The season is not over. Breathe.

[TSmith34, Inc.]

Just felt like a lot of the things that have been bouncing for us didn't bounce our way tonight—rebounds, loose balls, foul calls, and some jump shots that we've usually made. 

Yup, like the ball that got knocked loose when Booth(?) ran into Theo and the top on the lane and the ball rolled between Sam's legs and right to Samuel.

[NickelDimer]

My point earlier about Wojo sitting Markus too long is not about how the team played while he sat. Markus was starting to do very Markus things before that 4th foul and it really felt like he was going to take over and carry us to a W. Unfortunately he sat so long that when he came back he'd completely lost his rhythm. It's a tough spot for Wojo when MH picks up his 4th but I don't think he needed to wait for the under 4 to get him back in

[Silkk the Shaka]

Without Howard, this is a top 25 team in my opinion. We have a lot of very good players.

When Howard came off the bench he immediately made a terrible pass and then launched some ill advised shots. For whatever reason, you're right, at the end of games I'd rather have the ball in somebody else's hands.

I thought the bench played great last night

No way. Markus was about to lay the hammer down, he was in a total zone until he had to sit. Came back in cold and wasn't in the same rhythm. Sh*t happens, but he was about to close that game out if not for foul trouble.

[HowardsWorld]

My point earlier about Wojo sitting Markus too long is not about how the team played while he sat. Markus was starting to do very Markus things before that 4th foul and it really felt like he was going to take over and carry us to a W. Unfortunately he sat so long that when he came back he'd completely lost his rhythm. It's a tough spot for Wojo when MH picks up his 4th but I don't think he needed to wait for the under 4 to get him back in

I said this exact thing in the game chat. I said you role with him and if he picks up his 5th foul that so be it. At that point he wasn't going to be driving down the middle of the lane anyways he was going to be shooting 3's. I never understood that argument of keeping him out till the under 4 time out. It's possible we could have built a lead more than 5 with him in and if he fouled out then we would have had enough to sustain the lead.

[Mike Deane's Seat Belt]

This team is FAR from a top 25 team without howard, you really have to be kidding if you think we would be ranked without markus.  We would have 7 losses or more like the rest of the big east for sure.  Probably not even a tourney team without him. 

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

1.   Time to change the scouting report on Jermaine Samuels.      Kid had a night.   
2.   Theo, Ed..... you are only beasts when you are on the floor.   Touched on it in the Theo thread, have mentioned it many times.   Right now, IMO, Theo is block happy and it is falling for pump fakes, getting out of position for rebounds.    But I also firmly believe that he will get better.   
3.   Markus can shoot a little bit.   But Nova had a really good scouting report and did a great job of stepping in and taking charges.   Great way to take a scorer out of the game.    Can't argue with any of the calls.   But it did look a little like a Wisconsin game with all of the flopping.     
4.  Careless turnovers.    Again.    Offensive rebounds surrendered.    Again. 
5.   I really wish that Greg was available.   Hasn't hurt a ton this year.   IMO, it did tonight. 
6.   Gus with the multiple Steve Novak references.   
7.  Marquette is a tough minded, fearless team.      Tough minded.    Fearless. 
8.   And so is Villanova.   
9.   Senior night.  Defending national champs.  Crowd roaring.    Unexpected contributor for the defending national champs.    Poor defensive rebounding at crunch time.  Couldn't hit the big shot.  Missed FT's at crunch time.   Oops.   Hat tipped.
10.   Now bounce back and don't let this become a streak.

On point summary as always Tower.

1. Jean Felix redux?

[Class71]

This is the most frustrating part. Sam was a different player tonight when Markus sat. Sam was the leader on offense, taking shots, keeping the offense moving. But when Markus came back in, Sam went back to a secondary role, and we relied too much on Markus.

With Sam having a tough defensive assignment tonight, I understand why he may may have been less of a focus on offense. But when he's hitting open looks, we may want to tweak the gameplan. We're versatile enough on offense that we can rely on multiple guys to score points. The team needs to be confident in that and not default to letting Markus take every shot late in close games.

Agree, however, Is it Wojo's game plan to have Marcus take control or is it Sam deferring to Marcus at the end of the game? Both are great players. Marcus has the shots and the moves. Sam has better team play and judgement and it shows at the end of games.

[StillAWarrior]

No way. Markus was about to lay the hammer down, he was in a total zone until he had to sit. Came back in cold and wasn't in the same rhythm. Sh*t happens, but he was about to close that game out if not for foul trouble.

This is true.  But...unfortunately the zone that Markus was in included running full speed into crowded lanes in addition to the great shooting.  Theo takes a lot of heat on this board for doing things that he should know are going to be called.  We can debate whether the calls against Markus were good or bad (I think it was a mix), but he needs to be aware of how they are calling the game and conform to that.  They weren't letting him get away with the contact, so he should have avoided it.  As someone else said, he's lucky he didn't get called for a fifth on the play when he was injured.

[CTWarrior]

Agree, however, Is it Wojo's game plan to have Marcus take control or is it Sam deferring to Marcus at the end of the game? Both are great players. Marcus has the shots and the moves. Sam has better team play and judgement and it shows at the end of games.

Not sure what Sam deferring to Markus even means.  Markus always has the ball.  How can Sam defer when the decision is Markus'?  I like when Sam backs his guy down, we never seem to do that at the end. 

Not complaining mind you, because Markus is really good.  Its just that Sam has the ball in his hands a lot more when Markus is not in the game and thus can choose to defer.

[StillWarriors]

My point earlier about Wojo sitting Markus too long is not about how the team played while he sat. Markus was starting to do very Markus things before that 4th foul and it really felt like he was going to take over and carry us to a W. Unfortunately he sat so long that when he came back he'd completely lost his rhythm. It's a tough spot for Wojo when MH picks up his 4th but I don't think he needed to wait for the under 4 to get him back in

I suspect they probably planned to bring him back sooner, but the guys out there were more than holding their own.

[MomofMUltiples]

My point earlier about Wojo sitting Markus too long is not about how the team played while he sat. Markus was starting to do very Markus things before that 4th foul and it really felt like he was going to take over and carry us to a W. Unfortunately he sat so long that when he came back he'd completely lost his rhythm. It's a tough spot for Wojo when MH picks up his 4th but I don't think he needed to wait for the under 4 to get him back in

This is my thought, exactly.  But I think there is something else to consider with the reffing.  Allowing players to slide over when the opponent with the ball has left his feet is a dangerous practice - someone is going to get hurt.  The first charge called was the one where Markus had already made the shot when he made contact with the player that was set.  If that had appropriately been called a block and an and-1, I don't think Nova would've tried it again.  Since they got the charge, they continued to try it and on #4, Markus hurt his wrist.  It absolutely should not have been allowed.

However, I agree with those of you that say Nova had a mandate to win tonight, and everybody in the arena knew that except MU.  Only 6 Nova fouls in the second half?  Seriously??