My youngest child looked at me …

[MU Avenue]

... a few minutes into the second half tonight and said, "Your team is really bad, Dad."

My child then said, "Marquette sure misses a lot of layups and most of its free throws."

My child followed that with: "Marquette's players keep taking three-point shots even though they can't make them. How come?"

We looked pathetic tonight. It was yet another game that confirmed the value of strong, skilled, reliable, consistent big men -- of which MU has NONE.

And our triumvirate of guards is looking more and more inept, especially Dominic James and, to a lesser extent, Jerel McNeal.

Our big men are weak and our guards are streaky and unpredictable. From where I sit, James has no reason to be looking so cocky or to be strutting around the court like it is his domain.

Swept by Louisville this season by an average margin of 17 points.

Humiliating. Totally humiliating.

[MU Avenue]

In all the years I have been watching this team, it seems one issue has been a constant: No matter the competition, Marquette almost always starts slowly and sloppily and puts itself at a deficit from which it needs to dig itself out.

It has happened in both games this season against Louisville, which, from my perspective, is a much better team than Marquette. The biggest differences between Louisville (unranked?) and MU, of course, being the skills, strength and tenacity of Louisville's big men.

Like many others, I watch MU and wonder how it, as a team, can be so bad at free throws and so inconsistent at three-point shots. Others have asked, I know, but why do MU's players take so many three-point shots when they are not falling and when the other team is much more likely to grab the rebound?

I have seen elementary school teams that have better-flowing offenses and much, much better shot selection.

[ecompt]

I probably shouldn't say anything, but even after 12 hours I'm still upset. This is not a slump anymore; this team shot its wad at Wisconsin and at home against Notre Dame and is now a bad, bad ballclub. Last night was a Dukiet-type performance and if TC continues to recruit smallish players who have already hit their athletic ceiling by the middle of their sophomore seasons, we're in trouble.

[muarmy81]

Yes having someone down low would help free up more open looks but the bottom line is we CANNOT SHOOT!!!  Whether it's an open 3 or a 15 footer we can't hit an open shot to save our lives.  If we're not clanking poor perimeter shots then we're forcing it into the lane for akward off-balance shots by Lazar or Wes that usually get blocked or deflected out of bounds.
And is it just me or does MU pass too much at times?  I mean Jerry Smith only needs an inch or 2 to get a shot off while we could rotate the ball around the 3 point line all day and have the defender near the top of the zone trying to close out on us and we'd whip another pass to someone else until  Louisville was back in their base defense.  If we had confident quality shooters they'd hit that shot on the defender trying to close out but oh well.  In the past we had a bunch of slow unathletic kids who can shoot now we have the exact opposite.  Those unathletic kids could hit an open jumper all night but couldn't create an open look now we have all this athletic ability but cannot shoot...
/vent off/

[MU Avenue]

I probably shouldn't say anything, but even after 12 hours I'm still upset. This is not a slump anymore; this team shot its wad at Wisconsin and at home against Notre Dame and is now a bad, bad ballclub. Last night was a Dukiet-type performance and if TC continues to recruit smallish players who have already hit their athletic ceiling by the middle of their sophomore seasons, we're in trouble.

At times last night, many of Marquette's players were giving up a foot or more to most of Louisville's.

And it does seem that after coming to MU, many players over the years -- including several on this year's team -- have seen their development stall. The skills they have coming in seem to be about where they stay throughout their time at Marquette.

In some cases, they actually regress, a la Dominic James.

[Tulsa Warrior]

Last weekend an ESPN announcer attributed Marquette's current problems to a lack of character.  It hurt at the time but I'm afraid this year's team does lack character and discipline.  Bad chemistry.  There's no catalyst.  At times James had played that role or McNeil.  It aint ahppening consistently this season.  Novak's outside shot during the Amigos freshmen year openned things up so much and gave fans a false sense of how good they are.  a consistent outsider shooter would do so much for this team.

[AlumKCof93]

I have a few friends who went to ND and they thought we were the greatest team after that game.  Now they're convinced that MU was just hot that game and their true poor-shooting selves have shown since.
IMO, MU made their shots against ND b/c ND played poorly and without energy on defense in that game.  They left our guys wide open and we can make shots when uncontested.
But our guys are not good enough to make contested 3's and w/o a post game, it seems to me that our objective is to play the weave until someone gets a decent look from 3.  But taking the shot clock down to 12 w/o playing for anything else is a losing strategy.

[ecompt]

I'll bet we don't get more than a half-dozen open looks Saturday. Brey will not allow his team to be embarrassed again, and Harangody and McIlarney could burn us for 25 each.

[mu_hilltopper]

I do wonder about the "lack of leadership .. character issue."  

For a great while, this was James' team his FR and SO years.  Crean wanted to put the reigns in his hands.  Sure, Novak was the leader his FR year, but Crean was grooming DJ to take over.

So Sophomore year, during the player intros, DJ is announced last, as if, he's the big #1 player, he gets the last spot, biggest cheer.

This year, not any more.  They mix it up a bit, but I don't think DJ has ever gone last. -- It's the whole "star of the team is the team" idea. -- And perhaps it's backfired.  DJ was the leader for a while, but not anymore.  Not sure who is now. -- But to an extent, he's really the only guy who can do that job.  Imagine if Crean never let up on him being the leader, the #1 guy, the captain.   (couldn't be worse than it is now, at least.)