MU back to earth

[mviale]

This is what I am used to. Hope we recover.

[greenman]

I agree. I'm a pretty big pessimist when it comes to losses like these, but can anyone give me a positive to take away from this game??

[mviale]

I listened to the last 10 min and it seemed that the refs took us out of our game and our players played frustrated.  We dont have a take over guy like Novak that can singlehandedly bring us back.

[SoCalwarrior]

Hayward's three point shot is much improved.  Other than that I have nothing positive to say about this game.  The substitutions were absolutely atrocious.  The foul situation obviously had a lot to do with it, but still...

[Boognish_MU]

A potential positive takeaway is that Lazar is still proving to be a solid player.  It looked like he was the only one who was "on" for a while.

[🏀]

I agree. I'm a pretty big pessimist when it comes to losses like these, but can anyone give me a positive to take away from this game??

Bobby Valvano was entertaining as an announcers.

[larrym]

No injuries, and Hayward is finding his stroke.  Other than that, not much good.  WVU played well, but this was a bit of a stinker on our part too.

[Thomas' Danish Delight]

we had a bad game, oh well. I'm gonna look at this game like an iupui or UVA...we didn't play well, we were shaky, turned the ball over way too much... This is a good game to gauge where we're at. We'll turn it around,  I'm not worried. Damn tho, wvu fans r obnoxious!

Btw I'm on my iPod, not iPhone, but iPod! Dope, huh?

I meant uvs as in Utah valley state...its kinda hard to type on this and the autocorrect thing is kinda goofy

[mviale]

DJ shot 4-12 and relied on the outside shot when we are down 5 with 8 to go. 

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

A positive -- I'm positive we're not as bad as we played. Every team has a couple of these games. We'll be fine!

[mviale]

PRN - way to stay positive, but they handled us easily.  Seems like classic Marquette. This type of game shows me alot about their heart.

[Final Four or Bust]

refs were pretty poor, but have got to expect that on the road.  James needs to stop bombing so regularly, and frankly fitzgeralds minutes should be cut back significantly- if he ain't gonna shoot he is worthless.  Haywood should be in the games as much as mcneal/James.  He might be the best player on this team.

[21Jumpstreet]

Can't win them all, but I would have liked to see some sound fundamentals.  Very lazy d, which equalled a number of fouls.  Didn't look like we adjusted during the game on defense very well.  It looks good for us that Hayward is such a big part this year and so far has stepped up.  Seemed a little slow all around.

[mviale]

agree - I dont expect a patriots season for MU, but the way a team loses says tons.

[21Jumpstreet]

Absolutely.  This loss was not only disappointing but a bit distressing.  When we are known and have shown that we are a hard working fundamentally sound team, we need to keep that up.  We will not win often if we don't take care of the ball and move our feet.  Our strength lies in the fundamentals.  This game proves that we are good but not quite there yet.

[SoCalwarrior]

refs were pretty poor, but have got to expect that on the road.  James needs to stop bombing so regularly, and frankly fitzgeralds minutes should be cut back significantly- if he ain't gonna shoot he is worthless.  Haywood should be in the games as much as mcneal/James.  He might be the best player on this team.

I'll second that motion regarding Fitz. He was lost out there.  And if he's going to pass up an open three, what's his value out there?

[mviale]

I had a feeling that the Providence game was too easy for us.  Give us a well coached team and we look horrible.

[CWSKeith]

This type of game shows me alot about their heart.

Because I'm always fond of ametur psychologists when analyzing sports, pray tell, what does this say about Marquette's "heart"?

[chapman]

I'm sure those that were claiming we would come close to running the table will now be saying we're NIT bound...

Now we see what it's like to play a road game that isn't in our own backyard.  I would be surprised if we do any better than 4-5 on the road.  If we go 8-1 at home the conference record is still 12-6. 

Some problems that stuck out...
-Huggins outcoached Crean.  By the time we adjusted to any defensive look we had to crawl out of a hole.
-Rebounding in the second half was atrocious.
-Hayward is much improved, but still has a long way to go.  His defense was pretty poor, and getting multiple fouls on the offensive end doesn't help either.
-We're deep, and still nobody stepped up.  None of the bigs that got in played particularly well against a team that isn't very big itself.  Fitzgerald had the opportunity to step up with Hayward always in foul trouble and he didn't do anything at all.

If I had to say anything positive, McNeal still looks like he can carry the team at times if needed.  The game would have been over much sooner if McNeal didn't carry the team after the bad start to the second half.  He was all-out on defense, scoring, passing while playing with fouls and still shaking off the flu.  However, to win the game he needs someone else to come alive.  It would also help to have a call goes his way once in awhile.

[21Jumpstreet]

Hate to say it, but fouling until the bitter end does not equal heart.  We either gave up a little or we were just way out coached/played.

[Tommy Brice for Coach]

I had a feeling that the Providence game was too easy for us.  Give us a well coached team and we look horrible.

Yeah, give us a well coached team at their hostile home court, like Wisconsin, and we look terrible 

We are a good team. We had an off day against a good team with an EXCELLENT coach at their house. It happens. We will rebound.

I mean, c'mon people, we're 11-2, and this was our first bad loss. Even great teams have off days

[mug644]

First post ever here, though a regular reader.

I think we lost the game in the first few minutes of the 2nd half. We had battled back well to take the lead and then stay close at the end of the first half. (How might things have been different if we hit a shot at the end of the 1st half and went in with a lead?) Then, away in a tough arena, against a pretty solid BE team, we came out and gave up 7 straight points. We lost momentum ourselves, gave some to the Mountaineers, and allowed the crowd to get in it. We really didn't get back into any sort of confident run in the 2nd half, we were just trying to keep up and, ultimately,  we fouled out and got too tired.

[Thomas' Danish Delight]

we also missed almost a handful of point blank shots. Also, for a team highly touted for their athletic guards...WTF is up with Ouse?! He has like zero vertical leaping ability. Y'all see that weak dunk he put up? I know, 2 pts is 2 pts, but its easier to get pumped up after an agreesive dunk. Plus he along with the resta the team fumbled rebounds and gave wayy too many offensive rebounds.

But I'm confident our guys will bounce back. They got stunned, but we'll bounce back.

[MUDPT]

Reggie Greenwood was injured in a game yesterday and was still reffing today with a noticeable limp.  Anybody else have a problem with this?  Two fouls really took MU out of the game.  McNeal got one on a steal at mid-court for his 4th.  Hayward got his 5th on a charge where it looked like he had stopped his momentum on the baseline.  

I'll echo above though.  The defense was terrible, penetrators getting by perimeter defenders.  Offense looked like last year against a zone.  And 3 or 4 defensive rebounds that just bounced long and off an MU player or right to a WVU player.

[Daniel]

This was one of theose games where you must step up and deliver.  We didn't.  With his faults, Lazar was still the best player.  DJ did not step up and deliver - he shot way too many unbalanced shots like he is wont to do on occasion, and Fitz was a zero.  Wes ahd a decent game, but we gave up a lot of easy shot,s uncontested 3s, etc.  We can't win like that - I did nlt see the totals on steals/takeaweays, but we didn't seem to get them when we needed them.

So, we have to learn from this one.  We are not #10 any longer and must claw our way back to that lofty realm if we are to make it again.  And ND and UCONN I think will be tough as well - they are big and strong. 

Now . . .  it is up to us.  We will see what we are made of/  I think we can be a contender, but we need to be consistent and our "stars" need to shine game in and game out.