[Cracked Sidewalks] A sickly performance by Marquette

[CrackedSidewalksSays]

A sickly performance by Marquette



Dominic James had the flu and did not start for the first time in his career.  It appeared as if the entire team had the flu.  A performance that was sickly in every regard as Marquette was again routed by Louisville for the second time this year.  It was MU's first home loss of the season.

The performance looked like many of the recent games by MU this year.  They struggled to beat South Florida, played very poorly in the first 16 minutes at Cincinnati, and tonight on national television were outclassed at every turn.  The game was over in the first five minutes.

Louisville strolling to the rim with the greatest of ease as MU missed defensive assignments in their matchup 2-3 zone.  After about the 7th or 8th uncontested basket, Crean bagged that plan but it didn't help much.  While Louisville's shots became a little tougher against the man to man, the Cardinals had no problem down low or going deep from beyond the arc.  MU's shooting woes only added to the stench coming from the rotting patient.

So here we were, a national tv audience and a chance for retribution with 3rd place in the Big East in site.  Two hours later, a blowout and another horrid performance begs where this team is heading.  Sure MU is still in fantastic shape for the post season, but there is something seriously missing from this team the last three weeks of the season and no end in site where that something is coming from.

The team that handled Wisconsin in Madison, the team that crushed nationally ranked Notre Dame, the team that came within one possession of taking out Duke.....not sure where they are, but they are AWOL.  With tough games at Notre Dame and at Seton Hall up next, MU better hope to find something soon.  The patient is sick and the drugs ain't working.

One thing is for certain, when the coaches picked Louisville to win this conference as co-champions, they weren't far off the mark.  Now that they are healthy they look very good.

The final score....71-57 in a game that wasn't that close at all.  On a positive note, Bobby Knight announced his resignation today during the first half of the game which means tonight on ESPN and elsewhere the attention will be paid to him and not this dreadful performance.

The loss knocked MU's RPI from 18 to 32 and put the Golden Eagles into a muddled mass with 4 losses in conference play.

Recaps of tonight's embarrassment:

• AP recap / box score / play by play
  
• ESPN on Marquette's collapse at home
• Courier Journal blog on Ville's dominant performance

http://www.crackedsidewalks.com/2008/02/sickly-performance-by-marquette.html