBA players and 4 starters.   Should have been 4 NBA players, 3 of them starters.  We scored 18 points in the second half.  DePaul's first Big East win in 25 games.  The only lead DePaul had the entire game was with one second left.  With that much talent, epic choking dogs.   

It happens.

Good lord, that game sucked to be at.  DePaul had a 24 game BE loss streak.Tracey Webster was the substitute coach. Stovall hitting one at the end. Many blown chances to go 2-4 in the BE after the loss. I believe this when Scoop crowd-sourced a demand that JFB's scholarship be revoked. 

What a great year and coaching job that turned out to be.

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/goldeneagles/82220402.html?ipad=y

[bilsu]

We won 8 games in a tougher BE this year than the one we won 4 games in last year.

Until the NCAA tournament is played will not know how tough the Big East was this year.
8 wins on paper is definately an improvement over 4 wins. However, two were against St. John's without their first team freshmen  player and one was against DePaul without their best player.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

But "who on our team is as talented as Kellen Dunham or Roosevelt Jones?" You can't possibly be serious. Henry has more talent than those two guys even imagine having.

Henry has more potential than them combined. Talent right this second? I'd take Jones for sure. Dunham probably not. Youre rightvon that one

[connie]

Fairly or unfairly the frustration factor with this team was super high.  I guess we can explain a lot of this with a young team and staff, but that excuse just gets worn out fast.  For me next year, I need to see some more obvious growth. 

[BM1090]

Fairly or unfairly the frustration factor with this team was super high.  I guess we can explain a lot of this with a young team and staff, but that excuse just gets worn out fast.  For me next year, I need to see some more obvious growth.

We doubled our conference win total. Have a good shot at a 20 win season. Last year we were 13-19 and last in the Big East. That's not obvious growth?

[marquette09]

DePaul 51, Marquette 50

On that team

Lazar Hayward...NBA...started against DePaul
Jimmy Butler....NBA...started against DePaul
DJO....NBA....started against DePaul
Dwight Buycks...NBA....off the bench

Cubillan and Acker were 5 of 7 that game.  The four NBA guys were 11 of 31.

I was wrong in saying 5 NBA players and 4 starters.   Should have been 4 NBA players, 3 of them starters.  We scored 18 points in the second half.  DePaul's first Big East win in 25 games.  The only lead DePaul had the entire game was with one second left.  With that much talent, epic choking dogs.   

It happens.

Worst sporting event I have ever been to.  What a nightmare that was.   

[wadesworld]

Some people simply don't understand high level basketball...

A freaking men. That's where my disappointment comes in...Should they have been a stone cold lock to start the year like they were in most of Buzz's years?? Absolutely not, but they should have, at worst been heavy in the discussion right now. You had a Freshman who was one of the best in the country, a top 10 recruit, you should, at the very least be in the discussion for the NCAA's this time of year, NOT losing as many home games(over 2 years) that you have, not losing to DuhPaul(ever), Creighton at home, Belmont at home etc. Youth or not, this team underachieved. They werent that young by the end of the year. The "youth" excuse is so weak...did Youth affect Kentucky a couple years ago?? or Duke last year?? Save the "they are blue bloods" that's different argument. Youth is youth..There was enough talent on this team, the fact that they aren't even in the NCAA discussion...that rests in the Head Coach's lap. He can recruit, no doubt about it, but I have seen NOTHING from him that shows me he can Coach yet. He shows no creativity at all...no "wrinkles" in any game plans etc. Pretty stale really. TC and Buzz got creative from game to game depending on the opponent etc. I have seen nothing of that from Wojo.

[warriorchick]

With the exception of a half-dozen or so games, I have enjoyed this season.


I liked watching Henry, Haanif and Traci. I liked watching the light bulb go on for JJJ. I thought Wojo improved as a coach. Although Duane drifted at times, he came through big several times and that was of course enjoyable.

Would I have liked more improvement from Duane and Luke and, for that matter, Wojo? Yep. Would I have liked wins against DePaul, Belmont and Creighton (among others)? Yep.

But overall, I enjoyed watching the games and I feel we are on the right path. I agree with a few others who say next year will tell us a lot, but we're still on this year.

I agree with tower and give this team a B. If I'm feeling like a tough grader after watching a bad loss, maybe a B-. If we win a couple of BET games, heck, I might go B+!

I guess I'm just an optimist. Seems a better way to go through life.

+2017

My thoughts exactly.

[wadesworld]

Until the NCAA tournament is played will not know how tough the Big East was this year.
8 wins on paper is definately an improvement over 4 wins. However, two were against St. John's without their first team freshmen  player and one was against DePaul without their best player.

Unless I'm just misremembering, I don't think the BE faired very well in the NCAAs last year...

And oh.  So let's just discount half of our wins.  In that case, then yes, if we want to take away half of our wins we are probably worse than we were last year.

 

Henry has more potential than them combined. Talent right this second? I'd take Jones for sure. Dunham probably not. Youre rightvon that one

Ask Butler's coach off the record who he would've taken for this season alone and there's no doubt he would've traded either of those guys for Hank.  Heck, maybe both of those guys for Hank.

Ask the BE coaches as a whole who they'd take for this season only and...well, the awards speak for themselves.  Hank 1st Team, Jones and Dunham 2nd Team.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Ask Butler's coach off the record who he would've taken for this season alone and there's no doubt he would've traded either of those guys for Hank.  Heck, maybe both of those guys for Hank.

Ask the BE coaches as a whole who they'd take for this season only and...well, the awards speak for themselves.  Hank 1st Team, Jones and Dunham 2nd Team.

I was wrong about Dunham. But Jones advanced numbers are better than Henry's. Henry benefits from playing with less talent around him. Henry will be the better basketball player. No question. But I'd take redshirt senior Jones over freshmen Henry.

[wadesworld]

I was wrong about Dunham. But Jones advanced numbers are better than Henry's. Henry benefits from playing with less talent around him. Henry will be the better basketball player. No question. But I'd take redshirt senior Jones over freshmen Henry.

Goes both ways.  More talent around you means more shots for guys that aren't you, but it also means easier shot attempts for you.  Butler literally had to stop 1 single guy on the court for Marquette, they knew it, and he still went for 29 and 7 or whatever he had yesterday.

[dgies9156]

As a follow-up to the comments I made and to this year in general:

1) In fairness to Wojo, I think he managed expectations from the outset. Never once did I hear him talk about an NCAA berth or a leadership position in the Big East. Rather, I think he knew what he was facing this year. From time to time you could see it in his face, in the way he got into the faces of our players and how he reacted in his post-game comments.

2) The reason I was so aggravated yesterday is even though I agree with jsglow that building a team takes time, yesterday was a sign that we're a long way from where most of us want to be. I could accept a loss to Butler in Indy. That's a tough place to play and Butler -- even though we beat them a few weeks ago -- is a pretty good team and borderline NCAA team. But to get blown out in a loss as ugly as the Iowa loss was just suggests that either the team chemistry isn't right or the overall talent isn't there. We have enough experience that by now, that should not have happened with Butler.

3) My pessimism on this team is that our improvement in record is in part due to an improvement in talent. But's it also is due to having too many teams with RPIs of 150+ on our schedule. We had some highlights -- Georgetown, Providence, the Red Rodent and LSU. We were close against some very good teams, though we lost, and we generally played tough. I'm fearful that if Butler at Indy was indicative of where this team is, we've got a couple of long years ahead of us.

4) As to what I got wrong, I probably overstated our RPI issue. But we did lose to DePaul; our center does have a problem staying in games; and, we did get blown out in our last game of the season. I'm happy our record overall was better and I do bleed blue and gold, but we're three years removed from an Elite 8 appearance and we're long way from being in the upper echelon of our conference, which is where most of us Scoopers want us to be.

5) At the core of it, almost everyone in here is part of the Warrior family. This is a family debate and as long as we don't get trolled by some rabies-infested red rodents, I'm delighted to debate here… and to be convinced I'm wrong!

[ChicosBailBonds]

Until the NCAA tournament is played will not know how tough the Big East was this year.
8 wins on paper is definately an improvement over 4 wins. However, two were against St. John's without their first team freshmen  player and one was against DePaul without their best player.

Do you believe that the Horizon league was the second best conference in America a few years ago....because Butler went to the final?   Do you believe the Colonial was one of the 4 best conferences in America because George Mason went to the Final Four?   Is an entire conference strength ignored by what happens for 5 months, and instead based solely on what happens for 1 hour and 30 minutes?

Big East is 14-14 against top 50 BPI teams.   THE BEST IN AMERICA

Big East is 31-19 against power conference teams, 2nd best in America only trailing the Big 12.

We'll see how the conference does in the tournament, but the conference has been quite good this year. 

[ChicosBailBonds]

+2017

My thoughts exactly.

I'll have some of that

[MU82]

Fairly or unfairly the frustration factor with this team was super high.  I guess we can explain a lot of this with a young team and staff, but that excuse just gets worn out fast.  For me next year, I need to see some more obvious growth.

Or what?

What will you do if you don't get the more obvious growth you need to see?

I'm sure UWM will appreciate having another fan, so enjoy.