Crimson Tried

[tower912]

http://jsonline.sportsdirectinc.com/basketball/ncaab-boxscores.aspx?page=/data/NCAAB/results/2017-2018/boxscore992611.html

Box.    Glad MU made their FT's.    And that Harvard struggled.   Fortuitous. 

[lawdog77]

We were up 19 and running away with it until we just stopped playing our game.

One other thing...Does anyone know the NIT rules..I must have.missed the 25 times they showed the graphic

[drewm88]

We were up 19 and running away with it until we just stopped playing our game.

One other thing...Does anyone know the NIT rules..I must have.missed the 25 times they showed the graphic

Couldn't tell. Graphic was too small.

[Its DJOver]

Defense was good for the first 35 minutes.  For all those complaining about how poor we played, yes we played bad, but Sam's hurt, Greg's hurt, Jamal's hurt, and Markus' hurt, this was never gonna be a blow out even with Harvard's best player out.  Freshman get at least one more game before they're sophomores, can only be seen as a good thing.  No such thing as a bad win in March.

[Marcus92]

Saw some encouraging things.

Despite the poor offensive showing in the first half, we led by 5 or 6 with our best defensive showing in recent memory. Held our opponent to just 21 points.

The isolation man-to-man defense, help man-to-man defense and hedging (both Matt and Theo) looked about as good as they did all season. Forced 20+ turnovers. Seemed to be communicating, rebounding well, active in the passing lanes and scrambling for loose balls.

If you were at the game, the Al McGuire Center was rocking during the 3rd quarter when we built the lead up to 17. Strong all-around team play. That pretty much decided the game.

Yes, total breakdown by Andrew, Markus and company at the end. But we hung on and got the win. In the postseason, ugly doesn't matter. Advancing does.

[connie]

There was nothing about that that was enjoyable.  The third quarter run was just a relief.  Good Lord do we need someone that can handle the ball.

[skianth16]

There was nothing about that that was enjoyable.  The third quarter run was just a relief.  Good Lord do we need someone that can handle the ball.

We need someone other than Markus. There's no question about that. He seems so calm taking big shots, but he just falls apart mentally bringing the ball up under any pressure. For being such a good player, his struggles handling the ball are so confusing. Is it more mental, or is it an actual skill deficiency?

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Honestly, the game didn't bother me that much. Seemed like a case of a team taking the foot off the gas pedal a little too early. We were up 19 with what, 8 minutes left? Never felt like we were in danger of losing.

[Mr. Sand-Knit]

We need someone other than Markus. There's no question about that. He seems so calm taking big shots, but he just falls apart mentally bringing the ball up under any pressure. For being such a good player, his struggles handling the ball are so confusing. Is it more mental, or is it an actual skill deficiency?

Short, bad decision maker, small hands, poor ball handler, poor length, doesnt pivot, doesnt pass fake.  That about sums it up

[MU82]

++ Midway through the 4Q, I turned to my wife and said, "This is one boring basketball game. If you aren't a Marquette fan, you stopped watching this one a long time ago. Or you never started."

++ Warriors should shut Sam down. This simply isn't important enough to send him out there at half-strength. Not fair to him, either. Same is true of Jamal if he's as hurt as he looked limping off the court.

++ Too loose with the basketball. The announcers were just talking about how young our players are and how TOs happen, and then our 36-year-old PG committed 2 straight bonehead turnovers.

++ We have suffered through some bad announcers on FS1 and one Hiroshima of an announcer a few times (Dickey), but these guys were really, really, REALLY bad. My favorite was when the analyst said our guards were from "the island of Lilliputia."

++ Cain is a disruptive defender and I look forward to him being stronger and more experienced.

++ Markus played hard, scored 22 and even made a few defensive plays, but he had way too many silly decisions with the ball and bad passes. Yes, we need at least one PG next season. (And I agree with those who say 2 would be even better.)

++ One of Heldt's best games in a Marquette uniform. Best big man on the court all night long - haven't been able to say that too often. Obviously, some of that had to do with the opponent, but he really has improved since he was all-but-benched for a few games.

++ I liked most of the rule changes ... although it was difficult to remember what they were because ESPN only put them up on the screen 406 times.

++ It's one thing to put crud on the screen during free throws or other stoppages. This crew kept doing it during live action. On one occasion, we had a fast break and they zoomed out to take up half the screen with crapola.

++ Plus, the graphics looked like they were drawn up by an 8th grader. I guess that's what you get in the NIT!

++ Harry Froling, we hardly knew ye ...

[Benny B]

Look on the bright side... MU's FT defense made some huge strides tonight.

[79Warrior]

Honestly, the game didn't bother me that much. Seemed like a case of a team taking the foot off the gas pedal a little too early. We were up 19 with what, 8 minutes left? Never felt like we were in danger of losing.

Worst game I have watched in a bit. Thank God Harvard was short handed.

[Its DJOver]

Worst game I have watched in a bit. Thank God Harvard was short handed.

Because we were at full strength?
Seriously this is not an excuse. It's not now for Harvard, and it shouldn't be Sunday for us if we lose. Nobody is 100% healthy at this point in the season.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Because we were at full strength?
Seriously this is not an excuse. It's not now for Harvard, and it shouldn't be Sunday for us if we lose. Nobody is 100% healthy at this point in the season.

Eh, conference POY not playing is a little different than us being banged up. It wasn't our best effort but we won. Survive and advance.

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

Sam not being on the floor to break the press hurt. Kinda like Katin last year.

[SaveOD238]

Sam not being on the floor to break the press hurt. Kinda like Katin last year.

Bingo.  There's a lot of complaining in this thread about Markus' turnovers, but a whole bunch of those happened in the last five minutes when Harvard was pressing and Sam was out.  Our best press break all season has been using Sam around mid-court as the outlet.  Without Sam, we didn't know how to break the press, leading to the TOs.  It wasn't entirely MH's fault.

That said, we still absolutely need another guard or two next year. To have more centers (4- Heldt, Theo, Harry, Ike) than total guards (3- Markus, Greg, Sacar) is troubling. 

[Its DJOver]

Eh, conference POY not playing is a little different than us being banged up. It wasn't our best effort but we won. Survive and advance.

The point I'm trying to make is that all the whining around here that we would have lost if they were healthy is ridiculous. I'm sure the POT in the Ivy is good, but since I've never seen him play I think saying Sam is better is a safe bet.

We don't blow teams out, we're just not good enough.  Anyone that was expecting a blow out likely hasn't watched us play all year.

If there is some magical rule that you have to wait until teams are fully healthy before you play then in a post season tournament,  I would really like to go back and re live the amigos senior year when they delayed the tournament 6 weeks waiting for dom to heal.

[Galway Eagle]

If sam is down for the year and Jamal is injured do we turn to Joey if Sacar has fouled out?

[MUfan12]

If sam is down for the year and Jamal is injured do we turn to Joey if Sacar has fouled out?

Teal?

[CTWarrior]

Saw some encouraging things.

Despite the poor offensive showing in the first half, we led by 5 or 6 with our best defensive showing in recent memory. Held our opponent to just 21 points.

The isolation man-to-man defense, help man-to-man defense and hedging (both Matt and Theo) looked about as good as they did all season. Forced 20+ turnovers. Seemed to be communicating, rebounding well, active in the passing lanes and scrambling for loose balls.

If you were at the game, the Al McGuire Center was rocking during the 3rd quarter when we built the lead up to 17. Strong all-around team play. That pretty much decided the game.

Yes, total breakdown by Andrew, Markus and company at the end. But we hung on and got the win. In the postseason, ugly doesn't matter. Advancing does.

Our defense was good for us, I guess, but mostly they missed a ton of wide open 3s.

[Bocephys]

If sam is down for the year and Jamal is injured do we turn to Joey if Sacar has fouled out?

It's selfish of Joey to sit out the NIT.  A true teammate would be out there.

[jsglow]

If sam is down for the year and Jamal is injured do we turn to Joey if Sacar has fouled out?

Um, no.  The pecking order after that is Harry, Cam and then Lelito in that order.

[Galway Eagle]

It's selfish of Joey to sit out the NIT.  A true teammate would be out there.

I don't know how injures like that heal, if we only needed him for press breaks at the end of games I figured it was worth asking

[GGGG]

I don't know how injures like that heal, if we only needed him for press breaks at the end of games I figured it was worth asking

You want to burn his redshirt, and an entire year of eligibility, for the NIT????

[MUfan12]

I don't know how injures like that heal, if we only needed him for press breaks at the end of games I figured it was worth asking

They're taking it super slow with this rehab to make sure he heals properly. I don't think he's really even running yet.