3 straight losses

[warriorfred]

Thats like asking a blind man to keep his eye on the ball he has zero court vision and looking to pass is not in his dna.  Watch first play of game theo ball screen n rolls to rim. No one within 15 feet of theo and markus refuses to pass to him.  Later Markus turns it over.  Kid wont or cant pass. Doesnt have a single point guard gene in his body.

Bingo.  As the 2d half of BE conference play rolled-around other teams saw this and exploited it.  Love the guy, but he is a liability at point.  A natural shooting guard on a team without a point guard.

[muwarrior97]

I know there kids and all BUT has anyone else had the urge to punch Joey in the face the last two games? Asking for a friend 🥴

[Class71]

Marcus plays point as if MU basketball only has one player on the court at a time while the opposing team has five.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

I know there kids and all BUT has anyone else had the urge to punch Joey in the face the last two games? Asking for a friend 🥴

[Mike Deane's Seat Belt]

Marcus plays point as if MU basketball only has one player on the court at a time while the opposing team has five.

This is exactly what it looks like.   

Or like a playet trying to run around with the ball avoiding the other team thats trying to foul to extend the game .......only when we dont have the lead????

[MUeng]

The poor play by Howard came to a head against nova imo. Team flourished when he went out with 4 min left or so. Brought him back in, forced shots, turnovers,  etc. Hate to say it but the team just plays better when he's not in there,  as of late anyways

[The Sultan]

The poor play by Howard came to a head against nova imo. Team flourished when he went out with 4 min left or so. Brought him back in, forced shots, turnovers,  etc. Hate to say it but the team just plays better when he's not in there,  as of late anyways

He was the best player on the floor v. Creighton by a long shot.

[StillWarriors]

The poor play by Howard came to a head against nova imo. Team flourished when he went out with 4 min left or so. Brought him back in, forced shots, turnovers,  etc. Hate to say it but the team just plays better when he's not in there,  as of late anyways

Amazingly, there is some truth to this lately, though I would have to say our ceiling is much lower without him. He was an absolute turnover machine tonight. Strangely, in the first half a few TOs occurred when he probably should have shot but tried to make a risky pass instead. One in particular in a stretch of 4 consecutive turnovers be passed up a wide open floater for a slick pass to Morrow he never had a chance of catching. I know it was his left wrist, but  can't help but wonder if that is affecting him. Bizarre how poor he has played for the great season he has had.

Have to think he will continue to develop new skills and figure it out, but not sure that's happening in a week or two.

[DoctorV]

Before this season Marquette had never had 3 straight wins in the BE. 3 straight losses at this point seems like a blessing aina?

Also, sit down Mark Howard

[Warrior2008]

The team simply is not playing well with Markus on the floor right now as the primary ball handler.  Team's have adjusted to Markus's stickiness with the ball and are holding doubles longer on ball screens and collapsing on drives knowing full well Markus isn't passing or at least isn't passing very often.  It's unfortunate because I think this was likely avoidable with some coaching throughout the season, but Wojo and many of us(at times myself included) were happy to let Markus just fire away and throw up the numbers all the while calling it offense. 

[MUeng]

Is he trying to play beyond himself to impress scouts? "Look at me do point guard things!" I dunno, maybe. He's been different lately though

[CountryRoads]

Is he trying to play beyond himself to impress scouts? "Look at me do point guard things!" I dunno, maybe. He's been different lately though

It's a stupid thought but I actually thought the same. He failed miserably at it if so. He's an incredible scorer at the college level but I'm not seeing any point guard skills. Doesn't control the game and makes poor decisions.

[MU82]

Sam seemed to be more guilty of chucking at the end tonight.

When Powell hit that long 3 to put SH up for the first time since early going, I was yelling at the TV, "We don't need a forced 3 with a hand in our face! We just need a good shot!" Damn if Sam didn't take a hero-ball, terrible 3 that he had no prayer making.

He and Joey each took a few ill-advised shots down the stretch. As did Markus.

So many folks seem to think Markus singlehandedly lost this game down the stretch, though.

[goldeneagle91114]

Is he trying to play beyond himself to impress scouts? "Look at me do point guard things!" I dunno, maybe. He's been different lately though

I think we're questioning what changed for Markus. Even his deminor in the CU game appeared to be different. At times he looked disinterested and then the very next play he looked like he felt the whole game and team was in his shoulders

[The Sultan]

He scored 33 against Creighton and shot over 50% for the game.

[warriors1991]

Someone said it earlier which I said to my dad as soon as the game ended and I was screaming profanities at the TV:

Put Sacar at the point. At least he was serviceable at it.
Take the ball out of Markus's hands all the time so he can cut down his TO's and work to get open instead of always being on the ball, committing turnovers and charges.
Bench Joey. Or at least cut his minutes WAY down right now. He has a huge upside but right now he is almost a liability right now.

Wojo needs to improve his coaching. There are ways to beat the press without a great point guard. Wojo needs to get the team ready to do that. By Saturday. Or Gtown will do it to us again.

[MU82]

I think we're questioning what changed for Markus. Even his deminor in the CU game appeared to be different. At times he looked disinterested and then the very next play he looked like he felt the whole game and team was in his shoulders

Disinterested?

[Its DJOver]

He scored 33 against Creighton and shot over 50% for the game.

And yet he has 18 TO in the losing streak, a number which he has only passed over a three game period once this season, and that included his 53 point 70% three point shooting game.  Markus' TO are fine, as long as he's scoring.  If he has a trademark 5 TO 25 point game he's probably SOTG right now, rather than being heavily criticized.

[DoctorV]

Marcus plays point as if MU basketball only has one player on the court at a time while the opposing team has five.

Markus passed a lot tonight, almost too much.

All we heard for several days way play touney at the point!

All I've said was this team is worse if Markus isn't handling the ball and takes a back seat

5 turnovers be damned, who gives a crap if dude drops 25-30? Cmon man!
Passive Markus is this teams death sentence, not turnover Markus. He will get those aggressive or passive because he handles the ball way more than he should

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

Markus passed a lot tonight, almost too much.

All we heard for several days way play touney at the point!

All I've said was this team is worse if Markus isn't handling the ball and takes a back seat

5 turnovers be damned, who gives a crap if dude drops 25-30? Cmon man!
Passive Markus is this teams death sentence, not turnover Markus. He will get those aggressive or passive because he handles the ball way more than he should

Is his hand/wrist hurting more than the public is being let known?  He seemed way off last night.

[NickelDimer]

I know there kids and all BUT has anyone else had the urge to punch Joey in the face the last two games? Asking for a friend 🥴

No. Punching your friend in the face otoh?

[mileskishnish72]

Someone said it earlier which I said to my dad as soon as the game ended and I was screaming profanities at the TV:

Put Sacar at the point. At least he was serviceable at it.

All true.
Take the ball out of Markus's hands all the time so he can cut down his TO's and work to get open instead of always being on the ball, committing turnovers and charges.
Bench Joey. Or at least cut his minutes WAY down right now. He has a huge upside but right now he is almost a liability right now.

Wojo needs to improve his coaching. There are ways to beat the press without a great point guard. Wojo needs to get the team ready to do that. By Saturday. Or Gtown will do it to us again.

[The Sultan]

The press really hasn't been the problem.  The turnovers are occurring in the half-court offense.

[muguru]

I honestly think the solution is for this team to run more...fast breaking, you don't need to think, you just react. And an open floor fits this teams skills better then a slow down half court style. The TO's would be less, Joey and Sam sniping on transition 3's.. deadly. I have often wondered why they haven't played faster this year...They haven't played at the tempo they did last year, I know that. I thought there were at least a few occasions they could have and should have run against Creighton and for whatever reason didn't. Run, run, run..open up the floor, I promise you the TO's will go way down.

[RJax55]

I honestly think the solution is for this team to run more...fast breaking, you don't need to think, you just react. And an open floor fits this teams skills better then a slow down half court style. The TO's would be less, Joey and Sam sniping on transition 3's.. deadly. I have often wondered why they haven't played faster this year...They haven't played at the tempo they did last year, I know that. I thought there were at least a few occasions they could have and should have run against Creighton and for whatever reason didn't. Run, run, run..open up the floor, I promise you the TO's will go way down.

I agree. I think playing at a faster tempo would help. The Creighton game was a perfect example. MU was securing the boards, then Markus would slow it down. Walk it up. All that did was allow Creighton to get back and set their defense.

Not to harp too much on this, but I wonder if the failure of Chartouny to provide 10-15 minutes of solid play has Wojo slowing it down. His inability to provide solid minutes has caught up with this team and is causing problems. Sacar's handle has improved, but he's not a guy who's going to lead a break.