Creighton Podcast on MUBB

[Cheer4MU]

http://bluejaybanter.podomatic.com/entry/2016-08-29T22_23_17-07_00

Not that I care very much about what the fans of other programs think of MU, but still interesting to hear what their perceptions are of Marquette right now.  They're definitely not very in tune with anything Marquette basketball outside of Henry leaving so take it for what it's worth.

The hosts give their takes on Marquette from last season and going into this season and then Matt Velazquez comes on at around 9:20.

[Dawson Rental]

Matt Velazquez: "[Henry Ellenson] will probably go down as the best freshman to play at Marquette."

Humm, a lot of (all?) the greats from the McGuire era couldn't play as freshmen due to NCAA rule.  How good was Doc as a frosh?  Any other challengers for that role?

[JamilJaeJamailJrJuan]

Matt Velazquez: "[Henry Ellenson] will probably go down as the best freshman to play at Marquette."

Humm, a lot of (all?) the greats from the McGuire era couldn't play as freshmen due to NCAA rule.  How good was Doc as a frosh?  Any other challengers for that role?

Dude was really good, but I just have a hard time agreeing with that.  The team was largely played through him, and it just wasn't very good.  It's too bad there wasn't a better team around him and I think we all would have appreciated him more.

[Herman Cain]

Matt Velazquez: "[Henry Ellenson] will probably go down as the best freshman to play at Marquette."

Humm, a lot of (all?) the greats from the McGuire era couldn't play as freshmen due to NCAA rule.  How good was Doc as a frosh?  Any other challengers for that role?

Maurice "Bo" H. Ellis , holds that title as far a I am concerned.

[We R Final Four]

Dom James is right there on my list.

[Marcus92]

I'm far less interested in the discussion about Henry than I am about next season. The overall takeaway seemed to be: Marquette will be better, but that's no guarantee we'll move up in the standings. Hard to disagree with that.

With so many players who haven't yet proven themselves with Marquette or in the Big East — Reinhardt, Rowsey, Hauser, Howard, Anim and Heldt — that's a lot of unknowns going into the season. And the returning rotation players have plenty of questions to answer, as well. Can Jajuan take his game to the next level? Will Traci and Haanif cut down on turnovers? Can Sandy and Duane be more consistent contributors? Does Luke have the ability to be the man down low?

Top to bottom, MU's roster is stronger than a year ago. I think we have the talent to compete for an NCAA invite. We have more experience to go with that depth and talent. But the proof will only come on the court.

[Coleman]

Dom James is right there on my list.

For me too.

James' most impactful season at MU was his freshman year. Him and Novak were team leaders, and James was the floor general who ran the offense. And they got to the NCAA tournament. Its hard for me to argue Henry is better when his team was less successful.

Looking back at James' 4 year body of work, it is incredibly frustrating as he seemed to peak his freshman year, or at least leveled off and didn't improve much. But that year was probably the best freshman season anyone has ever had at MU.

His points per game went down each year at MU (15.3, 14.9, 12.9, 11.0) and his assists per game topped his freshman year too (5.4). James also had 140 rebounds his freshman year. The closest he ever got to that again was 104 his sophomore year. He was never above 100 after that.

Part of this was Wes and Jerel coming into their own, but there definitely was a drop off from James.

[Nukem2]

For me too.

James' most impactful season at MU was his freshman year. Him and Novak were team leaders, and James was the floor general who ran the offense. And they got to the NCAA tournament. Its hard for me to argue Henry is better when his team was less successful.

Looking back at James' 4 year body of work, it is incredibly frustrating as he seemed to peak his freshman year, or at least leveled off and didn't improve much. But that year was probably the best freshman season anyone has ever had at MU.

His points per game went down each year at MU (15.3, 14.9, 12.9, 11.0) and his assists per game topped his freshman year too (5.4). James also had 140 rebounds his freshman year. The closest he ever got to that again was 104 his sophomore year. He was never above 100 after that.

Part of this was Wes and Jerel coming into their own, but there definitely was a drop off from James.

DJ's defense, though, improved with time.  He was truly outstanding as a senior on defense.  His untimely foot injury really hurt MU down the stretch that season.  Mo Acker could come no where near the level of defense that DJ played that season.

[reinko]

Wade as practice only player was still probably the best frosh of all time.

[Coleman]

DJ's defense, though, improved with time.  He was truly outstanding as a senior on defense.  His untimely foot injury really hurt MU down the stretch that season.  Mo Acker could come no where near the level of defense that DJ played that season.

This is true.

However Wes and Jerel were also great defenders. The need there was less immediate.

[The Lens]

Top to bottom, MU's roster is stronger than a year ago. I think we have the talent to compete for an NCAA invite. We have more experience to go with that depth and talent. But the proof will only come on the court.

SI's Luke Winn tweet last week that Marquette has 9 RSCI Top 100 players on its roster.  That is more than Butler, Creighton, Seton Hall, Xavier & Providence combined.

[brewcity77]

DJ's defense, though, improved with time.  He was truly outstanding as a senior on defense.  His untimely foot injury really hurt MU down the stretch that season.  Mo Acker could come no where near the level of defense that DJ played that season.

That season, for me, is the biggest "what if" of my years as a Marquette fan. If James had stayed healthy, we likely beat UConn, Louisville, and Syracuse. Enter the Big East Tourney as the 1-seed and most likely a NCAA 1-seed as well (UConn, Louisville, and Pitt were all 1's that year) or at worst a 2.

Instead, James goes down, our seed blows up, and we end up with the Missouri heartbreak. That was a legit Final Four and national title contender. Oh what could have been.

[The Lens]

That season, for me, is the biggest "what if" of my years as a Marquette fan. If James had stayed healthy, we likely beat UConn, Louisville, and Syracuse. Enter the Big East Tourney as the 1-seed and most likely a NCAA 1-seed as well (UConn, Louisville, and Pitt were all 1's that year) or at worst a 2.

Instead, James goes down, our seed blows up, and we end up with the Missouri heartbreak. That was a legit Final Four and national title contender. Oh what could have been.

I always felt we were an Elite 8 team but I agree, wow, what a "what if".

The New York Times article the day of the UConn game was a "we have arrived" moment. We were in the SEC of hoops and we kicking tail. 

Here's that NYT article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/25/sports/ncaabasketball/25marquette.html?_r=0

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

That season, for me, is the biggest "what if" of my years as a Marquette fan. If James had stayed healthy, we likely beat UConn, Louisville, and Syracuse. Enter the Big East Tourney as the 1-seed and most likely a NCAA 1-seed as well (UConn, Louisville, and Pitt were all 1's that year) or at worst a 2.

Instead, James goes down, our seed blows up, and we end up with the Missouri heartbreak. That was a legit Final Four and national title contender. Oh what could have been.

It's hard to say that we would have won all three of those games with James. Probably two of them (@LOU and CUSE). But you are right, definite final four contender right there. I probably would have estimated that they'd be a 2 or 3 seed if James had stayed healthy.

[Cheer4MU]

I'm far less interested in the discussion about Henry than I am about next season. The overall takeaway seemed to be: Marquette will be better, but that's no guarantee we'll move up in the standings. Hard to disagree with that.

With so many players who haven't yet proven themselves with Marquette or in the Big East — Reinhardt, Rowsey, Hauser, Howard, Anim and Heldt — that's a lot of unknowns going into the season. And the returning rotation players have plenty of questions to answer, as well. Can Jajuan take his game to the next level? Will Traci and Haanif cut down on turnovers? Can Sandy and Duane be more consistent contributors? Does Luke have the ability to be the man down low?

Top to bottom, MU's roster is stronger than a year ago. I think we have the talent to compete for an NCAA invite. We have more experience to go with that depth and talent. But the proof will only come on the court.

Agreed. We have a total of eight players who have averaged at least 20 MPG in at least one season at the D1 level. Not a perfect and balanced roster, but a lot of firepower. 

[brewcity77]

It's hard to say that we would have won all three of those games with James. Probably two of them (@LOU and CUSE). But you are right, definite final four contender right there. I probably would have estimated that they'd be a 2 or 3 seed if James had stayed healthy.

We lost the UConn game because of Acker's inability to defend AJ Price and provide a scoring threat himself. Even with Acker, we had the lead with 12 to play and were in the game until the final minute. Honestly, it's more likely we'd have held on to beat Pitt with James than lost that UConn game with him healthy. Truly believe we'd have won at least 3 of those last 4. At least.

[DienerTime34]

Just listened to the podcast. They picked us to finish 9th in the conference. Sounds like the Creighton fanbase is disgusted with our performance since they joined the Big East, that we're weighing the conference down. You think this is just the feeling out in Omaha, or is the national perception that we're in for a fourth straight awful year?

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

Probably just Ohama, of the new Big East, Creighton fans are far and away the worst from what I experienced my senior year.

[brewcity77]

Just listened to the podcast. They picked us to finish 9th in the conference. Sounds like the Creighton fanbase is disgusted with our performance since they joined the Big East, that we're weighing the conference down. You think this is just the feeling out in Omaha, or is the national perception that we're in for a fourth straight awful year?

Probably a combination of the two. We were consistently a top-25 team before the new league, so we're definitely down. I imagine it looks worse to the newcomers, probably none more so than Creighton, as for Butler and Xavier, their last pre-Big East memory of us was getting knocked out of March by Marquette. Also doesn't help that us and DePaul are the only two Big East teams to not make the tournament since the reshuffle.

Win 19 games this year and no one will be bitching.

[T-Bone]

Probably just Ohama, of the new Big East, Creighton fans are far and away the worst from what I experienced my senior year.

(sorry, the typo made me think of this) 

[MUMountin]

Wade as practice only player was still probably the best frosh of all time.

I remember watching Wade play at Midnight Madness freshman year and realizing he was the best player on the court.  Then we had to wait a year.

[Brewtown Andy]

Just listened to the podcast. They picked us to finish 9th in the conference. Sounds like the Creighton fanbase is disgusted with our performance since they joined the Big East, that we're weighing the conference down. You think this is just the feeling out in Omaha, or is the national perception that we're in for a fourth straight awful year?

They should probably worry about being 2-2 against Marquette since Doug left.

[Marcus92]

SI's Luke Winn tweet last week that Marquette has 9 RSCI Top 100 players on its roster.  That is more than Butler, Creighton, Seton Hall, Xavier & Providence combined.

Interesting. Hopefully we see that talent realized this season. I'm optimistic we can finish in the top half of the Big East. But it won't be easy.

[BM1090]

They should probably worry about being 2-2 against Marquette since Doug left.

Their negativity is really interesting since their results have nearly mirrored ours the past 2 years.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Really lazy analysis by these two. It essentially boiled down to "Well they lost their best player so they'll probably be bad." They praised teams like Butler and Providence for having impact transfers and stud freshmen but said Marquette didn't really have any impact players coming in....Butler has some decent transfers and a meh recruiting class. Providence has one meh transfer from George Mason and a meh recruiting class. Marquette has two impact transfers and the number 1 recruiting class in the conference.

They also said the Big East will be down which I don't think is true at all. Every team but Providence and Depaul will be better or the same as last year.

I do have to agree with their prediction of Marquette being in a play in game of the Big East tournament. We are going to be much better but the conferense is BEastly this season. We could improve as a team but not improve in the standings. Got have some players step up for us.