Malaise

[tower912]

I started the NM thread.   IIRC, it was originally a snarky dig at Crean that I regretted shortly after posting.   I wanted to delete it, but instead deleted my post and changed the title to NM.   The rest, as they say.....

[cheebs09]

As strange as it may sound, I feel this board is more optimistic than the general Marquette fan. Based on what I overhear from friends, people at games, and students, there isn’t a ton of excitement in the fan base. Kind of a “I’ll tune in, but don’t have my hopes up.”

I think it really stems from the lack of NCAA wins and how the season ended last year. It was a “I knew it was too good to be true” type of feeling. Losing the Hausers is just an extra kick to the nuts.

I hope Wojo is the guy and has a long career here. However, we need more than a few bright spots with otherwise mediocre results.

[mu_hilltopper]

It never did! Name one other on a regular basis as Wisconsin that we actually looked forward to over the last 50 years.

I very much looked forward to games against Louisville, even though they owned us.  When Huggins was @Cincy, those were acrimonious games too.  Notre Dame. 
 If 50 years is your time horizon, DePaul.     

Most adult Americans are generally unhappy with their lives and as you age it's only a matter of time until Marquette basketball goes from useful distraction of their tepid existence to swallowed whole into the ether of their pointlessness.

Mmmmm, Arby's.

[GooooMarquette]

I started the NM thread.   IIRC, it was originally a snarky dig at Crean that I regretted shortly after posting.   I wanted to delete it, but instead deleted my post and changed the title to NM.   The rest, as they say.....

But now you can post about so much more.

Arby's, apple varieties, bloody Marys, horror movies. That thread has it all!

[Jockey]

With regards to why isn't there more perceived buzz for this year's team.


2) Two players who had significant roles left after a season in which MU peaked early and faded late. MU had the regular season Big East Title in the bag and blew it. They were absolutely throttled in NCAA first round.  Expectations went from deep NCAA run this season to let's make it first.


The keys for me are shooting the basketball, in particular from 3 and from the FT line. I don't see much FT discussion. It is easily one of my biggest concerns.

I think they were sabotaged rather than they blew it.


3s will be interesting with the line moving back this year. Shouldn’t affect MH too much, but other guys may struggle a bit. I think defense and transition with mitigate the loss of some of the 3s.

[Galway Eagle]

I think they were sabotaged rather than they blew it.


3s will be interesting with the line moving back this year. Shouldn’t affect MH too much, but other guys may struggle a bit. I think defense and transition with mitigate the loss of some of the 3s.

The thing is if there was ever a year to be a low post and driving team this might be it. Go back to the high percentage shots rather than adjust on the fly to the new line

[Cooby Snacks]

Agree with a lot of what's posted above.

If you just look at last season's W/L record, it was honestly an archetypal Crean/Buzz year. Crean, for all his faults, got somewhat of a pass since the Big East was still shiny and new for us (Remember 2006-07? It played out very similarly to last season). Buzz, for all his faults, got a pass because he was winning games in March. Wojo has neither of those going for him at this point.

A couple other factors in my lack of enthusiasm for MU hoops that are beyond the program's control:

1. College basketball refereeing is so profoundly awful that it's killing any joy in the sport for me. I moved away, so I can only watch on TV, but even that's hard to sit through when I know at least 15 minutes is going to be footage of some overworked-but-not-very-competent-to-begin-with ref's a** bent over the scorer's table.

2. Have you seen the Bucks lately? Holy s*** they're amazing.

[Pakuni]

This definitely isn't exclusive to Marquette, but for some people the joy of sports is complaining about sports. Without these people, sports talk radio would get about 10 percent of the callers it does. Some of these same people are Scoopers. And that's fine. Everyone is free to enjoy sports whichever way they wish.

[Galway Eagle]

This definitely isn't exclusive to Marquette, but for some people the joy of sports is complaining about sports. Without these people, sports talk radio would get about 10 percent of the callers it does. Some of these same people are Scoopers. And that's fine. Everyone is free to enjoy sports whichever way they wish.

Interesting perspective and I thoroughly agree.

[4everwarriors]

Because people are getting older and crotchety

Because it's preseason and expected after being an AA last year. I care more that he wasn't preseason BE POY

This thought process is idiotic

Because the Hausers were two players WI brothers and I think a lot of people instinctively feel Howard and Wojo wronged them since it's the only reason they would've left.

Don't even have a theory on this one

I think people are placing too much emphasis on Tournament than the whole picture

Wojo isn't mr media personality. I'm sure that's a factor especially with the Al groupies.
Yes we are
Yes they have

Yes it yes
Yes it bleeds in way too much

People are too stuck in the past

There are a few posters that do make this place bad. Say what you want about guru and his opinions that don't make sense at least you can feel his passion. Guys like 4ever drive apathy

No it won't not till we have a sweet 16

My complaint is that we aren't as open to the media anymore.
Another documentary
No I do not.

Apathy? Far from it. Wojo hasn't shown he can get it done. Yes, some sporadic flashes, but no consistency. 5 years without a Tourney win and Hauser-Gate will absolutely bury him. I could go on and on. Luckily, for him, he has the backing of the current administration. I wish, those of you who have never enjoyed the excitement and energy of big time, winning basketball, get the opportunity, in your lifetime, to experience it. Unfortunately, Billy Packer, some years ago, may have nailed the state of MU basketball. For the record, Davis crossed us off his list a week ago.

[Billy Hoyle]

I could not agree with you more, however, when the institution I love gets political it is hard to avoid it. Primary example changing our mascot from Warriors to Golden Eagles was a political statement which still does not sit well with many and I concede older alumni.  I hope the Golden Eagles do us proud this season.

was it a "political" statement or just a response to changing societal attitudes and requests from the Native American community (especially those the Jesuits worked with in South Dakota that made the request)? I feel like some of those hanging on to the nickname issue, 26 years later, just use it as a convenient excuse not to support MU, especially financially. They weren't going to give or come to games in the first place, now they have their excuse. It's kind of like people who boycott certain businesses because of a political decision.  For example, the right-wing crowd that vowed to boycott Nordstrom for no longer carrying Ivanka Trump merchandise or left-wingers who boycott restaurants like Chik-Fil-A or Jimmy John's for their stances or actions. You weren't going to shop/eat there anyway.

[Litehouse]

Hausershima has sucked some joy out of looking forward to this year.  We'll still be good, but we could have been great, so that's a let down.  Having grown up in central WI, cheering for kids from central WI made following our team more entertaining for me.  Sam was my daughters favorite player and she picked jersey #10 on her youth team because of him.  Plus, the collapse at the end of last year certainly didn't help build the excitement for this year.

[Galway Eagle]

Apathy? Far from it. Wojo hasn't shown he can get it done. Yes, some sporadic flashes, but no consistency. 5 years without a Tourney win and Hauser-Gate will absolutely bury him. I could go on and on. Luckily, for him, he has the backing of the current administration. I wish, those of you who have never enjoyed the excitement and energy of big time, winning basketball, get the opportunity, in your lifetime, to experience it. Unfortunately, Billy Packer, some years ago, may have nailed the state of MU basketball. For the record, Davis crossed us off his list a week ago.

Your consistent negativity and glee from wojos failures inspire apathy. I stand by that. Not questioning that you love Marquette just that you don't have unconditional support of whoever is on that court.

At our best we played only a handful of good teams during the "big time years" every season compared to the Buzz and Crean years. the success you remember is like Gonzaga's now. Amazing plastic records and a couple phenomenal runs.

I don't claim to know anything about Hausergate but two players leaving shouldn't bury a coach unless you'd like to expand on something that is truly awful.

Bummer about Davis, hope we snag someone else. If not I'll roll with who we have, if Wojo leaves I'll roll with the next coach. Rather than take enjoyment out of failures. But hey if Porter Moser can do it then I think Wojos better than him

[mu_hilltopper]

In the end .. winning (in March) solves a lot of problems.

The Crean/Buzz years raised the fan base's expectations, and the past ~7 years have ended with disappointment, drama, and/or excuses. 

[4everwarriors]

"Unconditional support," hell no. I'm not a sheep or a follower in anything. I can and do think for myself. With regards to Wojo, it's obvious. He's out of his league.
BTW, and I seriously do not mean this in a condescending way, but your youth and naïveté is showing.

[Galway Eagle]

"Unconditional support," hell no. I'm not a sheep or a follower in anything. I can and do think for myself. With regards to Wojo, it's obvious. He's out of his league.
BTW, and I seriously do not mean this in a condescending way, but your youth and naïveté is showing.

What is naive And youthful? Claiming that a team that was independent and playing only a couple ranked teams had an overblown record? That's true via research.

Claiming that two transfers shouldn't bury a coach? I invite more elaboration to teach me so I'm not naive.

Saying that I will roll with whoever's on the team? That's sticking by my alma matter. If you don't want to stick by them unconditionally good for you, you be that non sheep non follower but that doesn't mean that your comments don't inspire apathy. And I don't take it as condescending unless you're refusing to help fix my "naïveté" in which case then it's just meant to be insulting rather than a teaching moment.

[4everwarriors]

Hopefully your naïveté will auto correct with age and life's experiences.

[shoothoops]

I think they were sabotaged rather than they blew it.


3s will be interesting with the line moving back this year. Shouldn’t affect MH too much, but other guys may struggle a bit. I think defense and transition with mitigate the loss of some of the 3s.

This thread had hope at the beginning, sigh...but I will try to bring it back a little here...for me, I envision more driving and dishing to bigs and short jumpers...but I also envision hack an MU big or non big and make them knock down 2 FT's each time...not give up that easy bucket. I like to see the number 8 as the first number in a FT %

[Galway Eagle]

Hopefully your naïveté will auto correct with age and life's experiences.

Life experiences that you get in the sleepy suburb of mequon? Come on doc you don't know me, nor my life experiences. And since you aren't willing to take the opportunity to teach me I'm assuming that you did mean it to be condescending.

[4everwarriors]

Anytime you want to compare real life experiences, and who, therefore, has a better grasp of reality, I'm game.

[Galway Eagle]

Anytime you want to compare real life experiences, and who, therefore, has a better grasp of reality, I'm game.

Happy to reach out.

[Uncle Rico]

I’d be curious how people would feel had it been Markus who transferred out and the belief was it was the Hausers that made him leave.  My hunch is, some opinions would be different

[wadesworld]

I’d be curious how people would feel had it been Markus who transferred out and the belief was it was the Hausers that made him leave.  My hunch is, some opinions would be different

Some people will claim it wasn’t about the Hausers’ own shots, it was about the style of play not leading to winning (despite being something like 20-4 when they wrote the letter complaining about it).

They didn’t want to play with Markus. They didn’t want to play with Herro. What’s the common denominator? They don’t want to play with players who are better than them (a lottery pick and an All American).

Maybe they really did just want to see Theo John be thrown the ball in the low post.

Or maybe they wanted to showcase their own talents.

[Lennys Tap]

was it a "political" statement or just a response to changing societal attitudes and requests from the Native American community (especially those the Jesuits worked with in South Dakota that made the request)? I feel like some of those hanging on to the nickname issue, 26 years later, just use it as a convenient excuse not to support MU, especially financially. They weren't going to give or come to games in the first place, now they have their excuse. It's kind of like people who boycott certain businesses because of a political decision.  For example, the right-wing crowd that vowed to boycott Nordstrom for no longer carrying Ivanka Trump merchandise or left-wingers who boycott restaurants like Chik-Fil-A or Jimmy John's for their stances or actions. You weren't going to shop/eat there anyway.

You "feel" a lot of things in this paragraph, Billy. And you make several assumptions based on these "feelings" But you offer zero evidence to back up any of your "feelings". #Worthless

[Uncle Rico]

Some people will claim it wasn’t about the Hausers’ own shots, it was about the style of play not leading to winning (despite being something like 20-4 when they wrote the letter complaining about it).

They didn’t want to play with Markus. They didn’t want to play with Herro. What’s the common denominator? They don’t want to play with players who are better than them (a lottery pick and an All American).

Maybe they really did just want to see Theo John be thrown the ball in the low post.

Or maybe they wanted to showcase their own talents.

I thought of this today.  I think the vitriol towards Markus is shameful.  The Wojo dislike is fine.  That’s the nature of fandom.  The coach always gets more blame than credit. 

I still think back to an exchange I had with a Marquette alum after Crean left.  I asked who he thought would be the next coach and he was absolutely convinced it could be John Calipari.  That sticks with me to this day.  Expectations versus reality are not the same thing.