The season is not over. Breathe.

[brewcity77]

1) Too many turnovers
2) Too many Nova offensive rebounds

And despite that...

If the refs don't call two blatant BS blocks the wrong way, Markus goes to the line for 4 FTs (aka 4 points) and plays the final 8 minutes, not coming in at the end when he's been cooling his heels (and heater) for 5 minutes. Those two botched block calls swung the Big East title. Should be over.

[mileskishnish72]

Turnovers + steals differential tonight was 22-8. End of story.

If we cannot take care of the ball (value every possession) we are not going far.
Was actually stunned to see that (statistically) we won the rebounding. How many did we have in our hands and fumble?

Need to win out in BE.

[muhoops1]

Personally, I thought the first one was an obvious block, the second was a charge, and the third was close but I thought it was block.

Agree.  Twice guys slid under him while he was in the air.  At least give him the bucket on the last one.  The officials fell victim to the sentiment of Senior night

[Lennys Tap]

I think it was fine to sit him.  The defense was better, and the team held the lead.  The problem is that Howard wasn't looking for the open man when he came back in.  All of the good ball movement ended at that point.

Team was actually down when Markus went out - and 'Nova had the ball. When he re-entered we were up and had the ball. He made a bad pass to Joey for what was nearly a TO (great effort by Joey to get the ball back), then he went up for a shot and lost the ball. Pretty much downhill from there.

[Mike Deane's Seat Belt]

Huh? You can't be serious.

This year it pretty much is.  Nevada and a bunch of meh?   Its a super down year as a whole.  And we are lucky it is that way

[skianth16]

As much as I hated to see Markus get dinged for all the charges, the last 2 were kinda iffy, and he had a few similar situations break his way in the first half. There was some movement from defenders on at least 2 of the 3 called, but isn't the rule more about defensive position rather than being set?

And then there's the question of the offensive player's control to consider too. Markus does seem to jump in the air without any clear plan at times, and I don't know that tonight was a clear exception. I haven't seen replays, but I think he drove with his head down right at the defender on at least 1 of the calls tonight. That could play a role in the call too. Kind of like the inverse of the exaggerated head jerk he does when draws contact outside the 3 point line on offense.

I'm still annoyed he got called for 3 charges, but I don't think the calls were as egregious as others here.

[IL Warrior]

This year it pretty much is.  Nevada and a bunch of meh?   Its a super down year as a whole.  And we are lucky it is that way

I know it's been a down year for the Big East, but come on. Only 5 of 11 MWC teams are above .500 on the year. San Jose State is 4-23 and Wyoming is 6-22. DePaul is the worst team in the Big East by KenPom at 122. That's better than 8/11 teams in the Mountain West.

[Lennys Tap]

Did you actually see Howard's fourth. Cremo's set; Howard jumps; Cremo shuffles three feet to his left; Howard called for the charge.

Agree on this one. definitely a block on Cremo. The other two were charges (IMO) but on one of them he released the ball before contact so the basket should have counted. Also thought Markus charged on the late block call on which Markus hurt his wrist.

[brewcity77]

Agree on this one. definitely a block on Cremo. The other two were charges (IMO) but on one of them he released the ball before contact so the basket should have counted. Also thought Markus charged on the late block call on which Markus hurt his wrist.

The first and third were blocks. Second definitely a charge, and agreed on the late one where he hurt his wrist. But on that first one, the defender hadn't even slowed his motion yet when Markus was in the air.

[StillWarriors]

Sam had a wide open look at the end and missed it. Would have tied the game I believe.

Yep, that was huge. Down 60-63 at the time. Wide open.

[BM1090]

Huh? You can't be serious.

He's been a troll since he joined. Wouldn't worry about it

[Jockey]

Jobbed by the refs on Howard's charges.

They were all legitimate.

[Lennys Tap]

The first and third were blocks. Second definitely a charge, and agreed on the late one where he hurt his wrist. But on that first one, the defender hadn't even slowed his motion yet when Markus was in the air.

Maybe I'm remembering the first one incorrectly.

[MUMountin]

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.  To have all those things happen and still have a chance to win in the last minute is no big deal, and maybe a good opportunity to reset the team.

Just hope that (1) Markus's hand/wrist is ok and (2) they don't get caught in a slide. 

[BM1090]

They were all legitimate.

There was only one I thought was bad. But on another one Markus made the shot well before the charge and it should have counted.

Sacar's travel was an awful call since he didn't have possession. Booth just shoved Anim to the ground with a chicken wing too.

But whatever. Even with the refs we couled have won the game. It's been a great season. We'll bounce back.

[Marcus92]

4.  Careless turnovers.

This should be #1 on the list. Marquette outshot Nova from 2-point range and beyond the arc. But we gave up 18 turnovers to just 7 for the Wildcats. Get back 5 or 6 of those possessions and MU most likely wins the game.

Literally gave this one away.

The point about offensive rebounding is well-taken. And too many ill-advised fouls, which limited Theo and Markus. All the same, we're still in the driver's seat for the conference championship. Get back to work, take care of our remaining business and bring home a Big East title.

[barfolomew]

Well, I enjoyed the season while it lasted.
Does anyone have a paper bag I can borrow?

[muwarrior69]

So our luck ran out last night. Wonder what our luck rating is on Monday.

[SaveOD238]

I will not (and did not) lose too much sleep about losing to the defending national champs at home on Senior Night.  We still control our own destiny and can even lose a game and still be Co-champs.

You know who should be losing sleep over that game? Nova.

They got a top ten win at home but looked terrible in doing so.  Their senior leader went 3-18 from the floor, their 3-pt percentage was 28% (for a team that gets half of their points from 3), and they only shot 35% from the floor.  They killed it on offensive rebound but only because their shots missed so badly and got lucky that we made a ton of unforced TOs.  Plus maybe a little home cooking from the refs.

I'm not confident going into MSG or the NCAAs if I'm Nova, even after that win.

[Dr. Blackheart]

This should be #1 on the list. Marquette outshot Nova from 2-point range and beyond the arc. But we gave up 18 turnovers to just 7 for the Wildcats. Get back 5 or 6 of those possessions and MU most likely wins the game.

Literally gave this one away.

The point about offensive rebounding is well-taken. And too many ill-advised fouls, which limited Theo and Markus. All the same, we're still in the driver's seat for the conference championship. Get back to work, take care of our remaining business and bring home a Big East title.

This is number 1-11.  That being 11 extra possessions for Nova nets you a L at their 1.05 PPP. 

And when you have 11 extra possessions you get a lot more chances to get rebounds on misses, especially when you shoot just 34% like Nova did (and MU's 5s are in foul trouble from the get go).

From the first play when Gillespie tried the flop on Nova to the end, Nova targeted Markus.  Kinda chippy and the refs allowed it.  Not a fan.

[jesmu84]

This is number 1-11.  That being 11 extra possessions for Nova nets you a L at their 1.05 PPP. 

And when you have 11 extra possessions you get a lot more chances to get rebounds on misses, especially when you shoot just 34% like Nova did (and MU's 5s are in foul trouble from the get go).

From the first play when Gillespie tried the flop on Nova to the end, Nova targeted Markus.  Kinda chippy and the refs allowed it.  Not a fan.

"Kinda"? Holy hell the hand checks and bumping with the body.

[Dr. Blackheart]

"Kinda"? Holy hell the hand checks and bumping with the body.

You expect it in the BE--especially with Markus--but the game was not called evenly in the 2nd half. Nova doesn't get that treatment in the NCAA. They were definitely coached up. I thought the play where Markus hurt his wrist was borderline F1.

That said...the team adjusted...the difference was the turns.  This is a couple of games now in a row of carelessness.

[The Sultan]

Maybe I'm remembering the first one incorrectly.

The first one was borderline.  College refs are going to screw that call up all the time.  Saying it cost MU the game when they had the lead late in the second half is an exaggeration.

And I think the idea of not putting Markus back in is Monday Morning QBing at its finest.  MU went up by five, but then Booth hit that long 3 just after Rafftery said that Nova was stagnant - huge play.  Then MU had a bad possession where JC had to throw up a brick cause the shot clock was running out.  On Nova's next possession, MU ended up getting the ball back on a tie up, but only after two offensive rebounds by Nova.  After that tie-up, Markus came back.

Momentum had already started to swing.  Every single coach in the country is going to put his potential All-American player back in the game at that point.  Yeah he didn't perform well, but I would MUCH rather roll the dice with Markus there.  He's the man.

[#UnleashSean]

A lot of misinformation in this thread on how charges work. Markus had 3 clear charges in the game. 1 was a block that was called a charge, but he also had a charge that was called a block so that evened out.

The narrative should really be about markus' ball control.  7 turnovers is a big part in that loss.

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

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.

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